Minimalist setup. Have an AFX3 and FC12 but I wanted something that was easier to transport. Target: be able to pick up and move everything I need in a single trip. With low complexity overall and budget price as nice to haves.
1. Cheap generic Chinese Gokko pedalboard. $59 and it came with a very nice soft case.
2. Nektar expression pedal. Perfectly adequate and only $19.99.
3. 2 momentary switches $6 and a blemished case $3 from Guitar Pedal Parts. Already had a stereo jack and short TRS.
Right under the $100 mark. And with a guitar gig bag, the FM3 bagged and either my Atomic CLR or my EVM 12L cabinet with the Quilter Tone Block tucked in the back I can hoof it any reasonable distance with no worries if I hit some stairs.
In the corner is my Ampero MIDI footswitch. I can use this, but I don't feel like I need it right now - it's serving as foot control for my Cubase/Reaper/Studio One setups, Transcribe, and Band In A Box along with a Bome Midi Translator Pro.
I wanted to see if I could get by with just a couple of switches on Ext. 2. So first I created custom versions of the Scenes and Effects layouts without the hold functions for each switch. Don't have to worry about how long I linger on the switch and the removal of the hold does seem to make the switch a bit quicker. There are 3 views for the Scenes so I did the same for the Effects - I generally use scenes for most in song switches and I doubt I'm ever going to use more than 9 discrete pedalboard effects. At least in any situation where I was using this instead of the AFX3. And I decided to get to the looper functionality from a switch on the effects layout and restructured the looper layout the same way I did with the scenes and effects. Three views that scroll and wrap and a single function for each switch - no hold functionality.
Set up a couple of stand-in switches for the two externals. FM3 now boots to the new Scenes layout by default. The FSW on the left toggles between the new scene and effects layouts. Holding it down takes you back to the original default preset layout so if you want you can backtrack to the legacy setup any time. I left the old Scenes and Effects layouts around just in case.
The external on the right just scrolls the 1-3 views on the current layout. I'm only using it for the new scenes, effects and the looper layouts, each of which have 3 views each. So it just works generically on any of them The hold function assigned to it is the tuner, so I can get to that any time.
And it works OK for me so far. Knocked off some of the complexity in getting to the scenes and effects switching. One power cord and no additional supplies to mess with. This will probably replace my legacy pedalboard w/stomps and Mesa Express as my grab 'n go rig. Although it's still kinda fun to use that sometimes.
