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Neat and clean - cable management for pedal boards

U

ulynch

Nov 8, 2010
820
31
Nor Cal
#1
I've taken a few stabs at it, and I just can't seem to get my PT-Jr board as neat as I'd like. Are there tricks to neatly routing power and signal cables? Are there products around that help with it? Is there a George L custom cable set in my future? I'd love to see what your solutions are, so show me your bottoms!

Err, the bottom of your board dude.

Pics please! How did you straighten up your board?

Thanks!

- D

/ My search fu might be a bit off, so if there's another thread on this already, please link me.
 
#3
I made my own board with two strips of plywood and jigsawed up a couple of runner "joist feet" with the bottom tier flat and the top tier angled. Excess cable disappears into the void between the tiers. Who looks at the bottom! The short cables lie down between the pedals well enough for me.

Handy tip, the different slopes of the tiers make it rigid as hell with only eight screws in the whole thing and no bracing.
 
#6
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#7
OK, here's the top:

i-ZqKC2Kg-L.jpg


And the bottom:

i-ZQV3g5H-L.jpg


(also posted in this similar thread)

The cables are all Lava. I haven't tried George L's, but I've been happy with Lava's performance in this application. I don't think I'd choose them if I was just tossing three or four pedals on the ground, though. They just don't seem as sturdy as the strain-relieved, soldered cables I've used (both home-made and commercial). I found that the trick to assembling the Lava connectors is to not tighten them too tightly, or they can short. It seems counterintuitive, but...

The power supply is a BBE Supa-Charger, which fits cleanly below the PT Jr. I like the fact that it'll do 9, 12, or 16 volts (although after trying the higher voltages on some of my pedals, I ended up preferring the sound of 9 volts all around... ;)).

When it came to organizing, I found the Pedaltrain Pedal-Boosters (on the top row) to be a huge help. They create a hidden space for routing cables to and from the top row of pedals. I had to drill some holes to get the cables to pop up exactly where I wanted them, but, with a little planning, it was pretty straightforward. I also put a bit of heat-shrink tubing around any cable jacket where it passes through a small hole (check the output line from the Bass Envelope Filter). The Pedal-Boosters really do make it easier to use the top row of pedals, too. I bought the combo pack of all three Boosters (PT-PBK), used two of the Boosters as designed on the top row, and then cut up the third to make the "bridge" plate covering the wires coming out of the Supa-Charger (yes, that's my fine Dremel work!).

The wire clips all came from Radio Shack or Home Depot. The big bundle next to the Micro-Thumpinator is being held in place by a zip tie attached to one of those square self-adhesive mounting bases. The Thumpinator itself is held in place by 3M Dual Lock, which is like a super Velcro. If I had to do it all over again, I'd probably go out and buy some good brand-name Velcro to use on the board itself, as the Pedaltrain stuff doesn't seem to stick quite as well as the 3M Velcro I've used in the past.

I hope this gives you a few ideas. The whole rig still fits in the PT Jr.'s soft case. I really, really wish that pedal manufacturers would adopt some sort of standardized input/output jack arrangement (like input high/output low, all top-mount, or something...). I realize that jack location is often determined by the layout of internal components, but I sure would like to be able to use all of the board's space, without having to stagger the pedals...
 
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#13
Thanks for all the input guys! Keep the ideas coming ...

I'm kind of a nerd, so I'm thinking along the lines of server rooms and telecom equipment. I see stuff like this every day:

cable-management1.jpg


A pedal board's not nearly so complex as a rack of servers or a PBX, but I supppose you could use the same cable management techniques for the power and signal cables for a half dozen effect pedals.

Back in the old days, they'd use twine and make running knots to hold long runs together. NASA's got a how-to manual because apparently wire lacing like this works better than zip ties for their purposes ...

IMG_0003.jpg


750px-Cable_lacing_close-up.jpg


Maybe I'll give this technique a try. After all, ya never know when you might want to launch your pedalboard into space! :p
 
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#14
Unless you know exactly where you want every effect forever, I'd not spend a lot of time and money in this effort. I'd just use cable ties and velcro.
What happens if you even _suspect_ a problem live?
How then would you quickly bypass a pedal before the next song?
If you have your pedal board and effect chain perfect (first, I think you may be the only one here), then have at it. But I'd say to keep things as neat as possible but allow room to quickly bypass and mix things up if needed.
 
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#15
Foamy said:
Unless you know exactly where you want every effect forever, I'd not spend a lot of time and money in this effort. I'd just use cable ties and velcro.
What happens if you even _suspect_ a problem live?
How then would you quickly bypass a pedal before the next song?
Click to expand...

Good points, but I've seen cabling guys tie down bundles in seconds -- faster than it takes to zip tie something. Just a matter of practice I suspect.

And I'm not sure diagnosing and bypassing would take any more time than having to deal with zip ties. But I dunno, you might be totally right.

Foamy said:
If you have your pedal board and effect chain perfect (first, I think you may be the only one here), then have at it.
Click to expand...

Ha! Not even :D But it looks like an interesting experiment, and twine's cheap so what the hey?! :)
 
#16
ulynch said:
Back in the old days, they'd use twine and make running knots to hold long runs together. NASA's got a how-to manual because apparently wire lacing like this works better than zip ties for their purposes ...

Maybe I'll give this technique a try. After all, ya never know when you might want to launch your pedalboard into space! :p
Click to expand...

NASA was so nautical! Look like a giant rolling hitch with a whipping/seizing on the end. I may try this. The twine looks like sail twine which is a wax coated twine which helps with the grip. It also comes in black.
 
#17
Zip ties and cord wrapping are okay for installs. however gigging effect pedals are a lot less reliable than Cicso routers and switches. I wouldnt want to "tie myself down" with a method of cable management that requires destructively cutting the ties. Velcro is cheap an re-usable. You can get a big roll of velcro that will last you for a decade of cable management.
Another option are re-usable zip ties, they have a tiny lever on the zip tie ratchet which allows you to "reverse" and loosen the tie.
 
#19
I think the miniature-jack, narrow-cable, solderless systems like George L and Lava are worth the money.

It's really difficult to make good use of the space on your pedalboard using regular-sized jacks and regular-gauge cable. Especially if you change pedals often. Or if you ever change pedals, I suppose.

The George L and Lava -type cable systems let you do a really neat job that doesn't have to be anything like permanent. I think that makes them worth their at-first-glance-insane prices.
 

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