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What do you consider the maximum practical pedalboard size for live gigging?
- Thread starter ThinCrappyTone2
- Start date
Semi trailers are 53 feet long, IIRC. Any longer than that, and it has to be two boards.
No real limit if it's a group I gig with occasionally (once a month or less). For weekly gigs I greatly prefer just taking the Stomp XL or nothing at all.
Planning on using a Vertex Tour Compact (26x14) with a PK-5 for an originals project. For the cover band, I have been using a Pedaltrain Jr and thinking about moving to a Vertex Travel Lite.
I was in a band where two guitarist got to the point where they didn't really know what they were doing because they had so many pedals. Ended having to wait for them between songs to get the patch they wanted...
Me I'm a hoarder and still own every pedal that I ever owned... So I decided as a gag to try and put together a pedalboard with everything I owned. Ended out nearly twice the size of their boards... My guess is it was about 4' x 2'.
At the gig, It looked like everything was on and running, and I'd frequently hit pedals, and do the pedalboard shuffle the same as them.
Of course nothing was plugged in except the same multi effect I'd always been using. All night I wore an evil grin.
Me I'm a hoarder and still own every pedal that I ever owned... So I decided as a gag to try and put together a pedalboard with everything I owned. Ended out nearly twice the size of their boards... My guess is it was about 4' x 2'.
At the gig, It looked like everything was on and running, and I'd frequently hit pedals, and do the pedalboard shuffle the same as them.
Of course nothing was plugged in except the same multi effect I'd always been using. All night I wore an evil grin.
I'm using a larger board than I need while it evolves. Right now I'm thinking to replace the Blueberry and YYZ with the Capo. Some day I'll know what size board I need.
OP asks for reasons? Currently, Blueberry for vintage tones, like "Dark Sunglasses". YYZ for 90s grungy type tones. Sheehan to fill space, stand out or just have a hog-ass wild tone like "Song2". MonoSynth has gotten way more use than I ever thought. We're a 3 piece with no synth. Think "Talkin in your Sleep" etc, it's just fun. Cali76 is always on and pretty transparent. I've pretty much dropped the drop, but once in a while we do Cinnamon Girl or The Chain in D standard.
OP asks for reasons? Currently, Blueberry for vintage tones, like "Dark Sunglasses". YYZ for 90s grungy type tones. Sheehan to fill space, stand out or just have a hog-ass wild tone like "Song2". MonoSynth has gotten way more use than I ever thought. We're a 3 piece with no synth. Think "Talkin in your Sleep" etc, it's just fun. Cali76 is always on and pretty transparent. I've pretty much dropped the drop, but once in a while we do Cinnamon Girl or The Chain in D standard.
I just try to make sure I don't have a bigger pedalboard than the guitarist or that my pedalboard isn't the reason why there isn't room on stage for the artist or lead guitarist or whoever. The audience will be a lot more impressed by the singer or guitar player having room to walk around and show some stage presence than they will me, the bass player, having a huge array of different tones available.
Whatever it takes to put on the best show possible. If leaving some pedals at home helps everyone be more comfortable and that leads to a better show, then let's do it!
Whatever it takes to put on the best show possible. If leaving some pedals at home helps everyone be more comfortable and that leads to a better show, then let's do it!
Curious how you use the Spark boost pedal? Just a clean boost or does your levelnn noodle gain add a grit with or without another pedal? I have one and have been playing around with it but haven’t settled on it yet.
This is my typical board these days. I use it for amplified and ampless gigs. It works well for me.
I do have a Classic JR that I swap these pedals over to as well as my Noble. I split my signal on that board. This smaller one typically does the trick, though.
Don't think there is a single best/most practical pedal board for all. Really depends on what your tone goals are and what pedals are used/needed for that.
For me, I prefer a smaller/compact board, mostly because I don't really use/need a ton of FX .... and the practicality of a working player who travels for gigs drives me to keep my haulage to the smallest form factor I can get away with. I have/had bigger boards in the past, but am very happy with my PD Metro 20 (I could probably work with an 18" board too, but then I would not have any spare room for the occasional filter/octave pedal that I put on there from time to time ... gig dependent).
For me, I prefer a smaller/compact board, mostly because I don't really use/need a ton of FX .... and the practicality of a working player who travels for gigs drives me to keep my haulage to the smallest form factor I can get away with. I have/had bigger boards in the past, but am very happy with my PD Metro 20 (I could probably work with an 18" board too, but then I would not have any spare room for the occasional filter/octave pedal that I put on there from time to time ... gig dependent).
I had pedals in the very early days of pedals - before the most important feature was on them - the led indicator that told you if a pedal was on or off. If you see pedalboards from the 70's, almost all of them are pretty small - 4 or 5 pedals max. If you went past that, and lost track of which pedals were on and which were off, you'd end up stomping for days trying to turn things off before you got everything under control. Doug Wimbish's board was not even close to practical in that era.
I discovered this Hux Bumblebee recently and after taking a hard look at what I was really using this is currently covering all my needs.
