Hey guys i need help with building a pedalboard. Its not like they're readily available here. So it seems i gotta build one. Right now i've got 4 pedals in all that i use..behringer wah>>bad monkey>>marshall echohead>>Zoom G2. I'll probably be adding another dist pedal soon. My idea was to get my self some thermocol and plywood for the base. Thin plywood at the bottom..thermocol over it then another plywood surface slanted reinforced by the thermocol.. I thought of getting one of those keyboard covers and building the pedalboard inside that cause it'd be portable.. All the wires and power strip would go on the front of the pedalboard below the slanted surface.. Any suggestions welcome.....i need all the help i can get
For one thing I would make my own power supply unit instead of using a power strip. One big 12v 1A transformer with some filtering will give you nice stable hum-free 9V power for your entire pedalboard (I've done this ). Not sure if the behringer is buffered but if it isn't you might wanna make a small buffer to put before the effects. As for the construction. what you've suggested sounds good. Thermocol and plywood should make a nice compact fit and lightweight too
You might try putting in a copper foil between the thermocol and wood, and connect it to ground. And make sure there's no ground loops. I haven't tried this, but theoretically it should help.
@talkien - Thanks man..but how would i go making my own suppy unit? I have no experience in electronics man..do you get that sorta thing in shops?
I have a book by Craig Anderton that has a very nice bipolar power supply you can use for practically all your effects. That's the one I built and it works great. I could send you the schematic (if I can find a scanner). And you don't have to know a lot about electronics. If you don't feel confident just go down to your nearest TV repair guy, hand him the schematic and tell him you'll pay him 100-150 bucks to build it. He'll be happy to earn a little cash for a couple hours work and trust me you'll be happy with the product. It's worth the effort coz you really want to keep your PSU far away from your effects, and the lesser transformers the better. You want to avoid a lot of magnetic fields near your pedals. @yazi: not sure what you mean by line selector. Are you talking about an A/B/Y type of thing? In any case its worth getting pally with your friendly neighbourhood solder jockey. I just found a PSU and an A/B/Y circuit here https://www.geofex.com/
I've been thinking about making a small self contained pedalboard built into a modified computer chassis. It's basically going to house some DIY circuits with only controls and switches sticking out the top, I guess you could call it an analog processor .
My budget is minimum..cant afford to get anything imported... Thanks talkien i'll try taking a look at it soon..
Copper foil can be iffy if not done right. Problem is if there is a loop you're going to have a hard time isolating it. This is one more for the PSU. It sends your ground to earth through a three pin plug as opposed to two pin like most transformers and comes with fuse protection
I got this for around 1.5k. I couldnt be happier: https://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/IbanezDx/Pedalboard/DSCN0678.jpg https://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/IbanezDx/Pedalboard/DSCN0680.jpg
Sweet man...thats exactly what i'm looking for but again i dont think i can import cause of my past experience with importing...I wish they were available here.