pedalboard build

S

smoib

Member
Hi everyone.

I'm finally ready to start building a pedalboard for my AX8 and I thought I'd share my progress. Here's my situation:

I'm pretty much a home only player. Weight and road toughness are not factors in this build. I'm coming from an AxeFx 2 and MFC which was great but I like the idea of an all inclusive setup on the floor which I can just pull out when I have the time to play and pack away easily after. The power of the AX8 was concerning as I love packed presets but I love pedals too so I bought a H9 and a couple of new pedals to go with some of my favourites.

I wanted maximum convenience so I can just connect power, plug in some speakers and my guitar and play. I also HATE cable clutter. I'm also doing this for the fun of the project and there are no real time pressures so I'm just going to do an update every couple of days as I get things finished.

I'd love to hear thoughts as I go. I'll try to explain my decisions as I post.
1.JPG
So here is what I'm wanting to fit on the board. I'll go from the guitar into an Axess Electronics BS-2 buffer under the riser which will have one output feeding the tuner, one coming straight back out incase I want to reamp and one output going into the pedals. The order I've decided on is: Drop->FreqOut->Compulator->phase90->ElecLady->AX8 with the H9 in the loop. The red mission pedal will be connected to the AX and the Boss to the H9. I also have a ernie ball 25K volume which will be off this board and it'll be acting as a second expression pedal for the AX
 
So I've cut the base board to size and I'm locating the main players. I'm using 9mm marine ply so I'm cutting holes in the base to account for the rubber feet on the AX and the mission. Everything will eventually be secured with pedalboard tape
2.jpg
 
Here is the board after cutting. I've made the holes in the vertical board for the power, midi out, usb and signal connectors.
3.JPG
 
roughing out the placement of the pedals on the riser. I grabbed a 2 switch box for the AX for a bit more flexibility.
4.JPG
 
Holes cut in the riser for cabling. I also trimmed the riser board by about 10mm to change the profile of the pedals on the riser as I thought they were a little high.
5.JPG
 
And a final set-out before the sides go on. I've got to head down to the timber place and grab some sides to give it a bit of strength.

More updates in a couple of days.
6.JPG
 
Geezerjohn said:
Getting some good milage out of your forstner bits I see. Are you attaching a top and handles?
Click to expand...
Thanks for your interest. I'm actually just using a 16mm holesaw!! The ply is actually WAY thicker than I need so I may just go nuts on it once I've applied the pedaltape. It could do with losing a bit of weight and I think it'll be OK structurally. I'm just drilling the holes I need for now.
 
I was contemplating building something like this for my MFC and 3 exp pedals ... I already have a Pedaltrain 2 board which just about holds my MFC and 2 Mission pedals but have recently added a FAS EV-1 pedal, so need something around 80cm length if I want everything on one board (which I do want because on stage an orphaned pedal sitting on the floor beside the main board will get kicked about)

I got as far as getting an off cut of 16mm ply cut in the right dimensions from my local DIY shop and then loosely put all the equipment on it without doing any further work on it and tried lifting it ........ then after the bulging in my eyeballs receded enough to see properly again, I went on the net and ordered a Palmer Pedalbay 80 which comes with a soft carry case .... should arrive this week.

I suppose I could have cut the ply into lathes and used a different lighter wood for sides and bracing .... but not having decent woodworking equipment around would have meant me either buying equipment or using a joinery to do the cutting ..... so toting up the costs it made more sense to buy a board.

Sense of achievement = zero ...... but portability and withstanding the clumsy feet of people on stage is an issue for me.
 
maxdown said:
I was contemplating building something like this for my MFC and 3 exp pedals ... I already have a Pedaltrain 2 board which just about holds my MFC and 2 Mission pedals but have recently added a FAS EV-1 pedal, so need something around 80cm length if I want everything on one board (which I do want because on stage an orphaned pedal sitting on the floor beside the main board will get kicked about)

I got as far as getting an off cut of 16mm ply cut in the right dimensions from my local DIY shop and then loosely put all the equipment on it without doing any further work on it and tried lifting it ........ then after the bulging in my eyeballs receded enough to see properly again, I went on the net and ordered a Palmer Pedalbay 80 which comes with a soft carry case .... should arrive this week.

I suppose I could have cut the ply into lathes and used a different lighter wood for sides and bracing .... but not having decent woodworking equipment around would have meant me either buying equipment or using a joinery to do the cutting ..... so toting up the costs it made more sense to buy a board.

Sense of achievement = zero ...... but portability and withstanding the clumsy feet of people on stage is an issue for me.
Click to expand...
Thanks for looking. I get where you're coming from. Different situation for me as this will probably only see use at home but I wanted to see how things went. I like the look of many of the pre-made boards but I wanted the external pedals to be on a bridge so they'd be easier to get to above the AX.
 
Next step...

I made up some wedges and got the timber for the sides. I'm going to trim the sides so they don't interfere with either the AX or the expression pedal. The wedges add 20mm to the back and give the whole unit a little more slope towards me when playing, hopefully it works/feels ok. Next up will be the inputs on the right hand side, the outputs on the back and the power connections on the back.
7.jpg 8.jpg 9.jpg
 
Well.... after a busy couple of weeks, I got to spend some time on this this afternoon. I've mounted all the jacks on the side of the chassis and I've wired up a power distribution box and mounted the pedal power supply. Next step will be physically mounting the AX8, the expression pedals and the external pedals, then the wiring for signal and power. I'll do signal first and then do the power so it avoids the signal wiring wherever possible to minimise noise. The 'patch panel' could have been neater but I'm working by hand and just had to make it as straight as I could. Looking at the panel, left to right, the top row is: Instrument in, buffer output 2 (buffer output 1 goes to the pedals then the AX) then AX8 OUT1 left and right 6.5mm. The bottom row, left to right, is: Expression pedal 1 (for the AX), AX8 USB, AX8 OUT1 XLR.

I'll post more pics as I do the wiring.
10.jpg
11.jpg 12.jpg
 
I've spend the day cabling and soldering and now the board is ready to go. The pedalboard tape isn't sticking to the ply all that well so I'll probably have to put a clear coat on the timber but at least that can wait a while. I've got all the cabling pretty much where I want it and I'll spend the next couple of days checking for noise before I secure everything down. All the pedals light up and make the sounds they're supposed to so I'm glad for that. I used Evidence audio monorail and SIS plugs for pretty much everything and they were such a pleasure to use. The Truetone CS7 power supply has enough juice for all the pedals, I just had to make up one cable for the FreqOut pedal which draws 300mA and I had the 2 x 500mA outputs powering the H9 and Drop. The Compulator has it's own output and a Gig Rig Isolator powers the tuner, BS2, Phase 90 and Elec Lady so all the pedals are completely power isolated.

The signal goes through 5 pedals before the AX but 3 of those are true bypass (the FreqOut, Drop and Elec Lady) so I should hopefully not see too much signal degradation between the buffer and the input. It's sitting at 17.1Kg at the moment which is actually less than I thought.

This has been an enjoyable experience and I've learned quite a bit. I'll play around with it for a month or so and see if I can lose any of the pedals. At this stage, I can't see myself doing that although the Drop pedal is a bit of a one trick pony.

13.jpg 14.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom