I created my pedal board out of a 3/4" thick sheet of ply wood with a scrap piece of 2x4 on the back edge to give it the leaning angle for access. Painted everything flat black. Covered it with velco for easy pedal placement. I use the One Spot (works well with everything except EH Holy Grail). The board fits perfectly inside a old laptop case which makes setup and storage a breeze. Simple and almost completely free. Everything was old scrap materials except for some of the velcro I purchased. Spent maybe $10 on all of it.

_________________
"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


facebook.com/313DBC

Bad Monkey is a great pedal! I've used mine for two years, you can't find a better overdrive pedal for the money. I bought it used at $19.

_________________
"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


facebook.com/313DBC

Yeah thats my idea too, sod paying for some cheapo aliminium thing and build my own. You'll see more later and see the thing start to really take shape. I'm currently up to £50 though I paid way too much for the velcro.

That bad monkey is the main part of my live sound, I honestly haven't heard anything to beat it, including the other green box that people use. All I do is set my amp to clean (it only has one channel) and push the hell out of it with the monkey.

More when the paint is dry, not much to show today as I rediscovered my love of beer.

_________________
No no and no

Ah well part 2.

Ok so today were working on the top of the board. The bit that holds the pedals.

Here it is


Here's the size I need it to be. I'm going to overhang from the base 5mm to the left and right and 10mm at the bottom.

(theres a prime example on them working out notes of measure twice cut once).
Anyways we got our dimensions for the top. 960mm x 420mm.

So onto the cut. I absolutely despise handsaws. They have their place but I'm not one for needlessly moving my beer arm if theres a machine to do the job. So out comes my old circular saw. It's very easy for this tool to run offline. More so than a handsaw which tends to add to a cut if I go offline, rather than eat into what I want to preserve.
So to ensure I dont run offline with the circ saw I need to set a straightedge up. I havent used this tool in 2 years now, I've long forgotten what I need to offset the straightedge to. So I draw a pencil line


Cut the scrap piece with the guide edge of the saw on the pencil line.


Measure the distance between the cut and the pencil line.


Hey presto, 23mm offset for the straightedge. Here it is, my super trusty, accurate, last forever, ultra dependable, spirit level. (I absolutely love this thing. Stabila never let you down, ever)


Onto pedal placement and drilling.

All set out nice and square. Notice the funny marks above and beside the pedals.


Heres the top cut and ready to paint. Cutouts for cable to get to the pedals.

_________________
No no and no

I used a IKEA GORM for pedalboard .. it does the job .. and cost 4 $ . perfect stand for pedals ... at least if your not travelling a lot . . here a picture .

http://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/16710_PE100983_S4.jpg


does the job .



some people does great thing with the IKEA GORM

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2778/425 ... a8c55b.jpg

very great pedalboard . for really cheap .

but yours look great too .. i dont have the time and commitment to build one .

This a a great thread Niki!
Years ago, I had a math instructer that played guitar. I remember he would build pedal boards and speaker cabinets during the weekend, and then he would cover them with acoustic carpet. Ever since I watched these take form, I have had the urge to make my own. Now that you have showed me the way, I may have a go of my own!

That's cus only a few of us actually have the old 'other green box' and all of 'em made after 84 or so don't sound the same.(and Niki, the odds are very stacked against player you see regularly having a true old TS-808, since the truly sought after ones are from the '79 to early 80's era, but those sold outside the North American market had a different circuit, more distortion but not as cool a clipping circuit and in my opinion a lifeless mid range--which is what made the classic pedal sound so good--, and were actually the same as the OD-II pedal sold over here.)

that said the bad Monkey certainly holds it's own, but I wouldn't trade my old TS for anything.

Great pedal board project. i might have to make a little one for the mitt full of pedals i have, then maybe i'd start using them again.

I need a good chorus pedal, and maybe a change from my Boss compressor. it's good quality, just since everyone and their dog uses it, it sounds kind of generic. any suggestions? I had a sweet old DOD chorus, but it died years ago, and i don't think you can get em anymore

_________________
I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Ah. ... ...

Carry on the good work, Ninj.


Hi twelvebar: I'd have never bought it for myself, but I won a DigiTech Chorus Factory for writing a letter to Guitarist magazine. I should probably be ashamed to admit it, but it answers ALL my chorus requirements (which to be fair are not extensive). No doubt the sims would not sound as good as the real thing when A/B'd directly - but it is a shedload of chorus for a modest price and a small box.

Worth a demo at the store, anyhow...

(I won the Distortion Factory in the same prize too. That definitely does not replace certain other pedals - but again, lots of fun and it contains some sounds I wouldn't have aquired any other way.)

Cheers - C

For the money , its hard to beat the Bad Monkey.The newer ts 808s dont sound bad,but cant see spending almost 200 bucks on one.There are so many good OD pedals out there .I recently bought a digitech hardwire that does the classic green box and has a switch for a heavier sound.Plus its true bypass.Cost me 99 bucks American.

That chorus I use is just some cheapo eastern thing, cost me £10. It does a passable leslie impression and thats about all I use chorus for.

_________________
No no and no

Yeah, I barely use anything anymore. Even the OD pedal stays off for the most part. But every once and a while i want the sound. y'know niki, I find tere's a certain magic in cheap pedals sometimes. maybe it's the fact that they sound a bit different than what we're used to.

I think i use my TS less now, because i hear it too much. i wish i could find my old Rockman unit, i had one of the early ones, with the rack mount chassis. it took care of a lot of those sounds. And although it was everywhere 20 years ago, you don't really hear that tone anymore. Oddly i could nail the 80's ZZTop tone way easier with it, than the Boston tone.

_________________
I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

I may take on this project too. Been looking at a lot of options. And I've just bought some new pedals (5 inbound right now, 5 in the current lineup). Picked up a DC Brick to power them, but if I need it, I may add a 1 Spot to finish off.

Being an out of work carpenter, building one shouldn't be too much of a stretch. I'd like to end up with a hard case for it too, but with time/materials involved, seems like it might be a better option to build the board to fit one easily available.

_________________
"If you don't know the blues... there's no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music".
Keith Richards

I love the flurry of building activity here. there's one project none of us have tackled yet, that I have developed an itch to do. my only issue is that i think doing it might cost a lot more than buying even the most high end prefab product. Of coarse having a DIY project cost ridiculously more than buying something of (possibly,) better quality has never really stopped me before, but I think I need to do some browsing, and figure out a price, and see if i can talk myself into doing it.

_________________
I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Well I've hit a wall now whilst I decide on a powersupply. I decided to give the 1shot a miss this time round and go with this
Diago Pedal power
It seems to be a British made copy of the 1Spot, though it knocks out 3000MA and will likely power more pedals.

Can you believe I went to their stockist list, found a shop near me that stocks em. Rang the shop to enquire about it, they told me they've never stocked em!

_________________
No no and no

I have had that same phone call, about some other parts. then low and behold when I went in to buy strings, a week later, guess what was hanging on the wall, covered in dust, so it had obviously been there a long time.

_________________
I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.