Whether you are starting from scratch or re-working the order and layout, building pedalboards is a regular part of life for the gigging guitarist. Sometimes these building sessions can be filled with a lot of frustration. In this article, we’ll offer up our favorite tips to ensure that your next pedalboard building session goes off without a hitch. Most of these tips assume that you already have a pedalboard and several pedals…if you want some more tips on starting from scratch, let us know in the comments section. Here we go…
Hopefully these tips will help you anytime you find yourself backed into a corner while building your next pedalboard. And remember, all of this should be fun! So if it ever stops being fun, take a break and come back to it later. You pedalboard will still be there in the morning.
Many years ago I was convinced as well that tube amps were the only way to go. Those huge stacks looked awesome, even though the oppressive stage volume was in constant conflict with the other band mates and nightmare for the sound engineer.
At that point in my life I didn’t even mind moving them around, that was then.
Fast forward 30+ years now I’m no longer interested in all the inherent issues that come with real tube amps.
My current rig consists of one acoustic and one electric guitar, a floor type modeling and effects processor. Running straight into the mixer (Carvin),with an additional output going to a powered speaker cabinet 1-12”for monitoring on stage.
The whole rig takes 5-7 min to set up, fits in the backseat of a small sedan,and sounds incredible, no lie. For an older musician it works great for me.
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If you can’t tell by our previous articles, we love pedals! All kinds, shapes and sizes are welcome in our rigs. The vast array of options available are dizzying. Many guitarists don’t know where to start. This week, we want to share with you the five effects pedals that we feel EVERY guitarist should own.
Brian Scalise
December 11, 2019
I guess I’m the opposite. I’ve never been particularly impressed with stacks of amps, but love the way tube amplifiers play & respond. I’ve used all sorts of amplifiers, tube, transister, hybrid & modelling, and I think an all tube head with a separate cabinet is the way to go, but the amplifier needs an effects loop for the pedals, and my legacy Carvin amplifier does. I’ve never liked lugging gear and that’s why I steer clear of combo amps, & go with the separate head & cabinet, so I can lug in stages. I generally use as few pedals as possible, but some pedal effects have to come after the pre-amp. The pre-amp provides the diestortion that is then modulated. Some distortion emulators are better than others, but none can match the responsiveness, dynamics, or rich tones of an all-organic, analog, overdriven tube. So I put the tuner at the front of the chain & then other pedals as necessary after. Generally my setup is tuner, wah, compressor, noise-gate-input then preamp with echo, reverb, flanger, and a noise gate wired in the effects loop. I provide power through an AC adapter, but you might be surprised at how little current most effects pedals draw, so that 9 volts DC at 1 A is more than enough for all my pedals plus wah. My pedal that takes the most current is the gate at 21 mA, the least is the wah at 3 mA, with most being right around 10 mA.