What's on your pedal board?

I Have the metro 24 waiting in the post office. Six inches longer than the Nano+ in the photo and at the limit of portability for me. Pity as I would love to get the Electro-Harmonix Ravish Sitar pedal but it's huge (spend 2 years in India, love the music). Thanks again for the reminder about the Y cable. I'd be interested in what your bandmate believes is a "good quality" cable. I use mogami and lava cables myself.

Many pathways to enlightenment, grasshopper. All seriousness aside, thanks Brad for the suggestions. My original excuse for buying the PARA DI was because my group was asked to perform at a festival and I had to plug into a mixing desk. Haven't needed that functionality again yet so really using it for EQ and feedback control. For my weekly gigs my board goes to my Amp (Roland AC30) via 1/4" phono jack. Please post a photo of your board.

This is a conversation I never thought I have on this forum, what fun!

Hollis, Victoria uses Mogami golds all around for their warranty (she frequently goes on tour, so her gear sees a lot of heavy use). In the past, I've seen her use those Lava tightrope cables you assemble yourself. Incidentally, Hindustani classical has influenced how I approach jazz, and the tabla player Zakir Hussain is one of my favorite musicians. I'll be sure to demo that EHX pedal if the opportunity presents itself.

Frigiliana, my partner walked in while I was watching those videos and gave me a very stern look. Those videos are dangerous.

Brad, thanks for your advice on placing the preamp immediately after pickup. I use the XLR out on the PZ-Pre because few the local venues where I perform on ukulele are prepared for live amplified music beyond having a PA, snake, and mixing console (even the churches often lack FOH staff at the console and rarely supply an acoustic preamp), but I'll heed your advice and be sure to give myself options as I plan out my board.

bacchettadavid said:

Hollis, Victoria uses Mogami golds all around for their warranty (she frequently goes on tour, so her gear sees a lot of heavy use). In the past, I've seen her use those Lava tightrope cables you assemble yourself. Incidentally, Hindustani classical has influenced how I approach jazz, and the tabla player Zakir Hussain is one of my favorite musicians. I'll be sure to demo that EHX pedal if the opportunity presents itself.

Frigiliana, my partner walked in while I was watching those videos and gave me a very stern look. Those videos are dangerous.

Brad, thanks for your advice on placing the preamp immediately after pickup. I use the XLR out on the PZ-Pre because few the local venues where I perform on ukulele are prepared for live amplified music beyond having a PA, snake, and mixing console (even the churches often lack FOH staff at the console and rarely supply an acoustic preamp), but I'll heed your advice and be sure to give myself options as I plan out my board.

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Seeing that you like Indian music, I like to hear what you think about the group Yorkston/Thorne/Khan. Look them up on the iTunes Store.

Baggs Venue > Digitech Drop (will soon be replaced by Ricochet for Whammy "doo-wee" slides) > Strymon El Cap > Strymon Flint > TCE Vortex. All Mogami Gold cables.

Built it on a platform that doubles as part of a protective box.

Hippie Guy said:

Baggs Venue > Digitech Drop (will soon be replaced by Ricochet for Whammy "doo-wee" slides) > Strymon El Cap > Strymon Flint > TCE Vortex. All Mogami Gold cables.

Built it on a platform that doubles as part of a protective box.

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Looks good Brad. I received my new pedal train last night. I am giving your suggestion a go. Baggs DI first in the signal chain instead of last to see how that sounds. Will post a photo tonight.

Hippie Guy said:

Baggs Venue > Digitech Drop (will soon be replaced by Ricochet for Whammy "doo-wee" slides) > Strymon El Cap > Strymon Flint > TCE Vortex. All Mogami Gold cables.

Built it on a platform that doubles as part of a protective box.

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Brad
Here's a quick snapshot of my new board. Much larger than my Nano+. But still portable but would never go larger. So if I can't fit it on this, I don't buy it. Note that I'm trying out your suggestion re the signal chain.

Hollis, color me green with jealousy. That's a spiffy board you've got! I won't have a board for a while, but I'll post pictures once I do.

You're the second person to recommend Yorkston/Thorne/Khan to me since early April. I'll definitely be listening to them soon, and I'll let you know my thoughts then. I'm currently transcribing Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and Thrust albums for practice with somewhat unconventional transcription, and this project is consuming all my listening time.

bacchettadavid said:

Hollis, color me green with jealousy. That's a spiffy board you've got! I won't have a board for a while, but I'll post pictures once I do.

You're the second person to recommend Yorkston/Thorne/Khan to me since early April. I'll definitely be listening to them soon, and I'll let you know my thoughts then. I'm currently transcribing Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and Thrust albums for practice with somewhat unconventional transcription, and this project is consuming all my listening time.

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I remember the Headhunters album (Watermelon Man?) better than Thrust. Herbie Hancock, great keyboard, epitomized 70's Funk.

Yesterday, while at the lumber yard buying western red cedar (for carving into kayak paddles, not ukulele soundboards), I spied some red oak in which I saw a future pedal board, so I bought it. I also picked up some 3M Dual Lock for attaching pedals to the board. I'm pretty sure I have some brass wood screws and brightwork varnish left over from another project, so I'll also be using those.

After putting together a few mock-ups on the computer today, I have settled on a 5-rail design either 13.5"x22" or 13.5"x24" in size. I don't have enough pedals to fully occupy a board of these sizes, but the extra space will give me room for expansion.

I won't begin constructing the board immediately, but I will post pics to the forum once it's done.

I had some spare time today, so I built the board. The layout is very unrefined, but I don't have long enough patch cables to make significant improvements. Note that the Trio+ is absent from the board; I would include it, but I don't have enough cables to include it on the board.

Pic available here (the file is about 3 MB). Size of the board is 22" x 13.5" (56 cm x 34 cm). This width allows me to put a mic stand on the far side of the pedal board. I mounted a carrying handle under the pedal platform to keep the form factor relatively compact.

Current signal chain is uke -> volume -> preamp/eq -> effects loop send -> delay -> reverb -> effects loop return -> post-eq/loop xlr out to PA/snake. A second instrument will be input into the PZ Pre's second input channel (my tenor guitar, harmonica mic, or alto saxophone all make good candidates) as soon as I get another instrument cable (my spare instrument cable is currently doing double duty as a patch cable). My long-term plans include adding a few more pedals (tremolo/vibrato, chorus, octave, overdrive, and possibly compression), cleaning up the board layout, and making better use of the PZ Pre's myriad features. In particular, I plan to output both wet and dry xlr signals to the board and a separate wet line signal to my monitor.

I won't complete this saga for a while. These pedals are rather expensive, and this month's purchase list included some big ticket items, with the volume pedal and the PZ-Pre each costing a few hundred dollars. Still, once the dust settles, I'll post a picture of my board in its more-or-less mature state.

Used to have an Ibanez Tube Screamer, Boss Compressor & Stereo Chorus. Presently, only have a Tech 21 SansAmp GT2.