Pedalboard

I made a little pedalboard to use on the channel, and I know when I feature it in videos I'll get questions about it. So I made this to point questions to.
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These are things I get asked about a lot :
Amp Tech Gear Used :
Hakko FX-951 soldering station
Weller SPG 80L soldering iron (chassis work)
Rigol DS1054Z digital oscilloscope
Thsinde 18B+ digital multimeters
Kester 60/40 solder
Techspray #4 No-Clean Desoldering Braid
Below are things that make this channel possible that people don’t usually think about. If any of these companies want to send me new and wonderful toys, I’m open to that. I can’t take free stuff when it comes to the amps I review, etc, but for the stuff below, bribe away!
Microphones/Audio Equipment :
Guitar Amps : Royer R-10 Hot Rod and/or Shure SM57 (noted in videos)
Voiceover Bench : sE Audio sE8 (small diaphragm condenser)
Voiceover Streaming : Shure SM57 with shockmount and windscreen
Voiceover Mic Arms : Elgato Wave Mic arms
Guitar Mic Stand : Gator Frameworks short weighted base stand with boom
Mic Cables and Guitar Cables : Mogami/Neutrik
Mic pre : MOTU M2
DAW : Logic Pro II on MacBook Pro 16 running Sonoma 14.5
Plugins : No effects other than level matching/normalization unless a recording
specifically has reverb etc added in post (rare, various Waves plugins)
Monitors : Yamaha HS7s
Monitor Stands : Gator Frameworks Desktop Clamp-On Stands
Monitor Isolation Mounts : IsoAcoustics Iso-Puck Minis
Headphones : Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro (main)
Headphones : Sony MDR-7506 (alternate)
Video Equipment :
Camera : Sony ZVE-10 with SmallRig Cage (main)
Lens : Sigma f2.8 18-50mm (main)
Lens : Sony ZVE10 kit lens (rarely used)
B Camera : Apple iPhone 13 Pro (rarely used)
Tripod : SmallRig 71” with SmallRig Fluid Video Head
Streaming Mount : Elgato Master Mount S with SmallRig Ballhead
Bench Light : SmallRig RC 120D
Bench Light Diffusor : SmallRig Lantern Softbox
Bench C-Stands (light and overhead camera) : Neewer Pro SS Heavy Duty
Streaming Light : SmallRig RC 120B
Streaming Diffusor : SmallRig Parabolic Softbox
Streaming Light Mount : SmallRig 148CM Wall Mount Boom with Triangle Base
Various Other Lights : Neewer LED Panels with Neewer Softboxes
Video Software :
Davinci Resolve 19
Inkscape
GIMP
Because seriously, screw Adobe
Ecamm Live (streaming software)

[@analogMensch]

I really like the idea of the slightly glowing status lights. I used RGB LEDs on my builds, so I can use blue for bypassed and red for engaged pedals. Helps a lot of finding your footswitches on dark stages :)

[@I.M.Guitar-Nerd]

The homebrew Zen Drive needs a featurette of its own.

[@kierenmoore3236]

And the hombrew Klon!

[@murphvienna1]

Really intelligently designed with that unbuffered injection point on the board. Also, additional shielding by using a few tactically placed screws and a different choice of jacks is top-notch work - it shows that you understand all of this more than 99% of all pedalboard users and also 95% of all pedalboard techs. Impressive work Lyle, as always! ♥

[@dannbrauckmann1545]

Awesome. You GOTTA show us how to build the input box and all that other custom jazz. I hope you got video of some of the build process! You should also do group-builds of pedals. Like, run a poll with some options on what to build, we pick one, and follow along with you as we build a pedal, but with some cool fun mods that you think up, or already know. That would be fun! I understand if you haven't got the time for that, just an idea.

[@rickycompton2610]

Killer board Lyle, I agree we need a Demo of your version of the Zen Drive.

[@NJSonye]

Truetone is a fantastic company with great customer support. I think the price point on the CS6 is a deal.

[@chipsterb4946]

I agree! I’m not anyone special, just a hack guitar player. The 2-3 times I’ve contacted TrueTone, whoever answered the phone has always been very helpful. First time was when the 1-Spot first came out so 20+ years ago(?). Most recently was a couple years ago to get info on the nifty little buffer they sell through their “custom shop”, plus get some help balancing current draw for one of their power supplies. The important thing is they were just as friendly and helpful recently as a very established, successful company as they were as a 1-product startup. That doesn’t always happen…

[@75YBA]

I have the 12, it’s amazing.

[@joemeyer6876]

Glad that you mixed things up too! One can watch only so many power cord corrections 😂. Nice, no, really nice, board.

[@PsionicAudio]

I get tired of saying the same things repeatedly too.

[@Somethingfromtimmy]

The Roland JC120 is amazing ! I love the clean tones, the chorus is legendary and the vibrato is great too!

[@Dramirez314]

I have almost the same board. An hx stomp with three drive pedals is all I need. I have a rat, a light speed, and a Nordland ODR going into it. I’ve had bigger boards and keep coming back to this one. The effects on an hx stomp are great! I tried an FM3 and sent it back because the ease of use of the hx stomp beat it out. Nice video! I feel like I’m in good company.

[@vernbrown55]

I recently re-built my io box and painted it, while rewiring I decided to ground it to the chassis. I forgot the truetone being hard mounted already provided ground. Got rid of the last little bit of noise! Thanks!

[@ramonafrombarcelona]

this is simply beautiful. the idea, thought process and execution. Could you share a schematic of the patching box? I'm currently building a board and wanted to add an in/out/thru box like you did and it seems like I was on the right path with mounting ideas and such, but I'm not sure on how to wire it; I'd much appreciate it, and thanks for your teachings.

[@PsionicAudio]

Thanks, but it’s really simple. Each internal mono jack has wires to its external counterpart, tip to tip and sleeve to sleeve. The stereo jacks are the same but with the added ring connections. DC to DC hot and negative. That’s four 1/4” jacks per side (internal and external). The external Send jack has its tip normal and sleeve normal tied to the external Return jack tip and sleeve. Nothing is tied together inside.

[@ramonafrombarcelona]

thank you!! I did not know that such "normalled" jacks existed for send and return. I'll look into it a bit more.

[@sgt.grinch3299]

I like when you demonstrate boards and other projects. I remember the big board you made for an artist. It was interesting.

[@user-lt1dd7pm9f]

Outstanding design and workmanship!

[@75YBA]

Another happy landing! For my fellow Canucks, I use Next Gen out of Ottawa for toppers and other parts. They have toppers for $3/piece and there really nice.

[@roychan2160]

Its so kewl to be able to build or mod anything you want with your skills and knowledge. You have my utmost respect sir.

[@GabrielRice]

On the stomp, if you look in the control centre I'm pretty sure you can make that extra footswitch go from stomp to snapshot mode without the other options in-between, i could be wrong though...

[@barry_hue1552]

Very nice. The dimmed led you need to create a lesson/ wiring diagrams to do for that idea. Please and thank you .

[@richardlynch5632]

Well... Like everything else you do... Impressive 😎👍👍

[@SteveRockstein2]

Sweet, compact handsome board. I want one.

[@DanielC__]

Awesome little board, great build.

[@chrishalstead4405]

What a teaser! Lovely-looking rig, but no demo! 😱 We NEED to hear it! 😊😊

[@IamtheFerryMan]

Can't go wrong with HX stomp! I use a Helix Floor. Mostly 4 Cable Method with a few different amps. My only gripe is it's a bit noisy. Other than that, I think the drives and mods/delays are wonderful. Have a great weekend, Lyle!

[@prankmeteors1203]

Love seeing how you set up the infrastructure under the board, I need to keep lots of those things in mind for when I put together my small board. I've always wondered why pedalboards didn't evolve into having the power supply/patch bay/switching system built-in to a board that you connect individual pedals to like a modular synth; it would be so much easier for ordinary people to work with (I guess digital multi-effects are why, but they're so much more generic and just less immediate compared to stompboxes ...)

[@KyleBevis-u7j]

Beautiful work man! It’s awesome

[@brennanfleuette4627]

Great idea

[@Grant_Ferstat]

Great board. I'dlove to hear more. A play through would be cool.

[@luizdejesus6240]

I agree, looks great...

[@jhwk1970]

Some pedal boards are cooler than other pedal boards. Just wow on yours!

[@lexist7]

I almost forgot you made pedals in the past. Those were good sounding boxes

[@911elijah]

I love the way the buttons look but the mess up the way the switches work.

[@chrisfit]

You can drill out those pedal toppers and insert circle magnets. This will allow you to use the capacitive touch while still having a topper. I like it to quickly assign different effects to different switches.

[@PsionicAudio]

I can still touch the sides of the switches when I want the capacitive touch feature.

[@DylanSaliba]

Were the DIY pedals PedalPCB or AionFX? And thank you for that bonus LED current trickle tip!

[@PsionicAudio]

Boards from Aion

[@lNllClK]

Looks nice and clean, I totally agree with you on the klon nasal thing, I always turn down mids on my tumnus deluxe for that same reason...

[@martinreid1740]

A really nice neat build which I would expect from someone of your expertise. I've just finished my board, guitar to ceriatone centura into keeley compressor into catalinbread echorec into mxr analogue delay into strymon flint into boss rc1 looper powered by voodoo lab 4x4 supply. Never saw the need for tuner, takes up space. Thanks for posting this.

[@zflash3088]

Bass player checking in. Real similar pedalboard as well. Nano+ hxstompxl, klon with full eq, bass comp and exact same power supply. Hard to find something my rig wont do.

[@dustinthiessen]

I like the size of that board. I went to make a small grab and go board a while ago, and bought the cheapest small board I could find on Amazon... Big mistake! it came with a gig bag, and velcro, but I can't get a power supply underneath it 🤦🏼‍♂ Might have to re do all that on a proper board now

[@Andy-ql9wh]

That is a nice set-up. Gear has changed since I really played last. I am planning on building a new board and was unsure what direction to go, I am leaning towards a home built set-up and was unsure about power supplies and chassis and such. There are so many options. It's easy to get lost in the weeds. My needs and reasons are different than your set-up, but the basic idea is the same. It's not quite soup yet...

[@annunacky4463]

Wish you had played thru it a bit! Love to hear it.

[@PsionicAudio]

It will be in a lot of videos going forward.

[@roberthurless4615]

Just an FYI about the SP 400 series, they will not fit the Eventide pedals such as the Micropitch. The jacks are too close together. But the 400 series are excellent and very easy to work with. Also I like the Mogami W2314 cable as I find it easier to work with that the Canare GS4.

[@PsionicAudio]

2314 is easier to work with but GS4 has a better shield. Doesn’t always matter, but when it does…

[@davidmanson3311]

Hey Lyle, don’t you have a few original drive pedal designs too? I bet you’d like the Crowther Hot Cake with your Voxes

[@azlanx]

It's nice to see you make something for yourself

[@picksalot1]

There is a way to switch between "Preset Mode" and "Snapshot Mode" using the HX Stomp footswitches. Press and hold footswitches 1 & 2 at the same time until the screen changes. It will toggle between those two modes. 😎

[@PsionicAudio]

Nope. If it’s in snapshot that will go down in presets but it doesn’t toggle modes.

[@picksalot1]

@@PsionicAudio I tested on my HX Stomp before writing the comment, and just now, and it works on my unit as described. I'll see if I can find the exact settings that make it work. I'm running the latest version of HX Stomp 3.71, and HX Edit 3.70.

[@PsionicAudio]

Please do. I have the same version.

[@PsionicAudio]

And thank you.

[@picksalot1]

@@PsionicAudio I think I found the problem. What I was calling "Preset Mode" is actually called "Scroll Mode" (see HX Stomp Owner's Manual, p.12). I always use "Scroll Mode" to change my Presets, and that's become ingrained in the way I think of changing Presets. So, if you start in "Scroll Mode," then press and hold footswitches 1 & 2 at the same time until the screen changes, it will toggle between Scroll Mode and Snapshot Mode. Sorry for the confusion. Here are the settings I use (I have a 2-button Switch plugged into FS4/5): Main Menu>Global Settings>Footswitches Stomp Select = Press FS3 Function = Stomp 3 FS4 Function = SnpshtUp FS5 Function = SnpshtDn

[@dewey7330]

Very nice. Looks great!

[@maxvockner]

Awesome grounding. ❤

[@srubel59]

Perfect small board setup. I'll steel a few ideas if you don't mind. I would love to see more detail on your take of the Klon and Zen tweaks? I'd like to steel those ideas as well.. lol

[@PsionicAudio]

Klon: Look at the 820pf cap across the 390K in the feedback loop of one of the last opamp sections. Do that math. Then give the tone circuit more range either by changing the pot value or the cap value. Those two tweaks work together. The Zendrive I used a 1M gain pot, tried a few different diodes for the assymetrical clipping, and gave the tone circuit a bit more range (very simple circuit, easy math). I won’t be building these as there are already so many good variations on the market. I made these for myself because some companies offered to send me some pedals to try, and the last time that happened I had to tell someone “thanks but I don’t like your pedal” which was not fun. And the whole free gear thing is a trap as your channel grows. I need to avoid even the appearance of Shillitude.

[@srubel59]

@@PsionicAudio Thank you sir! I've built a few pedals in my day and settled on my favorite which is a Timmy with Zen clipping. I built a Klon clone and liked it but not enough to replace the Timmy/Zen.

[@PacificNatureTV]

Did you give the Zendrive tone control more range? I did that with mine and also upped the gain as well! Threw in a clipping diode selection switch for three modes cuz why not!

[@trigliderider]

Cool 😎, thanks for posting.

[@vaipod3955]

Lyle, Show us how to make boxes!!!!!

[@andrewwebb1911]

Thanks Lyle

[@RokinLee]

Can’t find it on their website, but think Truetone recommends using two power taps to run a hx stomp now.

[@PsionicAudio]

Dang, I was going by what they said previously. I have the double thingy though.

[@RokinLee]

@@PsionicAudio I think a firmware update changed power draw of hx units.

[@ChrisCollinsGuitar]

You should do voiceover work. Gravitas

[@PsionicAudio]

De nada

[@tedmich]

Nice! Looks like Squareplugs from Redco Audio, theyre great

[@PsionicAudio]

Yup and yup.

[@victorbeebe8372]

Mahalo Lyle! Nice pedal board. More on the Zen Drive?

[@producerman10030]

I have a similar small board with an HX Stomp. How did you power the stomp. I always thought it needed its included wall wart. Nice board though. Mine isn’t nearly as cleanly done. I also have the mission expression pedal for it but that’s huge and lives off the board.

[@PsionicAudio]

The Stomp power setup is kind of dumb. The supplied wall wart is rated 9VDC 3A and the Stomp uses a 2.5mm tip negative plug. But most 9VDC cannot supply 3A of current. And they usually have 2.1mm connectors for DC, with most 2.5mm cables having that at both ends and being tip positive. Fortunately the Stomp only draws just under 900mA of current, so some supplies can do that. The Cioks 7 and Pedalpower 3 can, if you use two outs with a current doubler cable. The Truetone CS6 I used here can too. Crucially, it can provide it from just one 500mA outlet as its design is fudged a bit. (Edit - turns out that’s not a great idea - see tomorrow’s video) It gets complicated but for a Stomp and a few analog overdrives here it’s fine. Wouldn’t work if I had the Stomp and a Timeline and a Big Sky. But that would be a much bigger board and I could use different supplies. I digress. Anyway, with the CS6 I used a standard tip positive 2.5mm molded plug cable and put a new 2.1mm plug on one end to go to the CS6, and wired it tip negative.

[@SidLives]

Should label the Zen Drive MORE and put a Big Red button on the switch

[@k.tucker599]

Nice. It's all good until your knees change...

[@sauce_aux]

Nice 👌🏽

[@scottraycraft5151]

THIS LOOKS GREAT...but those short cables with NO slack give me anxiery...lol

[@PsionicAudio]

All the cables have a controlled amount of slack. Intentionally.

[@wecandisarm]

How do you wire the LED to never go fully off?

[@trharding]

Probably switch to a higher resistor rather than breaking the circuit with the LED in it.

[@PsionicAudio]

Yup.

[@PsionicAudio]

Note: I’m not using batteries. This would not be a good idea with a battery.

[@pablo963]

​@@trhardingthis deserves a video lesson

[@PsionicAudio]

The issue is most pedals players buy today use surface mount components, and I don’t want viewers trying to change things out and solder in new stuff on those. They’ll just kill their pedals. But in a nutshell, LEDs are almost always wired with a resistor that limits the current through it, setting the brightness of the LED. If you decrease that resistor value, it gets brighter. If you increase it, dimmer. When a pedal is off, that usually means the LED circuit path has been interrupted. If you know which two lugs of the switch are that interrupted path, you can put a resistor across them. This gives an always on path for the LED. Say the regular resistor is 10K. You add a 1M across the switch. The LED will be dim when off, bright when on (the switch will shunt the 1M taking it out of the circuit when on). The actual resistor values will vary depending on the LED type. 4.7K-10K is typical for a water clear. 220 ohms to 1K is typical for a standard red “old school” LED.

[@almightyguitarnerd]

Are they Aion Electronics kits?

[@PsionicAudio]

No, I just bought their PCBs.

[@almightyguitarnerd]

@@PsionicAudio I like Kevin's stuff too

[@davidreynolds6718]

Great video. Question: Why use a pedal tuner when you can attach one to your headstock and not compromise your signal chain with the additional possibility of a poor connection?

[@PsionicAudio]

Pedals are much more accurate than headstock tuners, can be used to mute the signal if desired, and this one has a high quality buffer. And if you change guitars you don’t have to move the tuner.

[@PhilthyCasual]

clipons look weird

[@somerandomhomeboy]

Because seriously, screw "*****"🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂

[@seanmckenna228]

Very Tidy