Big board or little board?

[Pleasurewizard]

Hi!

I'm planning out a long term vision for my pedal board. If I let myself get carried away, I could probably have a 15+ pedal board. That said I could probably get by for my typical live performances with between 0-8 pedals.

So my question is: big board or little board? Are there any unforeseen problems/complications of going too big or too small? Have any of you bought too big or too small and had regrets?

Little board = 8 slot powersupply and board that fits about as many standardish sized pedals.

Big board = 15ish slot psu or multiple 8s. Board that can fit around 15 pedals.

The draw for the little board is economy and simplisticy. Also, less $$$ lost if someone walks away with it.

Draw for big board is not switching out pedals as much, can have all the tools available all the time. Costs more but that isn't too much of a concern.

 

[Bassbeater]

2 little boards? You can set them up to work together or alone.

 

[RattleSnack]

Little board and couple of extra pedals, so you can change things a bit from time to time. That works for me.

 

[Pleasurewizard]

Little board and couple of extra pedals, so you can change things a bit from time to time. That works for me.

I should say, my available pedals will vastly outnumber available pedal real estate regardless of how big the board is (within reason)

 

[Jebberz]

Personally, I gig with a little board, since most of the stages we play are tight. I'd like to have a big board for the biggest stages, though.

 

[JimmyM]

I've tried both and I greatly prefer a smaller board, although I would love to be in a band where I could bring a bigger board and not feel like a dunce.

 

[Basshappi]

As small as you can get but as big as you need.
Remember it's not just the pedals it's also the jack placement/cords.

 

[Maxfenderbass]

Currently have been struggling with this predicament. I have a big dirt collection but always come back to the 2 dirt pedals that can do everything for me. Currently running the small board.

 

[JimmyM]

Currently have been struggling with this predicament. I have a big dirt collection but always come back to the 2 dirt pedals that can do everything for me. Currently running the small board.

Same here. I love the idea of several pedals, but I only need two...light OD and fuzz.

 

[lz4005]

Are there any unforeseen problems/complications of going too big or too small?

Every patch cable, jack and power connection is something that can fail. More pedals means more points of potential failure. And more difficulty tracking down the source when a failure occurs.

Of course the opposite side of that coin is that the more you plug and unplug things the more likely it is for things to break. So it will in theory be more durable to plug everything in at once and leave it.

 

[Nephilymbass]

Hi!

I'm planning out a long term vision for my pedal board. If I let myself get carried away, I could probably have a 15+ pedal board. That said I could probably get by for my typical live performances with between 0-8 pedals.

So my question is: big board or little board? Are there any unforeseen problems/complications of going too big or too small? Have any of you bought too big or too small and had regrets?

Little board = 8 slot powersupply and board that fits about as many standardish sized pedals.

Big board = 15ish slot psu or multiple 8s. Board that can fit around 15 pedals.

The draw for the little board is economy and simplisticy. Also, less $$$ lost if someone walks away with it.

Draw for big board is not switching out pedals as much, can have all the tools available all the time. Costs more but that isn't too much of a concern.

I like smaller boards. With my band I use a pedaltrain mini powered by a Cioks dc5. I use the same 4 pedals religiously and the other spot is kind of a wild card. If I’m at home goofing around I’ll just run my board into additional pedals on the floor and power them with a one spot. Not really a fan of using big boards for gigs. For one they can get heavy and be a little awkward to move but really I think the biggest reason is I just don’t want to piss off the soundguys. Fewer pedals tends to mean more consistency level wise which means the soundguys are more likely to have the bass loud in a mix. I’ve witnessed some bass players whose levels were all over the place get turned down at gigs to a point I wouldn’t be happy with.

 

[JACink]

I thought there was an established path to this:

1) Get little board

2) Fill board

3) Realize you need a bigger board

4) Buy bigger board

5) Fill bigger board

6) Realize you would rather carry a smaller board

7) Rinse and repeat

 

[LowActionHero]

Medium Board!

 

[AaronVonRock]

That said I could probably get by for my typical live performances with between 0-8 pedals.

0-8 is quite a range. When it comes to small boards (I use a Pedaltrain Mini), 5-6 pedals seems to be doable if you are talking about typical Boss/MXR-sized enclosures. Once you get into using more than 6 pedals, I think you are looking at getting a bigger board.

 

[JRA]

I could probably get by for my typical live performances with between 0-8 pedals

if "0" is one of your options: seems like a small board might get you there....just sayin'.

 

[Bassist4Eris]

I used to have a PT-Pro with about 15 pedals on it. I found it to be a pain, to be honest. Heavy, large, and too many tiny little cables that can fail. It can also be confusing to have that many pedals if you're in the heat of the moment on a gig and need to switch something up. I've currently got a PT-2 with 10 pedals, and that works much better for me.

 

[Pleasurewizard]

I'm hearing a lot of good arguments for the 8ish pedal board. Thanks all.

 

[basscapes]

I currently have about the same amount of pedals (+15 or so), and was considering just how I was gonna integrate them all.

Recently though, I have purposely (and for reasons of space at the moment) limited myself to just essentials (tuner, compression, delay, phaser, preamp).

Makes one appreciate just how good they can sounds without all the "extras".

That being said, I'm sure that if I were to populate a board with EVERYTHING, I'd probably have something as big (or even bigger) as Justin Chancellor's from Tool...

(borrowed from another TB posting, but taken from a Google search)

 

[Frank77]

I thought there was an established path to this:

1) Get little board

2) Fill board

3) Realize you need a bigger board

4) Buy bigger board

5) Fill bigger board

6) Realize you would rather carry a smaller board

7) Rinse and repeat

That's been my experience: Used to gig with a PT Classic jr (powered by a voodoo lab PP2) with 6-7 pedals, some of which I used only for one song (chorus), another I tried to use a few times but proved unusable with a band (gated fuzz). I've moved on to a nano+ and a 1-spot with my 4 current essentials, and determined to leave "good enough" alone. The small board is much more convenient for my situation.

 

[40Hz]

I don’t have a fixed pedal lineup. Mine changes regularly. So I don’t have a permanent board. But for live performance I’ll usually bring a tuner, an OD, a preamp, a compressor and a DI. The specific components will vary depending on what type of music I’ll be playing and my mood.

This is a typical lineup fo me:

The DI sits on the floor by itself. The 4 pedals can comfortably fit on a 10” x 12” board.

tl:dr - small board for me