Pedals To The Metal - Part 2

Last week, we talked about pedal layout and the implication of how you order them in the signal chain.  This week, we'll concentrate on getting everything packaged up and ready to the stage. 

Once again, please keep in mind that's I'm not trying to make any artistic decisions here for you.  It's your sound.  I just want to help you get everything so that you can set up quick, play the show reliably, and get out!

First, what are we mounting everything to?  You can get as fancy as you want here.  It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Pedaltrain products these days...I've built a half dozen systems on their products (and we'll look at at few in a bit).  But never underestimate the power of a piece of plywood!

I figure if a guy like Eric Johnson is cool with using something like this, it's all good (and it's legendary as to how much Eric is a tone fanatic).  If you go this route...get PLYWOOD (preferably at least BC grade).  Do not get OSB unless you like to break chunks of wood under your fingernails just before you play.  MDF isn't bad as long as you paint it.  Otherwise, the first time you spill a drink it will bubble up and warp.  And as far as the size...you figured that out last week.  But, you still want to dry fit everything to make sure it fits and you can get to everything you want.

More Power To You
Adding a reliable source of power to a set up is an important consideration.  Some guys insist on batteries.  If you've only got a couple of pedals and they aren't huge current hogs, then knock yourself out.  But, if it's an involved rig you really owe it to yourself to look at some of the supplies out there now.

You've essentially got two choices in the matter...a switching supply or linear supply.  I know...I just heard a couple of heads explode.  I'll explain...

A switching power supply is similar to what's in your computer.  Without getting into magnetics theory here, I'll try to simplify this.  By converting the AC into DC at a much higher frequency, the transformer can get a lot smaller.  And by controlling the duty cycle of the supply to regulate the voltage (in other words, turning it on and off very quickly) instead of just dumping the excess power into a heat sink, it gets very efficient (on the order of 90%).  The drawbacks to these are they are more complex and they tend to generate their own noise.  The outputs are typically not isolated either, which can make for ground loops. 

A good example of a switching supply is the Visual Sound 1-Spot.  You get a lot of energy in small space.

A linear supply is what we (at least those of us born prior to the 80's) grew up with.  It involves a transformer, rectifier, filter and regulator.  The big wall warts you used to see...those are linear.  The advantage to the is that they are robust and electrically very quiet.  The downsides...they're larger and not super efficient (about 30-40% of the electricity you use is lost as heat).  Examples of linear supplies for pedalboards would be Voodoo Labs Pedal Power, Decibel 11 Hot Stone, or the Cioks DC series.  The biggest advantage (to me at least) is that these supplies isolate the outputs from each other.  That means if one pedal shorts out, it doesn't take the whole board down.  It also eliminates ground loops between the pedals. 

Unless a client has a really good reason to do otherwise, I always insist on building with one of these supplies.  One additional bonus...if I'm using a Pedaltrain board I have the option to mount the supply underneath (because you really shouldn't need to step on the supply during a show...unless you're a punk band....then it's cool...I guess).

Getting Attached
I used to accept nothing but screwing down a pedal.  And for really heavy (weight wise) devices, that's still a good way to go.  But there have been some big advances in adhesives and hook-loop attachment systems (the generic name for Velcro).  I'm a big fan of the 3M Dual Lock system...it has about 4x the holding power of the cheap stuff that's out there.  The only trick is that the surfaces you apply them to have to be extremely clean.  Take the time to wipe the surfaces down with Isopropyl or Denatured alcohol before attaching it. 

If you want to use screws, there are some handy devices out there now which let you do that without damaging your pedals.  I don't like them, but they're essentially a de-constructed bicycle chain...but to each his own.

The Cable's Out....
Yeah, you sort of need to hook this stuff up, right.  Again...a couple of major choices, and they depend on whether you can solder or not.

For those of us who do solder, you've got the advantage of picking your materials.  For pedal interconnect, it's Mogami 2319 for me.  It's small, easy to strip and work with, and has really good signal integrity.  As far a plugs go, I'll use Neutrik straight and right angle connectors if I have room.  If things are cramped, then I'll go with Switchcraft 226, or 228 if things are really tight.  Make sure you read the directions for how much insulation to strip back.

I'm not a fan of the solderless stuff out there because of two reasons.  First, the connector dictates the wire you have to use.  Second, your connection is held together by pressure.  A lot of people use these systems, and if you put things together correctly they work well.  But, you have to be very careful when connecting and disconnecting things...the connection is just not as rugged as a solder joint.

George L systems are very, very good sounding cables.  And like the Mogami cable, the stuff he uses is small and easy to work with.  And again, tone fiend Eric Johnson uses these on his systems.  I've done a board with Lava Solderless Connectors.  It's held up well and sounds good, but the cable is really thick (for what it needs to be) and was a pain to work with.

Got The Hook Up?
Yep...you're there.  If you're using hook-loop (OK...Velcro) to attach the pedals, you can afford to put them right up next to each other (just plug 'em in before you attach them).  If you're using a more permanent attachment method, you should try to leave room to unplug the cables should you need to take a pedal out of the signal chain at a gig.

Here's a fairly simple board I did for John Cortell of Buzzfuel a few years ago:

John's board was a little unusual in that we incorporated his wireless reciever on the board.  I normally like to get those up in the air, but he wasn't playing on huge stages and really didn't have to worry about an line-of-sight issues with the antennae.

It's built on the Pedaltrain Jr. frame with a Voodoo Labs Power Plus.  The cable is all custom made with Mogami wire and super heavy duty Neutrik connectors.  John only has to come out of the tuner (upper left), connect to his amp, and he's up and running.

The main thing I want you to notice is how the wiring is bundled together and secured to the frame.  The idea is that you don't want anything that could get snagged in transport and set up.  You don't want to give away the time you could save by having to troubleshoot a problem.

But...It's So Big...
So what do you do when your board gets to the size that it's hard to reach things with your feet?  This is where loop switchers come into play.  Loop switchers (not to be confused with Loopers, which let you record and playback sounds live) let you locate a pedal (or pedals) anywhere on the board, but control them from a more easily accessible location.  Here's a good example:

This board belongs to my son Steve.  He put it together himself (and I'm quite proud of him for that).  It's in a fairly constant state of change right now, which is why we haven't done custom cables for it yet.

In the center to the left of the volume pedal are his flanger and chorus units.  He switches those in and out quite a bit, so I built him a two section loop switch (the green box).  Now, everything he uses frequently is at the bottom of the board.

And since he gets asked about this all the time, I'll mention the silver 2-button box to the right of the loop switcher.  Those buttons are to set the tap tempo of his Boss DD-20 and Strymon Timeline delays.  They're just momentary switches, but I added some diode logic to them.  Now, if he taps the "A" button, it only affects the DD-20.  The "B" button, however, will set the tempo of both the DD-20 and the Timeline.  That was his idea...I just bolted it together.

It Keeps Going And Going And Going....
Last week I promised you a trip in the way-back machine.  Here it is:

I built this board in the mid 80's (on my parent's car port if I remember right).  The box to the right of it is the power supply...prepackaged supplies for applications like this didn't exist then so I had to build it myself.  For the geeks out there, the output impedance of the supply mimics that of a carbon battery at about 80% life (the "sweet" spot).

Nobody was really making decent A/B switch boxes yet, so that got built in.  This way, I can have two instruments hooked up and ready to go:

The "Processing" switch gives me a hard-wire bypass around the entire board if anything craps out.  There's also a Mute switch on the other end with a bi-color LED (which was pretty cutting edge back then).  I cut and built the entire frame out of 1/2" plywood.  And almost 30 years later...it's still running!

It's Your Party...
The main thing to remember is that there is no one-size-fits-all template for these things.  There are guidelines and suggestions, but the end-all goal here is to make something that works for you...no against you.  With all of the board, cable, power, and connector options out there now, it's not hard to build your own box of sonic nirvana.

Next week, I thought I would talk about one of the biggest challenges to bands...finding a place to practice!  Until then, keep the meters out of the red!

Ken

Ken Carver has been a musician and performer since the early 70's, and involved with live music production since the mid 70's. He worked for 15 years as a broadcast engineer, building numerous studios and transmitter sites around Texas. He's also worked in Critical Care Communications for the medical industry, R&D for an automated lighting manufacturer, and owned Project Lighting & Sound in the 80's. He currently heads up an R&D Hardware Technician Team at National Instruments in Austin, and still performs on the weekends in the Central Texas area. You can reach Ken at itsjustlogistics@gmail.com