The SECRETS To Pedalboard Building In 3 Simple Steps!

Building a pedalboard for all your needs as a guitarist can be a bit of a minefield! But it doesn't need to be that hard! I need to build a new board for an upcoming tour playing Alt-rock/shoegaze type stuff, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to share some tips on what to look out for when you're building a board for yourself, and how to avoid some of the mistakes I've made in the past!
As always, thanks so much for watching, and let me know what some of your favourite pedalboards have been, and maybe give my pedalboard a roast in the comments! 🫡
Check out some other videos here:
• The GREATEST Guitar Pe...
• The ESSENTIAL Five Gui...
• The BEST Budget Overdr...
• The GREATEST Distortio...

[@theodunstan423]

Man i didnt realise u were in october drift, me and my dad and his mates love your stuff!

[@PeterPlanker]

you are the most important channel i go back to as an alt rock guitarist imo

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

Thanks mate that’s really kind!

[@BlueBarrier782]

The thumbnail looked like Eric Andre for a second.

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

Haha I see it.

[@Dawhud]

Same that was my 1st thought

[@bass3966]

Yup😁

[@BlueBarrier782]

@@Dawhud I got excited for a second that Eric Andre would be talking about guitar pedals . . . Oh well.

[@nailzconnely1490]

That would be cool 😂

[@Dthraco]

Great channel concept! Lots of us play guitar and have some of those pedals. And many people like the genre of music you play. I’m never going to tour, but I appreciate the musicians who make it to that level. Going to be fun to learn the tips and tricks that work for you. So far, they seem spot on, and you are genuine about it.

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

Thanks so much, yeah I wanted to make the channel around this kind of music but not exclusively for people who want to tour. Plenty of people want to just jam at home or just the odd gig. Glad you’re enjoying it! 🙌

[@denyel_]

QUALITY video holy crap! excited to catch up and see new content from you! keep it up man the algorithm did so good today

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

Thanks so much! 🙌

[@oli7745]

I use something similar to the Diago, it’s a case for a dj controller which I stuck Velcro tape all in the inside and it does the job well

[@oliverdepauw5663]

I use a mxr iso brick mini because its absolutely tiny- planning to upgrade to mission engineering 529x soon

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

Yeah they’re perfect space wise aren’t they!

[@WilDBeestMF]

Even better? The Mooer power supply is about the size of a fun size chocolate bar

[@andsoistopped]

A while back I got three modular power supplies from Thomann. Dealt with all the isolation issues I was having and are snugly under the board and insane value for money. One died so I contacted Thomann and they sent a new one out no questions. Buying from Europe was a concern post Brexit but they were brilliant.

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

Ahh that’s great! They’re a really solid company aren’t they.

[@andsoistopped]

@@thesethingsmakenoises yes seems that way. Which is kind of important when they are so fooofing huge.

[@gringogreen4719]

One thing I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND is that if you want to build a new board from scratch, go for it. I would tell you to do it with a NEW BOARD, not taking apart your old board and redoing that. If you are cash strapped you can use wood or even a wire closet rack in the interim and secure your pedals with zip ties. If you are ok with using a daisy chain power supply you can go that route (it can work fine if you are using just a few pedals at a time) or you can "borrow" your power supply off your main board while you make your new board. I have three pedal boards myself, my Main board (13 pedals ranging from Standard pedals to Boutique with isolated power bricks and wall warts (milliamp issues with power bricks necessitated them)), my Original OG board (Danelectro and DOD pedals with a daisy chain), and I did a Budget board on a skateboard deck (Caline pedals, EHX, Demonic Machines, Stax and a daisy chain). I still have pedals that I might trade and I probably have a board or two left to make but you are much better off making it separate from previous boards so you don't cannibalize your previous sound. You just may find out that newer isn't better. I also suggest having different boards do different things otherwise your Boutique setup is pretty much doing 80% of what your older board did with Budget or Standard pedals. Also Amazon is your friend for cheaper pedal boards, not every board has to cost $150+ for the board itself (I paid way more than that for my Main board).😎👍✨

[@EdoCFH]

IMHO the best way to avoid noise and any break in the chain is to use in someway a boss LS2 to divide your chain into two sections A/B and to be able to use of course both during the sets (e.g. A is the crunch for rhythm, B is lead with modulation pedals). The two parallel sections can work separately, so if something in line A goes down, you will always have line B working.

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

Sounds like a plan!

[@michaelnoack2959]

Very cool, as usual. Thanks a bunch!

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

Thanks Michael!

[@denverrandy7143]

I Love this channel!!!👍

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

Thanks so much!

[@dariagodina]

Sound advice for everyone struggling with a difficult decision on what of the awesomeness to grab with you on tour to sound on point and save some nerve cells (and some van space, and the brotherhood of the band)!

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

💜🙌

[@Ixodiusixi]

Got a holeyboard few years ago on a special deal not great for travel came with no case could get one though. i attached it to a laptop stand its an nice workstation version of a board. I sit and play a dreadnought its off to the right of me next to the amp. it looks sic and i'm a cripple so the feet smashing is iffy at best. About to set up a second board for a P.A. getting experimental with this one. Strymon NIghtsky and Keeley Memphis Sun reverbs and i always dug my Wampler dual fusion with my acoustic one side of it is just warm. In a former life i played electric... so much fun

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

They look awesome, that sounds like a great setup. I bet those pedals sound awesome through the acoustic!

[@grimlyfiendish7474]

I’ve started using Temple Boards. The mods are super convenient and you end up with a really secure and clean looking board. I opted for the voodoo labs pedal power x8 (it has 8 500mA outputs) with splitters my current set up runs 16 pedals as long as you don’t go over 500 mA’s which with most pedals is hard to do and you have room for growth. So you can run many pedals and still have a spot for bigger draws like Strymons and the like.

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

Oh wow I’d not seen them before. Then looks amazing, so it all just connects to the external power/jacks on the side? Sounds like a great setup!

[@grimlyfiendish7474]

It really is and they have so many options to meet your needs

[@DBroce]

Besides needing a buffer in the front, you should use the tuner first. Fuzz after distortion? How often do you really use the whammy? Be honest, enough to keep it on your board?

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

Yeah, the tuner thing is purely because I use the tuner as a kill switch. I do actually have a tuner built into the wireless pack that’s first in the chain too but I never seem to have trouble getting the signal to the tuner. Fuzz after distortion definitely seems to work live, but in a recording setting I use OD into fuzz. However, I’ve never used fuzz before distortion. Does that work? In a live set, I use the whammy precisely once haha. But I do use it all the time for textures in recording!

[@AMurder0fCrows]

I hadn't used my board in ages until maybe a month or so ago. Board itself is a pedal pad II by MKS from the mid 2000s, powered primarily by a Power Pad II power supply. On the board, in current chain order: Poly tune 3 by tc electronic Polyphonic octave generator (POG) 2 by Electro-Harmonix Black rose octaver by rocktron NS-2 noise suppressor by boss Ns-2 send SansAmp Classic by tech 21 Grunge Distortion v3 by digitech (needs fixed, no sound) Ds-2 turbo distortion by boss (needs fixed, finicky knobs) Md-2 mega distortion by boss (needs fixed, no sound) Ns-2 return Ns-2 out Small clone chorus by Electro-Harmonix Ch-1 super chorus by boss Ach-1 chorus by aria (first chorus, needs replacement knobs) Flanger by Ibanez Dd-3 digital delay by boss (because sitar sound) Bought but not yet added BIT Legend of Fuzz by Devi Ever Muffuletta by JHS (was encouraged to get this due to jack of all muffs, master of none) RC-600 Loop Station by Boss FX69 Grunge V1 Distortion by DOD Side eying: Big Sky v2 (literally because of your video) OpAmp Big Muff (Pumpkin) Pi by Electro-Harmonix Plasma Pedal by Gamechanger or Plasma Coil by by third man and gamechanger DD-7 or DD-8 Digital Delay by Boss Poly Chorus by Electro-Harmonix Phaser by mxr

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

That sounds so cool! Is the v2 bluesky much different to the one I have?

[@AMurder0fCrows]

@@thesethingsmakenoises "There’s also the facility to switch between true and buffered bypass, the ability to select mono-stereo operation at the flick of a switch (as opposed to having to mess around with the pedals internals) expression pedal control and, as you would expect for a high-end pedal in 2022 the V2 BlueSky is fully MIDI’d up with the ability to control any of the pedals parameters remotely, and store up to 300 presets internally." And full control over the shimmer with its own knob.

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

That sounds like they made some great editions.

[@Goldstein_955]

Please i want to hear your band traks!! Drop some link please! Thanks

[@Meylan191083]

Should I get my bonus in August I will be upgrading to the Strymon Zuma PSU and possibly the Cloudburst. Current Board: TC Electronic Polytune 2 Noir Behringer CL9 Compressor/Limiter Behringer OD400 (using it as a boost pedal) Behringer TO800 Boss BD2 Behringer UM300 M-Vave Noisegate (seems to function as a boost as well for some reason) M-Vave Digital Reverb Kokko Timer (Digital Delay) Boss CH2 Behringer UO300/M-Vave Phaser Very happy with the range of sounds I can get out of it, especially with the compressor, boost, tube overdrive, blues overdrive, and ultra metal giving lots of gain options.

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

That sounds like a great board. Fingers crossed you can get those upgrades too!

[@michelvondenhoff9673]

Your power supply (PSU) need to be able to distribute way more current than your pedals nominally need. What I at least would consider is a few mandatory pedals going into the front of your amp and a multi into the fx-loop. Typically I think your OD/DS/Fuzz going into the pre-amp and the modulation, reverb from the multi etc into the loop. The multi could function as a backup for your front end fx if set up in advance.

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

That sounds like a great idea! Embarrassingly I’ve never actually used the fx loop on any of my amps

[@whatsallthefuzzabout]

Current board is: PT2 Boss TU-3 EHX Pitch Fork TRex Quint EHX Soul Food Benson Germanium Fuzz EHX Russian Muff EHX Small Stone EHX Small Clone Bass EHX Electric Mistress Deluxe (big box) MXR Micro Amp + BOSS DD500 EHX Super Pulsar Running in to HX Stomp set to dual Silvertone 1484s (with Digitech Polara.for reverb) - 4 X 12 with green backs Massive mix of stuff mainly grunge and alt rock

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

That sounds EPIC!

[@whatsallthefuzzabout]

@@thesethingsmakenoises quite happy with it I have to say 🤣

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

👌👌

[@GimbalWalkTV]

🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

🙌🙌

[@gregor.908]

I'm just confused about the tuner in the middle lol... even if it was at the start of your chain the reverb trail would still happen so long as the reverb is on.

[@federicoverdicchio]

With things going wrong do you mean like failing pedals you need to strip out and back in? I've been messing about with pedalboard for ages like yourself and I never ever had a failing pedal while playing. Dodgy cables though? You name it! Oh and my T-rex Fuel Tank died out of the blue. Also, wouldn't it be better for a band of your style to use a looper/pedal switcher to route each pedal into a different programmable loop? Just my two cents. Keep up the good work!

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

Yeah, both! I’ve had switches go on pedals on tour before. I think it has been for playing in venues where it gets so hot etc and maybe that messes with them? But yeah I reckon we’d probably benefit from some sort of pedal switchers for sure actually.

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

What boards are you guys all using at the moment?

[@JPTRFX]

just need 2 pedals because punk rock but hey my other guitarist and bassist are more in the "the more the better" category

[@elprimojuli]

Good video! I'm trying to take some pedals out off my board and leave Just the essentials ones😢😢. Im using a "Sibilia" board (Argentina). Great board, with case and ramp. Abrazo!

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

@@JPTRFX Haha it’s always the more the better, surely!

[@michaelnoack2959]

I tend to reduce the amount of pedals lately. So currently only Plumes, Warlow (because it can Rat, too), Electric Mistress, Ground FX Lux and a Dispatch Master. It provides everything I ever need.

[@thesethingsmakenoises]

That sounds like an awesome setup!

[@andsoistopped]

#nosuchthing

[@johnnysimes5082]

Its funny how some people will have thousands in pedals and then complain about a few hundred for a board, case, and power supply.