January 2011 \ Features \ The Premier Guitar Pedalboard Survival Guide

The Premier Guitar Pedalboard Survival Guide

Joe Charupakorn

It takes a lot more than a few stompboxes, Velcro, and a carrying case to thrive in the pedal wilderness. Here we guide you through the common pitfalls encountered when assembling your go-to stomp station.
Premier Guitar January 2011
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Quality cables are also important. “You’d be shocked at the difference in sound quality if you sat down and A/B’d different cables,” says guitar-tech Scott Appleton. “If you use great cables, noise really shouldn’t be an issue—provided you have everything wired correctly.” Many companies offer low-capacitance pedalboard cable kits that seek to minimize signal loss. George L’s Effects Pedal Cable Kit (Street $73.47, georgels.com) includes 10' of cable and 10 solderless, right-angle plugs for tool-free creation of patch cables in custom lengths. Planet Waves Cable Station Pedalboard Cable Kit (Street $47.46, planetwaves.com) includes 10' of cable and 10 gold-plated right-angle plugs, and a cable cutter. The Core X2 Pedalboard Cable Connector Kit (Street $49.95, coreoneproduct.com) includes 20' of shielded cable, two straight and eight right-angle gold-plated plugs, a cable cutter, and a hex wrench for assembly. Another option is the Lava Mini Pedalboard Cable Kit (Street $79.95, lavacable.com), which includes 10' of cable, 10 straight solderless plugs that have a 360-degree ground connection, and a wire stripper.

  1. George L’s Effects Pedal Cable Kit includes 10' of cable and 10 right-angle plugs for creating patch cables at any length you wish—without any tools.
  2. The Planet Waves Cable Station Pedalboard Cable Kit includes 10' of cable, 10 gold-plated right-angle plugs, and a cable cutter.
  3. The Lava Mini Pedalboard Cable Kit includes 10' of cable, 10 straight solderless plugs, and a wire stripper.
  4. The Core X2 Pedalboard Cable Connector Kit includes 20' of cable, gold-plated plugs (two straight and eight right-angle), a cable cutter, and a hex wrench.
Fingers Trump Feet
At the end of the day, no matter how deckedout your pedalboard is, the most important part of your tonal equation is your fingers and how they interact with what’s in your rig. “A common thing I see is that a lot of players are always trying to chase someone else’s sound,” says hired-gun Joe Augello (Jennifer Hudson, Robin Thicke, Backstreet Boys). “Getting a Univibe and a Fuzz Face because Jimi Hendrix used them isn’t going to make you sound like him. Guys like Jimi and Eddie Van Halen were innovators and always experimented with their gear. They weren’t using what everyone else was using at that time. It’s important to develop your own voice and set yourself apart from everyone else.”

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Comments

 (13 comments) display by
UsernameComment
Bill Cook
on 05/01/2013 		Jay: The compressor goes up from dirt (i.e. fuzz, overdrive, distortion). Like so: guitar + buffer + compressor + overdrive + chorus -> amplifier (-> effects loop: delay + reverb).
Jay
on 03/05/2013 		Where SHOULD the compressor go? I mean, not where you, your buddies MIGHT put it for fun or experimentation... but classically speaking -- where is it SUPPOSED to go?
Patrick
on 03/05/2013 		What's the point of showing a pedal order diagram if you don't know what all the pedals are supposed to represent?
Nige
on 03/04/2013 		A lot of good common sense advice here, plus a bit of voodoo hocus pocus (yeah, dont buy cheap cables, but those George Ls are WAY overkill and just make the cork sniffers feel good about themselves) What is glaringly wrong however is the illustration above. Never put a whammy that far back in the chain, it cant process the distorted notes. Put it first or second, maybe after the compresser. Only exception would be if you have a germanium fuzz- those thingsshould go first before any buffering circuit. just dont use it and the whammy at the same time. Also the phaser- matter of opinion I know but I consider it a filter, like a wah and prefer the organic sound of it before dirt, not way back after the chorus. My 2 cents...
Matt
on 03/04/2013 		“You’d be shocked at the difference in sound quality if you sat down and A/B’d different cables,” says guitar-tech Scott Appleton. No, I wouldn't. Try a double-blind test, Scott - I guarantee you that you can't hear a difference.
Grrr Noise
on 03/04/2013 		' As for gear that’s roadworthy...like the Line 6 DL4" These phrases do not belong in the same sentence. period. ' Yet lots of pros use it: Minus the Bear, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Mastodon, TV on the Radio, Radiohead, Lyle Workman, Battles, just to name a few. I've had lots of boutique pedals break on me. If you're playing in front of huge crowds every night, sometimes being easily replaceable is just as good as being durable. Also, Line 6 stuff is so common that lots of guys do repairs and mods.
Brandon
on 03/04/2013 		As for gear that’s not roadworthy.. the Line 6 DL4
alex
on 03/04/2013 		"As for gear that’s roadworthy...like the Line 6 DL4" These phrases do not belong in the same sentence. period.
David
on 03/04/2013 		all this info is really helpful, however... one important aspect of having multiple pedals that is NOT mentioned is - which pedals to route to your amp's input vs. routing them to your amp's send/return (effects loop).
Jason in Nor Cal
on 03/04/2013 		Really disappointed that you didn't mention Salvage Custom in this article. Right now there is nobody on the market making custom boards like those guys!



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