Mark III

I remember when these pro made pedalboards hit the market, and it seemed like so much money when a piece of plywood, and some velcro would do the trick. I tried everything else to cheap out and when they all failed, in one way or another, it brought me to the brand that's pretty much the no brainer, industry standard; Pedaltrain.


When I started building my first real pedalboard back in 2009, I used Pedaltrain's biggest board available.

 

This was the first version, in the early days of my band, The Goodbye Theory

 

 

Eventually it got boiled down to this

 
At a full 36" wide, my idea was to put every pedal I had on it, and have a pedalboard that could handle any musical situation. I even got the heavy duty ATA Flight case. Bad planning on my part for a couple of reasons:

1. I didn't take into consideration I'd need a lot of patch cables to connect everything. Those patch cables add up, not only in signal loss, but $ wise too.

2. Power. I'd need at least two power supplies (no one made a power supply that could handle more than 8 pedals at the time when I was building this board) So there's another $150 I didn't consider.

3. Most of the pedals I had at the time were drive pedals, and I really didn't need more than two. Balancing out all the output levels, and EQ voicings before every set or practice, ugh..

So I downsized from their 36" wide monster to the 24" wide Pedaltrain2, with the ATA case. I really didn't need the hard case on this one either, a gig bag version would have been a better choice. Especially since the trunk space in the MINI is at a premium.

After wiring up my usual collection, I realized I could easily throw a couple of spare pedals on it, albeit not wired up or connected, and still be able to swap stuff in and out quickly at practice. Since I get about 6-7 pedals a year to review, this worked out great. I also had some "unique" pedals on my board. TC Sub N Up, EHX Synth 9 and the like. I liked kicking them in here and there for some flavour, Alot of times when I did that, I'd get the stink eye from the band. Some neat sounds for sure, but it's like putting hot peppers on chocolate ice cream, it just doesn't work.

 

Eventually it looked like this at one point.

So I decided that I was going to be more practical with my pedalboard, and eliminate the excess. I downsized to a Pedaltrain Classic Jr, and I boiled and distilled what I need on my board for 99% of what I'm doing musically at this point.

1. Tuner
2.Overdrive/distortion
3.Boost
4.Chorus
5.Delay
6.Sonic Maximizer

Now I do have a DS engineering chronometer that's really not a pedal, but a timer/clock. its good for planning out set times.

So since I have these lovely looper/patch bay pedals, my idea was to use them and clear off some space on my board. this meant I could place the pedals towards the back end of the board, route the cables to the loopers in the front. it makes for less tap dancing over one pedal to get to another. Less foot action to accidentally move a knob or switch during the act as well.

Loop #1 has the overdrive

Loop #2 connects to the boost

Loop #3 is open, but will be used for something I'll share with you all later.

Loop#4 connects to my chorus and delay pedal in one loop. I love the idea of chorus and delay, and I hate the idea of having to tap dance to turn them on/off individually.

Power is by my trusty Voodoo labs power supply. I did have to get new brackets for mounting it though. 

 
Now I did give up one thing with this board: expandability. There's not a lot of room to add anything, but considering the power supply only has 1 free input now, I'm cool with that, maybe I could jam a mini pedal in there, but the idea is to have a board that does what's practical, guitar tone wise. So what else would I need.

I have debated getting a buffer just in case. So far I haven't noticed a tone loss, probably because I'm using really short cable runs, and everything is true bypass, as well as the loopers. If you're a pedalboard geek at the level of the comic book nerd from the Simpsons, please comment on how I'm doing it wrong, like Dr. Frasier Crane, I'm listening.

Now I don't need the old pedalboard, it's power supply mouning brackets and the ATA case. So I sold it for $100. It's a good deal and it covered the cost of the new board.

This time around I decided that the ATA case was too much, and went with the gig bag option. Earlier (cheaper, non pedaltrain) Pedalbords that I owned, came with gig bags, and they all pretty much got trashed. Cheap materials, Zippers that were made from pot metal, and jammed easily. Stitching that tore apart. No Bueno.The Pedaltrain bag that came with the Classic Jr, is a step up from the cheap ones. I know MONO makes a better one, but it's expensive. 

Pedaltrain used to only offer a case or a bag for their boards. I tried many times to just buy a bag, for my pedaltrain 24" model and I got told it was a no go every time. Recently they did start to offer bags/backpacks, but the cost was almost as much as the pedalboard. The premium bag for the Classic JR is a whopping $119. I paid $118 for the Classic Jr & it's included bag, which I think should be ok for the moment. The ATA case for this version is a bit smaller than my previous board, and considering its $149 price tag it's not a bad deal. If I ever find myself doing alot of shows where my gear will get fondled by strangers, I'd consider it, but for now, going to and from practice, the studio and local gigs, I should be good. Famous last words, said my every guitar player about their pedalboards for sure. I still have another trick up my sleeve though.

P.S.

(why is it I think of burgers when I'm working out my pedalboard?)

I'll have a Classic Jr, and a PT2 With a Case!