Someone told me I should get a pedal board

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

Hey,

So on the photo attached, here’s my lineup for (Chase Bliss only of course) fx units.

When I work with them, I disconnect the pedal I’m currently using, connect a new one, and so on and so forth. When things get intense, there’s a lot of moving power cords and cables between pedals.

So my mate goes -
“You should just get a pedal board. Stop this nonsense.”

And I’m like -
Should I?

I’ve googled them and they seem to make this workflow easier, but I don’t quite get how they work. It feels like modular - one power cord to power them all - and then just connect them through a string of TRS cables, bypassing them when you don’t use them.

Is that how it works? If so, that sounds like it would make things easier for me.

IMG_1439
IMG_14394032×3024 2.43 MB

1 Like
#2

Pedal board is just a shelf… on the floor.

So you have the shelf bit.

All you need is the daisy chain for the power supply. Then some patch cables for the pedals. Get a good boss power supply, daisy chain the cables and bingo. Youre done. No more messing around just leave them all connected.

Something like this

1675847636891
16758476368911000×1000 30.6 KB

And a bunch of these

1675847682075
1675847682075550×550 21.6 KB

9 Likes
#3

Daisychaining pedals? Don’t let the powerpolice see this…

In all seriousness I would recommend an isolated power supply with plenty of output because those Chase Bliss pedals will probably pull around 300ma each?

The Harley Benton ones from Thomann are actually fairly cheap and very decent in my experience.

18 Likes
#4

Couldnt one of those pedal patchbay things be good for you?

4 Likes
#5

Maybe that’s what I’m looking for. Pedal patchbay, you say. I’ll look into it. Thanks :slight_smile:

#6

Depends on the pedals.

  • Some pedals emit noise, especially when there’s analog and digital pedals in the same chain.
  • Some pedals require more juice. Rarely, but it happens. Especially with vintage models.
  • Some pedals have different polarity. You need to be able to switch that. Or just resolder the wire.
1 Like
#7

I’m starting to think my current solution isn’t less of a hassle than the options, just another kind of hassle.

EDIT: I was wrong. After having acquired some stuff now, my previous solution was more of a hassle.

4 Likes
#8

It’s all hassle.

Fuck other people’s opinions.

Do what you like.

13 Likes
#9

Sure :slight_smile: But for about 90 Euros you get an Iso-12pro from Harley Benton. 9 9v 300ma outputs and 3 9/12/18v 500 ma outputs. Covers all those bases :+1:

Also what Fin says: You don’t really need a pedalboard. This is just a suggestion if you want to go that route :upside_down_face:

#10

Was thinking about a pedalboard a lot, but I still don´t have one.
The main reason is, that I change pedals/order of pedals all the time and I don´t want to power all my pedals when I just use 2 or 3 of them.

#11

It’s basically just quality of life improvements.

The board is probably irrelevant for you, it’s the principle that’s being suggested.

Is it physically practical/helpful for you to have them all connected at the same time, even if you only use one at a time?

If yes, is it worth the cost of maybe a third to half one of those pedals for a quality power supply and patch cables?

Do you want to be able to use more than one at a time or are you happy to just resample?

If more than one pedal at a time do you want the order to be flexible or are you happy for it to be fixed?

From what I think I know of your workflow I feel like one at a time is your happy place.

1 Like
#12

This is correct. I have no interest in using multiple pedals at the same time. I just want the switch between them to run smoother, if possible.

#13

I play guitar, but I keep pedals up top where I can keep an eye on them.

I used to have a DIY pullout drawer on the desk.

Either way, get a good power supply. I like the Strymon Zuma. Expensive, but totally worth it as you will never have weird buzzes again.

2 Likes
#14

In that case just connect them in series and only switch on the one you need, and get a decent power supply.

The Strymon ones are a safe bet. I like the ones you can expand, but you probably can go straight to a big boy.

Honestly though, if you have a single output power supply that’s compatible with all the pedals (same voltage and polarity) then it’s just as quick to move the plug between pedals as it is to hit the switches.

3 Likes
#15

Yeah, I’m starting to feel confident I’m already good with what I got here.

5 Likes
#16

do you have angled patch cabels ?
I recommend them, even without a pedalboard.
but be careful, many of them (like those posted before)
do not fit next to each other on stereo in/outs.

1 Like
#17

A small patch bay is a good thing to minimise wear on your pedal plugs. This is what I’m using: https://artproaudio.com/product/tpatch-eight-point-balanced-patch-bay/

If total cable length becomes an issue, just add something like the Radial StageBug SB-6 at the chain’s end: StageBug SB-6 - Radial Engineering

#18

A pedal board is just eurorack for guitars

image
image800×450 42.6 KB

22 Likes
#19

I think you are fine without: but I love a pedal board, and couldn’t imagine that many pedals NOT on a board. I’m a Guitarist though…

A decent pedal board (something like the pedaltrain metro 16) and a decent isolated power supply and you’d been good to go. All your pedals set up and powered all the time, you’d just need to plug in your desired input and output into the first/last in the chain (or leave them connected) and then just turn on whichever effect or multiple effects you want to use. Blissfully straightforward.

Go really bling and get something from https://www.schmidtarray.com/

2 Likes
#20

I also think that, given the small number of pedals you have, you won’t feel happy with a pedal board. If you wanted to trigger them on stage with flexible routings, then you might want a pedal board. Maybe a central power supply is useful to avoid plug jockeying. My bet is that you want to keep your setup nice and lean.