How to connect together pedals and power them?

[Mr Fretbuzz]

Hey guys, I've got my first pedal..an Ashdown LoMenzo distortion pedal and bought a 9v adapter for it. I might get a few more pedals but I'm not sure how to connect them up and power them. I've been looking at your pedal boards etc and just took a look at diago mentioned on page 67 of Bass Guitar Magazine this month.

The pedals seem to be connected to each other with small cables. So do you plug your bass into the first pedal and then plug the amp into the last one? .... And is it input on the first pedal from the bass, output into the second pedal etc..... What are these small cables called?

Diago seem to have something to power all the pedals..... How does that work? Do you just plug it into the first pedal maybe? I don't want to have to use a 9v adapter for each pedal......

I'll probably just rig up a few on the floor unless you think it is better to start making up a board where the pedals seem to be attached by Velcro ...... I doubt I'd use my own board, probably buy one..any recommendations for a newbie?

Thanks :-)

[jaydentaku]

The small cables are called patch cables.

You will typically plug the bass into the righthand socket and the pedal to the amp through the left hand socket.

You can (if you have the feature), use an effects loop. which is a cable look from amp to pedal(s) to amp, via two sockets, independent of the guitar being directly linked into the amps passive or active input.

You can get power supplies with a number of power jacks, yes, but a few pedals have different connectors. For example, a big muff pi, has a 3.5mm jack socket.

There is a typical order to pedals in the signal chain, but i am far to tired to get into that.

[phil.i.stein]

audio (jack) connection cables are commonly called patch cables. George L are the most minimalist, Lava are also good. but it's wise to get chap ones first to experiment with.

power-wise, Diago powerstation is great, and usually comes with a 'daisy chain' of adaptors (6 per chain). these can be linked into anoher daisy chain to power more pedals

edit : silver medal runner up.

Edited August 1, 2012 by phil.i.stein

[Truckstop]

I'll answer a few of your questions as best I can!:

Firstly, yes. Pedals are connected together by 'patch cables'. These are short, usually about 5" long and usually with right angled jacks to save space.

Secondly, no. You wont need to buy a power supply for each pedal you buy. You can buy a 'daisy chain'. This is a power supply cable that attaches to your power supply plug and you can plug each individual supply on the daisy chain into a pedal.

For example, I have a Boss 9v power supply with a 3 socket daisy chain attached to it. I use this to power 3 9v effects pedals off one plug.

Alternatively, you can buy something called a 'power brick'. This is plugged into the mains, and from the 'brick' you can supply up to 10 pedals using single power supply cables. Bare in mind these take up more space than the daisy chain method.

It gets more complicated when you end up getting pedals that prefer to run on 12v or 18v. Then you will need to buy separate power supplies for them. It gets even more complicated when it comes to working out how much power each pedal takes. Say for example your power supply supplies 2000mV, you wont be able to power more than 2000mV worth of pedals regardless of how many sockets you have in your daisy chain.

If you just have one or two pedals (a tuner and a drive pedal for instance) a pedalboard is not really essential and you can deal with having them on the floor. The main reason people have pedalboards is to make it easier to transport lots of pedals at the same time and to save time connecting everything up!

The signal flows from input to output. So, bass in the input of your pedal, patch cable from the output into the input of your next pedal and then a cable from the output into the input of your amp.

Hope this helps a little

Alex

edit: Bronze medal!

Edited August 1, 2012 by Truckstop

[Mr Fretbuzz]

Ace thanks guys.....rock on in a fuzzy way :-)

[Mr Fretbuzz]

Just ordered a diago powerstation and a couple of fender custom shop tweed patch cables to match my bass cable :-)
I'm going to get the ashdown bassometer as my next pedal :-). .... Then maybe a chorus and a fuzz or something...might try the big muff thing and see what that sounds like.... Might buy some more at next years Bass Show :-)

[Truckstop]

Oh dear, it's started!

Good luck, and don't forget to note your progress in the Pedalboards: Basschat Style! thread!

Truckstop

[Mr Fretbuzz]

Yep, LMAO...... I'm thinking as I can't play bass, I'll stick a pedal on and I'll sound great :-D

[simwells]

I'd recommend just picking up the Boss tuner/TC Polytune/Korg Pitchblack over the BossOMeter purely due to it being massive for no apparent reason.

[lxxwj]

[quote name='Mr Fretbuzz' timestamp='1343909517' post='1757149']
Yep, LMAO...... I'm thinking as I can't play bass, I'll stick a pedal on and I'll sound great :-D
[/quote]
That's my strategy!
Of course, I'm going to plug the Iron Ether Oxide. Because it's beautiful.

[thisnameistaken]

One caveat with powering your pedals: Before you go plugging them all into a single PSU like the Diago, first find out (if you don't have a manual then look on the web, you'll find the info) what current each of your pedals draws - this will be a figure in milliamps (mA). Add them all up. Now look at what the maximum current output of your power supply is, and make sure it's a bigger number than the total current draw of your pedals. This should help you to avoid anything melting or catching fire.

With the Diago you'll probably be fine for a long time (I think it gives you 3000mA to play with) but do check. Analogue circuits tend to draw very little (anywhere from 5mA to 50mA) but digital pedals can be [i]considerably[/i] more demanding.

[xgsjx]

& check that they're all 9 volt or you might need separate PSUs.