My life in Pedal Boards

[Steevp]

Spurred on by the thread about old photos I made this a couple of years ago so I thought I'd update it now the Fractal is the heart of things.. it was really hard trying to find pictures of old boards, why don't people photograph pedalboards when they go to gigs, surely they're the best bit!?

Does anyone else have pedal history, lets see your timelines.. (Yes, the Headrush and FM9 are to scale!)

 

[Admin M@]

1983: Boss Overdrive, Boss Flanger, Mutron Phaser, Morley Volume
1985: Pearl Overdrive, Boss Flanger, MXR Chorus, Aria Digital Delay
1987: Scholz Rockman, Boss Flanger, MXR Chorus, MXR Compressor, Aria Digital Delay, Boss digital Reverb
1989: Boss Overdrive, Ratt, Scholz Rockman, Roland GP-16, Digitech RP-1
1995: Scholz Rockman, Roland GP-100, Digitech RP-1
2000s: Revolving Door "big rack" days -- Clyde Wah, Analogman Bi-Comprosser, Agent00funk, Univox Fuzz, FoxxRoxx ZIM, Boss Flanger, Boss DS-1, Analogman Chorus, Fulltone drive, many more pedals, Eventide 4000/8000/Eclipse, TC Fireworx, BlueChip Axon, Virus C Rack, Lexicon MPX G2, Morley Volume, Rocktron Chameleon, eventually Pod "Kidney", Pod "Pro", H&K Zentera,
2008: Once you go Axe, you never go back!

 

[AtomicJeff]

FAR, FAR, FAR too many to list...

 

[iaresee]

@Steevp did you keep the Boss pedals? I wish I'd kept my Boss pedals more than any other pedals I've let go. Not that they sounded the bestest. I just love the form factor so much. They've made that little rectangular box go the distance.

 

[Steevp]

@Steevp did you keep the Boss pedals? I wish I'd kept my Boss pedals more than any other pedals I've let go. Not that they sounded the bestest. I just love the form factor so much. They've made that little rectangular box go the distance.

The whole MK5 board still exists, I use it into the front of a Plexi on small gigs where I don't have much guitar in the PA, larger gigs I go Fractal because the amp on stage is just for me and it's easier to give FOH perfect Fractal sound.

 

[TG3K]

I don't have a complete photo record, but from memory...

1979-1983: Maestro Echoplex, MXR Dyna-Comp, Boss OD-1, MRX Distortion II, Ibanez Chorus, MXR graphic EQ, with everything except the Echoplex mounted in a homemade rack behind a piece of stolen aluminum street sign material. These were switched in and out of the signal path with a homemade solid state switching system that allowed me to switch between one "preset" controlled by homemade floor box (more street signs, lol) and another "preset" controlled by a row of toggle switches on the rack. The switching system also let me to send the guitar signal to two separate amps or both of them together. The floor unit plugged into the rack with an 18-pin connector that was carrying the low voltage switching info as well as guitar signal. It had enough 60 cycle hum to drown out the Mormon Tabernacle Choir lol. I used a passive volume pedal as a noise gate between songs. As crude as it was, it was ahead of its time (among my peers) and served me well for 3+ years of touring all over the Rocky Mountain states.

Floor unit 30 years later before I dismantled it to salvage the switches:


The back side of the floor unit. Neat wiring was not my forte, lol. This was mounted on a pedalboard that also included the volume pedal.


Rack-mounted switching system:


After that, I got out of the music business and got a real job, which allowed me to buy a Sholtz Rockman, then eventually an ADA MP-1 and an Alesis Quadraverb. Never gigged with that rig, but played it into a Tascam 4-track cassette recorder at home. The 4-track was eventually replaced with an 8-track digital recorder (the brand of which I don't recall).

Sometime in the late '90s, I went down the modeling path, starting with an original POD kidney bean, then a POD XT Live, and then a POD HD-500. I liked the XT Live better than the HD-500, so I sold the HD-500 not long after I got it and went back to the XT Live. Eventually I started playing live again, and not long after that I jumped on the Fractal bandwagon. First it was an Axe-FX II with an MFC-101, then a II XL, and finally a III with an FC-6 (now expanded into an FC-8). Like M@, once I went Axe-Fx, I never looked back.

 

[Steevp]

I don't have a complete photo record, but from memory...

1979-1983: Maestro Echoplex, MXR Dyna-Comp, Boss OD-1, MRX Distortion II, Ibanez Chorus, MXR graphic EQ, with everything except the Echoplex mounted in a homemade rack behind a piece of stolen aluminum street sign material. These were switched in and out of the signal path with a homemade solid state switching system that allowed me to switch between one "preset" controlled by homemade floor box (more street signs, lol) and another "preset" controlled by a row of toggle switches on the rack. The switching system also let me to send the guitar signal to two separate amps or both of them together. The floor unit plugged into the rack with an 18-pin connector that was carrying the low voltage switching info as well as guitar signal. It had enough 60 cycle hum to drown out the Mormon Tabernacle Choir lol. I used a passive volume pedal as a noise gate between songs. As crude as it was, it was ahead of its time (among my peers) and served me well for 3+ years of touring all over the Rocky Mountain states.

Floor unit 30 years later before I dismantled it to salvage the switches:
View attachment 135180

The back side of the floor unit. Neat wiring was not my forte, lol. This was mounted on a pedalboard that also included the volume pedal.
View attachment 135181

Rack-mounted switching system:
View attachment 135182

After that, I got out of the music business and got a real job, which allowed me to buy a Sholtz Rockman, then eventually an ADA MP-1 and an Alesis Quadraverb. Never gigged with that rig, but played it into a Tascam 4-track cassette recorder at home. The 4-track was eventually replaced with an 8-track digital recorder (the brand of which I don't recall).

Sometime in the late '90s, I went down the modeling path, starting with an original POD kidney bean, then a POD XT Live, and then a POD HD-500. I liked the XT Live better than the HD-500, so I sold the HD-500 not long after I got it and went back to the XT Live. Eventually I started playing live again, and not long after that I jumped on the Fractal bandwagon. First it was an Axe-FX II with an MFC-101, then a II XL, and finally a III with an FC-6 (now expanded into an FC-8). Like M@, once I went Axe-Fx, I never looked back.

View attachment 135185

I love the street sign switcher!

 

[unix-guy]

The Guyatone MD-3 is great... I still have a couple hanging around!

My final "pedalboard" was a Wah, a midi controller controlling a GCX Loop Switcher in my rack and a couple expression pedals.

The pedals in my rack and going into the front of amp:

Barber Direct Drive (early, hand lettered)
Rodenberg GAS-828
Voodoo Lab Proctavia
Digitech Bad Monkey (10+ years before the internet lost it's mind!)
Nobels ODR-1
Tech 21 Double Drive (a highly underrated pedal!)
Carl Martin Compressor

 

[bleujazz3]

FAR, FAR, FAR too many to list...

Hoo-boy. Besides buying and selling guitars and amps, it was the effects board that was always in a state of flux, always searching for better tone and efficiency at a cost-effective price. Too many pedals and too many incarnations of pedalboards to reminisce about.

Like you, I can't even begin to recall my effects boards from my first guitar, except my Dad had someone put 5 DOD effects velcroed to a shaved 1x6, and presented it to me an Xmas gift.

Sadly, Dad was grossly unaware of what music my ears liked, and it took a good amount of calming me down when I opened my gift and saw the 5 DOD effects.

I don't recall whether Dad had the presence of mind to allow battery access for those clunkers, but it was one gift that was quickly salvaged for parts and sold for better effects. Unfortunately, it also distanced myself from my Dad's encouragement to play electric guitar early on...something I look back on with a sigh and a realization it coulda been better handled...

Anyway, here's my previous effects board before modelers made the scene...all this sold for my FM9...