Securing your pedal settings?

[Killing Floor]

Weld?

Rattlesnake Cables sells sticker sets for knob settings. I use a wax pencil if it’s something that gets moved a or on the edge of a board.

 

[halcyo]

My fuddy duddy answer is to learn and KNOW your pedals, and remember how to dial them in. Use little tiny stickers or tape if you wanna mark em.

My 7 yr old son’s favorite activity for “helping” me rehearse is to fiddle all the knobs while I’m playing and not paying attention, so let’s just say I have to re-dial them in often. After enough repetitions you just sort of memorize it.

 

[Biggbass]

I use Sharpee dots. Doesn't secure the knobs but shows the settings. And it's easy to remove. I've seen many a pedal board with a strip of gaffer tape over the knobs.

 

[el murdoque]

Where's your sense of adventure? Nothing is more fun than stomping on a pedal for the first time on a darkened stage and wondering what mysteries it's settings hold. Will your bass be louder, quieter, or sound like a space ship? There's only one way to find out!

Sounds like a pain in the butt

Can be! Especially when you (think you) have your C4 set to a mighty synth orgy and pose yourself on stage like you're about to ascend to godhood right after playing that part - and then you learn that your sensitivity knob is way down and instead of Asgard, you find yourself in Glitch City and instead of a horn of ambrosia you want a dumpster to hide in.

But it does not need to be this drastic.

Could also be fun to see the sweat on the FOH person's forehead when they try to reign in a sudden and unexpected +30dB boost.

 

[Marc Bobro]

Remembering bass settings on a pedalboard is easy, as long as you play regularly. Just wait until you get into synthesizers that have no presets!

 

[el murdoque]

Those who suggested to take photos, mark the positions on the pedals, write them down or remember them:

I know every single knob and its position on my pedalboard by heart. I also know which knobs are crucial.
The thing is, there are a few, like the input and output of the compressor, the gain on the overdrive and the gain on the preamp that interact with each other and even a tiny increment wrong is audible. A tiny increment is not easily spotted, even with a pic, a dot or a note at hand.

 

[callofcthulhu]

I put 1 or 2 of these under the knobs:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DANCO-47-O-Ring-10-Pack-96761/100241204

You can still make adjustments if you need to, but these stop them from jiggling around in transit.

 

[dfreeland83]

My million dollar idea: a digital box with one switch and dozens of internal settings from other effects. Every time you stop the switch you get a random combination of sounds and settings. Want distortion? Too bad, you got ghostly echo up half an octave. Were you hoping for a sweet syrupy synth? Nope, it's chainsaw distortion through a wave filter that turns every note into an 80's computer sound. Minor compression with a 5 db boost to make your slap solo cut through? JACKPOT! But it'll never happen again.

There was a thread on Reddit about the most random pedals imaginable, and this was my idea.... an effects roulette pedal, but if you do that, you have to make sure you at least have a preprogrammed 30 second to 1 minute cooldown before you can stomp it again.

 

[dfreeland83]

I I ever decide that I want to stop playing Church gigs and don't want to fess up and say it, I'll buy one of your pedals. Seems like a solid technology driven passive aggressive way to quit.

One time I took my board to church... I had an EXH freeze (for some reason that I'll never really understand... it was the weirdest pedal that I can recall ever owning)... I 'made my own pads' by freezing the root note, and when I kept playing over it, the sound team started to scramble to see what instrument / mic was stuck in a feedback loop

 

[bisticlz]

I use little colored adhesive dots for some pedals, liquid chalk marker on others. Both are easy to remove when you need to, but make it easy to take a glance down at your board before playing and make sure nothing got bumped out of place.

 

[jdh3000]

I tried taking a picture and referring to it, but I just went back to playing it by ear; zero/12 o'clock everything and work from there.

I've heard some folks put seran wrap over them.

 

[juggahnaught]

If it doesn't support recallable presets, I don't gig with it.

I'm thankful for my Helix Floor and Helix Stomp. If I didn't have those, I wouldn't bother with effects.

 

[grimjim]

I put stompsheilds on my darkglass and isp pedals. I made a plexi guard for the EQ. Once I got the gator board, they're pretty well protected. I do have a pic on my phone for a quick reference.

 

[grimjim]

I put stompsheilds on my darkglass and isp pedals. I made a plexi guard for the EQ. Once I got the gator board, they're pretty well protected. I do have a pic on my phone for a quick reference.View attachment 4556585

I should add, I only use this board for the metal band I play in. All on all the time. The rock bands are straight into the amp.

 

[JovialOwl]

If you want a set it and forget it method.

Set the knob to the position you want.
Take the knob off and place it back on with the indicator at noon.

This way to get back to your favorite setting you just make sure all your knobs are at noon.

 

[Stubb]

One of my favorite musician interviews, with guitarist Tom Hamilton of Ghost Light and the incomparable Joe Russo's Almost Dead, shows a completely different approach.

JL: So with Ghost Light, do you have set pedal combinations you’re gonna use, or is it all on the fly?

TH: No, with any band I don’t. Dude, I don’t even like set my knobs.

JL: Really?

TH: No, whatever they are when I open my pedalboard up that day, that’s what it is.

JL: Damn, that’s a way to do it (laughs).

TH: Well, dude I’ve been doing this for a long time, y’know, and the goal is to every time I play to do something new. So if you’re constantly making things the same, it’s like if we just did word association right, and every time you say “banana”, I say “grapefruit”. If that happens, we’re just going to have the same conversation over and over and over. So it’s like, if you say “banana”, and I say “2×4”, well now we’re gonna have different things happening. I just try to embrace things being different. Y’know, I have that Micro Synth pedal with those sliders on it… that thing, those things move all the shagin’ time! I don’t even know what the shag’s happenin’ there, it’s like “Well alright, let’s just let it happen!”

 

[Rolling Thunder]

I take a pic of a setting if it's noteworthy.

 

[Jeff Hughes]

Electrical tape arrows. Cheap. Easy. Can be removed.

But I also agree you should just know where they go and not get locked in to thinking that one setting is the be all end all.

Knobs need exercise.

 

[Savage_Dreams]

I never understood how pedal knobs supposedly get turned so much. Pedalboard goes in case. There’s nothing touching the knobs. Done deal.

 

[callofcthulhu]

I never understood how pedal knobs supposedly get turned so much. Pedalboard goes in case. There’s nothing touching the knobs. Done deal.

Gremlins.