Building a new pedalboard

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PixMix
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Re: Building a new pedalboard

Post by PixMix » Wed Jul 20, 2016 9:06 pm

I'm late to the party, but I guess it's never late for compliments. Really stellar work Shadow! Nicely done both as designs and it looks like really great craftsmanship/execution.

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Shadoweclipse13
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Re: Building a new pedalboard

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Wed Jul 20, 2016 10:43 pm

Wow, thanks guys!!
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Re: Building a new pedalboard

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Fri Jun 16, 2017 12:35 am

Ok, so a few updates here. It was a long winter here in Wisconsin, and I didn't get much done in the way of woodworking. I DID happen to build 4 big-ass bookshelves, but that was it. I'm in the process of building a ton of furniture for myself/apartment (coffee/gaming table, a few more bookshelves, entertainment center, record player/music stand, CD shelf, bed frame, as well as a few smaller things too), but this weekend (starting today, weather-permitting :fp:), I'm about ready to frame in my final iteration of my guitar pedalboard. I had the second board just about done when I realized that I would rather have one bigger board, than two smaller boards . Part of this is the realization that even if I do start a band/jam with friends/etc., I'll end up using the bass board that I'm also building for my "gigging" guitar board. Everything on the bass board sounds incredible on guitar (which I know, since I am still building my bass, so I can only play them on guitar for right now anywho).

I've pared down the guitar board a little bit (relegated two pedals to my "noise board" which isn't even on the drawing table yet, and just sold a few others). What I've got now fits all my needs and everything feels right and feels like it's my sound. First time ever for that for me, and I gotta say: it's quite musically liberating finding your own voice and sound. The inspiration factor is there when I'm playing, and I've been writing stuff like I've always wanted to write :-* 8).

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Here's just a crappy mock-up I did on a slow night at work from Google images.
Signal is: passive A/B (A= guitar input, B= noise board/console steel slide) > tuner > Yellow Squash Sound Labs Iron Fist compressor > EQD Organizer > EQD Grand Orbiter phaser > Gain Bypass (Catalinbread Naga Viper > Magnetic Effects White Atom > Arc Effects Soothsayer > EQD The Dunes) > EHX Freeze > EQD Hummingbird (MAY go after the volume pedal, haven't decided yet) > Lehle Mono Volume (top jacks!!) > Palmer Y-Box Splitter > Delay Bypass (Dawner Prince Boonar > Alexander Radical Digital Delay 2.0 > Caroline Kilobyte > EQD Space Spiral) > Red Panda Context reverb (may put it back before the delay, as I like both spots) > TC Ditto X2.

The output from the Ditto X2 will be my main amp if just using one amp, but when I have two amps, I have a cable running to an output jack bypassing the delays, reverb, and looper coming from the Palmer Y-Box, so I can do a wet-dry thing. Wet-dry sounds glorious. I'm totally hooked.

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For my bass board, I'm like 99% there.
Signal is: tuner > T-Rex Quint Machine > EQD The Warden compressor > Smallsound/Bigsound Mini > EQD Tentacle > Dunlop DVP4 Mini Volume/Expression > EQD Night Wire > EQD Disaster Transport Jr. > Mooer Shimverb > Tech 21 Q-Strip.

I've played my Mooer Reecho Pro a few times, and it just wasn't working for me. I realized that after the Reecho Pro (and the EQD Avalanche Run) that delays with digital engines/DSP sound SO fake to me. So, I moved the EQD Disaster Transport Jr onto the bass board instead. I was thinking about selling it since I bought it for the guitar board and replaced it with the EQD Space Spiral (which can do a decent straight/non-modulated analog delay sound too), but after my big search for the best-sounding modern analog-type delay (where I tried like 15-20 different delays and didn't like most), I couldn't bring myself to sell it (also since it's been discontinued by EQD). So, I'm glad it found a happy home on the bass board!

I still need to grab a TC Ditto (even though I don't really care for mini pedals). I'm gonna wait to build the board itself until I have my bass and amp, and can confirm that everything sounds great where it's at though. I love woodworking, but I'm sick of making the same pedalboards over and over for myself . I also decided that the first bass amp I need to try is the Ampeg BA115 (with the 60* back side, to be flipped as a monitor wedge): heard a demo the other day and it sounded epic.

Also, thanks to our own very generous StevenO, I now have a little stand for my slides :-* 8) Thanks again StevenO!!
Last edited by Shadoweclipse13 on Mon Jul 24, 2017 9:07 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: Building a new pedalboard

Post by FightingPlankton » Fri Jun 16, 2017 12:53 am

I dig it. Seems to be the way most players are going these days. Everyone is tired of the pedals everyone else has used since the 80s and are trying to find their own unique personal sound. The boutique market has really boomed and its great for those of us looking for new tonz.
What I like about your setup is the logical layout so you've got your main players easily accessible( main reason I want to update my board...its 3 rows deep). I know the board will look great. Loved the last one you did.
What is acoustic? Oh, you means a grandpa's guitars? A grandpa's guitars? That's for pussies and grandpas. I think you know it.

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Re: Building a new pedalboard

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Fri Jun 16, 2017 1:13 am

FightingPlankton wrote:I dig it. Seems to be the way most players are going these days. Everyone is tired of the pedals everyone else has used since the 80s and are trying to find their own unique personal sound. The boutique market has really boomed and its great for those of us looking for new tonz.
What I like about your setup is the logical layout so you've got your main players easily accessible( main reason I want to update my board...its 3 rows deep). I know the board will look great. Loved the last one you did.
Thanks man! Yeah, I can select instruments (A/B), tune, or the specific dirt or delay I want from the top row, but everything can be turned on or off from the front.

I'm building a powered bypass box that should be able to do trails for my delays (designed by Storyboardist). I'm doing a similar but different bypass box for my gains, that'll have relay-switching and a soft-switch, but what I'd like to do is add a toggle for the soft-switch so I could use gain as a momentary thing too 8)

It's funny though... I like new and different, but there IS something to be said for tried-and-true, as well as classic sounds. I like to think of myself as a hybrid of old-school and modern. If you look at my gains, the only new is the fuzz. Though they're all updated a bit, the Naga Viper is a simple treble booster, Soothsayer is a RAT, and The Dunes is a fancy Tubescreamer :D
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Re: Building a new pedalboard

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Sat Jul 22, 2017 12:39 am

Update!! Firstly, I've got all my stuff up on Imgur now, which rocks so far. I'm working on getting things back and running this morning. I finished building the board itself, but still have a little bit to go. Gonna try to get all the sanding done today so I can start staining the outer (brown) frame.

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Mockup with all my pedals.

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I glued the box joint corners and the hole plugs. Good thing I bought 4 sets of pipe clamps recently 8)
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Re: Building a new pedalboard

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Sun Jul 23, 2017 5:39 pm

I had to add a little wood patch to the hole where the IEC jack for my power supply is going (a bit of a gap below the jack). While I'm waiting for that dry, I have been assembling how I'm gonna mount my power supply and system (Thegigrig generator and system). The distributors and isolators are small and awesome, but as much as they're strong plastic (ABS I think) and feel solid, I still don't want to mount plastic directly to the board. I cut a few little chunks of 1/4" oak plywood, and drilled them for the 4 screws that hold the back cover onto the distributors and isolators:
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Then I stained them black, and got very small, course-threaded wood screws, and mounted the distributors and isolators to the wood chunks:
Image

Those will then be screwed to the underside of the boards. I also made a custom mounting bracket for the generator, since the power supply will likely get a little warm, and I didn't want it to be sitting on top of wood. I'll pictures of that later.
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Re: Building a new pedalboard

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Tue Aug 01, 2017 9:52 am

Aw yeah!! The outer frame of the pedalboard is done as of this morning! I hit it with 2 grades of steel wool (00, 0000) after the second coat of polyurethane, then mounted the feet, IEC jack, 1/4" audio jacks, and Peavey classic-series amp handles. I cracked the IEC jack screw hole, but it still technically will work :ph34r:
Image
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Just finished drilling the holes to mount the power supply bits (Gigrig Isolators) to, sanded and then stained the horizontal boards with super black calligraphy ink. I'm using one of my old failed boards as a hanging mount for the drying boards 8)
Image

I should be able to hit the black boards with steel wool tomorrow evening/Thursday morning, mount them, and then start mounting pedals! I may give the boards an extra day to cure, but if they feel good, it's on!
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Re: Building a new pedalboard

Post by budda12ax7 » Tue Aug 01, 2017 3:55 pm

this is seriously good...

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Re: Building a new pedalboard

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Tue Aug 01, 2017 5:59 pm

budda12ax7 wrote:this is seriously good...
Just wait. I've got a few things in store that look amazing. I had part of the power supply mounted on the former gain board, it was super tidy looking, but I never posted pictures because it was the moment that I also decided "damn, I don't want to do two boards" :D

And thank you :)
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Re: Building a new pedalboard

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Tue Aug 08, 2017 4:07 pm

It's done! Well, technically I have a few little things to do (need 3 more power cables from The Gig Rig (as I made a few that were too short for the last board); make a really short IEC cable; and I still have to finish the bypass box for my delays with Storyboardist's trails board design), but it's practically done!

I got the black horizontal boards finished and smoothed with a little steel wool, then mounted to the board. I got all my pedals installed onto the board, then just about everything wired up and cables tied off and secured. Enjoy ;D

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Board assembled!

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Pedals installed. And yes, that IS a Doctor Who fleece tie blanket ;)

Now we journey to the underworld...
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Here you can see:
-Panel-mounted jacks (3 on the left for the input, and two outputs for wet-dry; 1 on the right for an alternate input (both inputs go to A/B) for slide guitar, etc)
-My Palmer Y-Box for wet-dry splitting mounted right underneath the volume pedal (which is coincidentally where it is in the signal path as well)
-The 5 (yes, 5!) Gig Rig Isolators
-All the (reasonably clean) wiring :?

Image
Closeup of the custom-made mounting bracket I made for the Gig Rig Generator. Since it's a power supply and could get warm, and how my pedalboard is made from wood, I didn't want it to sit directly on the wood. I'm sure it wouldn't been fine, but a bit of extra "just in case" is ok with me. I made it from two cut-down steel L-brackets and a cut-down sheet of stainless steel, both painted with Rustoleum industrial enamel spray paint to blend in. The Generator was attached with 3 zip ties (the one that goes length-wise goes through two holes drilled through the L-brackets).

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I didn't think I was gonna use the black plastic wire retainers that The Gig Rig sends with the Isolators and Distributors, but they REALLY came in handy (the twisty ones that hold all the wires together, not the retainer clips that are screwed into the board, those I bought).

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Closeup of the wet-dry signal splitting, and the cable retainers for the input and output cables.

After thoughts (more to kick myself in the ass than anything else): I've been wanting to make a nice board for awhile (this thread is actually a few years old), and it's inevitable that we sometimes try some things out and change our minds or evolve, but I do wish I hadn't actually made the board 4 or 5 times. Dear Jason: plan this shit out better next time so you don't have to make it that much :fp: :D Still... It was fun though. I do love woodworking and want to get better at it, but nevertheless, I'm quite happy with the board. I've got a few little things left to do, and I still have to test it as my stuff is now partially in storage and I don't have the time with the move.

I finally feel like I found my sound, which is the biggest inspiration musically for me, and it feels amazing. Not having to take pedals out of their boxes, find patch cables that fit between two pedals properly, get out the power supply, hook everything up, etc., but just plug the board in and play, makes it more fun to play. I've been doing that crap for years, and frequently by the time I get set up, I've either lost my inspiration to play, or I forgot what I wanted to learn or write. I feel like a new era musically for me is about to start, and I'm so excited.

Thanks for sticking with me and all the comments and opinions everyone!
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Re: Building a new pedalboard

Post by FightingPlankton » Tue Aug 08, 2017 4:17 pm

That is IMPRESSIVE!
What is acoustic? Oh, you means a grandpa's guitars? A grandpa's guitars? That's for pussies and grandpas. I think you know it.

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Re: Building a new pedalboard

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Tue Aug 08, 2017 4:30 pm

FightingPlankton wrote:That is IMPRESSIVE!
Thanks!! It took awhile, but is SO worth it. I can't wait until I'm done with the move and I can plug it in and test it!!
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Re: Building a new pedalboard

Post by marqueemoon » Tue Aug 08, 2017 5:38 pm

Really nice. My back hurts just looking at it though.

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Re: Building a new pedalboard

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Tue Aug 08, 2017 5:45 pm

marqueemoon wrote:Really nice. My back hurts just looking at it though.
Thanks for reminding me! A few people were asking about weight earlier on (before this incarnation of the board). I'll weigh it in the next day or two!! It's not as lught as I thought it'd be, but it's less than my Delta Blues weighs. The big one for me, as I play at home more, and I'll be using the bass board I'm building for my "gigging/jamming" board, is that with that weight, it doesn't move around the floor AT ALL. Haha.

Thanks dude!!
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