HOW-TO: Build your own pedal board
Look, I know many of you strive to be the next Jeff Beck or Alex Lifeson, but let's face it, you can't. But you can try however and I'm sure you already have. You've probably bought every pedal there is to buy out there to try to get that explicit sound your favorite guitarist makes right? Now they're all laying around on your floor, tumbled together, cables tangled up, etc. Well not anymore. Today you're going to learn how to make your own pedal board from stuff you have at home and a few other things....and of course it'll be on the cheap. That's how we rock and roll.
So. The first part for a pedal board is of course, the �board.� Find something with enough room for at least 5 average sized (read: BOSS) pedals and use that. I chose the side of an old IBM PC case I had around. It�s big enough, has room for expansion, and sits on a nice sloped angle.
Next up, grab your pedals and patch cables. Obviously if you don�t have 6 inch patch cables, now is the time to get some. Lay your pedals out in a way that suits your style of playing best. Also remember that you�ll be buying more pedals in the future, so keep space in mind and try to group them together in a convienient way.
Now it�s time to get out ultra-sticky duct tape. I happened to have a roll that is so sticky, it just sticks to you for days. It�s absolutely disgusting but works like a charm. Just carefully tape your pedals down on the bottom and position them correctly. There�s no need to screw and bolt things down since you don�t know if you�ll be adding pedals later. As you go to tape them down, make sure you�ve got your patch cables plugged in correctly so that you don�t need to go back and insert them later. It�s a real pain in the ass as you�ll find out so avoid it.
Now comes power. Power power power. There are 2 ways of doing this. One is the elite hacker �everything I do has to be DIY or nothing at all� way, the other is the �I�m smart. I�ll spend $25 and be done with it� way. I reccomend the 2nd way. The first way just includes buying 9V power supply connectors and just relaying them over and over again for your pedals. However, if you go to your local guitar center or sam ash, you�ll find a few systems that daisy chain the plugs for you. They�re about $25 and you hook them up to only one power supply. This way, your pedal board is powered, you�re not using 9V batteries, and you don�t have 500 sega genesis AC adaptors plugged into the wall. Throw the daisy chain of plugs into your pedals and plug them in. Make sure everything is cool and you�re set.
Now it should start looking something like this
Use duct tape to hold anything down that�s all over the place. Make sure everything works fine at this point. Try every pedal out with your guitar, etc. See how I left a nice big space to the left hand side so I can add a few more pedals? That�s what you should be doing. Especially since the next HOWTO might somehow benefit that (omg omg omg!!!!). Drill some holes into your pedal board if you can, and feed the cables and wiring underneath to make it cleaner if you need to. Be sure to rock out hard now that your pedals are all organized in once place with easy access and power. If you want you can go back and decorate it with felt, stars, feathers, what have you. I chose not to because I know I�ll be doing about 80 revisions of this version before I�m happy. Enjoy your new pedal board and who knows, soon you may have a new pedal to put on it!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Timmah! @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
Pure genius captain obvious!
*rolls eyes*
Scoobydoo @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
Wow... It REALLY must be a slow news season... Sticking pedals down with Duct tape... whoddathought?
A88 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
Why not just make a velcro one instead of screwing up the pedals with duct tape? Power distribution's a big issue too...
EnricoSwave @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
** Whines and complains **
But I wanna be Geddy Lee.........
J3 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
I thought this was a tutorial for making analog amps, and I was like "YES!!!" I check it out and... duct tape? ',:| anyone know some sites where I can get instructions to make my own analog pedals?
Cullen @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
this is incredibly retarded. i actually fee like my time was wasted...i hope this was a joke.
Big Dan @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
How to make a pedal board:
1. Tape pedals to a board.
2. [There is no step 2.]
3. Endure every Engadget reader asking "WTF is this?"
Timmah! @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
btw, Jeff Beck and Alex Lifeson?
Given the typical '12-year old girl from Noo Yawk' style verbiage that is usually the preferred style of disseminating tech news at engadget (don't get me wrong, it's kinda endearing.. well sometimes..), I didn't realize that you would know who Alex Lifeson was. Don't you wanna be more like the guitarist from Good Charlotte or something like that? ;)
PPS - It must REALLY be a slow news day like #2 said.
PPPS - Making your own analog pedals? NOW we're talking! If someone knows about that, please give us mere mortals some links.
jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
You've got to be kidding me. I built one with two tiers out of wood and tied things down with zip ties, and used cheap wood trim to hold it all tight. The hole under the second tier made a good spot for the power strip (and i did make use of a daisy chain as well). My board held 9 pedals plus a wah and volume, and was tight and compact. I should post pics, but i'm lazy. Ask and ye shall receive.
And its hella better than this guys, cleaner, easier to use, can be modified to use a latching top, and nearly as cheap (minus the wood used).
Andrew @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
Okay, mere mortals, here you go:
http://smallbox.zeonhost.com/
(Kindly provided to me by the folks over at hackaday - http://www.hackaday.com )
Ryan @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
I like the idea a lot, especially since I have no money (other musicians can sympathize with me on that one) and a lot of free time :) I do like #3's idea of using velcro instead of duct tape, as it seems like a less destructive idea. As for the detractors of the article, this How - To was obviously made to be something for the general musician and not for the " geek geniuses" that frequent this site. I have one final thing to say: Calling an article "retarded" and "rolling your eyes" are not constuctive criticisms. If you don't like something, at least have something to back it up besides name calling.
Beer @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
You forgot the part about spilling beer all over it to break it in... (yes, it will happen -- might as well get it over with).
Kaden @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/index.php
Knock yerself out....
darkone @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
Uh yeah, I only did this like 10 years ago....
Why not just buy a multi-effects pedal and be done with it?....
Timmah! @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
^^ because multi-effects pedals are digital.
Digital < Analog
Sundog @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
Smallbox is an awesome website. That and velcro is better than duct tape. You can learn something from everything you read, even if it is content weak.
Wurx @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
This Flucking Snucks.
Duct tape?......Engadget owes me $3 for wasting my time.
toezter @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
yeah, like the other thousands of guitarists with multiple pedals didn't think of this one.
HURRY! TELL HENDRIX THAT HE CAN DO THIS WITH HIS PHASER AND FUZZ BOX!!!11
Handsome Jon @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
I just built one a month ago, and used a clip-board to build it on.. drilled the holes, screwed the effects to the board, minus their bottom plates. I'm trying to find something to store it in while on the road! - Like a small laptop case or something..
Aaron0602 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
J3,
A great starter site for analog pedals is http://fuzzcentral.tripod.com
It gives you schematics, layouts that you can transfer directly to pcb, and parts lists with mouser part numbers. Doesn't get much easier than that. One of my favorites is the solasound tonebender, the pedal page supposedly used on LZ 1.
Enjoy,
Aaron
Aaron0602 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
Handsome Jon,
What you did is an extraordinarily bad idea. The point of the effects casing is to shield the effect from outside noise. The box, if metal, acts as a full 360 shield. If plastic, it's generally fully lined with metal. Taking off the bottom plates eliminates this shielding, and you will introduce noise into your signal chain, unless you cut foil the size of each box and screw it in between the effect and the clipboard. Make sure the foil is touching the exposed edge of the box, for continuity.
BruceR @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
another DIY music site, effects and amps too ...
http://www.tonepad.com/
Ohmz @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
I'm a roadie and I've seen millions of pedal boards from bands you've never heard of to total legends.
Every pedal board I have seen, uses velcro, it means you can replace the pedals with a spare if something goes wrong.
I've seen quite a few unfortunates that haven't used pedal boards, they usually are quite messy.
Next on Engadget how to make a door.
step 1, cut out a piece of cardboard te size of your doorframe (We reccomend card board from refrigerator boxes).
step 2, duct tape the piece of cardboard to the side of the door frame (only one side of the door frame duct taping both sides is the 2nd step in our next article which shows you how to make a wall).
step 3, use the door.
WTF!
Ohmz @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
I'm a roadie and I've seen millions of pedal boards from bands you've never heard of to total legends.
Every pedal board I have seen, uses velcro, it means you can replace the pedals with a spare if something goes wrong.
I've seen quite a few unfortunates that haven't used pedal boards, they usually are quite messy.
Next on Engadget how to make a door.
step 1, cut out a piece of cardboard te size of your doorframe (We reccomend card board from refrigerator boxes).
step 2, duct tape the piece of cardboard to the side of the door frame (only one side of the door frame duct taping both sides is the 2nd step in our next article which shows you how to make a wall).
step 3, use the door.
WTF!
WTF @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
WTF? Engadget for the Inspector Gadget crowd.
matt @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
so incredibly stupid.
and when you take those pedals off the board? a sticky fucking mess all over the bottom of them that will never completely come off, and you won't be able to sell them to anyone else either.
Idlehand @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
hmmm, this is interesting... yah Duct Tape....ummm....sign me up for this quality project that will make me feel like a total professional...
SCairborn @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
You have got to fucking kidding me.
Diago @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
Get a proper pedal board from us at http://www.diago.co.uk ;)
Jordiz @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
duct tape...hehehe...hahaha... he said duct tape...
Zan @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
You sir are a fucking idiot.
At least you tried your hardest at making it look like it's a complex task to tape some cables to a flat surface. (and might I add, it looks like shit and leaves a sticky fucking mess when you wanna move them)
Let me guess, you're not studying industrial design or engineering...
Tom du Pr? @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
This is not very helpful is it. Duct tape?
I made a pedal board recently, and I think it is much better than this effort. See my article at. http://www.masht.com/guitars/pedalboard/pedalboard.htm. There is no duct tape in sight. There are however plans and what I hope might be useful to someone undertaking a similar project.
Tom du Pr?www.masht.com
r3_l0ad3d @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
how friggin retarded! duct tape? a monkey could make a more complex board. wtf!!! described as "on the cheap" in the method - what an understatement. want to make a GOOD pedalboard??? see http://www.diyguitarist.com/DIYStompboxes/NewPedalBoard.htm - this is a great design, and other great guitar effects. Peace out
grumpynortherner @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
you sir ..are a numpty
Tom Corkhill @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
I landed here looking for websites that sell pedal boards, never expecting that I would be able to save so much money by making my own! Speak to you all again in a few years when I've saved up enough money to replace this PC that Im about to destroy and duct-tape my pedals to :o)
joshiboy @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
hahaha. arnt you all a bunch of laricans. i must admit, im about to build a pedal board and ive got designs in my head that will incorporate wireless reseivers, power supplies, multiple pedals, a nice little gnx3 multi effects system (lol little), hidden panels to hide wiring and to top it of a strobe and multi colour effect lighting sytem.
but nonetheless did our poor friend who although lacks a little in the departement of creativity deserve the ridicule and onslaught of nasty comments.
ill answer that
...............NO.................
bunch of drogans. show me your boards and id love to see that door OHMZ sounds sick. you decroted mindless fool. and if your gunna swear why bother abrieviating. im apauled with the lack of suport and encouragement dude even though i wouldnt go near it if it works for you thats tops im happy even glad.
if you have a comment or suggestions for this fella why not give it to him in an approchable manor. instead of trying your hardest to look cool or impress fellow mockers in an un-wordy attempt at wordiness.
get the drift. pack of pedal pushers.
have a nice day.
ozgun ozcakir @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
You can see my pedal box : http://img71.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kutu305plak0bv.jpg
http://img174.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kapaka305l305nca9vv.jpg
ozgun ozcakir @ Dec 19th 2005 2:43AM
You can see my pedal box : http://img71.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kutu305plak0bv.jpg
http://img174.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kapaka305l305nca9vv.jpg