Hey gang,
I went through every post on this thread and enjoyed seeing all the different pedal boards. Some, I was unable to see the pics, and some were not well documented; but all in all I’m really impressed. I was the first person I knew of to make a pedal board; and I can tell you that was a while back. As you may have noticed, I still have some of my original pedals; and each has it’s story. I am pleased to see sites like this where we can interact with others, and get feedback and assistance to make our setups better. I must mention at this point that I believe we all owe a certain Mike Matthews a debt of gratitude for his efforts and tenacity in keeping EHX going in the face of tough times in the past. I remember the days of “Broadway Computer” as a sad time etc. I’m also grateful and I’m absolutely delighted to see the extraordinary new products being offered by EHX. Yep – I can’t wait to get my hands on some of this new stuff! I also believe we also need to appreciate his being such a visionary in our worlds of guitar etc tonalites. EHX effects go further into uncharted territories than others. I encourage everyone who might happen to read this to get some cool EHX goods. My only affiliation with EHX is being a long standing customer. ( Yep – I have more EHX than is on my current pedal boards)
Now: on to my current board. You may notice some unusual items:
Here’s the current chain:
Boss TU2 tuner ->LPB (My originals are toasted so I sure was glad to be able to get a new one) This LPB can live at either end of the chain and currently it’s first…-> 60’s Italian Vox Wah -> EHX Y-triggered filter -> V1 Big Muff (My original pedal) -> Foxx Tone machine -> Audioworks FET Distortion -> “script” MXR phase 90 -> original Small Stone EHX -> Deluxe Electric Mistress -> Boss RPS10 -> H2O Liquid chorus / echo -> Deluxe Memory Man (My old blue dog is down and headed to Howard Davis (What a Dude!) for repair) -> 50’s Alamo and old Gorilla practice amps.
I personally prefer ANALOG. You may notice the Boss which is only used for the reverse / octive special effect. (When I bought it – the EHX unit did not exist.) My other analog delay and chorus also went down, so this is how I came to the Visual Sounds H2O – I was in a bind and it was available, cheap, and right now. I don’t generally use the delay on it as it is digital. I’m still on the hunt for a tube amp to compliment the old Alamo. Any ideas out there? I have yet to try the EHX chorus; but the analog chorus sure seems nice on this unit. The Foxx is an unusual machine indeed. The Audioworks is a rarity and it’s cool stuff. In it’s day it was unusual stuff FET and all. Oh – That’s a newer stratacoustic – pretty cool idea IMO. The Mustang is a ’66 with a ’72 Herb Gastelum neck. Strat – my original ’63 never let’s me down…Yeah, I voted single coil. I have owned some various Gibsons in the past, but I prefer the Fenders.
I’m including a picture of a pretty rare dog – my Gretsch tremfect. (well that was the plan anyways) You may laugh as it is OLD (Like a lot of my stuff) and Big and clunky. Many have never even heard of such a beast, and I can tell you that it is WAY cool! (Dear EXH current engineers – I hearby submit this as food for thought R&D) This being said you may wonder why it is not in the chain currently. It has no bypass and does not completely play well with the others so I have to re-wire to use it. It has “status lights” and was the first pedal I ever saw that did. Slightly ahead of it’s time I’d say; in more ways than one. So does anyone have any suggestions on the where and how to incorporate this into the chain here?
I noticed various home made pedal board designs; and so I’m including my original ideas here. As I say I built my first model(s) some time ago. Let me tell you – the Internet is a very cool thing as I was really let down by the local “experts” here. To be fair though this was something they’d never seen; heard of; or thought of… How these experts could not know of such things as ground loops; and the fact that a V1 Muff for example; was not designed with the intention of EVER seeing a power supply; I can not answer…etc…
My take on a pedal board is that it should be angled. I started with this design originally. I did see here that some one used a “riser”; which was to put the back pedals up on blocks; but I’d like them to try my design and offer some feedback perhaps…
I also planned to include pictures of how I achieved this; and also of the suit case that the boards fit into for transport. Yeah – it’s not as slick as some of the commercially available models BUT I really like the configuration better. Besides it’s a way to also do this on the cheap;) With the monies saved one might be able to get more EHX goodies! Hey – I’m just saying… The “legs” are door stops BTW…
Oh – I can’t post more than one pic due to size constraints, so let me know if anyone wants me to post other pics…
Keep on Rockin – or playing the blues – or country – or metal – or whatever it is you do!
Don