Building the perfect pedal board

[Jim Coash]

Greetings:  Now that my recent amp projects have culminated in unqualified success I need a new project.  My son suggests that the amps are all wonderfully quiet and clean so why not build a "stomp box" project that encompasses all of the best effects.  I have put together a board with four separate units on it, all powered by A/C supplies, that can be daisy chained together that works reasonably well.  There is an old ProCo Rat, a DOD flanger, an Electro-Harmonix delay unit and a Danelectro overdrive.  He would like a unit that incorporates better technology and combines the most useful effects into one unit.  The boxes on the board now are all many years old and tend to be noisy with no true by-pass unless they are removed from the chain.  We know there are some very good, rather expensive combo models out there but is there a kit available that any of you could suggest?  I have metal for a box about the same size as four or five units side by side, an assortment of foot switches, 1/4" jacks, pots and power supplies.  I have found some individual kits on line in the $50 to $150 range but not something that combines what we need.  Certainly we would like overdrive, distortion, compression, flanging, digital reverb and perhaps a few other things.  Has anyone ever built something like this?  Could I use a vacuum tube in the design?  Jim

[eleventeen]

Before you do that, I would investigate a POD by Line 6 at a local Gtr Ctr.


Just a suggestion. No, it is not "stompy" but you can load a bazillion presets and stuff the thing with a cheapo old laptop computer or just use the front panel. Some people hate them, I myself like mine a lot. It's the older one.


I use one most of the time, but I am not a rocker, mostly a jazz player wanting clean tone w/some reverb.


What I like about mine is that when I set it for "Fender Blackface" sound, no matter what size room I am in, no matter what amp I happen to get stuck with....it makes Fender Blackface sound.

[Ed_Chambley]

Pods are great fun.  I like effects and have 6 in a rack.  With floor units, I simply buy single stomps.  That way if I want to change one Delay for another I can without rebuilding.   I would like this in one pedal tho.  A Wampler EGO compressor to a Catlinbread No5, to a FuzzSway (custom built pedal by Jojokeo here on the forum).  A timmy and Shur Riot to a Mad Professor Blue Delay a Wampler Faux Tape Echo and Verb.
 
I change a lot and have different pedal rigs for different styles.  Have fun!!!!

[MakerDP]

Make a pot of coffee, sit back and spend a few hours going over this site:

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/

No need to buy any kits. Everything you described can be found there and the vast majority of the layouts have been built and proven to work. Many even have dozens of comments discussing tweaks people have made.

I've made a Tube Screamer and a reverb pedal using the Belton brick from those layouts. Both work very very well. I think the tube screamer cost about $25 to build and the reverb about $45 (the Belton brick was $15) including the boxes. If you are going to put all your pedals in one box that you already have, I bet you could build four pedals into it for less than $100, depending on what you build of course.

If you want all your effects in one box, another way to go would be to get whatever ones you want from Electro Harmonix (Doug is a dealer and he gives you a better price than MF, GC, etc.), gut the boxes and put them in your custom box. I'd do that before I got a doorstop like a POD (YUCK!!!)

[Ed_Chambley]

Jim,
Some don't like the line 6 pod, but watch this Rig Rundown at about 23 minutes.  Pete Anderson is considered one of the greatest innovators in capturing guitar tones.  Look at his ri:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SN_0U1Gslo

[MakerDP]

Ever try a Johnson J-Station? WAAAY better than a POD. But for some reason Harman (parent of digitech, jbl, dbx, etc) never put the marketing behind Johnson. If they did, everyone would be talking about Johnson Amplification, not Line6. I gave  my J-Station to a kid starting out on guitar years ago. Wish I could have it back!

PODs to me always sounded flat, sterile... digital. Johnson stuff to me always sounded more "alive".

Johnson technology lives on today in the DigiTech GSP1101.

[Ed_Chambley]

Ever try a Johnson J-Station? WAAAY better than a POD. But for some reason Harman (parent of digitech, jbl, dbx, etc) never put the marketing behind Johnson. If they did, everyone would be talking about Johnson Amplification, not Line6. I gave  my J-Station to a kid starting out on guitar years ago. Wish I could have it back!

PODs to me always sounded flat, sterile... digital. Johnson stuff to me always sounded more "alive".

Johnson technology lives on today in the DigiTech GSP1101.

Yes, I have tried them.  I like the Rocktron Voodo Valve as well.  There are a lot of multi-effects that are cool, but like anything else, it may have a couple of things you like.  I use them when I have to cover a wide assortment of music.

Still, I prefer single pedals mostly.  Easy to change when I get tired of it.  I have heard lots of people who do not care for the pod, but when I saw Pete Anderson's live rig, I must say they have their place.  He is an idol of mine so that could have some bearing on my thoughts.

Those Fryette amps are nice as well.  Lots of cool stuff.  I am not a line 6 fan per say, however I do like their digital delay units.

[MakerDP]

I used to use a Johnson Millenium as my stage amp for about 15 years. It started flaking out on me (it was about 20 years old!) so I decided to go back to basics and got into building my own amps. Now I'm a pedal-guy too but I try to keep them to a minimum.... tuner -> distortion/boost -> chorus -> delay -> reverb -> amp.

Multi-effect units certainly have their place, especially with this annoying trend to have zero stage volume at "live" performances.

Ty Tabor, one of my favorite players, went through a POD phase as well. I can definitely tell something is different on those recordings.

[jojokeo]

There's a number of guys that like to do this and you can build multiple effects into a single enclosure like the photos below if you want to, but like Ed said, you're stuck with what you build once you do so. This is not mine but I don't think he would mind it being shown-off to illustrate a point?

[Jim Coash]

That is similar to what I am thinking of.  I like the order of effects suggested above and I think we want to stick with the most common, basic kinds of effects rather than delve into any of the way out stuff.  Again, clean, quiet performance is key and I want complete by-pass possible for each effect.  Right now a major complaint is that some of the pedals we have seem to add to the noise floor even when off. 90% of the time we only want the sound of the amp and its associated features, no additional outboard additions at all.  We are completely dedicated to tube amps other than the Hafler tube preamp (Hellraiser) through a large solid state power amp connected to E/V speakers except for the Celestion AP-4 built into the Princeton.  We get very good overdrive and sustain especially when using the "boost" on the Princeton, the master gain and switchable NFB on the Twin and using the "dirty" channel on the Hafler.  We also love the built in reverb and vibrato on both the Fender amps.  The stomp box we use and like the best by far is the ProCo "Rat"  which has been upgraded by the factory in Kalamazoo a couple times and is now fully by-passed when off and about as good as anything we have tried for that effect.  The DOD compressor, flanger and digital reverb (rack mounted) are OK but sometimes annoying due to added hash.  I appreciate the input from all of you.  Jim

[simonallaway]

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/

No need to buy any kits. Everything you described can be found there and the vast majority of the layouts have been built and proven to work. Many even have dozens of comments discussing tweaks people have made.

I second that. I've built plenty of excellent pedals on veroboard from this site's layouts. Very satisfying projects indeed...and built at a fraction of the cost of buying these things retail.

[smackoj]

I think for the newcomer to stomp boxes that the ready to solder pcb's are helpful and inexpensive. You can visit the general guitar gadgets website and get a quick coarse in what pcb's are available along with all the build supporting documents. I have built effects both ways, from scratch on vero board and with already produced pcb's I bought on line. Generally speaking, the pcb's create a neater looking and quieter (backgrd. noise) effect.
Just one man's opinion but worth a look before you go ALL in especially on the more complex designs like compressors, delays and phase shifters.

adios amigos,   

[Jim Coash]

Greetings:  My son and I have considered all of your advice and think that a combination approach will work best.  The digital multi-verb rack unit he has had for years works nicely with the Hellraiser and E/V 1.5 power amp.  It has pre-sets and can be selected on/off with a foot switch easily.  The flexibility is nice although the Fender spring reverb is still the best as far as we are concerned.  One of his friends bought a Line 6 modeling amp with a bunch of built in "gadgets" but neither of us think it compares at all with the tube sound we get from the Ampeg, Fender and Sovtek amps.  I am going to take apart my first pedal board project and start over.  I hope to figure out a way to build a unit that will house at least two, perhaps three or four kits using the pre-made boards from the sites you recommend.  I would like the actual box to be protective and close-able somehow for safe transport, require only one A/C outlet, incorporate an IEC male connector to simplify the design with good solid effects I build into it from those boards using parts I essentially have already.  I have a large supply of quality resistors and caps, a few pots and switches, some LEDs and a couple power supplies that should be suitable.  I think I need to buy a few good push button switches and the main boards for the effects we decide are the best, quietest, most reliable designs we would want as a permanent base for years of use.  If we need a couple outboard boxes, we can buy those.

[Ed_Chambley]

Greetings:  My son and I have considered all of your advice and think that a combination approach will work best.  The digital multi-verb rack unit he has had for years works nicely with the Hellraiser and E/V 1.5 power amp.  It has pre-sets and can be selected on/off with a foot switch easily.  The flexibility is nice although the Fender spring reverb is still the best as far as we are concerned.  One of his friends bought a Line 6 modeling amp with a bunch of built in "gadgets" but neither of us think it compares at all with the tube sound we get from the Ampeg, Fender and Sovtek amps.  I am going to take apart my first pedal board project and start over.  I hope to figure out a way to build a unit that will house at least two, perhaps three or four kits using the pre-made boards from the sites you recommend.  I would like the actual box to be protective and close-able somehow for safe transport, require only one A/C outlet, incorporate an IEC male connector to simplify the design with good solid effects I build into it from those boards using parts I essentially have already.  I have a large supply of quality resistors and caps, a few pots and switches, some LEDs and a couple power supplies that should be suitable.  I think I need to buy a few good push button switches and the main boards for the effects we decide are the best, quietest, most reliable designs we would want as a permanent base for years of use.  If we need a couple outboard boxes, we can buy those.

Just a quick mention of Small Bear Electronics is you do not know them.  Look them up as he has a nice selection of common pedal parts.  They take a little while to ship, so plan ahead.

[TNblueshawk]

Jim, I've read this thread a few times and I'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes so if I may ask, are you looking to build some new pedal circuits and house them into one unit or do you have the pedals you need, you just want to house those in one unit? 

[MakerDP]

That's a great question, because if your son already has the pedals he wants to use, you guys can just gut the existing ones and put them into your bigger housing and re-wire them for true-bypass. There are forums out there that have schematics for just about every pedal ever made. diystompbox I think is the name.

Unless you want the experience of building them yourself, which I totally get.

On the pedal parts supply front, for the stuff Doug doesn't have I like to use tayda electronics. I've heard great things about that Bear place too though.

[Jim Coash]

Chris has several pedals, some he likes, some not so much.  I just fixed his Danelectro "Dan-O-Wah" and he bought a new distortion pedal.  On the board I made are four old pedals and one isn't working properly.  We decided that my first attempt at making a "multi" type unit has flaws.  I am trying to decide which approach makes the most sense.  I do have some old metal chassis panels that could be bent up and drilled to house the units he has but he really wants something that is compact, reliable, simple and also can be safely transported, perhaps with a lid or case that hinges or is removable.   I also have some butterfly fasteners like those that hold the front and rear covers on my SKB racks.  The question is should I make the effort to scratch build something or go with a pre-fab unit from one of the companies you folks recommend.  He wants to keep the Wah-Wah pedal separate but combine a distortion pedal with an overdrive, some kind of phase shifter and perhaps a feedback/sustain unit, in that order.  We also will keep the rack mount Digi-Verb as is racked with the Hellraiser and a power amp.  I have looked at some circuit boards I could easily build with on hand parts.  That seems like a good choice instead of building on a couple terminal strips.  The input from all of you has been extremely helpful.  The project is still evolving right now.  Jim

[ampgeek]

Hey Jim,

I would definitely go with buying the pre-manufactured PCBs from one or more of the multiple vendors identified in this thread and packaging them up in an enclosure of your own design and/or liking.  Many of the pre-made PCBs come in kits with all of the components included.  Most of those can be procured without the aluminum enclosure to save a couple of bucks.

An approach that I have used in the past is to make a separate "control panel" window for each of the effects units.  Should a new effect be contemplated for a spot in the future, you can remove the old control panel and swap in the new with the right number of holes for the desired number of potentiometers.  This makes future changes a real breeze.

You can also easily fabricate a "single" power supply system to feed all of the individual effects.  I prefer individually regulated and isolated circuits for each effect to keep things noise free.  Those can be made up from a number of suppliers including General Guitar Gadgets.  I have used a lot of these in the past and just love them.

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/effects-projects/power-supplies/four-output-isolated/

I etch up my own boards for these to be able to make them pretty much on-demand.

Cheers,
Dave O. 

 

[jojokeo]

I'm not try to doubt anyone's abilities but there's a lot more that goes into this than meets the eye. There's a golden rule of build it, rock it, & box it - in that order. Many people have errors making even the most basic of circuits. Then there's lead dress, grounding, & a myriad of issues with the effects themselves. This is even before multiplying the other problems of effects order, how they work together in a specific order, etc. just because you can buy a few circuit boards & parts doesn't mean you'll like the outcome without modifications and here's where your experience & ingenuity comes in. Believe me that when working with pcb boards this is nearly impossible. You are literally stuck with what you have and/or get.
As for enclosure & power supply why don't you just buy a Boss BCB 60 case with power supply and put your favorite effects of the day in there? Then if you don't have what you like or want with full bypass then get something you do like and that's made this way. You'll be able to change out anything in the future and effect order at will. There's just too many great pedals out there to limit yourself by the idea of making a "fixed" and "static" board that can't be changed or modified. As much as the idea seems neat I don't recommend this approach.

[ampgeek]

Yep!  It can certainly appear ominous at the onset...no doubt about that.

However, like everything else that is "new" to us, it isn't all that difficult once you dedicate yourself to the task (and...after have prepared yourself for some initial frustration) and diving in...it is quite satisfying and liberating after all is said and done.  The failure risk is pretty low given that there are so many good folks here and at the numerous other forum sites willing to help a first timer that is willing to listen and learn.

The key to this vision IMHO is to plan for the easy swapping in and out of effects pcbs right from the git-go.  That necessitates taking on a modular approach.  Mounting the pcbs to the footswitches and creating a standard, but flexible, control panel layout are two concepts that will get you most of the way home.

Changing the order of effects can be easily accomplished by re-routing the signal path and/or wholesale swapping of the module(s) from one "slot" to another.

There are a bazzilion choices of effects pcb boards out there at ~$10 a pop that only need another ~$12 worth of parts to make them functional.  That condition epitomizes the "world is your oyster" metaphor.  Not to mention getting that sharp-clawed "build monkey" off of your back every once in a while for some short coin.

My humble opinion (and experience) is that if you have the gumption/patience/skills/wherewithal to build a vacuum tube amp...and are willing to take advice and guidance...a versatile, multi-effects box is a skip to the candy store.

Cheers,
Dave O.     

[ampgeek]

These folks have a nice selection of quality boards and other products to peruse.

http://guitarpcb.com/


More germane at this stage is their yearly competition for best multi effect boxes.  Great source for ideas/concepts!

I have been a member of their forum for a couple of years and they are generous, polite and well heeled folks much like those here.

Just some more grist for the mill!

Rock on,
Dave O.

[TNblueshawk]

Jim, since you plan is evolving I'll link you to a few things for contemplation.


For new circuits Ampgeek has a good link at guitarpcb. Barry over there runs that biz and is a great guy. Great demo's but you have to sign up for his forum. If you see a circuit you like I highly recommend you watch the demo's. His forum is not as active maybe as some other pedal forums but there is good info and good people as Barry runs a tight ship on the forum. I've built maybe 10 or so of his circuits.


I got my start at BYOC http://buildyourownclone.com  I've been on the forum for 4 years. I've built maybe a half dozen of their pedals. They are unique in the kits the offer. The instructions to build are second to none. The downside is because of the kits you can't really just buy circuit boards and you pay more since they are supplying everything for you. They have some PCB's but very few but they are what they are. But for questions the mods and other cats over there know their stuff. But again maybe you can get a few ideas of circuits.


IMHO opinion one of the best places to find a killer circuit is maybe Madbean's.http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/index.html    I've build maybe a dozen of his circuits or more. Brian runs the show there and his forum is superb. He really pushes the envelope on what he designs. He has a crap ton of old circuits over there that a dude named Haberdasher will etch as he has Brian's permission. His forum seems to have a lot of international members with cool perspectives on things. Very smart dudes over there as well. Now, contained within Bean's forum you will find some really cool builders that he has given a section to. It's under Hosted Support Forums. 1776 effects and Grindcustoms I'm very familiar with as I've built some of their pedals as well. You want a tape echo? Take a look at the Multiplex at 1776. Anyway, there are some resources for you.


In terms of buying pedal parts, Smallbear was mentioned. Steve sells nothing but quality and tested stuff. I've built up my supply of stuff at other places though due to cost. So it really depends on how important the part is as to what I wanted to pay. You want a PT2399 tested? Go to Bear's but you will pay much more for one. You don't, then go to Tayda and buy extra knowing that they have a rep of locking up, voltages off etc... I've had to swap out a few here and there but they are so cheap it doesn't bother me. I have a ton on hand. One of the most pedal friendly sites is Mammoth Electronics. Those are primarily the 3 places I built up my pedal supply. Tayda has lately gotten some bad press on quality. Mammoth not as much but more a service issue at times. Naturally you can go to the usual suspects like Mouser and Digikey but they make my head hurt when looking for simple pedal parts.


http://www.mammothelectronics.com


http://www.taydaelectronics.com/servlet/StoreFront


http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com


http://www.pedalpartsplus.com/index.html


http://www.guitarpcb.com   Barry sells some parts too that I've bought many times.


Good luck.

[Jim Coash]

Greetings:  The latest on the pedal board project.  The original pedal board is back to pieces.  I found a nice looking HD metal chassis from a ChannelPlus unit that will work perfectly for the new one.  I will add a couple pieces of stainless "L" bracket I have to stiffen and stabilize it.  The angle it sits at when on the floor is ideal; low at the front edge and just high enough at the rear to accommodate a six outlet steel A/C strip that I can secure to the inside back panel.  There is room left on one side for a panel mount A/C male I also have.  There are several #8 threaded chassis standoffs that will be useful to secure everything.  I will carpet the top, add some rubber feet and a good solid handle.  It will fit three stomp boxes with space for ins and outs between them.  Using input from this site my son bought a new fuzz unit and an SP-7 Stereo Phaser from Hardwire.  He will keep the fuzz and his Dan-O-Wah separate, keep his Digi-Verb rack unit with his Hellraiser and power amp in an SKB rack on top of his cabinet(s) and I will either Velcro or nylon strap the three "favorite" boxes to the new board. What order do you suggest for them?  There is a Korg 105OD Classic Overdrive, a DOD FX-70 Stereo Phlanger and the new Hardwire SP-7 Stereo Phaser.  Keep in mind that he has full stereo capability with the Hafler pre-amp, the E/V 1.5 power amp and two of the three stomp boxes on the board.  He also has multiple amps (Ampeg BA-115, Sovetek Mig-50, Fender Twin Reverb and Fender Princeton Reverb) and cabinets (EVM-15 X 2 Dual Showman clone, single E/V SRO-12, single E/V EV-15B, Boston Acoustics 4 X 10" and a Mesa Boogie bi-ampable cabinet with E/V-15G, E/V-12G and HF drivers) besides the built-in Celestion AP-10 (Princeton Reverb), factory 15" in the Ampeg and E/V-12G X 2 (Twin Reverb).  Jim

[sluckey]

Here's my dusty pedal board. It has a built-in power supply capable of powering more pedals than will physically fit. I was caught up in pedals at one time but rarely hook this thing up anymore. I probably could/should remove 4 of those effects and build a looper box for true bypass.

[Jim Coash]

Greetings:  That certainly looks impressive and comprehensive.  I have considered buying a multi-output 9 Volt supply for this project but some of the units we have are not 9 Volts.  Some have suggested that the MOST important device on their board is the chromatic tuner.  We have one built in to the Ampeg BA-150 but when not using it we must resort to a clip on model.  Modern technology has made it much easier to play in tune at all times.  In the sixties that was a constant problem unless we had a keyboard player in the band.  What is the best unit to consider for that?  We still find that most of the time we use no effects other than what we can produce using the features built into the amps and guitars we own.  Recently we have tried removing an unused pre-amp tube to increase gain and break-up or pulling two of the 6L6 tubes out of the Twin to cut the power.  That is rather a cumbersome way to do that, especially for my son who isn't a tube tech kind of guy.  He really likes having the switches to change the NFB loop or select one speaker in the Twin Reverb.  The Hafler Hellraiser produces really great tones and is stereo so it is easily changed from one setting to another or you can use two different amps, one driven by each output.  Jim

[pickdropper]

I'm currently in the process of planning a large multi-pedal board and considered some of the same issues.  Right now, I think I am going to make a standard footprint and drop in individual modules that attach to an internal header (which will be in turn routed to the actuator and the power.  This is the best way I can think of to allow for future changes without making life completely miserable.  Right now, I am just trying to hunt down a good custom enclosure vendor for it as metal fab is not really something I do.  Anybody have any recommendations for high quality vendors for that sort of thing?

If you only need it to be 4 or 5 pedals, you can fit it in a Hammond 1550G without too much issue.  Here is one I built a while back in that enclosure size:

[jojokeo]

Steve - did you simply drill small holes in the bottoms for tabs & screws to mount everything? I like that! (I HATE velcro)

p-drop - very nicely done!

However my only (but significant) complaint with the small footprint pedals and pedal boards where things are too compactly put together is that it's too damn difficult to squeeze my foot between the switches when things are so tightly placed. With so many pedals being made micro sized today, I just don't get why players would like it when it actually comes to performing with them. It's impractical and I know I have a hard enough time with this as it is especially when I have two switches on a 1590BB enclosure.

[sluckey]

I attached some solder lugs to the bottom of each pedal using the existing screws for the bottom plate. I had to enlarge the lug solder hole enough for a #6 screw. The lugs I used were similar to these except they only had one solder hole.

    https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/S-H112

[pickdropper]

Steve - did you simply drill small holes in the bottoms for tabs & screws to mount everything? I like that! (I HATE velcro)

p-drop - very nicely done!

However my only (but significant) complaint with the small footprint pedals and pedal boards where things are too compactly put together is that it's too damn difficult to squeeze my foot between the switches when things are so tightly placed. With so many pedals being made micro sized today, I just don't get why players would like it when it actually comes to performing with them. It's impractical and I know I have a hard enough time with this as it is especially when I have two switches on a 1590BB enclosure.

I don't think there's a wrong answer to preferred switch spacing.  If you think it's too tight for you to use on stage, better set it up so that it's comfortable for you.  That's the beauty of building things yourself; you can set it up how it works for you.

The build above is a bit tight, but I use my nano boards all the time and they work fine for me, even though I have size 13 shoes.  These days, I grab them more than the larger boards (with larger pedals) because I get sick of carrying around the bigger boards.

Something like this:

[jojokeo]

sweet board there

[ampgeek]

Very, very nice!

I love the Asteroids themed graphic on the far right unit.

What circuit is hidden in that beauty?

Cheers,
Dave O.

[pickdropper]

Very, very nice!

I love the Asteroids themed graphic on the far right unit.

What circuit is hidden in that beauty?

Cheers,
Dave O.

Thanks Dave.  It's Skreddy's Lunar Module circuit.  Its a cool fuzz although I like his Screwdriver slightly better.

I have two mini boards like that (and enough pedals for 4 or 5).  I rotate things around.

[Platefire]

Aw you guys with your neat little pedal boards with all your pedals equally spaced all in a row! Take a look at organized Chaos! There is no challenge in having all your pedals accessible---you need to turn you ankle sideways with your toes pointed down at a 45 degree angle to hit it just right and if your off a hair your liable to reach for tremolo and get chorus:>)
 

[smackoj]

Is there a hard copy manual for that rig Plate or do I need to download a Yutube video?

 

[Platefire]

Well for those of you who will be immediately rushing to re-arranging your pedalboard to match mine, last night I moved the power supply adjacent to the Line 6 Delay on the other side of the Super Chorus because it was causing a hum through the delay. I certainly wouldn't want to lead you astray! 

And yes that is a RP50 stuck in there catty whompus!

[Ed_Chambley]

Aw you guys with your neat little pedal boards with all your pedals equally spaced all in a row! Take a look at organized Chaos! There is no challenge in having all your pedals accessible---you need to turn you ankle sideways with your toes pointed down at a 45 degree angle to hit it just right and if your off a hair your liable to reach for tremolo and get chorus:>)

Plate, my pedalboards are not purdy like the others, but you did notice I said pedalboard(s).  I really like Sluckey's, but I find it hard to be that committed, however Boss makes good products.

Jojo says he hates velcro, but I really dig it.  I use pedaltrain boards and I like the velcro as it makes it easy to move a pedal.  Like if I am playing a new country gig I can just replace the booster on my Traditional country board with a BB+ which is a booster and overdrive together and I am ready.

I am amazed at the work some of these guys do making pedals.  Just gorgeous.

[Platefire]

Ed

sluckey can't help but be perfect, all his stuff/work is perfect. I don't mind velcro, works good for me but when you get ready to sell that pedal on e-bay, then velcro is undesirable and seems to degrade the sell. I do admire those who build these nice pedals---I actually repaired one once---scared me to death---to miniature for my old eyes.

Pedalboard Delima: Just come to the conclustion that my Route 66 compressor is too noisty and is not acting like I like a compressor to act. Problem is the other half of the pedal, the Route 66 Overdrive I love. Can I cut the compressor part off:>)---divide the baby. I scabbed my modified Boss CS-3 in there and it sounds worlds better even though it's presently sitting on top of my RP50. Guess I'm going to have to pull by beloved Route 66 and stick a tube screamer in there along with the boss. Platefire

BTW-I use the Digitech RP50 on a seperate loop for reverbs on my builds that don't have reverb.

[sluckey]

It's not my fault. I was born with symmetrysynchrobolitosis. My wife hates it when I get the torpedo level to hang a picture or when I hand her a tape measure when she plants her spring flowers. I even have a giant compass and protractor for the circular flower beds.    

[Willabe]

when I hand her a tape measure when she plants her spring flowers.

I use a tape measure to plant flowers in the garden too and my wife gets upset too.


                  Brad