I'm sure there are a lot of other people who have built a pedalboard or two. I'd love to see what others have done to put their pedals together into their own useful format.

So here's mine:




The signal chain goes: A/B switch (A to FX, B to tuner/mute); homebrew boost; Roger Mayer Octavia (re-housed to fit); Expandora; R.M. Axis Fuzz (re-housed); wah (R.M. 9090 kit); Boss DD-5; Boss DC-2. Outboard is a H&K Rotosphere.

This is my fourth one, built almost ten years ago, specifically to fit in a briefcase:




I really wanted it to be compact after the previous one, which was the size of a Strat case! So I wanted to build one that would be easy to carry; my goal was to have my whole rig go in and out in one trip, because I was doing a lot of one-nighters and sub gigs. After using it for a while, I've whittled down my effects to the ones that really work for me.
Here are the details:
I have everything mounted with adhesive Velcro, so I can clean and service it easily. All the signal cables and plugs are George L's, and I custom-built the D.C. cables using 24" pigtails from Mouser. It has a banana plug and jack for the D.C. power connector, with the female jacks mounted on a small piece of aluminum angle stock. The power supply is a nice regulated laptop-style piece, also from Mouser. The board itself is a 1/2" piece of 7-ply birch plywood, covered with Ozite. The hook side of Velcro sticks on there really well.
One issue I had was coming up with a clean way to connect all the + and - D.C. lines to the female input post. There are 9+ and 9-, and the solder connection would break after a year or so. What I came up with was using two 3/16" wide pieces of solder wick, about 1-1/2 inches long. I opened up one end (it's made like a flattened tube) and soldered the wires into it, and then opened a hole in the braid at the other end big enough to fit on the female post. I soldered the braid on the post end so it wouldn't come apart, and put some heat shrink on to insulate it. I know it's way over the top, but I enjoy engineering solutions to problems, and besides, I think they look cool!

The D.C. connections:



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5 guitars
7 amps
4 dogs



Top

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"There's an arse for every chair"

5 guitars
7 amps
4 dogs

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JUDqimiLMlM/TZb83TJ1_XI/AAAAAAAAAGY/IdqfdUUpojc/s320/pedalboard.JPG

Had to link it because I couldn't resize the image.

I've got nothing so glamorous as a board to contribute. Just a bunch of pedals.

But I'm waiting for Screamin' Armadillo and Hollis Prince to hit this thread. Between them they have both the pedal and the board angle on this thing well and truly COVERED!

Meanwhile, congrats on your set up, ashtone. Some nice stuff there - gotta love that Axis Fuzz! Now you just need... a bigger board! And a bigger case to put it in, of course.

Cheers - C

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isnt there something to be said for multi-effects pedals? I know they don't sound as good as the real thing when pumped up to high volume, but my boss me-25 is great, has more than 120 effects(albeit some are different types of an idea, eg warm crunch, wah crunch...)is very small compared to some of your pedal boards...luke...( )... and is the price of one, or less, than just one traditional effect...(some of us can't afford a board like that )

Truly, I have no defence....

Thanks! It just seemed appropriate to have the Axis cover image on the Axis Fuzz, and I tried a couple different things (like making my own decal) that just didn't look bright and solid. It took me a while to find a technique to put the image on there that looked good without too much effort (or artistic talent!).
Here's how I did it, for anyone who wants to try; it was simple: I used a CD insert, and burnished a piece of laminating plastic (self-adhesive) onto it. I peeled all the paper off of the back of the image, which left me with a very thin, glossy color layer bonded to the back of the plastic. I then put some thin double-sided tape (from a window insulation kit) on the back side, and put it on the box. Cut out the holes with an Exacto blade, and there it is! I may do some others on the remaining bare cases; there are some iconic (for me) album images that still resonate from my journey through teenage-isim.

[i]General disclaimer to all who have gotten here through a google search for the term "resonate": I have used "resonate" in a context unrelated to tone woods or guitars in any way. I assume no responsibility for perpetuating the kerfuffle associated with this term.
[/i]

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"There's an arse for every chair"

5 guitars
7 amps
4 dogs

There are lots of effects out there that do the job. Maybe too many! It's impossible to try them all, for sure.
When I started out (back in my day) there were less than a half-dozen fuzz tones, one kind of wah wah, tape Echoplex and a couple derivants, and the only modulation effect was the good old crappy Uni-Vibe. Oh yeah, I forgot amp vibrato/tremelo. And reverb. We were so deprived!
Whatever gets you where you want to go, my friend.

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"There's an arse for every chair"

5 guitars
7 amps
4 dogs

Ashtone, i think that your board is sick! and quite practical, with the briefcase and all!

I'm working on putting together my first board, with 4 compact pedals and my giant fender fuzz wah. Any tips for a n00b to the pedal board construction world? I really like the convience of yours

Thanks!

Ps I promise to post a pic of my board here when i finish it (although i might not get one or two of the pedals for a while, Canada post is going on strike wednesday D: )

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Just make it so it is easy to get things on and off, think about how you will power it, and don't think it has to be perfect the first time. You will learn what works for you as you use it. One of my friends that I play with has one with five pedals on a piece of wood with a cut-out to pick it up with. He just tosses it in his trunk when he's done.

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"There's an arse for every chair"

5 guitars
7 amps
4 dogs

Here's my board: (and thanks to Ceri for his complimentary words about my pedalboard; I am humbled )...



All pedals mounted on/powered by Furman SPB8 Pedalboard

• Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
• Ibanez TS-9 (re-issue) Tube Screamer (overdrive)
• Boss RT-20 Rotary Ensemble (rotary speaker simulator)
• Dunlop MWA Crybaby Wah (modified GCB95)
• MXR M-101 Phase 90 (phase shifter) (late 70s block logo, no LED)
• Dunlop JH-2S Jimi Hendrix System Classic Fuzz (now discontinued)
• MXR M-66 Classic Overdrive (limited run Guitar Center exclusive)(modified)
• MXR M-133 Micro Amp (gain/volume boost)
• ISP Decimator G-String (noise reducer)
• MXR M-169 Carbon Copy Analog Delay
• Morley ABY (A/B box for amplifier channel switching)

There's about to be a shake-up on my board and in my rig; some things are going away and some will be moved around...more details to come.

Believe it or not, I don't have a processed tone at all with this rig. I try to use the effects judiciously and make sure I have an organic sound...

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Luke Piewalker
Is that a couple of Burford pedals I see on your board?

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No no and no

I have this one and I bought an Ibanez UE-300 unit because ME had recommended it and uses one himself.

What is a good site to upload pictures on??

--- Vox V847 Wah
--> Fulltone OCD v4
--> Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi
--> Boss OD-3
--> MXR GT-OD
--> Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive
--> Boss CE-5
--> MXR Carbon Copy
--> Malekko Ekko 616
--> Boss RV-5
--> Xotic EP-Booster

I use the OD-3 the most often. I can't believe how underrated that thing is.

I like www.photobucket.com. Works well for me.

F'Hop

How do you get on with that Planet Waves tuner? I got the same model and am utterly staggered by it's accuracy in strobe mode. I checked it against Strobesoft and a keyboard with pitchbend. Found it to be as near on the money as Strobesoft.
However I have a load of trouble getting it to recognise my guitar signal. It reads low impedance great. Struggles with passive pickups though.

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No no and no