Configuring a pedal board for use with / without some pedals in the effects loop

citizen68

The Ed O'Brien pedalboard build thread got me thinking about a mini dilemna I've been puzzling about. 

I use two amps for gigging (not at same time) - with one setup all my effects go straight in to the front of a clean Fender amp. With the other amp I put my delay and reverb pedals into the effects loop as I use that amp's o/d. 

I've been trying to work out a neater way of sorting my board rather than having to unplug and replug cables into pedals and running the risk of eventually knackering patch cables or pedal jacks over time. Would the Gig-Rig Cinco Cinco junction box or something similar be a way around this? Has anyone else had this 'problem' and thought of a tidy solution? Thanks for any help.

JCA2550

You can get Daniel and Co at The GigRig to make a custom version of the Quarter Master switcher. I have a custom ordered Quarter Master 6 with a total of 5 loops for pedals, but with what would be, loop 4 sacrificed/replaced for an "insert loop". I use  it with various rigs like this: 

Guitar > Various "in front of amp" pedals in the first three loops then, the insert loop which sends output to the front of the amp. The amp's FX send, comes back to the insert loop return and then I have delay and reverb (or Rotosphere) in the last 2 loops and output > back to FX return.

This works well with my amps that have FX loops but if I want to use it in front of a cleaner amp or borrowed backline, I just pop a patch lead in to the insert loop and tweak the pedal settings to suit.

You could do something the same or similar with various bypass loopers I'm sure.

Cheers,

C.

citizen68

That's a nice way of getting around it @JCA2550 and cheers appreciate the suggestion. 

I'm using a PT1 and don't really have room for (or need if I'm honest) a switcher so was hoping to solve it using some sort of a junction box mounted underneath the pedaltrain beside the power supply - I remember watching a Pete Thorn clip a short while back where he had something on his smaller 'fly-board' that did the trick... must try and find that vid!

EDIT - it was actually his big board - 4.50 onwards here:   - bit more complicated than I thought!

I'll probably look for a simpler fix 

I'm thinking now a 4 way junction box (similar to Cinco Cinco layout) with 2 main outs in case I ever want to use 2 amps together and  send & return jacks wired to the delay & reverb pedals might do the trick - then for the Fender amp I can just put a short patch cable between the send and return jacks. For those in the know does that sound like it would work ok?  Not so sure when i think about it..

:-?

BadlyDrawnBoy

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.569531783115743.1073741825.150011031734489&type=1

citizen68

Thanks @BadlyDrawnBoy - that looks perfect - have sent Bright Onion a message

BadlyDrawnBoy

getting one for myself as well

citizen68

Just ordered one from James at Bright Onion - cheers again for the heads up - it's not available/visible on their website yet..

citizen68

Big thanks to James at Bright Onion I caught OCD off my missus & Bright Onion's pedalboard patchbox just tidies up my pedal board nicely. http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k405/citizen68/539DEF4F-A9F4-4E3B-B0F5-7CDFB5CA2D49.jpg

ICBM

The box in the top right corner.

http://www.theangelconversations.com/pics/LargeBoard.jpg

The four metal jacks are 'from guitar', 'to amp input', 'from amp send' and 'to amp return'. (The plastic jacks connect to the two footswitches at the lower left.)

The 'to amp input' and 'from amp send' jacks have switched contacts so they connect to each other if there's nothing in them, and the board becomes a straight in front of the amp one.

citizen68

Cool solution too @ICBM - I'm hazarding a guess that you built this yourself?

ICBM

citizen68 said:

@ICBM - I'm hazarding a guess that you built this yourself?

Yes, and it was more of a pain than you can probably believe! Hence why - with the exception of the Boss HF-2 being replaced by a BF-2 - it has remained unchanged for ten years!

citizen68

Cool board - mmmmm Voodoo Vibe

ICBM

citizen68 said:

Cool board - mmmmm Voodoo Vibe

So cool I designed the entire board around it, to put it in the top left corner. I had to modify it to bring all the jacks to the front and right sides too, so it really isn't going anywhere .

The Power Bank power supply is heavily modded inside as well, in case anyone was wondering why I'm using such a crap one - they were all that was easily available when I started getting into pedalboards, and I'm such a cheapskate I never got around to buying a better one .

citizen68

Been through a few of those power banks over the years. They never seemed to last longer than 18 months for me

Mildly surprised by your patch cables though

Must be great to be able to fix/mod all your gear & amps yourself - how did you start out learning all that stuff (esp the valve amps)?

ICBM

citizen68 said:

Mildly surprised by your patch cables though

They work fine and they're pretty colours that match the pedals . No need for anything more expensive or hassle to make. On a mostly buffered board they don't affect the tone either.

I'm totally self-taught with all this stuff. I started out as a teenager with an interest in electronics and hi-fi, and just sort of went from there. Maybe a bit of school and university physics, but nothing directly related to music electronics or valves.

citizen68

Great to have that knowledge & even better sharing it on here.. always appreciated 

 How did you start out learning about amps? 

 Wasn't dissing your cables btw - still use those myself