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Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
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PS tremolo before reverb ; )
Which only leads to one bit of good advice, there are no rules in pedal setups, just general starting points. Use your ears, play around, have some fun and don't believe anyone who tells you that their way is the only way.
Ps fluffy side of velcro belongs on the pedal!
Always wire with a bit of extra length in mind for Jack cables and power for the inevitable introduction of new pedals.
There is nothing worse than having to buy new cables after your 50th new, last time ever (honest) delay/drive pedal rocks up
Some cable tie bases like this will keep everything in place on the back side to avoid cables getting snarled up every time you move the board and are a great help for cable routing.
Do not put any cable ties down until about a few days after to make sure you are happy with pedal order, location etc.
Watch out for your pedals' mA draw and match them to your power supply accordingly, no use putting a 100mA drive pedal onto a 500mA outlet and then struggling for power on your super snazzy digital delay for example.
Just recently I realised that although having the power supply underneath might be good for a neatness point of view, having it top mounted makes it much easier to wire up and also troubleshoot any power problems along the way. If you have room to do so I'd recommend it.
As others have said, experiment with pedal order (personally I'd just put them on the floor and have a play around, then move them to the board when you're happy).
As for "when am I ready?" You'll never be ready. It works in reverse, you become ready by doing it. - pmbomb
FLIR
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
I went through many iterations of my pedalboard before I got one, but it makes life so much easier in terms of running cables, particularly if you have an amp footswitch on your board, or if you run 4CM. It'll cost you £50 or less from somewhere like Bright Onion, and probably ten or fifteen quid to make yourself if you know how to solder.
Don't talk politics and don't throw stones. Your royal highnesses.
Curious as to the justification regarding velcro - I've heard the opposite on the basis that putting hook on the board turns it into a large metal fluff collecting tray.
Great stuff, thanks!
Ha ha ha you fool! You know it's going to happen
Don't skimp on power. I used a shitty MXR brick for a while, went to gigrig (too faffy) then went to Strymon Power....never been happier.
I also wouldn't use Dual Lock until you're 1000% satisfied with both your pedals and the order they go in. Normal Velcro is way less of a ball ache.
Patch bays are ace.
You can never have enough OD's or Fuzzes.
If you don't use a lot of modulation but want to dip in and out, the boss MD200 is a diamond and can be picked up for around £150.
Consider a HX Stomp before splurging on loads of Drives, Modulation etc....it might do everything you want, but will certainly give you a flavour for trying things that you might then want to acquire in pedal format.
Get into DIY patch cables for much neater board
Save up for a GOOD PSU with a little more power and sockets than you need.
Get a board slightly larger than you think you will need
Consider getting a Looper or Midi switcher if needed.
Plan everything, get a spreadsheet out, go to the pedal maker's page and get all the mAh rating and "map it" to a socket, added it up to make sure it will handle it.
Get a tree diagram on paper what goes where, which cable goes where.
This is probably just me but I even thought about the wear on the first pedal in and last pedal out and the wear on the socket so i did it in a way that pedal is a cheap one. I put a buffer on the front and a Ditto on the back of the chain. It would be easier to replace a Ditto than a Timeline (or any of my other delay pedals really). I might not use the Ditto much but it will save the wear on the Timeline.
Another good use for a patchbay, particularly if you make it yourself because you know you'll be able to replace any jack sockets that do crap out. Good quality jack sockets are still cheaper than cheap pedals.
Don't talk politics and don't throw stones. Your royal highnesses.
Also, the best tip I could possibly give
NEVER USE SIDE MOUNTED OR BACK MOUNTED jacks on the side of your board- I guarantee you'll stand on the jack lead barrel at some point and break an expensive instrument cable- always have some form of support underneath or put them where you don't walk.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
I agree for mono - but for a multi amp rig, use an amp switcher and place it so there is some support for the jack barrel sleeves underneath, to save your size 12's breaking it. You'll do more damage that way than any other.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
A patchbay itself contains maybe four inches of cable. If you wanted to, you could use the same shielded cable you use for instrument cable to connect the sockets. It might necessitate another foot or two of patch cable on your board, but even that won't have any tonal effect, particularly if the OP follows your advice and puts a good buffer on the board too.
Extra potential points of failure? Sure, maybe, but on a big pedalboard it's a drop in the bucket, and you have to weigh that against the ease of setup, teardown and troubleshooting that a patchbay gives you.
Spoken like a man who can't solder. Getting a broken jackplug out of a socket is going to be a pain, but replacing a broken jackplug on an instrument cable is no big deal.
Don't talk politics and don't throw stones. Your royal highnesses.