Tuner Pedal, any favorites?

[two4motion]

Originally Posted by courtneyhate

Tu-2 - it might sound frivolous now but it can use the daisy chain wire to power all your other pedals (i power boss, line 6, danelectro and a Phase 90 pedals with the TU2.). Great if your band practices alot and you have to keep buying batteries.

That's a valid point.
However, for me, the pedal board I'm planning on getting (Furman Sound SPB-8C) should solve most of my power problems with other pedals.

My other pedal board choice would be the SKB PS-45.
I just have to save up for either one.

[robotnerd]

i actually suggest building your own pedal board. you get exactly what you want, and at a fraction of the cost of buying a new one. i've built two now, my last one only cost me about $50 in materials.

[courtneyhate]

Originally Posted by robotnerd

i actually suggest building your own pedal board. you get exactly what you want, and at a fraction of the cost of buying a new one. i've built two now, my last one only cost me about $50 in materials.

A big second on that one.

[GearJunkie]

Originally Posted by courtneyhate

A big second on that one.

Couldn't agree more. Pedalboards with built in power supplies are problems waiting to happen. Especially those with power plugs that aren't detachable. One show when you trip over the cord, pull out the power plug and now don't have power. So you go to the store, buy a new power supply for your board, which you have to install in front of this big ass box on your pedalboard that's supplying your power.

It's a disaster waiting to happen. Buy a power supply like a voodoo labs pedal power or dunlop DC brick. They're more reliable than a powered pedalboard and have replaceable parts.

[two4motion]

Originally Posted by GearJunkie

Couldn't agree more. Pedalboards with built in power supplies are problems waiting to happen. Especially those with power plugs that aren't detachable. One show when you trip over the cord, pull out the power plug and now don't have power. So you go to the store, buy a new power supply for your board, which you have to install in front of this big ass box on your pedalboard that's supplying your power.

It's a disaster waiting to happen. Buy a power supply like a voodoo labs pedal power or dunlop DC brick. They're more reliable than a powered pedalboard and have replaceable parts.

Wow, thanks guys (robotnerd, courtneyhate, and gear junkie). You just saved spending a whole lot of money. I was thinking saving up for one of these was the way to go to make my rig solid, but it doesn't sound like that's the case.

[GearJunkie]

Originally Posted by two4motion

Wow, thanks guys (robotnerd, courtneyhate, and gear junkie). You just saved spending a whole lot of money. I was thinking saving up for one of these was the way to go to make my rig solid, but it doesn't sound like that's the case.

i could go on for days telling you the right and wrong way to make a pedalboard. Things you wanna do would be this:

1. Get a pedalboard kit from George L's. You can cut all the lengths of cable yourself and they sound fantastic. They're real small cables that'll fit on a tight pedalboard, and have great signal to noise ratio. Don't go to radioshack and get that bag of multi colored pedal to pedal cables.... they SUCK.

2. Get a good power supply. Don't put a surge protector on there with a bunch of power adaptors. A) It'll sound like crap and B) it'll sound like crap. I've got two Voodoo Labs pedalpowers on my board. They're amazing.

3. Buy a pedalboard either on ebay or some other companies that'll make you a heavy duty board either built into an ATA case or otherwise. These'll have metal edges, built like a tank, and wont fall apart. You can find them for like $80 with latches and the whole 9 yards. If you're gonna build your own board, get a heavy piece of wood, nothing flimsy. Put handles on the sides to be easier to carry, and be able to route cables through it (so when you step on a cable during a set that you're not gonna pull out your input).

4. Think of everything that could possibly go wrong with your board and fix it before it happens. If you're using that super sweet vintage fuzz you've had forever that wonks out here or there, have it sent out to get rehoused in a better box with a better switch on it so you don't have to worry about it crapping out on you onstage.

5. Better yet: buy a pedal that sounds like it but is more durable. If boss made every pedal I've ever wanted, I'd have a board of all boss stuff. You can throw those things down a flight of stairs and they'll be fine.

6. Buy those little stick on pickholders, mount them on your board. I put two of them on my pedal powers. Every show I do I've always got a full stock of picks right there. If you can't find those, get an Altoids box, put velcro on it, and put it on your board along with your capo (which you will undoubtedly forget, but wont if it's in the box).

that's my baby.

[two4motion]

Originally Posted by GearJunkie

i could go on for days telling you the right and wrong way to make a pedalboard. Things you wanna do would be this:

Awesome. Thanks for putting all that time into your response, I appreciate, great advice.

Originally Posted by GearJunkie

1. Get a pedalboard kit from George L's. You can cut all the lengths of cable yourself and they sound fantastic. They're real small cables that'll fit on a tight pedalboard, and have great signal to noise ratio. Don't go to radioshack and get that bag of multi colored pedal to pedal cables.... they SUCK.

Cool, I just checked out their site. The other DIY cables I keep seeing pushed are Core X2's.

Originally Posted by GearJunkie

2. Get a good power supply. Don't put a surge protector on there with a bunch of power adaptors. A) It'll sound like crap and B) it'll sound like crap. I've got two Voodoo Labs pedalpowers on my board. They're amazing.

That seems to be the most popular, that and the Dunlop DC Brick

Originally Posted by GearJunkie

3. Buy a pedalboard either on ebay or some other companies that'll make you a heavy duty board either built into an ATA case or otherwise. These'll have metal edges, built like a tank, and wont fall apart. You can find them for like $80 with latches and the whole 9 yards. If you're gonna build your own board, get a heavy piece of wood, nothing flimsy. Put handles on the sides to be easier to carry, and be able to route cables through it (so when you step on a cable during a set that you're not gonna pull out your input).

If I don't go the "build my own" route, I might buy a NYC Pedalboard, they've got some pretty good options, and I like the style of them.

Originally Posted by GearJunkie

4. Think of everything that could possibly go wrong with your board and fix it before it happens. If you're using that super sweet vintage fuzz you've had forever that wonks out here or there, have it sent out to get rehoused in a better box with a better switch on it so you don't have to worry about it crapping out on you onstage.

5. Better yet: buy a pedal that sounds like it but is more durable. If boss made every pedal I've ever wanted, I'd have a board of all boss stuff. You can throw those things down a flight of stairs and they'll be fine.

I'm a definitely a fan of BOSS' reputation for durability.

Originally Posted by GearJunkie

6. Buy those little stick on pickholders, mount them on your board. I put two of them on my pedal powers. Every show I do I've always got a full stock of picks right there. If you can't find those, get an Altoids box, put velcro on it, and put it on your board along with your capo (which you will undoubtedly forget, but wont if it's in the box).

Good call, didn't even think of that. Thanks again!

[robotnerd]

i looked into NYC pedal boards, over the years, i think it's pretty safe to say i've looked into EVERY company, DIY or otherwise, that makes pedal boards. this is what i've found works best for me:
- layout your pedals in the computer, make them to scale, and organize them for your signal chain, i use adobe illustrator for this. however, if you don't have that, you can probably get pretty close with microsoft word. once you've got all your pedals to scale and in the right place in digital format, you can use that same scale to figure out how big a piece of wood you need. you should end up with something like this, which you can print out and bring with you:


- plan out the rest of the box. i build my pedal board AS a case. I plan out as much detail in measurement as i can ahead of time. then i know exactly how much wood i need. so i also end up with something like this:

- find a friend with a table saw. or someone that has access to one. then go to home depot and buy 1 huge slab of plywood, i suggest 1/2", i used 3/4" once and it was WAY too heavy.
- measure and cut all your wood.
- use wood glue for the joints, predrill and screw it all together. also, i found it helps to mount L brackets on the INSIDE on the piece that will have the handle (i suggest the bottom aka the side with the pedals), this will support all the weight of the pedals without weakening the screw joints.
- get a can or two of krylon flat black, and spray the monster.
- using spray adhesive to extra secure your strips of industrial strength velcro. then use a staple gun to really make sure those guys stay secure.

then you're pretty much good to go. sure, it's not the most CONVENIENT way of doing things, but i find it fun, and rewarding, b/c now i've got a board that is exactly what i want. the hardware you can experiment with, draw latches, chest handles, etc. my last board seriously cost me about $50-$60 in materials and about 10 hours in labor, total.






this has been my "building pedal boards 101" post. maybe i should've started another thread?

[two4motion]

Originally Posted by robotnerd

this has been my "building pedal boards 101" post. maybe i should've started another thread?

Seriously! Thanks for all the great advice. It's going to be a little while before I do anything, and so I'll have to time to figure which way I'm going to go. Thanks again, I really appreciate it!