Pedalboard Brainstorm

~nick~

Active member
OK, so, I have this idea I've been thinking about for a few months now: a reversible pedalboard on a platform. the platform would be 1" thick to allow hidden cable management, and the CIOKS DC7 slim power supply. I would have a perpendicular part that would be legs that you can use to flip the board over to gain access to the upside down pedals velcro'd to the bottom. The ins and outs would be on the sides of the board so when you roll the board over to or away from you, the cables won't be an issue.

The most benefit from a system like this would be to have non midi controlled pedals on the main side, along with a midi controller like the one That Pedal Show has or Morning Star, etc. The other side would hold all the midi controlled pedals as well as expression pedals you can detach and place nearby.

The patch bay would preferably have all the ins and outs you'd need, even if you wanted to plug stereo synths into. i was thinking using an XLR TRS combo jack. the TRS would be routed directly to a buffer and then your drive pedals, while the XLR terminals would be routed directly after the drives into the wet effects since a synth signal doesn't need buffering or drives(unless...). The idea then comes down to how would i implement this? What would it look like? What material would it be made out of?

I was thinking HDPE or ABS for the velcro mounting top n bottom and support legs, while the 1" thickness to accommodate the power supply and the yet to be made junction that would hopefully have at least a single buffer in and a stereo buffer out with potentially some really nice isolation transformers- like a Jensen JT-11P-1.

Would people be interested in a flip deck pedalboard? I'm surprised nobody made this before(or does it?!)- probably because it's a bad idea? ut basically you'd have the ability to fit 2 pedalboards into one flight case and have extra space on stage or tight living quarters and the raised height would be easy on your back for tweaking parameters and also easier to stomp rear-ward pedals without having to awkwardly stretch your leg in a balancing act. you could form a case around it and the pedalboard supports would actually be useful as protective bracing.

Thoughts? Should it be made out of something else? carbon fiber/fiberglass shell with a hinge? should the two sides be detachable and two junction boxes that connect to each other for unlimited board expansion?
 

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I think this is a great idea for folks who use the fancy router boxes- I'm an old school button poker, so this build isn't for me but I'd love to see it done. As far as construction goes, I'd suggest to use materials that you're comfortable and familiar working with- inexpensive would also be a good idea at first because if you're anything like me, you'll plan and plan, come up with a genius schematic, get 80% done building it, then throw it aside and start all over again because you learned so much in the process that you've got a slightly different idea that's 3x better..

Anyhow, there are my two cents on the subject- best of luck!
 
I decided to KISS and not complicated and just make a modular setup. Power supply and the pedalboard interface goes on the bottom and pedals on the top. Would be nice to make a DI for dry signal to DAW, a drive pedal send and return, stereo line in for synths, and summed to a stereo out with iso ground lift to the wet effects. That way the synth doesn't hit the drive pedals, but joins the guitar signal to the wet effects. Also a reamp input from DAW back to drive loop beginning. The parts for this would be expensive boss if I could build it in a 1U case, that'd be sweet. Have it be as passive as possible except a OpAmp for the summing mixer.

I don't think anyone would want to buy a bizarre board just to get to have this setup. 1U setup is better I think.
 
What about photo evidence!? ;) I'm considering slapping together a diy board, myself. Would love to see what your setup ended up being.
 
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