BigSteve's Pedalboard: Mk II

[BigSteve22]

I haven't posted much lately, but I have been keeping busy. New guitar build is nearing completion of the "Parts Collection" stage, and construction should start soon. To occupy myself between builds, I've developed another bad habit: Pedals......

Much like most bad habits, it started with, "I'll just try it once". Then, "A second one won't hurt". Soon it was, "Oh what the hell!". I now have 10.......

Problem is, the little oak pedalboard I built, is nowhere near, even being close, to being able to handle things as they stand. Because of that, I once again had wires messily strewn about the floor in my little corner of the living room. What's a man to do?

Here's my latest project: Pedalboard Mk II.

I broke down and bought a T-Rex board, mainly because I liked the tiered, bi-level, construction.

Because it has a solid front edge, I was able to install a switched inlet.

The inlet allowed me to install an on-board power supply.

Signal chain is like this:
Electro Harmonix "Hum Debugger", (because of all the EMF noise in my house),
Korg "Pitch Black" tuner,
Electro Harmonix "Tone Corset" compressor,
Electro Harmonix "Pitch Fork" pitch shifter,
Line 6 "M5 Stompbox Modeler",
TC Electronic "Mini Cororna" chorus,
TC Electronic "Hall of Fame II" reverb,
Way Huge "Saucy Box" OD,
TC Electronic "Ditto Stereo Looper",
Boss "NS-2" noise gate.

I grounded the top plate to act as sort of a half-assed shield between the pedals and the PS. (It apparently does some good, because the only noise I hear is when the OD is engaged, and I expected that.) Pedals are held in place with 3M "Dual Lock", and connected with D'Addario Planet Waves patch cables. Underneath, warts are mounted with double-stick, PS with Dual Lock, and wiring is held in place with self adhesive pads and zip ties. PS is a Donner "DP-2", second wart is from EHX to supply 7.5vac to the Hum Debugger.

 

[Cagey]

Well done! Looks good! Have you tried moving it around much yet? I'm curious how well the Velcro holds up. I haven't had much luck with the stuff, so most things are screwed down, but then rearranging things becomes very difficult. I just wonder if I'm using the wrong Velcro.

 

[BigSteve22]

Thanks Kevin! I considered making a larger version of the little oak jobbie, but considering what the little one weighs, I thought it best to go a little more conventional this time around.

And BTW, no Velcro, 3M Dual Lock. Much stronger. Not a "hook and loop" type thing, in fact, no fuzz at all. Stuff looks like a field of little "mushrooms", and mates to itself. When you press two pieces together, the mushroom heads pass by each other easily on the way in, but lock against each other when you try to pull it apart. To test it, I picked up the board by grabbing two pedals and lifting. Nothing budged, and this sucker is pretty weighty. To separate it, you really gotta put some muscle into it! Stuff is rated for 1000 operations, that's a lot of moving things around. :icon_thumright:

 

[Verne Bunsen]

I am also a fan of the 3M Dual Lock. I can turn my board upside down and nothing, including a Line 6 Helix, even budges. It is wonderful stuff.

 

[Cagey]

Ok, I'll have to try some. I have Velcro on my current board under a couple Boss FS-5 dual footswitches, which I'm sure only weigh about a pound, and they'll fall off just under their own weight when the board's closed up and being carried. I can't imagine a real pedal like a Crybaby or something lasting more than a few seconds.

 

[new-killer-star]

That's so weird. I have my ax8 on my pedalboard with velcro and it's been fine at 11 lbs, maybe i just don't carry it enough for it to fall out.

 

[Cagey]

Or, maybe some Velcro is better than others. I'm finding out even the Dual-Lock stuff comes in different grades/colors/adhesives.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Or, maybe some Velcro is better than others. I'm finding out even the Dual-Lock stuff comes in different grades/colors/adhesives.

For whatever it’s worth, I use this in 2” width on my board:
https://www.itapestore.com/3m-dual-lock-sj3540-by-the-yard.html

And this in 1” width on the pedals:
https://www.itapestore.com/3m-dual-lock-sj3542-by-the-yard.html

 

[Cagey]

Thanks! Looks like I'm gonna have to save my pennies - they sure don't give that stuff away, do they?

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Thanks! Looks like I'm gonna have to save my pennies - they sure don't give that stuff away, do they?

No sir, they are proud of it...

 

[BigSteve22]

Thanks! Looks like I'm gonna have to save my pennies - they sure don't give that stuff away, do they?

No sir, they are proud of it...

I got the black stuff on ebay from seller "kaganadair". Pricing was better than most.

 

[Cagey]

Thanks - I'll look him up.

 

[BigSteve22]

Been indulging my pedal addiction again. Added a Mooer "Acoustikar" Acoustic simulator, a BBE "Sonic Stomp", and an Earthquaker Devices "Tone Job" EQ. Somebody stop me........  :tard:

 

[Cagey]

Pedals can get addictive. Before you know it, you'll have a drawer full of them .

 

[Rick]

I found getting a voodoo lab pedal power 2, removed my hum.

 

[BigSteve22]

I found getting a voodoo lab pedal power 2, removed my hum.

The EXH HumDebugger is to quiet single coil pup noise. Without it, non-paird single coils are unacceptably noisy. It does nothing for pedal induced or ground loop hum. I do have the Boss NS-2 gate at the other end of the chain, but it's usually only necessary when using the OD at high gain type settings. I keep the OD hooked into the send and return ports of the NS-2, so it gates in response to the rest of the signal path, and ignores the OD when evaluating the threshold setting, essentially gating in response to the guitar. Other than that, this board's pretty quiet.

As for the PSA, I have 2 Donners, a DP-2 in this board and a DP-1 in the little wooden job. I know they aren't "Pro Grade" units, but they both have 10 isolated outputs. The DP-2 has eight, 9VDC outputs, six 100mA and two 500mA. It also has 12VDC and 18VDC outputs, both rated at 500mA. This is more than enough power to run my board. I also picked up a couple of buck converters which I can use to run 9 volt pedals off the 12 or 18 volt outputs, should the need arise. (The EQ runs on anything from 9 to 18 volts, and I currently have it running at 12.)