3rd time's the charm - DIY Pedalboard

[Granny Gremlin]

My old board (PedalboardII, below) was getting cramped, so I needed something with room to grow cause I have a number of PCBs on the to-do pile. 





I have been looking at a lot of other folks' boards online (here and elsewhere) and what bothered me was how huge and unportable they were.  I mean some people did some really cool stuff like a second half story, built in patchbays etc, but I just really wanted to maximise pedal real estate while at the same time minimising transport size.  The available real estate had to be ergonomic; rows and tiers annoy me the heat of the moment.  ... and it had to be perty.

Anyway, PedalboardI was very good in this regard (despite the 2nd row I squished in later), but much too small (outgrew that years ago - the pics are old; I had much more on it by the end of it's life) and, since it was built in hurry before a gig, pretty shoddy on the structural integrity front (I am surprised it lasted as long as it did; she served me well).  What I loved about it was how it was a cute little briefcase and would fit in the car in any small otherwise useless hole after you've tetrissed all the other gear in.





Anyway, I think I have done it now.  It is everything I really need, without time wasted on cool stuff that I really do not require.  The final design goal, which I didn't mention above, was to not buy any new materials at all in order to build it.  That's why the hardware doesn't match (mostly black but the latches are chrome).  The wood was reclaimed cedar - used to be the railing on the sound booth/loft of the venue/studio I used to run (see top right in this pic) which in turn was scrap/leftover from when my Dad redid his back deck.  The break-away hinges are actually from PedalboardI (I had the sense to keep them when I scrapped it when it when it was beyond repair).









I am loving the single row thing, and the 2 halves work nicely with typical tripod mic stands.  It's easy to see what the chain is and modify it; no lurching over with a weird step to hit a stomp in the back row or second tier.  I also build all my boxes with the I/O on the top (the MXR Env Filter will be replaced soon), so I can totally squish everything together more and fit in near double the amount of pedals I have on there now.  The guitarist/vocalist in my band is hella jealous.

Since I do have a number of pedals to build I haven't bothered much with the cable management just yet, but the idea is that I will have a single signal and a single power daisy chain (hope to lose that MXR EQ with it's 18V requirement -  all I use it for is a rumble filter and buffer/splitter; it's too big to keep just for that) connecting the 2 halves.  Signal chain is right to left.  Closed up the thing is about the width of an amp head (or standard 4x12), but not as tall or deep.

Sorry about the mess in the studio - didn't quite finish recording a band before the holidays and didn't want to put everything away so we could resume quickly.

[Granny Gremlin]

Also PedalboardII is available for sale if anyone is interested - with or without the DC Brick.  I am in Toronto, Canada.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=113027.0