DIY Pedalboard ideas?

[newey]

I have several pedals. I don't use them much. I don't have any 9V AC wallwarts for any of them, so batteries it is.

Usually, when I hook one up to use it, the battery is dead. Did I mention I don't use them much? Mostly, they just clutter the floor in front of my amp.

So, I'm a-doing some thunkin', and I thunk that I need to either ditch the pedals altogether, or break down and buy a gol-durn power supply already.

And I did, one of them Godlyke multi-mega universal power supply doohickeys, $25 at MF, and winging its way to me as I here do post.

Having solved (hopefully) the power problem, I'm now pondering the clutter issue. A pedalboard will solve that problem, but I don't need anything fancy, enough to hold 4 pedals or so with, perhaps, some room for future expansion. And I don't want to spend a lot, so I'm looking for something the I could recycle for pedal use. Not being in any particular hurry, I can search about the flea markets and garage sales for a suitably sized boxy object that can be "repurposed".

Has anyone used some other type of case, board, whatever as the basis for a pedalboard? My thought was that an old clarinet case might do the trick, with some holes for the cables and some reworking of the interior. Or maybe a camera case. Or a woman's cosmetics case . . .

I thought of building one from scratch, had a design in mind out of a piece of scrap plywood and some carpeting. But that would involve setting up some wood shop time with my overworked friend- my travel git project languishes due to shop scheduling problems, so that option could be another 6 months.

Any ideas what to look for? My goal is something I can find for about $10 at some garage sale or pawnshop, or better yet, garbage-pick it. ;D (cheap is!) ;D

[JohnH]

My current work-around pedal board is an old laptop case. It was for a small laptop, but it holds 5 or 6 pedals, all wired up, a wall-wart power supply, and my cords. On a Monday morning I can be seen on trains with that in one hand and axe in the other, real laptop bag over shoulder, heading towards rehearsal after work in the evening.

John

[newey]

That's a good idea! Although I had in mind something hardsided. It's mostly going to be sitting on the floor, and I need something hard-sided, so as to be sure to sprain my ankle when I trip over it on a daily basis. ;D

[andy]

My old board was just a piece of ply from a cupboard door, with two runners of the same material underneath each end. Sprayed black and with rubber strips along the runners it was just a matter of applying some strong Velcro in the appropriate places! I then used to use a flat satchell-type bag to carry it in. In fact, if I can't fit my current line-up on there I'll be re-working it again soon. As I've been discussing effects elsewhere, I might just do a run of photos, and include that old board.

Thinking of hard case options, wouldn't a small briefcase look groovy?! It may well be lockable, and would be kind of quirky set at the front of the stage with the lid up! I might look into that myself...

[D2o]

With respect to the power supply, would there be any merit in rigging up an external DC battery pack - something like this, using (inexpensive) AA batteries?

D2o

[newey]

Well, MF informs me that the Godlyke power supply is backordered . . .

Meanwhile, I hit one garage sale and found this:




Which looks like it will work just fine with a piece of Masonite cut to fit, and some foam or Velcro to hold the pedals securely:



It even has room for a Wah if the urge strikes.

This was a bag for a portable bubble-jet printer. I paid $2 with the printer. Which I don't need and will probably chuck (parallel port type).

[newey]

Update:

Rather than a piece of masonite for a stiffer "floor" to this bag, I bought a piece of self-stick linoleum tile, cut to fit, and stuck it to the inside bottom of the bag. Then adhesive velcro to the linoleum to hold the pedals. Looks like a winner, the bag holds shape and the pedals don't move.

Now, if MF would get that powersupply to me I'd be good to go.

Years ago, I saw a guy using a DOD "Gate/Loop" pedal that supposedly cut noise and also provided a switchable effects loop out of the pedal. Anyone have any experience with these? I'd like to find one but I haven't seen one for sale in years. Only thing similar I've seen was a couple hundred bucks . . . Or, perhaps a first DIY pedal project??

[hgguitarguy]

my pedal board is just a piece of plywood with velcro for my first 4 pedals and my wah was takin apart and drilled where the mounting holes were and then attached to the board ... with 6 inch patch cables and the 1 spot daisychain .... my bass player done the same thing except used i think 1/2 plexi glass ... looks awsome .... we both spent around 70 bucks cause the daisy chain cost about 25 for the power supply and 10 for the 5 plugs ... and about 15 on the boards and 8 on the velcro and 13 for the 6 inch patches

[ashcatlt]

Not sure how I missed your last post there, newey.

I'd imagine you're aware that the effects loop part is pretty easy. It's best as a passive circuit, from the standpoint of not introducing unnecessary components. A box, 4 jacks, and a DPDT stomp switch and you're done. If you want to get fancy, you can add a battery, resistor, and LED, but then you need another pole on the switch. From what I hear the 3PDT stomp switches hold up better anyway.

The noise gate circuit is not quite so trivial, if you want it to work well. Not what I would call a beginner project. You seem to know which end of a soldering iron to hold, though. I'm sure you could get it working. Maybe I'll look around for some options. I'd advise against the noise gate in the guitar path, though. It's always best to address noise issues at their source.

Noise gates work by silencing the noise when you're not playing. Or, at least, that's the hope. More often they end up chopping of the tail end of sustained notes and sometimes even the very beginnings of notes as the gate opens up. They are very fiddly, tweaky boxes. It can be difficult at best to find the right balance. If you ever use your volume knob or picking dynamics, it'll probably just end up making you angry.

[newey]

Ash, hg- Thanks for the input. This project is still on hold, as the 30 day backorder bcame 60 days, and is now supposedly out to 90 days. To MF's credit, they did offer to cancel the order if I wished.

Ash said:

If you ever use your volume knob or picking dynamics, it'll probably just end up making you angry.

So I won't worry about the gate yet, we'll see what I get first.

I found this Loop switcher kit for $30 from General Guitar Gadgets. It's passive but does have the fancy LED, so it has a 9V anyway. Probably would last awhile if it's just powering the LED though.

[ChrisK]

An old attache' case might be ideal. Especially if you mount the pedals on to the inside of the lid. This way, the front edge wall will be shallow and the case itself can be used for cables if appropriate velcro loops are "attache'd".

One could also keep some tools and string sets therein.

[newey]

ChrisK-

Good idea, I'll keep my eyes open for an old attache case. I only have $2 into the soft sided one I have now, so if a better option comes along . . .

I broke down and ordered the Loop Kit from General Guitar Gadgets. We'll see how their service is, never ordered from them before. So far, so good, they shipped it promptly.