Pedal board tips & tricks

[DanOwens]

Hey everyone!

I recently bought a pedal board/hardcase and diago powerstation from John_the_bass (thanks man!!). I use:

Moog Lowpass (and expression pedal)
Woolly Mammoth
Boss OC2
Boss LS2
Line6 DL4

Plus a couple of other bits (Wah, Pod, etc).

I was wondering what tips you guys have re: attaching pedals and power? Where do I get hook tape? Do you remove the weird rubber bit from the underside of boss pedals? And more....

[b]So post your nuggets of wisdom, lessons learnt the hard way and big secrets!!![/b]

Dan

[Mr. Foxen]

I wipe over the bottom with meths to degrease it before I stick on tape. Sofa shops are good to score a chunk of foam for inside the lid, I stash my cables on the inside of the lid and put foam on top.

[ahpook]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='344668' date='Dec 3 2008, 08:03 PM']I wipe over the bottom with meths to degrease it before I stick on tape. Sofa shops are good to score a chunk of foam for inside the lid, I stash my cables on the inside of the lid and put foam on top.[/quote]

i use the same foam/cables trick myself

i've given up on a couple of my boss pedals and just glued the velcro on with contact adhesive...

i also staple the velcro to the bottom of the pedalboard every few inches, just to make sure everything stays put.

[Dosi Y'Anarchy]

Hook tape/velcro can be bought from loads of places, but its usually best to get the INDUSTRIAL strength type, the adhesive used forms a really strong, solid bond, standard hook tape can have the tendency to come off the board/pedal quite easily, however Industrial strength hook tape is quite a bit more expensive, but once its on, its bloody hard to get off. I've bought pre-cut strips from ebay a few times.

With the industrial velcro i dont need to worry about the rubber bottoms on boss pedals, its thick and strong enough to just put over the top and it'll hold.


I velcro everything down on my board: both power supplies and the 4-plug extension lead as well as the pedals, so that in transit i dont have to worry about things becoming disconnected, I also power my amp from the 4-plug on my board, because you can never know how much power is gonna be available at the gig.

[Toasted]

1) never trust a fart

-- wait, wrong thread:

1) Always buy the BEST power supply you can afford. It's the beating heart of your pedalboard.

[DanOwens]

Hey guys,

I've searched ebay for 'industrial hook tape' and can't find anything. Any pointers?

Also, is diago the only place for diago adaptors?

Ta

[lemmywinks]

I've just found out wilkos do decent sticky-backed velcro, looked last night and it's £1.99 for 1m of both sides. I use standard stuff from ebay and it holds really well as long as the underside of the pedal is clean.

Another trick i use with boss pedals is to stick 2 strips of velcro between the rubber. You still get purchase on the velcro but can use it out of the pedalboard too. Good if you want to sell the pedal later!

On my wah (jim dunlop) i took the battery cover off and reversed the backplate, sticking the velcro to the underside instead of mucking up the back cover.

Oh yeah, some little strips of standard velcro to hold your power leads in place. I can send you some if you like, i've got loads at home.

Also (RE the last question) i assume (probably wrong then!) that any 9v cable will fit? I use different ones with my Dinosaur power pack and they're fine. If you find some cheaper ones let me know!
Diago also do adapter cables for weirder power/jack requirements if needs be

Edited December 5, 2008 by lemmywinks

[escholl]

[quote name='TheBrokenDoor' post='346623' date='Dec 5 2008, 04:46 PM']Hey guys,

I've searched ebay for 'industrial hook tape' and can't find anything. Any pointers?

Also, is diago the only place for diago adaptors?

Ta[/quote]

try looking for 'velcro'?

and yes, I'm pretty sure Diago is the only place to get the adapters that say "Diago" on them, but that's not to say it's the only place to get a power supply that's identical.

50 pounds for a simple SMPS is, quite frankly, a joke.




BUT -- the velcro that Diago sells is actually really, really good IME, and pretty cheap too. I got two meters of it for about a fiver with shipping, I think.

[M4L666]

Make sure everything works beforehand. My guitarist just got one and is already replacing cables (well he will be once I start taking picks off him)

[DanOwens]

Ta fellas,

Re: Diago stuff - I'm after the red adaptor for the MoogerFooger but they're out of stock. I have a powerstation already but I'm after the adapter for my specific pedals.

Re: Industrial Velcro - If Diago had the red power adapter in stock, I'd defo order the velcro from them but as it is, I may just ebay it. Lemmywinks: I'll defo have some nice bits of velcro off you, I''ll PM you.

Also (I feel like this is an Oscars' thankyou!!! ) Some of the fuzzy stuff on my board has come loose in transit. Any recommendations about reattaching it so it's firmly stuck?

Ta.

Dan

PS. I'm sure I just need to go ahead and do it, and make the mistakes myself, but I do not want hundreds of pounds of pedals destroyed in the process.

[Finbar]

The carpet lining the inside of my Diago board was always coming unstuck from the board from the weight of the pedals mounted on it. It was damaging leads and things, so eventually I took everything out, took the carpet up and stuck it back down with PVA glue, and left heavy stuff on it while it dried. Then I used heavy duty roofing nails every 10cm or so round the edge, and a few in the middle, to make sure it wouldn't come up again. That's worked flawlessly so far for me

[burno70]

Aright mate,

re the Moogerfooger adapter - if anything on the Diago site is listed out of stock it's well worth sending them an email. I've found that James is a helpful chap - he replys quickly and will get the part your after knocked together quite sharpish.

I like the pedal board but had problems with the carpeting coming away (as did everyone else) I got a big tube of Bostik which sorted it out.

The major "issue" I had with the board is that when it's well stocked with pedals and you need as much space as possible you may need to put something under the pedal where you bass lead goes into to raise it a touch so you can get the pedal right to the edge of the board. Same goes for the outro pedal. In my case I used a a couple of thin 1/2" pieces of wood and velcroed both sides of it. Works a charm but pushing the pedals up marks the interior lid foam when it's closed - although I really don't care about that as long as it does it's job of protecting my lovely pedals!

Hope this helps.