Ideas for a pedalboard...

[vince]

Hello everyone,

I am thinking of building a pedalboard to carry my pedals around without having to mess with the wires everytime. 
I looked around the house and i found this nice little wooden suitcase. The dimensions are perfect for my needs...

I am thinking of modifying it so the lid could be detachable...which shouldn't be complicated. And remove the separators...
Also, with the actual dimensions of the suitcase, there could be two rows of pedals ( I have 6 pedals at the moment).

I would like to integrate a 9 VDC power supply that could supply all of my pedals. The problem is that I have different brands of pedals (DOD & BOSS) and the jacks are not of the same size. Any genius idea? I'm simply thinking of mouting different power output plugs that could suit the different types of pedals.

Also, what's the best way to hold the pedals in there? I want to be able to move them around when desired, but that they stay firmly into place. I am thinking velcro...but any other ideas?

Finally, is there a neat way to run the wires? The suitcase is not very big; the top clears the pedal knobs of about 1/2" only. Maybe using a 1/4" plywood I could run the wires underneath the pedals...

I'm open to any suggestions or critics

Thank you!
Vincent

[Barcode80]

get some thin foam for the suitcase lid, attach with 3M spary adhesive. the power supply thing is as simple as putting a new cable end on the power cables to fit each pedal's PS.

[Processaurus]

2 rows of pedals looks nice and neat, but I question if people that do that are concerned with performing, because it is so awkward and attention consuming to have to daintily reach over your first row and switch things while avoiding stepping on the knobs etc.  It would be more natural to have 2 seperate mini boards you could put side by side or something, better than the tiered approach even, when it comes down to having your switches right were you want them, and not hitting the wrong stuff on accident.  If you like that idea, you could cut the lid in half, put the pedals in the lid, and use a bunch of buckles to hold the two to the single main piece for transporting it.

[Chris Brown]

from using a board on stage for a while I can say this... if you want a second row you definitely need to raise the second row to at least the height of your bottom row's tallest pedal. I built a flat board and it was trouble... annoying to reach past the first row... replaced two kicked  pots during it's usage before I added a second level....no problems since

[Ben N]

That looks like a great foundation for a board. I would use the "lid" for mounting the pedals, and the deep part as the lid. Replace the hinges with the kind that pull apart (I have seen them available at Home Depot). Beef up the part where the pedals will mount with an extra layer of 1/4-3/8" plywood. As for mounting the pedals, there a lot of ways. Besides velcro and its heavier duty variants, some people strap their pedals down with plastic ties through holes in the underside of the board (your extra layer would come in handy for this. There is a guy who sells little mounting things on ebay that look like little metal "8"s, with one side attaching to the pedal with its regular enclosure screws, the other side to the board. This might not work so well when you get away from Hammond/Boss type enclosures. It has been discussed here before--do a search.
Ben

[petemoore]

2 rows of pedals looks nice and neat, but I question if people that do that are concerned with performing, because it is so awkward and attention consuming to have to daintily reach over your first row and switch things while avoiding stepping on the knobs etc.
  Yupp, I went 2 rows, but opted for 'split level', this leaves jack room behind the first row, under the second row, for my I/O and DC jack as well as other orientations like Sw position, the elevated second row made a much better 2 row PB.

[Pushtone]

Hello,

I would like to integrate a 9 VDC power supply that could supply all of my pedals. The problem is that I have different brands of pedals (DOD & BOSS) and the jacks are not of the same size. Any genius idea? I'm simply thinking of mouting different power output plugs that could suit the different types of pedals.


Also, what's the best way to hold the pedals in there?

PSU:
If you need one 9V PSU, consider using a well regulated wall wart and connect it to a daisy chain box on the board with an extension cable.
Load the dasiy chain box up with the plugs you need or use rubber gromets to get a hardwired DC output.
Not a new idea.


For mounting I went to the local home depot with a sample of the velcro I was using.
In the carpet section I found a "velcro friendly" carpet and bought 2 yards. I still have a lot left.
I put the hook part of the velcro on the bottom of the pedal and it sticks to the carpet great.
To bad I don't Have a use for the other half of the velcro tape. 
I use spray adheasive, 3M stuff, to stick the carpet to the plywood.

[Processaurus]

2 rows of pedals looks nice and neat, but I question if people that do that are concerned with performing, because it is so awkward and attention consuming to have to daintily reach over your first row and switch things while avoiding stepping on the knobs etc.
  Yupp, I went 2 rows, but opted for 'split level', this leaves jack room behind the first row, under the second row, for my I/O and DC jack as well as other orientations like Sw position, the elevated second row made a much better 2 row PB.

A non pedal obsessed friend of mine had an intelligent idear for the elevated 2nd row pedalboards, thats to put an elevated bar or something in front of the back row of pedals , so you can rest your heel on it while you're waiting for your change.  It could also kinda guard your first rows knobs if it hung out over them.  That'd especially be a good one for the drinkers who might not balance on one foot too good .  Or for the extremely risky back row double footed stomp.

[Sody54]

If you go the hook and loop route (ie...velcro), I found some industrial strength 2" wide adhesive back at Walmart in the fabric section.  Yeah you have to have the where-with-all and confidence in your manhood to wander into the fabrics dept., but it was well worth it!  I believe 5feet of both the hook side and the loop side was about $6.00.  Works great.  I've got it on my home made board. I used $1.49 spring clip clasps to hold it shut.  2 on either side.  Played my first gig with it on St. Patricks day.  worked great till the last set.  wonderfully drunk individual spilled green beer on it and one of my 6" path cords shorted.  Played the last 3 songs of the set directly through my Musicman....not all a bad thing I guess...

[Paul Marossy]

About 6 six years ago, I cut down a flimsy old wood bass guitar case and turned into a pedal board that I am still using today. You can check it out here: http://www.diyguitarist.com/DIYStompboxes/NewPedalBoard.htm

This is what it looks like today, with five DIY pedals on it.

[vince]

Hey everyone!

Thanks for sharing your ideas! I appreciate that a lot.

I will go with the suggestion of using the actual "lid" as the new bottom to hold down the pedals. It just seems natural since the border is much thinner and it will be easier to reach the pedals.

Second thought: Using two rows of pedals in such a small suitcase does seem risky! I could split the lid in two mini-boards. The problem is,.. how to hold them together tightly when carrying the suitcase?

About the power supply, i like the idea of a daisy chain box with different types of outputs. But what about the supply itself? The wall wart I have is a good one, but only 200 mA isn't much for 6 pedals! I wouldn't mind building one, but I'm affraid of the regulation level and sending parasites down the supply. Any good designs?

Thanks for all your replies and keep them coming! 
Vincent

[petemoore]

The wall wart I have is a good one, but only 200 mA isn't much for 6 pedals!
  As long as the total current draw doesn't exceed the Ma output of the WW..
  So it depends on what pedals you have connected to it.
  A nice option some like me use is the VS 1Spot adapter, 1700ma, ultra-clean DC [for a WW W/Daisy Chain, it's quite low noise].
  GEO has the Spyder, and Spyder info is a useful PS read in general.

[vince]

I'll check the current draw of my pedals, but I'm pretty sure some of the setups I use exceed 200 mA.
Are the power supply projects from General guitar gadgets any good? They're all made from LM317..
Thank you
Vincent

[GibsonGM]

Wow, man, you could almost remove the lid, add and inch or 2 to its sides, and set up buckles to reattach it.  That would let you build a "stage" to have your back row a little higher than the front, for minimal effort 

Looks like a great idea, and a PS could be hidden under the back row, with cables sneaking out to the different pedals.   You could get a jack and plug, and have all the PS stuff inside, with only a cord to attach to the case and plug in....

Put a little tolex and some metal corners on it, and it'll be stylin'!

[Paul Marossy]

will go with the suggestion of using the actual "lid" as the new bottom to hold down the pedals. It just seems natural since the border is much thinner and it will be easier to reach the pedals.

That's what I did when I made my board. 

[Ben N]

You're welcome! 

[glweid]

Went the route of building my own and now need a Bigger one.

I know this is a DIY board but for the price they are hard to beat a rondomusic.net

Think of getting the huge one fro $49

[Jaicen_solo]

I'm always wary of having my pedals on show to the public not only because they could be covered in beer or worse, but also because they're a prime target for some theivery. If I ever do get round to playing live, my pedal board will have a raised vertical rear, which will act as a shield for the pedals within. In terms of shape, think of a Mini-moog and you won't be too far wrong.
It will also have some LED lights so I can see my pedals.

[Bagge]

Recently, I built a pedalboard, which was heavily inspired by pedaltrain boards.http://www.pedaltrain.com/pt/  I used 15mm Plywood and uses Velcro to keep the pedals in place. I managed to fit power supply under the "rails". I will post some pics when I get around to it.

[Processaurus]

I'm always wary of having my pedals on show to the public not only because they could be covered in beer or worse, but also because they're a prime target for some theivery. If I ever do get round to playing live, my pedal board will have a raised vertical rear, which will act as a shield for the pedals within. In terms of shape, think of a Mini-moog and you won't be too far wrong.
It will also have some LED lights so I can see my pedals.

Have you seen the zip tie method where your pedals are zip tied down to something (metal, wood) that has a bunch of holes?  Either that or the bicycle chain link method (where you screw it to the pedals, and then screw it to your board) are good security, if you're concerned with someone grabbing a single pedal while you're off getting a beer or something, they'd have to take the whole board.  Which would be a bummer.  How about a burlap sack soaked in fake blood to cover all your pedals, make blood stains where the switches are?  Nobody would come near it.  I'm gonna put pedaltrain out of business, with my bloody sack pedalboards.

The little light idea is great, some white LEDs would be perfect, that ran off the pedal's PS.