Pedalboard

[Ian Ashdown]

I had two new pedals arrive today and another will be here on Saturday; the collection now stands at 9. It’s at a point now where some organization is required, so I’ve been looking at various pedalboards. Most seem very basic using dual-lock or similar. They aren’t mostly very integrated, with power supply etc. The Schmit Array ones are getting to be a good solution, a little pricy, and still just using Velcro.

Then I found this on Amazon . . .




I like the way the pedals are located, it seems like a tidy arrangement. It’s not perfect, it could use an integrated power supply with a socket on the outside for power. As a typical engineer, I’m always looking at things in the way of how could it be improved etc.

Has anyone any experience with these boards? Good, bad?

Thanks,

Ian

 

[Tone Deaf]

No experience with THEM.
That’s an interesting execution though.
But where would the Power Supply go?
Is there room underneath?

I bought a Temple Audio board.
https://www.templeaudio.com/
Coupled with a Cioks DC7 plus DC8 expander
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/cioks-dc7


https://cioks.com/products/dc8/

 

[Ian Ashdown]

There is room underneath, but not every power supply will fit. Many will.

Ian

 

[Tone Deaf]

Cioks DC7 & 8 are only 1” thick.

I got mine from our Strat-Talk bro @The-Kid
He is still a Cioks dealer I think

 

[The-Kid]

Cioks DC7 & 8 are only 1” thick.

I got mine from our Strat-Talk bro @The-Kid
He is still a Cioks dealer I think

Not a CIoKs dealer anymore but yes agree these are the best in the market IMO.


Definitely worth the cash and the filtering chokes out all unwanted noise floor.


I powered 13 pedals with just two outlets on a DC7 or 4 expander and a daisy chain.....


No noise added!!!!


If you have a smaller board save some money with the 4 expander. If you have 4 pedals its perfect and if you have slightly more 5-6 it can power them all with little effort and no noise added with some daisy chain help.


If you have a bigger board go DC7+8 of 4 expanders!!!!



Simply the best PSU right now and except nothing less IMO especially for your pedals, your amp, your guitar and your rig .......


We all take pride and spend some well earned cash on our gear.....treat it good with a top shelf PSU from CIOKS!!!!

Also at @Tone Deaf thanks for the shout out man and glad you enjoy this piece of gear. Always try to offer and suggest gear I personally use and enjoy and makes the play easier and more enjoyable for me and players in general.


Cheers and all the best man.



Sincerely,


Daniel

 

[Ian Ashdown]

Thank you for the straight advice! I’m a mechanical engineer and I always state my knowledge of anything electrical end with a three pin plug, so advice from real experience is priceless to me!

I’ll probably buy the board I showed at the top but it may just be a benchmark for a better design I’m thinking about.

It would be a lightweight carry case with pedals mounted in the top and bottom. It’ll sit side by side to provide a wide board, the close up with a lock, and a handle for carrying it, a socket for power input, etc. Just thoughts right now . . .

Ian

 

[SeventySevenStrat]

The pedalboard seems like a good idea until the clamps end up covering the input, output, or power socket of your pedal.
The old Radial tube pedals, the MXR 6 band EQ. the old MXR M117 flanger, the TC Electronic SFC, Analogman stereo chorus, , none of these pedals would work with this system.

 

[dreamingstrat]

I wanted to buy that, but didnt push through as a used Mono came up and like the minimalist and simple design, I wont buy this new though, just too much money.

and I also use Cioks DC7 - best power supply in the market right now! Invest in power supplies!

Untitled by D Y, on Flickr


Untitled by D Y, on Flickr


Untitled by D Y, on Flickr

 

[ajb1965]

I've never seen that brand before but it looks like a ripoff of the Acclaim boards. https://www.aclamguitars.com/store/smart-track The only downside I can see to the Acclaim system is that you won't be able to jam pedals up close together because the spacer spacing.

Have you checked out Temple or Warwick Rockboards?

 

[Ian Ashdown]

The Joyo pedalboard is due to arrive today. I think I’m going to build it up to see what is good and not-so-good about it. I will be looking for a power supply that will fit underneath and power all 9 pedals, and the choices here are many!

I have sourced the extrusion I would want to use so I may decide to build a custom board once I have answered all my questions. Important for me is to be able to easily put it away in a case or bag, and quickly bring it out when needed. I’m not traveling with it.

I’ll let y’all know how it goes.

Ian
SoCal

 

[Stratoskater]

Pedaltrain and a good power supply.

 

[Pandamasque]

I've been on a pedalboard journey in the past 3 years (coming from a huge digital multi fx unit). My board right now is a basic single level angled aluminium plane (700x300 mm) with holes for wires in it. 16 pedals barely fitting on top and 2 large power supplies mounted underneath. No daisy chaining (I learned the hard way, I like things to be noise-free, it turns out).

Straight away I'll tell you that had it been the "fixture blocks" solution I would have a hard time getting the pedals arranged comfortably and there's zero chance I'd have them all fit. Putting a board together, especially when trying to keep patch cable length at a minimum, always looks easy on paper until you actually put them on and find they're all different shapes and sizes and have jacks and power sockets in places that can clash just the right way to prevent a pedal going into a gap that on paper was perfect fit. So if it's easy, that only means you need more pedals!
For mounting Dual Lock is the perfect solution. You can buy as much of the tape as you need. I recommend covering as much of the board surface as possible to allow for more flexible pedal positioning. But only put 4 little squares at the corner of each pedal. This solution provides sturdy enough grip to lift the entire board off the ground (it weighs considerably more than my Les Paul) and to shake it by grabbing the whole thing by one pedal. I bought one pedal used with its entire back already covered in Dual Lock. Bad idea. Every time I had to move it, it felt like was about to break that butter knife. Yes, by the way, that's the perfect tool to remove pedals.

I ordered the board and the PSUs from a Ukrainian builder called Volcano Power and specified the power socket on the side. I wish I also specified the audio IN/OUT jack sockets too. That would give me more flexibility in the physical location of the first and last pedals in chain.

Whatever board you go for, one last piece of advice: check the manuals and make a note of which of your pedals have always-on buffers. And be mindful of that when you figure out the order. I found that by placing buffers strategically one can maintain strong and consistent signal throughout the chain. I make sure to have one close to the front (but AFTER the fuzz) and one right at the end. That Pedal Show on YouTube did a whole video on buffers recently exploring some of the peculiarities with them.

 

[Impulsive guppy]

I like the Boss bcb-60 and bcb-30x.
No Velcro or fasteners, just some high density foam that you cut to size.
It closes up like a briefcase.

the pic below is bcb90x:

 

[Ian Ashdown]

I like the Boss bcb-60 and bcb-30x.
No Velcro or fasteners, just some high density foam that you cut to size.
It closes up like a briefcase.

the pic below is bcb90x:

That is pretty cool. Presumably you need to cut the holes for the pedals?

Ian

 

[Leofender]

I had two new pedals arrive today and another will be here on Saturday; the collection now stands at 9. It’s at a point now where some organization is required, so I’ve been looking at various pedalboards. Most seem very basic using dual-lock or similar. They aren’t mostly very integrated, with power supply etc. The Schmit Array ones are getting to be a good solution, a little pricy, and still just using Velcro.

Then I found this on Amazon . . .

View attachment 514181
View attachment 514182 View attachment 514183

I like the way the pedals are located, it seems like a tidy arrangement. It’s not perfect, it could use an integrated power supply with a socket on the outside for power. As a typical engineer, I’m always looking at things in the way of how could it be improved etc.

Has anyone any experience with these boards? Good, bad?

Thanks,

Ian

Sweet boards!
I own this brand and am a big fan.
The feet are sprung, so they told away flat when needed.
The included hardware allows you to mount the pedals securely. I do recommend the Velcro as well, just much less needed!
The carry bag is awesome.
The underside is capable of attaching the small profile standard PSU Isolated type. There is a bracket set included is ok to mount a PSU.
I opted to use my own method.
I installed a master switch.
The side handles are really very nice and easy to assist in moving the unit too.
The rails are designed well to allow alignment of your pedals and lots of options for mounting.
In all the price and value is awesome in my case, highly recommended.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Seems as if you'd need to buy more of the mounting fasteners when you add pedals?
And use tools if you have to move anything around.

I guess if you have one static configuration solid permanent mounting is preferable.
Myself, I sometimes swap out drive pedals depending on the occasion.

Velcro isn't quite robust enough and Dual Lock grips almost too strongly.

A good compromise is loop Velcro on the board and small pieces of Dual Lock on the pedals.
Stronger than Velcro alone, but you don't need a prybar to rearrange pedals when you want to.

 

[Ian Ashdown]

You can buy more of the mounting blocks and fasteners, which will probably be necessary eventually.

I unpacked the board today and I’m pleasantly surprised, the quality is really quite good! I’m going to buy a slim power supply, probably a Cioks DC7 which I think will backage nicely underneath the board.

Now I have to plan out the board and the pedal sequence, and I have little knowledge of the ‘right’ sequence. I know its a bit subjective, but if anyone would like to suggest a starting set-up I’d be very happy. Here is my list of pedals . .



What should fill slots 9 and 10? I don’t think I’ll be starting out with two delay pedal.

Thanks!

Ian

 

[Voxman]

Add a fuzz.

And I use two delay pedals on both my boards, and you have two nice delays there.

In my case, I prefer phaser and univibe before dirt, and chorus/flanger/tremolo after dirt.

I like reverb last.

And for my compressor before dirt, but I like it just as much after dirt

 

[Leofender]

If your Amp has
TUNER Jack, that's easy to plug in here
FX Loop would be Modulation
Guitar Out to Distortion, Delay and Reverb

It's a lot of trial and error to weed out the kinks... Buffers in pedals are unpredictable and interact with the guitar pickups. Their behaviour is unpredictable, so careful experimentation is the only way forward.
Fun fun fun!
Watch That Pedal Show on BUFFERS...

 

[CigBurn]

Looking good!

I'm sure you'll get plenty of suggestions on pedal order, attachment ideas and what other pedals you need.