Pedalboard Tip: Put the loop part (soft part) of your velcro onto you pedal and the hook part (pointy part) on the board so your pedals do not stick to the carpet, most people usually have it the other way around
I have a suggestion, for everyone with a Pedaltrain or anything else that's open & allows cable routing underneath: rather than use velcro (which has failed me, and made a gooey mess), get a cooling rack (for baking) sized appropriately for your board and with at least 1" squared grids (to allow angled cables to pass through), zip-tie it to the underside at the four corners, get a spool or bundle of nylon cord or equivalent and cut enough length to tie each pedal to the board (burn the ends as fray-check, damp paper towel nearby). I did that, and zip-tied the bigger pedals. You'll never have to worry about the velcro failing in the summer heat, and you don't have to remove any feet from the bottoms. Alternatively, I just bought a cheaper non-Pedaltrain board without slats (want to stop burning through money so quickly), and tried not even securing the pedals, but padding inside the case with the bubble wrap from shipping or an old T-shirt ... they don't really move around in transit, the board's flat when I'm playing anyway, and I feel more free to experiment with pedal order or substitutes than on my other board with pedals tied down (or when I had velcro).
Some great advice here. I wish there was something like this when I was getting started. I would like to see in a future video: 1. Pedals that go into effects loops. 2. True bypass and buffering 3. You mentioned digital pedals, so there should be some mention of AC power. And with AC comes strict current requirements WRT power. 4. For the future, I think a video (or series of videos) on MIDI boards from floor to rack would be very useful if you have 14 or so pedals -- think RJM's Mastermind to a RG-16 or something similar.
Speaking about power, what he didn't mention but is quite important to know: There are two parameters which determine electrical power: Voltage (V) and current (1A = 1000mA). And there's a little confusion going on. 1st: Voltage needs to fit!! Your supply should never give you higher or less voltage than what's written on your pedal (or in the manual)! A little more (like 1V) should be fine because good pedals should be protected (see manual). But this may reduce life time and makes you lose any warranty. Also pay attention to AC or DC (there are pedals that need AC power) 2nd: Current printed on the supply unit must be higher than (at least equal to) what's on the pedal. Even if it's ten times as high, That's fine. There's no limit. If you use a daisy chain, add the current of all your pedals, and it must still be lower than your supplying output. Don't ever run a digital pedal with less current than it needs, you can seriously damage it!!
Was wanting a video like this for awhile, only a 3rd year guitar player, I was trying to cover all the basses of guitar rigs, pedal board..ect. This helped me a lot. Thanks PG & John
I would also suggest experimenting if any pedals sound better to you in the effects loop rather than in the front of the amp. Or even which pedals sound better before or after a distortion pedal. Those were huge tonal factors for me.
+Roman L I totally agree man, a lot of your modulation effects tend to sound better in the effects loop compared to right into the front. But hey, in the end it;s your own sound, so build it how you like it, we're just random people on the internet,.
I found that Fender amps take a lot more kindly to putting all the effects before the pre-amp. Some amps don't like this at all, but Fender seems to be ok.
To any youngsters watching this video. There is no pedal order. Chain it up how you think it sounds good. And if it sounds good, then its good. Anything can go before or after a compressor (besides maybe a wah) and anything can go before or after an overdrive. Compressor and Drive will effect the sounds of your pedal order the most. Another one is if a delay is before or after a reverb, and if that delay and reverb is before or after a compressor. The key is to know what your pedals are doing when placed certain ways and what sounds best to your ears. Unlock something new. Some pedals only sound good solely where they are placed. Rather they sound terrible where they "should" be placed. And then someone comes along and does it "wrong" and unlock a new sound.
That's a great video John and PG. Very useful and no doubt a vital future reference for pedal enthusiasts. Thank you, I'll be sharing it for sure. The only thing I'd add would be to try and isolate digital pedals from analog in the power chain. That is, don't daisy chain digital with analog if you can help it as it will help avoid a potential 'mozzie' like frequency running through your signal. Cheers, B.
+Danny Skrims Yes you can as long as your power brick can handle the milliamps. I use a 1 Spot CS12 from Truetone. As long as your power brick have designated 300 to 500 ma, you can run pedals like TC nova delay, line6 m5 ect.
I used to run hosa cables with a daisy chain for my pedalboard, I redid the entire thing with a BBE Supa Charger, and Mogami cable(redco sells bulk cable) with neutrick jacks and it made a pretty noticeable difference immediately. I had to turn the treble down on my amp! Much less hiss and hum!
Very good instructional on pedalboards! I would like to add use a steady base. I used to use a board that came in a bag. Biggest problem was the board moving around on stage when I used a wah! The whole darn board moved. I solved the problem by converting to a Pedaltrain rack. It's rock solid and stays in one place when I use the wah. Well worth the investment.
I have a mondo under my board as well and it's great! Even for my 18V pigtronix compressor, it's great having all your pedals on with a simple, universal, 3 prong plug.
im not an electritian and i like a simple set-up..but it sounds like taking the time to experiment with the way you play and what you like is key,thanks for this info.
I want this John when he does the rig rundowns. Chilled. Relaxed. And smart. He seems so fake in his interviews and I don’t like that. He seems like a cool dude and a cool player. So I know he knows what he’s talking about in those interviews.
Very helpfull video... I have my own board set up for my bass. Envelope filter -> octaver -> compressor -> fuzz/overdrives -> Preamp (SFT) -> phaser -> Delay... but it's still work in progress. Actually it's all powered by an old 9V powersupply TFT monitor... relatively cheap, but it does the job and it's very silent! I'm currently building a dry/wet blender to put parallel to my dirt boxes... a great addition for bassists i think!
Be sure to put any pedals that are sensitive to input impedance(anything you might use your volume knob to clean up) in front and before anything with a buffer. I prefer the sound of my Muff with the volume rolled back a bit but if I use any pedals in front of it, it responds like the volume is cranked and gets harsh
I love the sag functionality of the Pedal Power Mondo. Sounds great with my wah. Good video, I can't say I like solderless cable though. IMO its usually better to take the time to make your own soldered connections. If you're worried about space just find some nice gold-tipped pancake connectors and you're on you're way. Decent video either way!
1. Don’t listen to experts 2. Use Zuma power 3. Use damn good Velcro, with fluffy on the board 4. Don’t get suckered by esoteric cable 4b. Planet Waves/Boss is simply effective 5. Play around with orders, there’s no rush and no cast-in-stone 6. Lots of cable retainers/tie wraps on Amazon
I highly recommend soldering you’re own cables. Solderless cables will degrade overtime a lot faster that soldered cables and are less reliable for durability.
After 1:34 here’s two more options: if you are a Christian guitarist, you might use multiple delays or fancy reverbs with different tone setting and probably throw in an expression pedal as well and maybe a large looper. Or if you are a country guitarist you could use echo pedals or multiple compressors.
Great video John. The only thing I would add regarding pedal placement is that some pedals such as loopers and delays with tap tempo are easiest to work with when you don't have to stretch too far for them, so I'd keep them near the front of the board if possible.
Firstly, that's personal preference, plenty of people run them in front of the amp (and many great amps don't have loops). FWIW I generally use them in the loop. But secondly and more importantly, my comment was about physical placement of the pedals on the board, which has nothing to do with where they are in the signal chain. Your comment makes no sense as a reply to mine.
Martin Cliffe You're quite right that many great amps, & especially older amplifiers don't have an effects loop and if you check their spec's, you'll find that most of those amps eg Fenders, Marshalls, Ampegs etc had spring reverbs situated (which fall into the same effects genre as delays, loops etc) AFTER the Preamp (interestingly - that's the effect of an effects loop - effects going straight to the poweramp, bypassing the preamp), but stick to your dogmatic point Marty, I wouldn't wish to dissuade you of your ignorance, short leg length for reaching those rear pedals & abstract thought for lusting after those intellectual heights.
***** some people like to delay the reverbed signal and sometimes if you have a tremolo you might want a clean cut on it so there no reverb lingering and making the tremolo roomie. but it's all preference, there's no right or wrong, just depends on your kind of music.
sammy reynolds yes, it was back in the days when reverb pedals didnt exist....you dont have to argue with me, just grab your tube amp, put some drive on it, put a reverb pedal in front of it and listen it yourself...simple..
Great tips! but one very handy thing to put underneath your board is an plug box, some pedals are going to hum all te time if there going through the same power supply. You can think of de real hard distortions/tube screamers. I plug my tubescreamer on it's self in the plug box, really helped with that great distortion sound.
Pedal and signal path were shown reversed at the beginning. Most pedals it's input Right, output on Left. Corrected when pedals were actually being mounted and wired. Might confuse some, just sayin'.
I would likely use a little extra audio cable to avoid proximity to power cables. If I remember correctly, when they come close try to have cables cross perpendicular as opposed to running parallel. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Nice video.
Tremolo between delay and reverb works better, I think, but there are no rules. I like to run one reverb/delay in parallel, then into a chorus. Pitch shifter/harmoniser before dirt - it will track better.
Thanks very much! One of the most informative yet. Some great suggestions... I'll be building my first board in a few days. And I don't give a crap how many undermines were used....it beats a Brit who's already had too much coffee with 6000 words to go....
I’m getting a buzz in my eq and overdrive.using a one spot.i will get a isolated power source when money is no longer a factor.Every set up is different.I wish I had your luck
Great video John. I have all my cables hard wound & put together by little Fairy's with added Fairy Dust sprinkled on for good measure ;-) LOL Great point about not going cheap & trying to save cash on the cables that make your board work. Why get a 2,000.00 amp & a 2-3K guitar then add a grand worth of good quality pedals only to crap on your tone with cheap "Radio Shack" quality cables. I personally use Mogami & haven't have one crap out on me yet :-) Lava Cable makes a nice set that you can cut to your own board layout. Plus as a rule of thumb if your going to have more than 3-4 pedals throw in a Buffer pedal at the beginning or the end of your pedal chain. If you've got more than 8 pedals put a good Buffer pedal at the start and One at the end just to be safe :-) Great video.
You didnt talk about the effects loop and why time based effects that take larger power ratings also need a good effects loop to route through which has select-able line / instrument levels. Overall pretty sound advice though. Its worth noting that all your accessories are worth $1000USD BEFORE YOU HAVE BOUGHT ANY PEDALS. That makes a $2500 - 3000$USD board, maybe racks need to come back?
I run the same sized pedal train. I use the bottom row for effects before the amp, and the top row for pedals in the amps loop. I removed my Dunlop volume pedal from the board because it was so heavy and monopolized a huge section of real estate. The wah remains, though.
Get a chemistry design werks Holyboard, no tape, no sticky Velcro Bullshit.Zip ties very simple and CLEAN.Thanks Chris I'm getting a standard wide next.Thanks Chris and will talk to you soon
Something I learned by trial and bummer - is ma's or Mini Amps. Strymon pedals use 9V like most pedals (not all) but they require higher ma's. So if you're running Strymon Timeline you want 9V 400ma minimum. Strymon Blue Sky 9V 300ma. Running a Mooer pedal you can use 9V 100ma and so on. So when you buy a pedal check what voltage AND ma's required and then make sure you power supply can handle what you got otherwise all the right cabling and other jazz will be for squat.
P.S. Your power suppl;y can have more ma's then your pedal requires because the pedal will only use what it needs. But you can't go lower without your pedal under performing or even being damaged. "Whirled Peas please"
I really enjoyed this video. I really feel like my rig will not have undermined integrity after watching this video XD. Seriously though, great job John. You're a really cool dude, and you're always so casual when doing videos like this, it's really enjoyable and entertaining to listen to you speak about this stuff. I personally have a Pedaltrain Nano, which I managed to fit 4 Boss/MXR-sized pedals and a mini pedal, so obviously most of these tips involving longer chains don't really apply to me, but it's still interesting watching board wirings. I personally find no problems using a wall wart (Visual Sound One Spot), but maybe that's because I have but a few pedals. Anyways, loved this video! Cheers guys!
Only thing that you left out that I would tell other players is to plan out where you first and last pedals are so it's convenient to run a cable to your guitar and amp.
The thing about mimicking a studio sound that early in your chain, is that it rarely works in a live situation. What sounds good in the bedroom rarely is what you want in a full band mix..
Amazing video! For the order, you mentioned a booster in the middle and an overall volume booster at the end. What’s the difference between the two? I’m pretty new to pedals
The answer to "what order i should put my pedals in" changes from day to day for me. I wake up one day and decide i want my Wah first in the chain, somedays i want a synth(y) sweep and stick it right at the end... all down to taste - good vid tho!
I run my wahs off my board, I use a SKB stage 5, which powers most of my pedals. I use 9V, 18V, and 12V. The SKB was only 300ma in the 12 Volt category. I had to add an extra power supply to add 300ma more to the 12 volts.I run 18 volts to my Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret MKI and Wampler SLOstortion. The power supplies are isolated except for the 18V pedals. My pedal board order is a little different in the way I use a Boss TU-2 Tuner as a splitter. I run output A to stereo fx and B to a dry out amp feed. My pedal board as a patch bay setup. So, I run my wahs first. Then into a BOSS NS-2. Noise Surpressor. This has a loop, which all my gain pedals run through. I have an Xotic SP compressor first, then it goes into a Bogner Red Ecstacy. The next 2 pedals are in a Keeley True Bypass. I have the Catlinbread DLS and BOSS BD-2 tone stacked. The Catlinbread DLS is always on in the bypass loop. If I want to blend, I kick in the BOSS BD-2. The Keeley True Bypass allows me to engage/disengage both of those pedals at the same time. I plan to add another True Bypass to insert my ADA MP-1 that is installed my rack. Which was converted to an amp head. This allows me to use the ADA MP-1 remotely. Last is the Wampler SLOstortion. This pedal has an independent solo boost that effects any of the gain pedals. After that the loop is complete and the output of the NS-2 goes to a volume pedal. I use it to attenuate the signal inront of my PQ-3B parametric eq. From there it goes to my TU-2 Tuner. Why? well it allows me to split to A: stereo fx inline. B feed dry signal in to a dry amp feed. I use T.C. Electronic Nova Modulation (dual modulation engine) then a T.C. Electronic Nova Delay (programmable presets with display), then it goes to a Biyang Stereo in and out Stereo Reverb pedal. Those stereo feeds go to the stereo amp feed. This setup allows me to go Stereo or Wet/Dry/WET I have an Orange Micro Terror and an ElectroHarmonix 44 Magnum currently, I plan to get a 2nd Orange Micro Terror. I have used a MusicMan HD150 head with those amps, when I gigged last year for 9 months. My amps are super clean, and they can get surprisingly loud for 20 Watts and 44 watts. It serves my needs well and I am quite happy with the high gain Bogner and Soldano tones I have along with the Plexi and JCM 800 tones. I have even wilder tones with the ADA MP-1. Also, I run my effects in line, so I don't have an effects loop. It sounds great and this setup is very versatile.
Oh my feelings are so hurt....Rellly grow up. I share information to those that seek. Go troll somewhere else! Are you a middle school child? Why waste time being negative and say something meaningful. I don't care for a lot of the childish and stupid comments 90% of the uneducated folk on here say. I got lots of better things to do.
I played for years, recorded, toured, did radio and TV appearances with my band with either no pedal or just one DD-3 into the front of a 150 HW tube combo.
Great video!!! I bought those same soderless cables and they are horrible. They went out and some lost the tip. Anyhow, great and sound ideas. How do you feel about looper pedals to control multiple pedals with one switch?
I have a question: How the output, the input, mono sounds are connected? The guitar to the pedal, to a amp and a recorder. How the input and the output can work accurate? Not to make a buzz noice either a cancelation sound
Aaron Zepeda If there's a buzz, there might also be something wrong with your power supply. Try with a battery to see if that's the case. It may also be caused by an energy saving lamp (turn off the light: Is it still buzzing?) There are many possible causes!
When I first got my distortion pedal I think I put my wah in front of it and it sounded like crap (the wah) so I had to put the distortion then the wah
John, I know this video is old, but it was a big help. Thank you. Appreciate all your videos.
Glad it was helpful!
Love John's videos! He always sounds like a real expert without sounding condescending at all
***** It helps to be a "been there done that" kind of guy.
Pedalboard Tip: Put the loop part (soft part) of your velcro onto you pedal and the hook part (pointy part) on the board so your pedals do not stick to the carpet, most people usually have it the other way around
I like it when they stick to my robe!
Homeowner Tip: carpets are for garbage people; tear that trash up and replace it with attractive (and healthier) laminate flooring
@@lazylion420 jesus...the sarcasm is real. Love it. I was thinking the same thing.
@@lazylion420 carpets are way more appealing on bare foot. Laminate flooring is good if you want to break your neck after getting out of the bath.
Well, I use a board with carpet attached to it, so I gotta go with the crowd
if he says undermines the integrity one more time.... so help me god
I think him saying that really undermines the integrity of the video
You're undermining your integrity letting it bother you so much.
John Bohlinger has a lot of integrity about not undermining the integrity.
Undermining the Integrity sounds like a bad metalcore band name.
So much integrity…so much potential for undermining it.
I have a suggestion, for everyone with a Pedaltrain or anything else that's open & allows cable routing underneath: rather than use velcro (which has failed me, and made a gooey mess), get a cooling rack (for baking) sized appropriately for your board and with at least 1" squared grids (to allow angled cables to pass through), zip-tie it to the underside at the four corners, get a spool or bundle of nylon cord or equivalent and cut enough length to tie each pedal to the board (burn the ends as fray-check, damp paper towel nearby). I did that, and zip-tied the bigger pedals. You'll never have to worry about the velcro failing in the summer heat, and you don't have to remove any feet from the bottoms. Alternatively, I just bought a cheaper non-Pedaltrain board without slats (want to stop burning through money so quickly), and tried not even securing the pedals, but padding inside the case with the bubble wrap from shipping or an old T-shirt ... they don't really move around in transit, the board's flat when I'm playing anyway, and I feel more free to experiment with pedal order or substitutes than on my other board with pedals tied down (or when I had velcro).
Some great advice here. I wish there was something like this when I was getting started.
I would like to see in a future video:
1. Pedals that go into effects loops.
2. True bypass and buffering
3. You mentioned digital pedals, so there should be some mention of AC power. And with AC comes strict current requirements WRT power.
4. For the future, I think a video (or series of videos) on MIDI boards from floor to rack would be very useful if you have 14 or so pedals -- think RJM's Mastermind to a RG-16 or something similar.
Speaking about power, what he didn't mention but is quite important to know: There are two parameters which determine electrical power: Voltage (V) and current (1A = 1000mA). And there's a little confusion going on.
1st: Voltage needs to fit!! Your supply should never give you higher or less voltage than what's written on your pedal (or in the manual)! A little more (like 1V) should be fine because good pedals should be protected (see manual). But this may reduce life time and makes you lose any warranty. Also pay attention to AC or DC (there are pedals that need AC power)
2nd: Current printed on the supply unit must be higher than (at least equal to) what's on the pedal. Even if it's ten times as high, That's fine. There's no limit. If you use a daisy chain, add the current of all your pedals, and it must still be lower than your supplying output. Don't ever run a digital pedal with less current than it needs, you can seriously damage it!!
Was wanting a video like this for awhile, only a 3rd year guitar player, I was trying to cover all the basses of guitar rigs, pedal board..ect. This helped me a lot. Thanks PG & John
Go home drumkit in the background, you're drunk.
JamesShore1990 hahaha!
I know nothing about drum kits. But the more I look at it ... the more I laugh.
And thanks.
Thats funny AF
Dude, at 2:17 you delivered exactly what i've been looking for. Big thanks!
I would also suggest experimenting if any pedals sound better to you in the effects loop rather than in the front of the amp. Or even which pedals sound better before or after a distortion pedal. Those were huge tonal factors for me.
Roman L Absolutely.
+Roman L I totally agree man, a lot of your modulation effects tend to sound better in the effects loop compared to right into the front. But hey, in the end it;s your own sound, so build it how you like it, we're just random people on the internet,.
Roman L. Yes. Takes a ltitle more set up time but worth a try!
I found that Fender amps take a lot more kindly to putting all the effects before the pre-amp. Some amps don't like this at all, but Fender seems to be ok.
Roman yeah a good rule of thumb is time based effects go in the loop, dirt/volume goes in front.
I would highly recommend using 3M:s Dual Lock instead of the velcro. It is a lot more durable, holds the pedals better and does not go bad over time.
To any youngsters watching this video. There is no pedal order. Chain it up how you think it sounds good. And if it sounds good, then its good.
Anything can go before or after a compressor (besides maybe a wah) and anything can go before or after an overdrive. Compressor and Drive will effect the sounds of your pedal order the most. Another one is if a delay is before or after a reverb, and if that delay and reverb is before or after a compressor. The key is to know what your pedals are doing when placed certain ways and what sounds best to your ears. Unlock something new.
Some pedals only sound good solely where they are placed. Rather they sound terrible where they "should" be placed. And then someone comes along and does it "wrong" and unlock a new sound.
Word of the video: undermine
JoelTBonner & integrity
Drinking Game: Take a shot every time he says undermine
I knew that this comment would be down here. I just knew it.
Ben Milford I’m afraid to play that game,Ben.
LOL
@@alabastersmidge4692 You summoned me?
Gak! I can’t take anymore.
That's a great video John and PG. Very useful and no doubt a vital future reference for pedal enthusiasts. Thank you, I'll be sharing it for sure. The only thing I'd add would be to try and isolate digital pedals from analog in the power chain. That is, don't daisy chain digital with analog if you can help it as it will help avoid a potential 'mozzie' like frequency running through your signal. Cheers, B.
Or just don't use digital pedals at all...
+Danny Skrims Yes you can as long as your power brick can handle the milliamps. I use a 1 Spot CS12 from Truetone. As long as your power brick have designated 300 to 500 ma, you can run pedals like TC nova delay, line6 m5 ect.
Guitar to pedal then pedal to amp? or guitar to amp like normal and pedals to my DSLs fx loop in back of amp? Brand new to pedals, app tips. Thanks
Agreed. I have two power bricks, one for analog, one for digital.
IN THE LEFT CORNER...THE UNDERMINER!!!!!!
I used to run hosa cables with a daisy chain for my pedalboard, I redid the entire thing with a BBE Supa Charger, and Mogami cable(redco sells bulk cable) with neutrick jacks and it made a pretty noticeable difference immediately. I had to turn the treble down on my amp! Much less hiss and hum!
Very good instructional on pedalboards! I would like to add use a steady base. I used to use a board that came in a bag. Biggest problem was the board moving around on stage when I used a wah! The whole darn board moved.
I solved the problem by converting to a Pedaltrain rack. It's rock solid and stays in one place when I use the wah. Well worth the investment.
I have a mondo under my board as well and it's great! Even for my 18V pigtronix compressor, it's great having all your pedals on with a simple, universal, 3 prong plug.
this is actual footage from an alternate reality in which Timothy Olyphant became an aspiring musician instead of a professional actor...
SUCH A GREAT QUALITY VIDEO! i want more of these. it's so rare you get great PRACTICAL information just like this. congrats and big thumbs up
im not an electritian and i like a simple set-up..but it sounds like taking the time
to experiment with the way you play and what you like is key,thanks for this info.
I shouldn’t have read through the comments before actually watching the video. It really undermined the integrity of the info. Lol but nice video :D
john sounds really cool when he's not interviewing somebody
I want this John when he does the rig rundowns. Chilled. Relaxed. And smart. He seems so fake in his interviews and I don’t like that. He seems like a cool dude and a cool player. So I know he knows what he’s talking about in those interviews.
Very helpfull video...
I have my own board set up for my bass.
Envelope filter -> octaver -> compressor -> fuzz/overdrives -> Preamp (SFT) -> phaser -> Delay... but it's still work in progress.
Actually it's all powered by an old 9V powersupply TFT monitor... relatively cheap, but it does the job and it's very silent!
I'm currently building a dry/wet blender to put parallel to my dirt boxes... a great addition for bassists i think!
Great work, as always, John. I look forward to all your videos for your skill, knowledge and your great playing.
Be sure to put any pedals that are sensitive to input impedance(anything you might use your volume knob to clean up) in front and before anything with a buffer. I prefer the sound of my Muff with the volume rolled back a bit but if I use any pedals in front of it, it responds like the volume is cranked and gets harsh
Wisdom
Same for my Voodoo Labs Fuzz. It has to be first.
I love the sag functionality of the Pedal Power Mondo. Sounds great with my wah. Good video, I can't say I like solderless cable though. IMO its usually better to take the time to make your own soldered connections. If you're worried about space just find some nice gold-tipped pancake connectors and you're on you're way. Decent video either way!
Didnt Know Steve-O knew so much about pedals.... Great video!
1. Don’t listen to experts
2. Use Zuma power
3. Use damn good Velcro, with fluffy on the board
4. Don’t get suckered by esoteric cable
4b. Planet Waves/Boss is simply effective
5. Play around with orders, there’s no rush and no cast-in-stone
6. Lots of cable retainers/tie wraps on Amazon
I highly recommend soldering you’re own cables. Solderless cables will degrade overtime a lot faster that soldered cables and are less reliable for durability.
After 1:34 here’s two more options: if you are a Christian guitarist, you might use multiple delays or fancy reverbs with different tone setting and probably throw in an expression pedal as well and maybe a large looper. Or if you are a country guitarist you could use echo pedals or multiple compressors.
Great video John. The only thing I would add regarding pedal placement is that some pedals such as loopers and delays with tap tempo are easiest to work with when you don't have to stretch too far for them, so I'd keep them near the front of the board if possible.
Are you crazy ? Delays, Loopers and especially Reverbs never go through the preamp, use the effects loop !!
Firstly, that's personal preference, plenty of people run them in front of the amp (and many great amps don't have loops). FWIW I generally use them in the loop. But secondly and more importantly, my comment was about physical placement of the pedals on the board, which has nothing to do with where they are in the signal chain. Your comment makes no sense as a reply to mine.
Martin Cliffe You're quite right that many great amps, & especially older amplifiers don't have an effects loop and if you check their spec's, you'll find that most of those amps eg Fenders, Marshalls, Ampegs etc had spring reverbs situated (which fall into the same effects genre as delays, loops etc) AFTER the Preamp (interestingly - that's the effect of an effects loop - effects going straight to the poweramp, bypassing the preamp), but stick to your dogmatic point Marty, I wouldn't wish to dissuade you of your ignorance, short leg length for reaching those rear pedals & abstract thought for lusting after those intellectual heights.
Why isn't the Reverb pedal at the very end? Isn't THE ROOM naturally the last thing to influence the way your guitar sounds?
***** yes..so much so that a reverb should actually always go through the loop, not in front of the amp..
***** some people like to delay the reverbed signal and sometimes if you have a tremolo you might want a clean cut on it so there no reverb lingering and making the tremolo roomie. but it's all preference, there's no right or wrong, just depends on your kind of music.
Pe Peroni You do know there was a time when amps didn't have loops right?
sammy reynolds yes, it was back in the days when reverb pedals didnt exist....you dont have to argue with me, just grab your tube amp, put some drive on it, put a reverb pedal in front of it and listen it yourself...simple..
Pe Peroni I do everyday. Lear to tweak a reverb pedal. if you can't do that then you need to sell your gear because you suck.
Did anyone else think Ace Ventura pedal board detective lol. Sorry, thanks for a great and informative pedal board video. I've given it a thumbs up 👍.
Great tips! but one very handy thing to put underneath your board is an plug box, some pedals are going to hum all te time if there going through the same power supply. You can think of de real hard distortions/tube screamers. I plug my tubescreamer on it's self in the plug box, really helped with that great distortion sound.
Pedal and signal path were shown reversed at the beginning. Most pedals it's input Right, output on Left. Corrected when pedals were actually being mounted and wired. Might confuse some, just sayin'.
Just a correction, the first pedalboard shown is by Jake Snider, not Dave Knudson.
Great info and tips
I almost suggested a topic for a future DIY video, but generating content is your job: Do It Yourself!
Really helpful video. Thanks John. I'm debating whether or not to make my own cables. Making cables the length you want them is appealing.
I assume that at 13:00 the signal got finally buffered.
Definetely one of the best guides on pedalboards. I have seen hunderds because I plan to build my pedalbard in the next months
I enjoyed that. thanks John I'm feeling inspired
I have a hard time with this video not talking about FX loops...
Great video and tips. Maybe try the order and cables before mounting?
Thanks John. You haven't made a bad video yet! Namaste.
Great presentation. Good advice
I would likely use a little extra audio cable to avoid proximity to power cables. If I remember correctly, when they come close try to have cables cross perpendicular as opposed to running parallel. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Nice video.
I like compressor after od in my board. Still learning. Great video. Thanks
Tremolo between delay and reverb works better, I think, but there are no rules. I like to run one reverb/delay in parallel, then into a chorus.
Pitch shifter/harmoniser before dirt - it will track better.
Thanks very much! One of the most informative yet. Some great suggestions... I'll be building my first board in a few days. And I don't give a crap how many undermines were used....it beats a Brit who's already had too much coffee with 6000 words to go....
I run my Line 6 M9 from its own power source and the rest from my trusty OneSpot. -->Wah-Tuner-Comp-OD-Dist-Trem-M9(Verbs/Delays)-->Amp
I’m getting a buzz in my eq and overdrive.using a one spot.i will get a isolated power source when money is no longer a factor.Every set up is different.I wish I had your luck
I found Billy Bob Thornton's body double , good info on the pedals and board.
Nice video! Is that a DGT PRS model guitar? Sure is purdy!
Great video John. I have all my cables hard wound & put together by little Fairy's with added Fairy Dust sprinkled on for good measure ;-) LOL Great point about not going cheap & trying to save cash on the cables that make your board work. Why get a 2,000.00 amp & a 2-3K guitar then add a grand worth of good quality pedals only to crap on your tone with cheap "Radio Shack" quality cables. I personally use Mogami & haven't have one crap out on me yet :-) Lava Cable makes a nice set that you can cut to your own board layout. Plus as a rule of thumb if your going to have more than 3-4 pedals throw in a Buffer pedal at the beginning or the end of your pedal chain. If you've got more than 8 pedals put a good Buffer pedal at the start and One at the end just to be safe :-) Great video.
Excellent info John .
Great video. Thanks John.
Premier Guitar Hi!. I would like to know your thoughts on solder vs solder free cables. Thanks!
Me too
You didnt talk about the effects loop and why time based effects that take larger power ratings also need a good effects loop to route through which has select-able line / instrument levels.
Overall pretty sound advice though.
Its worth noting that all your accessories are worth $1000USD BEFORE YOU HAVE BOUGHT ANY PEDALS. That makes a $2500 - 3000$USD board, maybe racks need to come back?
Best video on pedalboards
I run the same sized pedal train. I use the bottom row for effects before the amp, and the top row for pedals in the amps loop. I removed my Dunlop volume pedal from the board because it was so heavy and monopolized a huge section of real estate. The wah remains, though.
Get a chemistry design werks Holyboard, no tape, no sticky Velcro Bullshit.Zip ties very simple and CLEAN.Thanks Chris I'm getting a standard wide next.Thanks Chris and will talk to you soon
Something I learned by trial and bummer - is ma's or Mini Amps. Strymon pedals use 9V like most pedals (not all) but they require higher ma's. So if you're running Strymon Timeline you want 9V 400ma minimum. Strymon Blue Sky 9V 300ma. Running a Mooer pedal you can use 9V 100ma and so on. So when you buy a pedal check what voltage AND ma's required and then make sure you power supply can handle what you got otherwise all the right cabling and other jazz will be for squat.
P.S. Your power suppl;y can have more ma's then your pedal requires because the pedal will only use what it needs. But you can't go lower without your pedal under performing or even being damaged. "Whirled Peas please"
that's mili-amps...not mini amps
Okey-dokey.
Trem King has been around for a while. Tradition guitars use them frequently.
This is a great video. Thanks for the tips John Bohlinger! Got some sweet new ideas now for my board.
Very well explained. I have a small rubber pig I put next to my pedal board its my Oink pedal. For when I want to get really dirty.
I really enjoyed this video. I really feel like my rig will not have undermined integrity after watching this video XD. Seriously though, great job John. You're a really cool dude, and you're always so casual when doing videos like this, it's really enjoyable and entertaining to listen to you speak about this stuff. I personally have a Pedaltrain Nano, which I managed to fit 4 Boss/MXR-sized pedals and a mini pedal, so obviously most of these tips involving longer chains don't really apply to me, but it's still interesting watching board wirings. I personally find no problems using a wall wart (Visual Sound One Spot), but maybe that's because I have but a few pedals. Anyways, loved this video! Cheers guys!
I love this guy and his gear videos. He sounds like the Don Ward character from "Casino".
This is great but doesn’t show anybody how to patch the cables together
John is my favorite on Premier Guitar videos after Rebbecca Dirks :-P
Very well-explained! Thank you so much for this. Trying to make my own pedalboard and will be using some pedals soon.
Karla Cristobal giving away my boss EQ if youre still building
Rudy Ayoub Oh, it's okay! What a wonderful thought, but I'm from the Philippines, though!
Only thing that you left out that I would tell other players is to plan out where you first and last pedals are so it's convenient to run a cable to your guitar and amp.
Can you guys do a how to soldering and replacing pickups?
DIY video suggestion: Bigsbyfy your guitar. Different examples like Tele, LP, SG, Archtops would be cool.
The thing about mimicking a studio sound that early in your chain, is that it rarely works in a live situation. What sounds good in the bedroom rarely is what you want in a full band mix..
really cool man, really ace.....nice bass wishes from liverpool, UK..........learnt a lot.........!
I like to rock and jam out with blues but have also delay fuzz overdrive distortion add a noise gate maybe a compresser and tuner with EQ
Not a single drummer around when this was filmed.
😂👍
Awesome vid guys! Can i know what's the name of the small blue pitch shifter pedal on the board?
Great video. Very helpful, thanks.
Amazing video! For the order, you mentioned a booster in the middle and an overall volume booster at the end. What’s the difference between the two? I’m pretty new to pedals
Thank you, John
The answer to "what order i should put my pedals in" changes from day to day for me. I wake up one day and decide i want my Wah first in the chain, somedays i want a synth(y) sweep and stick it right at the end... all down to taste - good vid tho!
I run my wahs off my board, I use a SKB stage 5, which powers most of my pedals. I use 9V, 18V, and 12V. The SKB was only 300ma in the 12 Volt category. I had to add an extra power supply to add 300ma more to the 12 volts.I run 18 volts to my Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret MKI and Wampler SLOstortion. The power supplies are isolated except for the 18V pedals. My pedal board order is a little different in the way I use a Boss TU-2 Tuner as a splitter. I run output A to stereo fx and B to a dry out amp feed. My pedal board as a patch bay setup. So, I run my wahs first. Then into a BOSS NS-2. Noise Surpressor. This has a loop, which all my gain pedals run through. I have an Xotic SP compressor first, then it goes into a Bogner Red Ecstacy. The next 2 pedals are in a Keeley True Bypass. I have the Catlinbread DLS and BOSS BD-2 tone stacked. The Catlinbread DLS is always on in the bypass loop. If I want to blend, I kick in the BOSS BD-2. The Keeley True Bypass allows me to engage/disengage both of those pedals at the same time. I plan to add another True Bypass to insert my ADA MP-1 that is installed my rack. Which was converted to an amp head. This allows me to use the ADA MP-1 remotely. Last is the Wampler SLOstortion. This pedal has an independent solo boost that effects any of the gain pedals.
After that the loop is complete and the output of the NS-2 goes to a volume pedal. I use it to attenuate the signal inront of my PQ-3B parametric eq. From there it goes to my TU-2 Tuner. Why? well it allows me to split to A: stereo fx inline. B feed dry signal in to a dry amp feed. I use T.C. Electronic Nova Modulation (dual modulation engine) then a T.C. Electronic Nova Delay (programmable presets with display), then it goes to a Biyang Stereo in and out Stereo Reverb pedal. Those stereo feeds go to the stereo amp feed. This setup allows me to go Stereo or Wet/Dry/WET I have an Orange Micro Terror and an ElectroHarmonix 44 Magnum currently, I plan to get a 2nd Orange Micro Terror. I have used a MusicMan HD150 head with those amps, when I gigged last year for 9 months. My amps are super clean, and they can get surprisingly loud for 20 Watts and 44 watts. It serves my needs well and I am quite happy with the high gain Bogner and Soldano tones I have along with the Plexi and JCM 800 tones. I have even wilder tones with the ADA MP-1.
Also, I run my effects in line, so I don't have an effects loop. It sounds great and this setup is very versatile.
Do care if you don't care...?
Oh my feelings are so hurt....Rellly grow up. I share information to those that seek. Go troll somewhere else! Are you a middle school child? Why waste time being negative and say something meaningful. I don't care for a lot of the childish and stupid comments 90% of the uneducated folk on here say. I got lots of better things to do.
Great video! What is the exact board you have? what are the dimentions etc?
Great info. My pedals are blinking when they are all plugged in. If I unplug one, the blinking stops. Do you know what could be causing this?
Awesome vid thanks guys ! ! ! !
Thanks for the info guys. 👍
Thank you for the information, this was a great video and helped me out a lot. Keep it up!
i dont even have a pedal...
I played for years, recorded, toured, did radio and TV appearances with my band with either no pedal or just one DD-3 into the front of a 150 HW tube combo.
hahaha!
Great video!!! I bought those same soderless cables and they are horrible. They went out and some lost the tip. Anyhow, great and sound ideas. How do you feel about looper pedals to control multiple pedals with one switch?
Great vid John,
Great clip brother ✌🏼💚
Weird swirly things
I read this as John said it. Awesome man.
I have a question: How the output, the input, mono sounds are connected? The guitar to the pedal, to a amp and a recorder. How the input and the output can work accurate? Not to make a buzz noice either a cancelation sound
Aaron Zepeda If there's a buzz, there might also be something wrong with your power supply. Try with a battery to see if that's the case. It may also be caused by an energy saving lamp (turn off the light: Is it still buzzing?) There are many possible causes!
I actually wish you would show how to re-wire the 1/4'' cables. I don't know what I'm doing.
Excellent. Thank you!
first thought Jim carrey
Billy Bob Thornton
When I first got my distortion pedal I think I put my wah in front of it and it sounded like crap (the wah) so I had to put the distortion then the wah