New Pedalboard

I obviously went with the really big pedalboard.

This was my workflow:

1. Select the pedals

This is an obvious starting point however not all of the pedals that I wanted to use would fit on the board. And positioning them on the platform is a bit like the game of Tetris. There is a certain flow that makes sense and there is a certain spacing that makes sense. It starts though with a collection of pedals. I had 20 pedals. I had to pare down that set.

2. Set the order of the pedals

This is where the combination of order of effects and visual flow of effects comes into play. Generally speaking, a guitar signal likes compression before overdrives, overdrives before modulations, modulations before delays.

3. Place the pedals on the pedalboard

Personally, I like the pedals to be grouped in a logical fashion. I use a true bypass effects loop to switch some of the pedals in and out and so the order of the pedals do not need to match their position on the pedalboard. For this pedalboard, the order of effects:

Guitar -> EP Booster -> Keeley Compressor -> input of True Bypass Effects Loop -> Loop 1 (Pog) -> Loop 2 (Timmy) -> Loop 3 (Alpha Dog) -> Loop 4 (Full-Drive 3) -> Loop 5 (Volume Pedal) -> Loop 6 (Mobius) -> Loop 7 (Wet Reverb) -> output of True Bypass Effects Loop -> El Capistan -> Timeline -> Amp

The pedals were logically grouped to make it easy to run the audio and power lines underneath the board. I did, however, have to discard 6 pedals. Even on a large pedalboard there can be such a thing as too many pedals.

4. Make the audio connections

I prefer to use soldered cables. I find them far more robust than the solderless variety. Because I switch out pedals and pedalboards so frequently, I have a large number of cables pre-cut to specific lengths (4 inches, 6 inches, 8 inches, 12 inches, 16 inches). I do a continuity test of the cable before I connect it. Once all of the pedals are connected, I dress the cables with cable ties. Everything nice and neat.

5. Make the power connections

I have two power supplies underneath the board. One can feed the pedals that have a higher draw which, in my case, are the two Strymon pedals (Timeline and Mobius). All of the power cables are right-angled and a standard length. Once everything is connected, I feed power and make sure all of the pedals light up. I then dress the power cables with cable ties.

6. Test the pedalboard

I then connect the pedalboard to the guitar and amp and check all of the true bypass connections.

After 5 hours of work last night and early this morning, I had a new pedalboard.

I’m not sure I can carry it though. It is really heavy.