Running out of pedal board room!

Drache713 · #1 11-04-2002, 09:36 PM

Hey fellas I have a situation here, my P.O.S. pedalboard is working for now, it has enough room and power inputs to power my crybaby, boss chorus, boss flange, boss phaser, boss reverb/delay, and my channel footswitch. It'll even have enough room for me to put a Boss Tremolo on it. I'm going to be getting a furman pedal board soon just for better quality and all that (the room on the pedalboards are about the same). ANYWAYS, what I really want to do is get the new Boss Delay and Reverb pedals so I can have the reverb and delay seperate, the only problem is: NO PEDAL BOARD ROOM! I use those monster rock cable 8 inch right angle connects, and they aren't very flexible, but I don't want to get crappier flexible cables and lower the tone quality. Anybody got any suggestions? I NEED HELP!

kennydoe · #2 11-04-2002, 09:55 PM

I'm going to try not to be the first one to tell you to get rid of some of the more superflous pedals (phaser, flanger).

I'm also not going to be the one to tell you that you could easily sell all those pedals and use the money to buy all those effects in one nice convenient (and programmable) package, (The Boss GT-6, or the less ex$pensive Boss ME-33)...and still have $$ left over for ice cream.

I will, however be the first one to tell you that the Crybaby goes thru one 9v battery about every 6 months as long as you keep it unplugged when it's not in use. If you need to take one of the pedals off the power chain, that's the one that'll cost you the least in batteries.

~K

edit PS: Just reread your post. I woulldn't worry about diminishing your sound quality with one 'lesser quality' cable. Those boss boxes are inherently noisy - you're putting premium gas into a Pinto.

Drache713 · #3 11-04-2002, 10:06 PM

Yeah, well I'm just a stomp box guy I guess. I just like having the effects seperate and individual of each other and be able to have the settings on them ready to go without messing around and cycling through etc. and I'm not concerned about power supply. I got plenty of enough power jack to supply power to all pedals, it's more just the pure room on the board to fit the pedals on. And the Boss pedals don't seem too noisy to me, but maybe I just haven't cranked my amp up without the pedals to hear the difference.

kennydoe · #4 11-04-2002, 10:09 PM

Around here, it's common practice to have your crybaby next to your pedal board, rather than on it.

~K

Drache713 · #5 11-04-2002, 10:12 PM

Out of pure ignorance, may I ask why you would have the crybaby out to the side of the pedalboard and not actually on it?

kennydoe · #6 11-04-2002, 10:21 PM

Probably goes back to the days of those old boss pedal boards that had cut-outs just the right size for their own pedals.

~K

Drache713 · #7 11-04-2002, 11:09 PM

OK, so I COULD leave the wah off the board, but I'd rather have everything on if I can and I would want pedals being off the board to be a last resort. Anybody with other ideas?

Mr Orange · #8 11-05-2002, 03:00 AM

1) Get a bigger board. Ganz einfach.

2) George L's cables. They sound the best. If you don't believe me, ask Eric Johnson and the gazillion pros out there.

About the wah issue: I use mine outside the board, because it has tall rubber feet which make velcro'ing to the board a bit tricky.

ScottB · #9 11-05-2002, 04:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Orange

About the wah issue: I use mine outside the board, because it has tall rubber feet which make velcro'ing to the board a bit tricky.

Try this: It's a plate that attaches to your Cry Baby!

It attaches to these pedalboards.

SalemB · #10 11-05-2002, 08:18 AM

I'm also one of those who rather have a couple of red, blue and yellow boxes on the floor instead of a unit that contains everything. Right now I have a pedal chain consisting of 8 Boss pedals, a crybaby and a VAmp. The only unit that makes noise is the vamp, all the others are completely silent.

Getting everything on a pedal board if there isn't space for them is just impossible. The only thing to do is to get a bigger board or start moving pedals of it.

I have a Boss BCB-6 that takes 6 pedals. That leaves 2 Boss pedals and the other stuff on the floor. Hardly a nice solution so even if you have to move your wah of the board you are better off than me

Hmmm, I want a Boss AC-2 in there as well....

Gresh · #11 11-05-2002, 10:28 AM

I will also sing the praises of GeorgeL's cables. They're thin little buggers but man do they clean up a messy pedal board. Go online and order a reel of cable and a bunch of plugs and you make your own...no soldering at all. Trust us, they sound great.

One other solution is to drop the idea of a pre-made pedal board and design your own. Pick up a used Voodoo Lab Pedal Power on eBay or something and start designing. Use quality birch plywood at least 3/4" and some industrial velcro, some primer and matte black paint, a few handles and some extruded aluminum edging and you're done. A while ago, I designed one that had a little tier on it for my amp footswitch and I was able to get my pedal power right underneath it so it was hidden.

Home Depot or Lowe's will cut the plywood to whatever dimension you need so you don't really need any tools whatsoever. A few guys here have made some very professional looking ones themselves. Also check out Voodoo Labs site as they have a custom shop that builds boards for pros....good for ideas on cable routing and what a pro board should look like.

Good luck.

DLHelfand · #12 11-05-2002, 02:53 PM

HAve a custom board made. What exactly is the problem?

Drache713 · #13 11-05-2002, 06:51 PM

Thanks SO much for all your responses! Considering I want a solution that involves the least amount of work and money (eh, call me lazy, I know I am), I decided I would look at what the "pros" have that have a LOT of pedals to see what they do (ex. Munky, Mike Einziger, etc), and since they're big famous guys they know best, right?

Anyways, I noticed they have their pedals not going in a straight line, but in almost an arch. So what I'll have to try to do is put my pedals in an arch with my channel switch on the bottom in the middle underneath (kinda cool looking) and see if that'll work. If that doesn't, believe me, I WILL get a Voodoo Lab supply and build my own board. As far as the crybaby mounting goes, yeah I could get that kit, but I haven't had too much of a problem with it. I can probably do some mod to it like that kit or find shorter screws so the little do-hickeys can be taken off without huge screws still protuding.

gkelm · #14 11-05-2002, 07:42 PM

Have a look at my "homebrew" pedal board.

http://photos.yahoo.com/gkelm

Fun and cheap to build...any size you want.

Greg