Pedalboards, Power and cabling.

Dord

I really need to sort out my pedals.... I've got about 10 and use approx 6-8 of these regularly. So, I want to get a pedalboard rather than having pedals and cables all over my room.

I have some patch cables that I got in Musician a few years ago, but they seem to be fcuked and only a few work now. So I think it might be better to get new cables. I'd like to wire it up nice and neat so I was thinking one of those pedal cabling kits. I don't buy the whole better cables (read more €€€) = better toanz. It's BS and has been proven as such many times. I just want cables that work. Don't care of the brand (except Monster). Any recommendations?

I'll need some sorta pedal board. I'd say one that will take about 6 boss style pedals and a large wah. Ideally one with a lid so that I can bring it places.

For the power supply I want something small that can power about 5~ Boss pedals. It'd be a bonus if also had 1 AC power supply socket, although I can do without.

I can look myself, but there is so much choice that I don't know where to start and I thought some of you might have some good recommendations.

gotBass

sounds like you need Pedal train,
try purepedals.com, they have a shop near newlands cross / outer ring road.
not sure if there are varius size options but worth a look.

Dord

He doesn't have any in stock... also it's a wee bit too expensive.

Seziertisch

Dord wrote: »

I really need to sort out my pedals.... I've got about 10 and use approx 6-8 of these regularly. So, I want to get a pedalboard rather than having pedals and cables all over my room.

I have some patch cables that I got in Musician a few years ago, but they seem to be fcuked and only a few work now. So I think it might be better to get new cables. I'd like to wire it up nice and neat so I was thinking one of those pedal cabling kits. I don't buy the whole better cables (read more €€€) = better toanz. It's BS and has been proven as such many times. I just want cables that work. Don't care of the brand (except Monster). Any recommendations?

I'll need some sorta pedal board. I'd say one that will take about 6 boss style pedals and a large wah. Ideally one with a lid so that I can bring it places.

For the power supply I want something small that can power about 5~ Boss pedals. It'd be a bonus if also had 1 AC power supply socket, although I can do without.

I can look myself, but there is so much choice that I don't know where to start and I thought some of you might have some good recommendations.

Have a look around online, the only people who say it is bs are people who have never actually gone to the trouble to listen for themselves. You should get in contact with Paul Brewer over in the MP forum. He sells Vovox cables and is more than happy to provide them to demo free of charge. If you can't hear a difference then just return it.

Also what is your reason for not wanting Monster Cable? Their cables are durable if nothing else, and you said yourself that it makes no tonal difference.

Otherwise in terms of cable recommendations I would say you should check out Evidence Audio's Lyric HG (If you are handy with a soldering iron). It can be bought for $4.95 a foot from Lava Cable.

Voodu Child

I have a PedalTrain Two SC board, no major complaints, it does the job and is very easy to route cables and power leads underneath the slats. Tbh, they are a bit expensive for what they are, but it comes with a bag, and I got it at a decent price on thomann (€100) so no worries.

I just use the Pro Snake patch cables. Fairly cheap, and do the job nicely. They are a lot higher quality than the crappy coloured ones you see around, but still arent pushing what you would call too expensive.

If your pedals are all the same height, grab a few of the solid patch-jacks also. Much handier.

ball ox

there is a great article linked somewhere on here on a monster cable v's a coat hanger, you should check it out

mattfender

best crack is to make it yourself! made mine outta plywood. The planet waves pedal cable kit is pretty handy you can cut the cable to whatever size you want and supply's you with right angled jacks.

rcaz

I've got one of these Rockcases (My one's the biggest one, but it wasn't that expensive when I bought it - it's too big right now, but I'll fill it eventually :pac:).

Powered with a Diago Powerstation, and a seperate Boss adapter for my RE-20. There's a bit of clock noise added when powering the RE-20 with the daisy chain, but it works fine with all my other gear when the RE-20 has its own plug. They have a "no noise or your money back"-type guarantee, but I haven't bothered to take them up on it 'cause I sorted it out.

And I use a few of those bog-standard rainbow patch cables. I was thinking about getting one of those cut-to-fit type pedal kits, like some George Ls or something, but they're kinda pointless unless you have one chain that you never change around.

Dord

Thanks for the input guys!

Seziertisch wrote: »

Have a look around online, the only people who say it is bs are people who have never actually gone to the trouble to listen for themselves. You should get in contact with Paul Brewer over in the MP forum. He sells Vovox cables and is more than happy to provide them to demo free of charge. If you can't hear a difference then just return it.

Also what is your reason for not wanting Monster Cable? Their cables are durable if nothing else, and you said yourself that it makes no tonal difference.

Otherwise in terms of cable recommendations I would say you should check out Evidence Audio's Lyric HG (If you are handy with a soldering iron). It can be bought for $4.95 a foot from Lava Cable.

Another forum I'm on did double-blind listening tests (held a meeting in Chicago for it) and Lava cable provided cables to test also. No difference was found between any of the cables. The Lava cables guy got pissy about the whole thing. A few magazines have also done tests and one of them offered a $1 Million to the first person who can prove that there is a difference.

Monster cables make their plugs ever so slightly larger than the standard. It can end up breaking jacks or just being a PITA!

Voodu Child wrote: »

I have a PedalTrain Two SC board, no major complaints, it does the job and is very easy to route cables and power leads underneath the slats. Tbh, they are a bit expensive for what they are, but it comes with a bag, and I got it at a decent price on thomann (€100) so no worries.

I just use the Pro Snake patch cables. Fairly cheap, and do the job nicely. They are a lot higher quality than the crappy coloured ones you see around, but still arent pushing what you would call too expensive.

If your pedals are all the same height, grab a few of the solid patch-jacks also. Much handier.

Thanks Voodoo, I'll check out the pedal train on Thomann. Any idea where I can get those solid patch-jack things? I've seen a few people with them but don't know where to get them. I don't know the technical term so it's hard to search for them.

mattfender wrote: »

best crack is to make it yourself! made mine outta plywood. The planet waves pedal cable kit is pretty handy you can cut the cable to whatever size you want and supply's you with right angled jacks.

Yeah,... I would make it myself but I ain't the best at finishing projects I start. I'll have a look for the planet waves kit.

El Pr0n wrote: »

I've got one of these Rockcases (My one's the biggest one, but it wasn't that expensive when I bought it - it's too big right now, but I'll fill it eventually :pac:).

Powered with a Diago Powerstation, and a seperate Boss adapter for my RE-20. There's a bit of clock noise added when powering the RE-20 with the daisy chain, but it works fine with all my other gear when the RE-20 has its own plug. They have a "no noise or your money back"-type guarantee, but I haven't bothered to take them up on it 'cause I sorted it out.

And I use a few of those bog-standard rainbow patch cables. I was thinking about getting one of those cut-to-fit type pedal kits, like some George Ls or something, but they're kinda pointless unless you have one chain that you never change around.

That clock noise thing would bug me. HMmmmm.....
The George L kits sound good. Any idea of the best place to get it? That Irish place posted above is sold out of them. Typical! :rolleyes:

ball ox wrote: »

there is a great article linked somewhere on here on a monster cable v's a coat hanger, you should check it out

Yeah, I've seen it. Hilarious!

rcaz

Apart from the clock noise with my pedal, I've never heard a bad word said about the Powerstation. I don't like the idea of the Visual Sound 1-Spot or the Godlyke Power-All, I like to have something *on my board* that supplies the power. And the Voodoo Labs-style big-box-of-power things seem ridiculously expensive. Maybe when I'm touring the world in my awesome band I'll get one...

I think your best bet for George Ls is eBay or something. You can buy them straight from the George Ls website, but they're much cheaper on eBay for some reason. http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m37.l1313&satitle=george+l+cable&category0=

Seziertisch

Dord wrote: »

Thanks for the input guys!




Another forum I'm on did double-blind listening tests (held a meeting in Chicago for it) and Lava cable provided cables to test also. No difference was found between any of the cables. The Lava cables guy got pissy about the whole thing. A few magazines have also done tests and one of them offered a $1 Million to the first person who can prove that there is a difference.

Can you link it? I presume that the soundfiles were posted online somewhere?

I have also done tests (prior to tracking) reamping the same signal through different cables (and recording samples of each) and there most definitely was a difference to hear. Unfortunately the samples weren't kept. As I said, you should contact Paul and see for yourself.

Voodu Child

Dord wrote: »

Thanks for the input guys!

Thanks Voodoo, I'll check out the pedal train on Thomann. Any idea where I can get those solid patch-jack things? I've seen a few people with them but don't know where to get them. I don't know the technical term so it's hard to search for them.

Theres a few on thomann: link, link. Fairly cheap and do the job. Count on getting a few patch cables of different lengths anyway to go from the wah, or to bridge one row of pedals to the next. The second ones i linked look to have an awful wide mid section, so you might want to look for better ones.

Seziertisch

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Neutrik-6-35mm-Mono-Jack-to-Mono-Jack-Coupler-NEW-ad204_W0QQitemZ350105449761QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL?hash=item5183e93521&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262&_trkparms=|301%3A0|293%3A1|294%3A30

ball ox

El Pr0n wrote: »

I've got one of these Rockcases (My one's the biggest one, but it wasn't that expensive when I bought it - it's too big right now, but I'll fill it eventually :pac:).

+1, I use one of these myself. Admitetdly they are not built rock solid but they do the job. Mines been gigged alot, and pretty much all of the alluminium corner protectors have been knocked off as they are only riveted. I'm gonna screw my own ones in there. Other than they they are great and have plenty of depth which means you can throw in cables, stands, straps etc. I even stick my laptop in there. Lots of thick foam padding.

rcaz

ball ox wrote: »

Admitetdly they are not built rock solid but they do the job.

Haha, +1!! My first one arrived broken (got it replaced with no bother), and the velcro just started coming off the wood the other day Nothing a bit of glue won't fix though!

-=al=-

the planet waves or george l's kits are grand, and a dc brick will sort out the power issues, made my own boarb before but needed a case so the rockcase done the job

ball ox

Dord wrote: »

Thanks for the input guys!




The George L kits sound good. Any idea of the best place to get it? That Irish place posted above is sold out of them. Typical! :rolleyes:

TBH those kits seem very expensive for what they are. You can cut a length of cable in Maplins and buy a load of decent jacks for a fraction of the price. I've made a load of cables this way and never had a problem with any of them. Just get yourself a high wattage solding iron, good solder and insulation tape.

spoonbadger

Seziertisch wrote: »

I would say you should check out Evidence Audio's Lyric HG (If you are handy with a soldering iron). It can be bought for $4.95 a foot from Lava Cable.

:eek:

That's pretty pricey for loose cable. I dont want to get into another cable debate with ya (:o) but i really think that there's some serious profiteering going on there, compared to regular, good quality, 1 strand coaxial!.

-=al=-

meh george l's are the best ive found and there was a sound difference when i swapped to them

theres even better quality cable i forget the name of on ebay but works the same way, definitly recomend the gearge l's


gota get them in the uk though closest place, 50-60 or so is the cheapist i seen them, better than planet waves too


heres my new board




and old one...



new ones much nicer n easier and tidies up the mess and transportable

Seziertisch

spoonbadger wrote: »

:eek:

That's pretty pricey for loose cable. I dont want to get into another cable debate with ya (:o) but i really think that there's some serious profiteering going on there, compared to regular, good quality, 1 strand coaxial!.

I was talking with a guy I know about doing a cable shoot out with soundfiles sometime soon(ish). It would involve

Guitar - cable - DI - AD conversion followed by

DA conversion - Reamp box - (A number of different cables of the same length) - Amp.

This would allow for the guitar cable between the reamp and the amp to be the only variable in each of the clips. I'll keep ye posted.

ball ox

Seziertisch wrote: »

I was talking with a guy I know about doing a cable shoot out with soundfiles sometime soon(ish). It would involve

Guitar - cable - DI - AD conversion followed by

DA conversion - Reamp box - (A number of different cables of the same length) - Amp.

This would allow for the guitar cable between the reamp and the amp to be the only variable in each of the clips. I'll keep ye posted.

sweet, great idea.

68 lost souls

GYC make the solid jack to jacks. They are very handy for boss type pedals and keep it nice and neat. I have seen them in a few places around give the shops a ring and ask if they have any in. Also as far as power supplies it might be worth your while looking at something like this, http://www.t-rex-engineering.com/Default.aspx?ID=2&ProductID=PROD7&VariantID or this http://www.jimdunlop.com/index.php?page=products/pip&id=286

punchdrunk

i got a pedaltrain pro,a voodoo labs pedal power II,and George L's cables

my board has been hassle free since

Dord

The pedal power 2 looks like the power supply for me. I'm gonna see if I can convert my wah to irish voltage so I can plug it into the mains socket on that. It'd save weight and space as it currently has a big voltage transformer brick.

-=al=-

t-rex fueltank is worth a look, theres a smaller one too, but get whatever one suits your needs, the pedalpower 2 has a dsitributer in england with the english plugs but cant remember which site...

but yeah its a good one alright... pedal pwoer II... but remember theres an AC and DC one... then the t rex fueltank is good, theres the dc brick obviosuly.... BBE make one too and theres this site - http://www.diago.co.uk/ thats a pretty popular choice too...


but yeah like i said ive the dc brick and its more than good enough for me, and the geoege L's are prob the best decentish priced jacks and cable

Dord

The Fuel tank and DC brick are also considerations, mainly due to their lesser prices
But the thing that's making me go towards the PP2 is the ability to have just one power cable coming off the board.

-=al=-

the other 2 work the same way too, just a normal adapter plug into the power device!

easy peasy

punchdrunk

Dord wrote: »

I'm gonna see if I can convert my wah to irish voltage so I can plug it into the mains socket on that.

what wah is it? strange that it's not 9V DC?

Dord

punchdrunk wrote: »

what wah is it? strange that it's not 9V DC?

70's Morley Power Wah Fuzz. It also functions as a volume pedal.
It runs off mains with a hardwired cable (2 pin US).



Kinda crappy camera phone picture... the wah goes well with the 70's wallpaper tho!

Red Sleeping Beauty

A piece of wood about two inches thick with some velcro does the job if you're on a tight budget and already have the power supply and patch cables.

punchdrunk

Dord wrote: »

70's Morley Power Wah Fuzz. It also functions as a volume pedal.
It runs off mains with a hardwired cable (2 pin US).



Kinda crappy camera phone picture... the wah goes well with the 70's wallpaper tho!

ah thats ripe for modding!
unusual pedal that,looks cool!

Red Sleeping Beauty

Comparison of power supplies :
http://www.stinkfoot.se/andreas/diy/power/psu.htm

Dord

Alan Rouge wrote: »

A piece of wood about two inches thick with some velcro does the job if you're on a tight budget and already have the power supply and patch cables.

Nah, I'd rather go a bit more pro than a plank of wood. It looks a bit rough. :pac:

Punchdrunk, yeah it's a pretty unusual pedal. It doesn't use a pot for the wah mechanism like a normal wah, instead it uses an optical sensor which reacts to the amount of light that reaches it from the bulb. The amount of light is changed by pressing down the wha treadle which raises up a piece of material inside.

So, there's no pot to wear out from using the wah.

-=al=-

my next wah should be a budda budwah, freaking rocks good old 9v dc ...straight swap for my old worn out dc brick

Dord

-=al=- wrote: »

my next wah should be a budda budwah, freaking rocks good old 9v dc ...straight swap for my old worn out dc brick

You should get one of these, it's the new Kirk Hammett wah!
The off switch doesn't work; just like Kirks regular wah! :pac:

-=al=-

yeah then ill get one of his lovely signature amps


a fulltone OCD and a budda wah please, its my bday in 2 weeks

Dord

I think next on my list for pedals after a power supply is a Catalinbread Valcoder tremolo. It sounds so awesome!

Stupid boardsies making me want a trem pedal... you know who you are! :mad:

Grolschevik

[IMG][/IMG]

Dord wrote: »

Nah, I'd rather go a bit more pro than a plank of wood. It looks a bit rough. :pac:

This is just plywood cut with a hacksaw in my office, covered with some material that the company I got the case from use to cover their foam inserts. Velcro clings to it like, well, velcro... Once I had the materials and the case measurements, it only took me a few hours to put together.

demanufactured

Do you not get a loada hum having the power cables in the case? lol

rcaz

Dord wrote: »

Y
The off switch doesn't work; just like Kirks regular wah! :pac:

eamonntheviking

Building a pedal board my myself in a few weeks and looking for a bit of advice regarding power supplies. I got an imitation power bank thing year ago which has 6 outputs, but I get seriously noisy ground loops from it. Now I read that ground loops will be caused by powering pedals individually from the seperate outputs on the front, ie running 5 individuals power cables from the power supply to 5 individual pedals. I got a daisy chain last week and that has definitely taken away a lot of the noise from it, success!

However, I am now thinking of picking up a more expensive power supply to make sure everything sounds as good as possible. I will be running pedals in front, and in the loop, and I would like to power them all from the same power supply. Is this possible from a daisy chain type set-up, or will it cause a ground loop running pedals in front and in the loop with the same power supply. I know the voodoo power has isolated outputs, but can't really afford to stretch that far!