Guitarists - Show me your pedalboard!

[nedorama]

Apparently we'll see a new Klon pedal at NAMM - I'll be there Friday.

[Timwaldvogel]

Yea someone on YouTube did a demo of the new klon OD and covered it with a cardboard box cause it was still a secret

[darkhorse]

[IMG]******//www.gearslutz.com/board/members/darkhorse-albums-new-board-picture7667-jan2012-013.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]******//www.gearslutz.com/board/members/darkhorse-albums-new-board-picture7668-jan2012-012.jpg[/IMG]

Hello my name is (insert name here), and I have a guitar pedal addiction.
New additions to my board. Added the new Wampler Ego Compressor, a new Korg Pitch-Black Tuner, and another fun box the Hardwire ML-2 Metal Dist.

Details for those like me who like to know these things:
2 level board I made, tilted the way I like it, braced so that you can stand on it, 3/4" higher end birch plywood. 30"x4', upper level shelf 6"x4'. Painted flat black. Simple, functional, huge, cost me something like $30.

Lower level is amp in chain:
CAE/MXR Bradshaw Wah > Radial PB1 high end Buffer and clean boost > EH Micro POG > Korg PitchBlack (feeds off POG dry out, out of chain) > Wampler Compressor > Wampler Ecstacy OD > Wampler Pinnacle Dist, Hardwire ML-2 Metal Dist > Fulltone Deja Vibe > Ibanez TK999HT real tube Dist (internal 100v step up, also serves as end of chain tube buffer circuit)

Upper Level Amp loop chain:
TC Corona Chorus, Hardwire Phaser, TC Flashback Delay, Hardwire Reverb, BBE Sonic Maximizer

Lower level power Voodoo Lab 2
Upper level BBE Supra Charger
Master Power Furman Power Conditioner
cables: custom made soldered heavy gauge right angle pan plugs, quality monster cable

[litepipe]

I think I'm taking the plunge and building a more permanent set up. The modular thing is turning into a pain when a lot of different gigs are happening. I ordered a trailer trash board and think I'm gonna set it up to have all my options on it.

[nedorama]

Heard the Klon at NAMM next to an original -- sounds exactly the same. Amp needs to be loud though to make it work its magic. They had it through a Naylor head at healthy volume behind a plexiglass screen. Sounded very good. They weren't talking prices.

[WKG]

Here's mine.

[IMG]******//i135.photobucket.com/albums/q134/WKGPICS/4.jpg[/IMG]

[litepipe]

Ok so I tool the plunge and got a trailer trash board. I purchasing a try bypass looper and looking to wire it up. I decided not to use George l's. I like the way they sound but reliability is a huge issue for me. I'm going to work with a tech and solder my own. Any recommendations for cables that have short ends? High quality.

[Timwaldvogel]

Originally Posted by litepipe

Ok so I tool the plunge and got a trailer trash board. I purchasing a try bypass looper and looking to wire it up. I decided not to use George l's. I like the way they sound but reliability is a huge issue for me. I'm going to work with a tech and solder my own. Any recommendations for cables that have short ends? High quality.

The Best cable for the money is Canare quad star instrument cable. It can come in different colors too lol

Connectors, I used GLS audio flush mount 1/4" jacks

[nedorama]

Originally Posted by litepipe

Ok so I tool the plunge and got a trailer trash board. I purchasing a try bypass looper and looking to wire it up. I decided not to use George l's. I like the way they sound but reliability is a huge issue for me. I'm going to work with a tech and solder my own. Any recommendations for cables that have short ends? High quality.

How are you having reliability issues with George L's? I've wired my pedalboard and unbalanced connections in my racks for over 10 years and never have had a fault. I use George L's as my instrument lead and haven't had issues. The ability to cut to length and get a perfect connection every time is fantastic.

As an alternative, there's also Lava cable with DIY ends. I haven't used it but their right angle ends are slightly smaller than the George L's.

[Timwaldvogel]

Originally Posted by nedorama

How are you having reliability issues with George L's? I've wired my pedalboard and unbalanced connections in my racks for over 10 years and never have had a fault. I use George L's as my instrument lead and haven't had issues. The ability to cut to length and get a perfect connection every time is fantastic.

As an alternative, there's also Lava cable with DIY ends. I haven't used it but their right angle ends are slightly smaller than the George L's.

Iny opinion ANY solderless cable automatically has reliability issues.
I've heard of many many people have problems with George L's on tour

[litepipe]

I have a friend who has a Bradshaw board. He wouldn't wire the board with George L's for reliability issues.

You don't have to go solderless to cut to length. You can buy bulk cable from redco. That's what I'm going to do.

I'm curious if anyone has heard the difference between canare and Mogami cable?

[WKG]

I've never had an issue with George L's. The important thing is to follow their directions when you put them together. Every few months I'll go through my rig and do a maintenance check on connections etc. I did have a cap that loosened a little once but I think that was more due to not having been tightened sufficiently to begin with.

[Timwaldvogel]

I have has ONE patch cable go bad on me in 11 years of playing guitar.
And that was when I was only playing a year or so, and a cable I didn't make.
Cables are extremely simple to make.
Cable Capacitance within patch cables is not a problem until Problem go over a few feet, and not like audible until after 10-15ft

Read this article about true bypass and cable capacitance

******//www.muzique.com/lab/truebypass.htm

[Timwaldvogel]

Originally Posted by litepipe

I have a friend who has a Bradshaw board. He wouldn't wire the board with George L's for reliability issues.

You don't have to go solderless to cut to length. You can buy bulk cable from redco. That's what I'm going to do.

I'm curious if anyone has heard the difference between canare and Mogami cable?

Mogami is simply a popular brand sold commercially. Canare is simply a company that manufactures the cable.
Almost all companies that manufacture instrument ables are aware of the ideal guatemala wire and cable capacitance.
So the only difference in MOST cables you buy will be durability of the ends near the plug
The best canare has braided copper for maximum RF rejection, and is bendable yet strong. And QUITE afforadble compared to mogami. We use it at my church EVERY Sunday and have not had a problem yet.
People stepping on cables and wrapping them wrong. No problem in sight.
And they sound great

[nedorama]

I think for a pedalboard, you'll find Redco cable is good enough. It's what I use for <1 meter patch cables and sounds fine. you don't need full frequency response when your guitar speaker is going to lop it off anyway... nice to have but not as critical as mic cable. The key will be correctly stripping, prepping and soldering all the wires to good connectors.

[jakey1]

Haven't wired it up yet as waiting new amp cab and stuff, so here's the latest situation- pretty pleased with it.

[IMG]******//farm8.staticflickr.com/7026/6805631793_fa6b4de2a5_b.jpg[/IMG]

[litepipe]

Who makes the smallest angled and straight connectors? Some are huge space hogs. Like the sound of fulltone patch cables but eat up a lot of space. Want to find something small to solder on cables.

[Faderjockey]

My studio is wired with all mogami and Canare for the digital stuff..
At my old building all gtr lines that ran through the wall was Mogami gtr cable..
To allow players to stand in my control room.. I had 4 rooms then..
It always sounded great.

After a bunch of live shows and having George L fail on me live(and I love the sound of it. I test all of our pedals every week with George L) but I had trouble live.. I was going to switch to something else..Then I realized I had a ton of left over Mogami gtr cable from the wall install. So I chopped it up put jacks on it and re-wired my whole board and never had a single problem again and it sound great..

I still use it on a ton of session.. when I made that change over it was in 2006 and they still have not failed. The George L was on my board for less then 2 months and I was having trouble..and my singers pedal board same thing..
Which is a shame..I like the sound of it and I like the size..It fits better on boards then the Mogami but for (me) it didn't last very long.

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by litepipe

Who makes the smallest angled and straight connectors? Some are huge space hogs. Like the sound of fulltone patch cables but eat up a lot of space. Want to find something small to solder on cables.

Thank me for this later. I guy turned me onto these plugs, simply killer deal And thanks again, for one of the board guys here for the parts tip.

1/4" TS Plug Right angle, heavy duty, large lug, large pan head. Tremendous quality, I have used perhaps 40 or more of them soldering my own custom cables.

20 of these for a mere $20 is a silly good deal. They are twice the size of little typical eight angle plugs but with the angle really short distance profile, less than 1/2" probably 3/8".

No need to spend a fortune on cable these days, there are so many options out there.
I simply took a spare high end monster guitar cable I had (w gold connectors) and cut it up into pedal connectors. You can get some decent prices on cable if you look around. As long as the cable is fairly new with bright and quality copper shielding it is fine. Some of my cables are perhaps 4". I still have a ton of cable left. Twice as thick as the stuff you buy at fixed lengths.

I know some swear by the solderless kits. But I just prefer a nice solid hard solder connection. First thing Fulltone tech dept will have you do on a pedal issue is remove the pedal from the board. and any solderless cables. Apparently even though the connection can be firm there is some issue of manifest noise potential.
One has to believe solder becomes a unified weld of the materials verses mere contact, no matter how tight the contact.
That being said, we all know there are countless "swear by George L users" out there, which I do think Lava has a better clamp on the shield wire, a 360 round clamp instead of a set screw. Last I heard Satriani's tech used Planet Waves kits.
Takes so little time to solder, one's time is in the wire prep for either method.

Use a good rosin core solder and it is so easy. Make sure the joints are bright and shiny after cool (hot solder joint).
Hardest part is preping the wire for connections.
I usually sit down and cut my lengths and work on stripping and forming the ends to be soldered.
Takes some care to unweave the shielding and form it onto a connecting line. I try to keep as much as the cable wire insulation as ai can can with just enough exposure to solder.

I use a small piece of stripped wire core to put back some more insulation on the shield line, then using electrical tape and the plugs mylar cap to cover and seal the pan head. Mine are more shielded and isolated than most stuff I have bought. Each cable cost me $2 in plugs and nothing for the high end monster cable I already had. Zero noise running a ton of pedals, of course running true bypass with a front end high tech buffer pedal. Best kept secret in the realm....

1/4" TS Plug Mono Right Angle Male Connector - GLS Audio - 20 Pack

[Timwaldvogel]

Originally Posted by Timwaldvogel

Connectors, I used GLS audio flush mount 1/4" jacks

Darkhorse agrees with me ;-)

GLS jacks are GREAT for the money

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by Timwaldvogel

Darkhorse agrees with me ;-)

GLS jacks are GREAT for the money

You the man!!! Thanks again. I keep ordering them a couple times a year.

Quite possibly the best deal I have ever encountered in all my years messing with all things guitar. $1 a piece for these plugs just boggles the mind. They are such quality and higher end than any flat pan plug I have ever seen or used.

[Benlittlejohn]

[IMG]******//i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm293/Bennettlittlejohn/photo-1.jpg[/IMG]

pedal train mini. powered by 1 spot.

chain is tu3-vintage superoverdrive-modded boss ds1-freeze-malekko vibrato-memory boy-holy grail

hooking it all up with the GLS pan lugs. vibrato is kinda hard to reach but i really minimally use it. let me know what you guys think.

[litepipe]

Originally Posted by Faderjockey

My studio is wired with all mogami and Canare for the digital stuff..
At my old building all gtr lines that ran through the wall was Mogami gtr cable..
To allow players to stand in my control room.. I had 4 rooms then..
It always sounded great.

After a bunch of live shows and having George L fail on me live(and I love the sound of it. I test all of our pedals every week with George L) but I had trouble live..

I have had the same issue. I want to find cable that sounds as good as george l's. I like fulltone cable, but have no idea what kind of cable they are using. Different cable def. sounds different.

[p_wats]

Originally Posted by Benlittlejohn

chain is tu3-vintage superoverdrive-modded boss ds1-freeze-malekko vibrato-memory boy-holy grail

hooking it all up with the GLS pan lugs. vibrato is kinda hard to reach but i really minimally use it. let me know what you guys think.

How do you like the Freeze?

[Benlittlejohn]

Originally Posted by p_wats

How do you like the Freeze?

It's a real fun pedal. i find latch is the setting i use the most. is it worth the money new? probably not. but i got mine for a great price. does stuff that i wished i could for a long time. great for soundscape/background noise. surprisingly useful for bass also.

[darkhorse]

Dude, how old is that yellow Boss? Wow, really dog-hammered. You should have them use that one in a road test add. (I suppose you are not getting any noise from the daisy chaining because of the buffered pedals.) At some point later on you could by-pass loop some of those out pf chain and go for a Voodoo lab or a BBE isolated supply. Just thinking. I always find a pedal board is always growing and evolving at least that is what I find fun.

I started making my own boards a couple years ago. The prefab ones were just too small and limiting for me. It takes like $20 in good wood a little paint and presto cool board. Mine are made so supported (tilt boards) you can stand on them. One of the smartest things I ever tried to get into. My latest board is 4'x30' w an upper shelf for my amp loop chain (see above post). Just too cool and cost me like nothing.


I am starting to get the pedal fever again. I am looking at dropping off some of my more mixed pedals and go for more Wampler pedals.

Just moved some of my chain around again, finally just put the DejaVibe before all gains and overdrive, just sounds better and does the Trower pulse warble the best. I can still get the Hendrix clean w the compressor and it sounds great. Tried my overdrive after gains and it just did not work well. Not much luck with tone stacking. I find I get the best more versatile tones by simply using my new Wampler Compressor with the overdrive or a high gain. God what a great pedal, that Ego Compressor has become my "if I could only have one pedal' choice.

Do check out some of my reviews in the new guitar pedal review section GS just put up. About time we got some guitar pedals in there as it was all high end recording gear. That is all cool, but I've got fever, I need more cowbell!

[Dean Roddey]

You should watch the classifieds here pretty regularly. I just sold a pedalboard's worth for a very good price. They show up pretty regularly.

[mjtripper]

I know I just posted this a month or two ago and I think it's still in the last couple pages but I just changed it up again I swapped out the compressor, moved the pedals around a little to make it easier to bypass the wireless when I want to, cleaned up some cabling, and made some little knob-turn-prevention-thingydos out of plastic and velcro. I'll stop now - I promise.

[IMG]******//homepage.mac.com/mjtrepanier/images/pb6.jpg[/IMG]

[jakey1]

Since selling my tweed pedalboard, this is the layout of the new one, still loads of wiring up and tidying to do.

Still to rebuild rack.

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[img]******//farm8.staticflickr.com/7195/6871516287_a239f1bf46_b.jpg[/img]

[MikeyMortars60mm]

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