Dave_the_bass Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Firstly; my apologies if this is in the wrong section, I couldn't decide between here and effects. Now, on with my quandary: After many years of being a "why do I need effects pedals" player I've become a "ooh, pretty lights and knobs make interesting tonal variations to my core sound" player. I'm slowly and steadily amassing a collection of electronic devices to stamp on at various points in the bands set. It's reached the point where I need to look at pedal boards and, because I'm a fussy bugger, I've decided to go down the diy route. To cable up my, soon to be, work in progress pedal board I've been looking at either A, a dedicated power supply taking up valuable real estate on my board and running a myriad of (colour coded? ) cables between my amp and board Or B, running a Pedalsnake between amp and board. From general reading it would seem that the Pedalsnake is the sensible option as I could use my existing supply system and just relocate it from the front of the stage to the back. However, I can't find any "real world" peers (you lot) that use one so can't find any proper views on them. Any help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt P Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 I'm Afraid that i don't have any experience with a pedal snake but having looked at the website it seems that it would be perfect if you needed multiple runs from the pedalboard to the amp (using effects in the amps fx loop as well as betwee the bass and the amp input) but taking my pedalboard as an example then the pedal snake is overkill, i have a single cable back to the amp (all of my pedals sit between bass and amp) and all of my power is on a single iec connector which is linked to a pair of power supplies that handle the myriad of power connections that the pedals need (one at 18v, one at 9v with high current and the rest on standard 9v connections) plugging in is pretty quick, run a cable from my last pedal to the amp and then plug my backup bass into the a/b switch (there's a Line 6 wireless reciever for the main bass) then connect a single kettle lead to the board and watch all the pretty lights blink on! from your signature it seems that you only have a few pedals so the pedalsnake might be overkill. Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 It's great IF you use pedals in the FX loop, which most people don't. The FX loop is very useful for guitar amps where the player wants some delay/modulation/etc to come after the amp's distortion. Bass amps are usually pretty clean however and most people with most effects just run them straight into the front end. Also the signal level in an FX loop is usually a lot louder, which better suits rack gear, some pedals are designed to only work with instrument level signals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_the_bass Posted August 19, 2014 Author Share Posted August 19, 2014 If I were "normal" I'd agree with you both. To clarify a few things. Current cable situation is: 1 cable from tuner to tuner out 1 cable from footswitch to mute socket 1 cable from final effect in chain to amp (Possibly) the cable from the amp control switches The effects in my signature represent current ownership, I'm currently shopping for more (and assembling plans/components for a self build idea) There is a possibility of using one of the three effects loops for some pedals depending on how things sound. I know that sensibly I should just get obbm to manufacture me some nice cables and buy a t-rex fuel tank or similar, but the neat freak in me likes the idea of one connection between front of stage and back. Thanks for your thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt P Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 ahh, well from what you've described maybe the pedalsnake is actually the answer! personally i wouldn't run the power along it ( never liked the idea of power and signal lines running together) so i'd go for a seperate psu on the board (i've gone for a harley benton junior and a palmer one as they both have isolated outputs which allows for 18v and higher current connections) but if you are happy running the power with the signal chain then a pedalsnake would appear to be the perfect solution. Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 (edited) I would keep it simple - put the tuner in line with the rest of the pedals, that then becomes your mute so you can do away with a separate mute switch. Then plug the lot straight into the main amp input - one cable going to the amp! Just because the amp has tuner out and mute sockets doesn't mean you have to use them all. Edited August 19, 2014 by dannybuoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle psychosis Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 [quote name='Dave_the_bass' timestamp='1408455536' post='2530325'] If I were "normal" I'd agree with you both. To clarify a few things. Current cable situation is: 1 cable from tuner to tuner out 1 cable from footswitch to mute socket 1 cable from final effect in chain to amp (Possibly) the cable from the amp control switches [/quote] You could remove two of those cables by putting your tuner in line with the rest of your pedals and using it as a mute. Those tuner outs always seemed utterly pointless to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 I've got one. It's fantastic. Without it my board would look like a student's bedroom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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