I'm a beginner, and I don't gig, so a commercial pedalboard isn't a justifiable expense. I'd been keeping my one pedal, headphone amp, cables, and headphones all pre-wired in a cardboard box. It's marvelous for storage, quick to set-up, but clunky to actually *use*.
A looper pedal is arriving tomorrow, so I figured it was time to make something more permanent and usable. I looked around the house, and to my amazement, I had all the parts I needed to build a pedalboard with minimal work. Behold!
The exposed angle brackets aren't pretty, but I made sure to use countersunk flat-head screws so I can simply velcro right over them, and their placement means both the bottom and sides of the pedalboard are completely flat and flush without having to carve out notches.
The only thing that bugs me about the build is that I had to mix Philips and Robertson screws, which is a pet peeve of mine when I encounter someone else's work, but that's what I had on hand of the right length.
I thought about finishing it with Speedball India Ink to make it slick and black in a way that the velcro adhesive wouldn't lift like plain paint, but I didn't have that on hand. I think I'll leave it natural as it's all pine, and I like how it weathers (little pockmarks and a darkening over time, it'll look well-used).
It's 27 inches wide, 13 inches deep, and 3.5 inches tall. The top shelf is meant to hold the power and outputs and any gear that's infrequently touched. The bottom shelf is supported by the ground and so is for pedals meant to be frequently stomped on. Standard BOSS-style pedals, mini-pedals, and wide pedals will all fit well on the cross-pieces. (OK, maybe a Cry Baby wouldn't fit well...)
The output pedal is a modded Behringer BDI21 feeding a Fender Mustang Micro, which itself feeds either headphones or a little Bose powered speaker. Tomorrow an Amazon Basics Looper (which is a NUX looper inside, as reported by JHS Pedals) will get added to the bottom right and connected to the BDI21 with a short TS cable I have lying around.
I don't plan to ever have a large set of pedals, and I'm not hurrying to fill it as I do not know where I will end up with playing bass, but I can imagine adding, in time, a small amplifier head (a cheap Class D, or a Quilter Interbass), a fuzz/overdrive of some kind, and maybe a mixer for parallel effects and clean blend.
I'm open to suggestions as to what to add/change to make it more useful. I'm not big into effects, but I want/need things that help support playing, like a looper.
I should see if I have something lying around to implement storage under the top shelf.
-- taketwo
A looper pedal is arriving tomorrow, so I figured it was time to make something more permanent and usable. I looked around the house, and to my amazement, I had all the parts I needed to build a pedalboard with minimal work. Behold!
- The sides are leftover pine from a shelf build from years ago.
- The handles are a couple of old drawer pulls from a kitchen reno.
- The cross pieces were part of the shipping packaging for a washing machine.
- The power bar was a forgotten extra still in moving boxes (and it has USB power!).
- The angle brackets were for a repair that didn't happened.
- The screws, washers, and rubber feet are random leftover toolbox parts.
- The velcro for the pedals are little 3M Command strips remaining from mounting pictures.
The exposed angle brackets aren't pretty, but I made sure to use countersunk flat-head screws so I can simply velcro right over them, and their placement means both the bottom and sides of the pedalboard are completely flat and flush without having to carve out notches.
The only thing that bugs me about the build is that I had to mix Philips and Robertson screws, which is a pet peeve of mine when I encounter someone else's work, but that's what I had on hand of the right length.
I thought about finishing it with Speedball India Ink to make it slick and black in a way that the velcro adhesive wouldn't lift like plain paint, but I didn't have that on hand. I think I'll leave it natural as it's all pine, and I like how it weathers (little pockmarks and a darkening over time, it'll look well-used).
It's 27 inches wide, 13 inches deep, and 3.5 inches tall. The top shelf is meant to hold the power and outputs and any gear that's infrequently touched. The bottom shelf is supported by the ground and so is for pedals meant to be frequently stomped on. Standard BOSS-style pedals, mini-pedals, and wide pedals will all fit well on the cross-pieces. (OK, maybe a Cry Baby wouldn't fit well...)
The output pedal is a modded Behringer BDI21 feeding a Fender Mustang Micro, which itself feeds either headphones or a little Bose powered speaker. Tomorrow an Amazon Basics Looper (which is a NUX looper inside, as reported by JHS Pedals) will get added to the bottom right and connected to the BDI21 with a short TS cable I have lying around.
I don't plan to ever have a large set of pedals, and I'm not hurrying to fill it as I do not know where I will end up with playing bass, but I can imagine adding, in time, a small amplifier head (a cheap Class D, or a Quilter Interbass), a fuzz/overdrive of some kind, and maybe a mixer for parallel effects and clean blend.
I'm open to suggestions as to what to add/change to make it more useful. I'm not big into effects, but I want/need things that help support playing, like a looper.
I should see if I have something lying around to implement storage under the top shelf.-- taketwo
