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Who has a homemade Pedal Board. Post'm if you got'm


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So, in my quest to go back to analog, I started with a cheap solid state amp and built a homemade cabinet.  But... that just didn't cut it.  So, I bought a cheap but nice tube amp, some new speakers and upgraded my cabinet.  Along the way I bought some cheap pedals to add to my original Crybaby Wah and Ibanez Phaze tone II.  I had some arion pedals I loved but they bit the biscuit.  So, I needed a pedal board to keep it all together.  Remember, I am a cheap ass.  So, I started making my own.  Who else built their own?  I know other threads were about pedal boards but don't remember if they were mainly about homemade. (too lazy to look right now)

Here is a couple of early build pictures of mine.  Hope to finish in a day or so.  Wah on one side with the full size and mini pedals moving to the left.

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There’s a bunch of sites that do DYI clone kits. I tried a Trembata Mini Bone kit. That was fun to build and it flat out does some amazing things. 

https://www.pedalpcb.com/product/trumpeter/

I have made my own pedal boards but I use factory built w power supply now.

 

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4 hours ago, tomteriffic said:

Just finished one based on a gutted SKB Footnote.  The one with the built in practice amp and speaker.   Well, not any more.  No pix at the moment but I ought to get some.

That’s the amp I bought.  Parts express was selling them for $15.

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Back about 5 years after I started playing (in the 80s), I asked my dad to help me build something for my wah, 3 different drive pedals, delay and I used the DOD power supply they had back then.  Bought connectors at Radio Shack and wired them up.  My dad was a strong guy, so the end result was heavy, but awesome especially for back then for a 16 year old kid to have.  It was probably about 30" wide, 5" or 6" tall with the lid on.  

The side facing me had a small lip, but the sides angled up toward the back to keep people from stepping on stuff.  A nice lid that latched on well, too.  Heavy duty rubber feet on the bottom, too.  The outside was painted black and the inside painted white to see easily on stage.  He also put foam on the inside of the lid so things didn't move around when transporting and heavy duty drawer pulls on either side as handles.  Oh, yeah, he didn't use plywood, but some wood he had laying around from some project, so the base, sides and lid were all probably 3/4" thick.   

Wish I had a photo of that, but who would've thought back then I'd be talking about it now?  

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Biggest homemade pedalboard I ever had was a Rickenbacker 360 series double-stitched guitar case. Circa early 2000s, Cajun Boy and I tore the foam and fur out, put thin slats and velcro all in it, and put detachable hinges on it. The case lid was the bottom, the "dish" bottom of the case was the removable lid. That case had an A/B/Y amp switching box, a ton of stomboxes in separate effects chains for each amp, two or three bricks powering it all,  power strips ... sucker weighed more than the amps. I need to find a pic of it.

The board I use now is a homemade aircraft-grade aluminum job, done by old timer HFC'er Mindseye about 10 years ago. It was as big as a door when I got it, huge and my neighbor and I cut it in half with a grinder of some sort. I added a back riser for more shit. Here's a shot I found of it about a year or two ago in one of my rewiring incarnations.

 29683235_10215512545107229_6204079700719

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Well, I didn't make it at my house, but I have a homemade board my buddy made for me for my birthday. These are older pics, so a couple pedals have changed on it, but the board remains the same.

 

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Here's the latest incarnation of the homemade board I've been using for the last 25 years or so.  The top is 12” x 18”, pegboard painted with Rustoleum hammertone paint.  There's a Voodoo PedalPower 2+ under the deck.  The rest is pretty self-explanatory.

2RkqICv.jpg

 

Just for fun, I also have this board, set up for surf rock.  It's made out of an old skim board my kids outgrew.  With this one, I can get away with a simple OneSpot supply and a daisy chain.

3QuErKQ.jpg

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13 hours ago, Rich_S said:

Here's the latest incarnation of the homemade board I've been using for the last 25 years or so.  The top is 12” x 18”, pegboard painted with Rustoleum hammertone paint.  There's a Voodoo PedalPower 2+ under the deck.  The rest is pretty self-explanatory.

2RkqICv.jpg

 

Just for fun, I also have this board, set up for surf rock.  It's made out of an old skim board my kids outgrew.  With this one, I can get away with a simple OneSpot supply and a daisy chain,

3QuErKQ.jpg

Like to two layer for the wiring.  Cool Surf board idea.  I almost used my old skateboard.   

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All i use is a digitech RP 355. But all i really use is distortion. When i mix down on my MIXCRAFT 8 PRO STUDIO DAW, I might add a little chorus and maybe a little reverb. I don't use a lot of effects. Use to many and your music sounds like a jumbled mass of shit. It's a lo t easier getting crystal clear recordings without a lot of effects. To each his own. The RP 355 has it all man. Everything i need in 1 unit. Of course i'm not gigging. I'm just writing and recording. With the help of my vocalist from Tulsa we manage to create some halfway decent stuff. He is an old band mate. We've been doing this for about 3 years. We have 18 copyrights so far. Any of you guys heard of REVERBNATION ? if not it's a musicians website with over 6 million members. You can post your tunes for the whole planet to listen to. There are constantly record labels looking for new stuff. Everybody wants to make the cash. So if you think your songs are good enough for people to listen to put them on there. You can join  for free.   If anybody is interested JImmy and i call ourselves Bottoms Burning.  You can browse reverbnation and find us. There are a few bands that call themselves that. We are the ones with DRUNKEN STATE COLLEGE on a sweatshirt. Had Custom ink put that on there for me. Naturally there is some real crap on there but there is great stuff as well. Usually the higher ranked ones are the best.  There are all genres any style you can think of. It's really worth at least checking out. A lot of people have their music for sale cheap,  Ours is protected so we opt to let people download if they wish. There are people out there with resources looking for ideas to rip off. That's why copyrighting is the way to go. Mailing yourself an unopened cd of your stuff and relying on the post date is no good according to the powers that be. Copyrighting is a pain at first but it gets easy. The more members the more complicated it gets. You can copyright 9 tunes for 55 $. As a collective work the trick is you need to choose CONTENTS TITLE when it comes up. Do that and your golden. Strongly suggest that people serious  about it get their shit copyrighted. It really is the only way to protect your ideas. And i know for a fact that there are an awful lot of good ideas out there. Every musician i know and have ever known have at least some of their own stuff. Most of what i've heard is pretty decent. Sooooo Keep on rockin 

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This bass-centric array just squeezes onto my primary board, made from a pine shelf unused in an armoire kit I finished in '89. That shelf made three other, increasingly small modular boards. The Oxide is a concession over my TAFM but it's been great, especially when squealing P90s!

1CBB651E-547F-44F4-AE4A-44FDA84D28B9.jpeg

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22 minutes ago, EricS said:

This bass-centric array just squeezes onto my primary board, made from a pine shelf unused in an armoire kit I finished in '89. That shelf made three other, increasingly small modular boards. The Oxide is a concession over my TAFM but it's been great, especially when squealing P90s!

1CBB651E-547F-44F4-AE4A-44FDA84D28B9.jpeg

Love those Flat cables.   Have to look for those.

 @meathead321

I have tons of computer effects using Bias FX, Amplitube, etc that I used to record an album and lots of songs that I had a great time recording.  Just wanted to go back analog.  I've been using digital/computer amps and effects since the early 2000's.  Guess, I wanted to get back to my roots.  And, I love the sounds of effects with guitar. Some of my favorite guitarists use lots.  Everything can be overdone.  but as is said.  Too much is enough!

 

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I've been building these boards for years using materials bought at Home Depot.  Aluminum U channel cut to fit the lumber and held in place with rivets then covered the whole thing in velcro. Circular miter saw with a little wax on the blade makes these cuts easy. When monocase started making pedalboard cases I built new boards to fit. The larger one was the guitar pedalboard and the smaller was the bass pedalboard.  The aluminum boxes on the guitar board were custom patchbays and re-housed power supplies I built. Did the same thing on the bass board but the patchbays and power supplies are smaller & hidden under the shelf. 

p2UrD0p.jpg

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I put this together as a back up for my Headrush Pedalboard and powered cabs.  My first Headrush crapped out when the USB port died.  I had twenty or more hours of programming into that unit and they just replaced it and ignored my plea to save my data.  I have no confidence in the HR stuff, but I haven't totally given up.  The HR sounded great, but I just can't ignore the failure rates.  Hence, the "little rig".

I use an X-Vive wireless from my guitar into the wah.  I use an X-Vive wireless from the pedalboard to my Line 6 powered cab replete with six speaker IR's (impulse responses of which I prefer the "Greenback 12")).  So, I just plug in the A/C cord and no cables on stage. 

The Wah has three different settings and I use the "Vintage" one.  Basically, an original Cry Baby.  I'm told they get bigger, when they get older. 

The Purple Plexi is the best sounding 50wt Marshall Plexi pedal I've tried.  I used the boost all the time to enhance the clean on the Fly.  Think Blackface Twin on the clean.  Videos on YouTube show off the Purple Plexi tone.  My bandmates all say it's the best tone I've had in years. 

The FlyRig 5 Version 2 has the "Blonde" channel.  It's supposed to be a blonde Tremolux or Bassman.  The drive sounds like output tube distortion like a cranked Fender.  Great for cranked chords and cleans right up, when dialed down on the guitar.  Not perfect, but really close to a Bassman or Tremolux.  The Plexi channel is Tech 21's version of a 50wt Plexi or a "Cali" Boogie (think Mark II-C).  The Fly Plexi tone isn't close to the Purple Plexi, so it won't get used.  The Cali channel is fantastic.  It's, like a Boogie, a little loose on the bottom end, but so sweet on the top. 

The Fly has a room or hall reverb.  You have that choice and a level control.  The room reverb is my choice.  I just like a little ambience.  You hear it more when nobody's playing.  The hall's cool, but too much for my taste. 

It also has a great echo.  Reminds me of my favorite Scholz Stereo Echo units, but with tap tempo and a switch to increase the "wow and flutter" of a tape echo on the repeats.  Almost like a bit of modulation on the repeats. 

Last on the Fly is the tuner and the boost.  The tuner is great.  You can have the boost set "Pre" and get increased gain on the Blonde and Cali channels.  But I prefer "Post" which is just a volume boost.  Great little feature.

Last, I have a Keeley DynoMyRoto pedal in the Fly's effects loop.  It has a tri-chorus (think early Boss), a great Flanger and a Leslie simulation.  The loop is a bit hot, so I turn down the level on the pedal itself.  Really works well with all the different "channels".  Great unit.

So, I have four different amp tones, reverb, delay, boost and the Keeley.  And I'm almost sure I'm going to use this full time.  It just sounds great.  My life is simple again.

sr3yC9N.jpg

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 7/11/2019 at 6:54 PM, tomteriffic said:

Yep.  The speaker punches waaay above it's pay grade too.

 

Yep,  Definitely agree.  I bought a second one and wish I had bought four of these instead of the other two 8 inch celestion's.   I wired two together and they sound great. Much more "meatier" midrange than the celestion. More grit and response. 

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