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| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +layout: post |
| 3 | +title: "Pedalboard Version 3" |
| 4 | +tags: guitar pedalboard |
| 5 | +series: Pedalboard |
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| 37 | +[](/media/posts/pedalboard-v3.png) |
| 38 | + |
| 39 | +My guitar pedalboard has evolved from its [last iteration]({% post_url /2024-08-08-Pedalboard-Version-2 %}), and after many months of the same configuration I think I can safely call this "version 3." Why change it all? Well, there were two primary instigating events: |
| 40 | + |
| 41 | +- My daughter built the JHS Notaklon and I needed to find space for that on the board. It's a wider pedal, and fitting it in forced multiple spatial changes. But also adding another "dirt" pedal made me question what I already had. |
| 42 | +- While in Greece I acquired a bouzouki, an 8 string acoustic instrument. I wanted a way to incorporate that into my looping/recording rig, and to do that I needed a better setup for capturing instruments with a microphone, and that meant adding a microphone preamp to the board. |
| 43 | + |
| 44 | +These challenges forced me to look at how to rearrange the board, but as I did there were more opportunities to optimize and refine. |
| 45 | +<!--more--> |
| 46 | + |
| 47 | +### Microphone as an input |
| 48 | + |
| 49 | +While mostly this is a guitar pedalboard… it's not only useful for guitars. For example I can plug a keyboard into it and add reverb or delay or any effect I like to that keyboard sound. But not every instrument has a 1/4" output. Some acoustic guitars have pickups built in and a 1/4" jack, but not all, and even still sometimes putting a microphone up to it is the best way to capture the instrument's sound. My new bouzouki certainly has no built-in hardware. I'm also experimenting with other instruments, like the trumpet. So I need a way to capture instruments via my good ole [SM57](https://reverb.com/p/shure-sm57) microphone and put them through my pedalboard. For the difference in cabling (XLR vs. 1/4") and signal compatibility I needed a microphone preamp. |
| 50 | + |
| 51 | +### The dirt section |
| 52 | + |
| 53 | +Looking at my previous layout I had too many "dirt" pedals (overdrive/distortion): Morning Glory, Triumph, PG-14, DS-1. I wasn't finding enough distinction between these to justify that many slots. So I picked my favorite 2 (the Morning Glory and PG-14) to stay… and then added in the Notaklon. These 3 together give me a range where I do find myself using all of them. The Morning Glory is almost always on. The Notaklon gives me a great sharp lead tone (and stacks well with the Morning Glory). The PG-14 is flexible and gets used for heavier distortion and sputtery tones. |
| 54 | + |
| 55 | +### Looper as an output |
| 56 | + |
| 57 | +One of the most essential pedals of my board is my looper. My regular practice is all about looping layers over each other. But the looper isn't part of my sound… it's a utility that receives the output of my sound at the end of the chain. Mentally, it's different. So I had the idea to move it off the board and be its own thing. |
| 58 | + |
| 59 | +Enter the "baby board," a tiny [Pedaltrain Nano](https://pedaltrain.com/collections/nano/products/pt-nano-sc) (with a [power supply](https://truetone.com/cs6/) underneath). This allowed me to group some utilities at the end of the chain and create something amazingly useful. It has the looper, an EQ, and an amp sim. When months later I went to go shop for a guitar I took this board into the store and had everything I needed to test instruments with a familiar setup and headphone output. |
| 60 | + |
| 61 | +Did I cheat and solve my pedalboard space problem by adding a second board? Yes. But in doing so I stumbled into something I've found both more organized and more independently useful. |
| 62 | + |
| 63 | +[](/media/posts/pedalboard-v3-babyboard.png) |
| 64 | + |
| 65 | +## [Art Tube MP Studio V3](https://reverb.com/p/art-tube-mp-studio-v3-tube-microphone-preamp-2010-2023) |
| 66 | +<img src="/media/posts/pedalboard-v3-mpstudio.png" class="left"/> |
| 67 | +Without a microphone preamp if you plug a microphone into a guitar rig the levels are going to be all off. So the internet tells me. There are fancy (expensive) options for this, but I opted for something not fancy (relatively inexpensive). It works well enough, with some knobs to adjust the signal I'm getting in. This pedal actually currently lives off the main pedalboard all on its own. So I have 3 sections in the chain: **inputs** (which has this mic preamp), **sounds** (the main pedalboard), and **outputs** (the looper and utilities). |
| 68 | + |
| 69 | +## [JHS Mini A/B Switch](https://reverb.com/p/jhs-mini-a-slash-b-switch) |
| 70 | +<img src="/media/posts/pedalboard-v3-abswitch.png" class="right"/> |
| 71 | +The goal of this board is to enable me to be creative. When I have to bend down and fiddle with some cables, unplugging one and plugging another in… that's getting in the way of being creative. I want swapping the input from one instrument to another to be immediate. Enter the A/B switch. This is currently set up to toggle between the direct instrument line in and the output of the microphone preamp. So with a quick tap I can switch between the Stratocaster and the bouzouki, or between a keyboard and a trumpet. |
| 72 | + |
| 73 | +## [JHS NOTAKLÖN](https://reverb.com/p/jhs-notaklon) |
| 74 | +<img src="/media/posts/pedalboard-v3-notaklon.png" class="left"/> |
| 75 | +The [pitch video](https://youtu.be/LJGos1D1ha8?si=U-NcZMsDZCWp2nDp) for this absolutely stole my heart. So I was among the wave of tens of thousands who immediately ordered the kit. I put it in front of my tween daughter, and she built me a guitar pedal. Which is magic. |
| 76 | + |
| 77 | +Do I like the sound of the pedal? Absolutely I do. The Notaklon gives me a nice dirty overdrive that cuts through with a warm crunchy sound. It stacks nicely with the Morning Glory if I want something even dirtier. |
| 78 | + |
| 79 | +## [Stymon Iridium](https://reverb.com/p/strymon-iridium) |
| 80 | +<img src="/media/posts/pedalboard-v3-iridium.png" class="right"/> |
| 81 | +I'd had my eye on the Iridium for a while, waiting for the right price on [reverb](https://reverb.com). This pedal is an "amp sim," which is to say it emulates the sonic qualities of various amps in one tiny box. You can get the behavior you want (Fender, Vox, Marshal, or otherwise) at the volume you want and in a travel friendly format. This lives alongside my looper on the "baby board," as it's part of my output section. |
| 82 | + |
| 83 | +I'm underutilizing it. The main speaker I have in my practice space is an amp (a [Vox Mini Superbeetle](https://reverb.com/p/vox-msb25-mini-superbeetle-25-watt-1x10-mini-guitar-amp-stack)). And running an amp sim into an amp is… double dipping. I need a more neutral output for this to do the right thing, and I haven't set that up yet. However when I use this straight into my recording rig, or use it with headphones, it does what I need. |
| 84 | + |
| 85 | +## [Boss FS-7 Footswitch](https://reverb.com/p/boss-fs-7-footswitch) |
| 86 | +<img src="/media/posts/pedalboard-v3-footswitch.png" class="left"/> |
| 87 | +My 2 button rhythm looper is one of my most essential pieces of gear. It's so essential that there some common functions that I use that could benefit from their own button. Thankfully it can be extended and customized with an external foot switch. So what do I use these 2 extra buttons for: |
| 88 | +- **Tap tempo**: I can change the BPM of any of the tracks with the dial on the main looper. Which is precise but fiddly and hard to "feel." But with this footswitch I can mash the button to the beat I want and get it much faster and without bending over. |
| 89 | +- **Undo/Redo**: Technically I can do a long press on one of the existing buttons to undo the last layer I recorded. But this is a common enough action that I prefer having its own button. |
| 90 | + |
| 91 | +## [JHS Flight Delay](https://reverb.com/p/jhs-flight-delay) |
| 92 | +<img src="/media/posts/pedalboard-v3-flightdelay.png" class="right"/> |
| 93 | +JHS made a [great video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm3TzgxwAFU) to launch this pedal in late 2024. And while I had delay effects through my Parallax, there were some quality of life improvements I was seeking. Tap tempo is the most important one, as I have discovered that getting a delay timing dialed in with a knob is not fun. Tapping in that in with a foot switch is much more immediate and more accurate for my usage, plus there's a knob to choose various subdivisions. In fact a lot of what drew me to this pedal was the user interface; the way the functions are divided up between the switches and knobs is incredibly intuitive. Mostly the only thing this pedal gave me I didn't have was tap tempo and reverse delay, but the way it's packaged together has me feeling more in control of my delay effects. |
| 94 | + |
| 95 | +## [Earthquaker Devices Afterneath](https://reverb.com/p/earthquaker-devices-afterneath-otherworldly-reverberation-machine-v3) |
| 96 | +<img src="/media/posts/pedalboard-v3-afterneath.png" class="left"/> |
| 97 | +I didn't need this pedal. I wanted this pedal. It has a wizard on it and an awesome name. And with it you can create cavernous ambient echoes. It sits somewhere between reverb and delay; its effect is accomplished with delay, but it feels more like a reverb in creating a feeling of physical space. It's the sort of pedal that inspires me to play differently. |
| 98 | + |
| 99 | +## [Walrus Audio Monument](https://reverb.com/p/walrus-audio-monument-harmonic-tap-tremolo-v2) |
| 100 | +<img src="/media/posts/pedalboard-v3-monument.png" class="right"/> |
| 101 | +I was never dissatisfied with the mini JHS Tidewater on my board providing tremolo. But over time I realized that I _really_ like tremolo. It's one of my most used effects. And if I was going to upgrade to something with a bit more control, my tremolo pedal would be a great candidate. |
| 102 | + |
| 103 | +What the Monument gives me more than anything is tap tempo. Quickly while I'm playing I can mash in the rate I want for my tremolo and match it to what I'm playing. With a twist of a knob I can adjust the subdivisions. I'm also able to adjust the waveform from triangle to a more choppy square wave. Those are the options I didn't have before that elevates this pedal above what I had. |
| 104 | + |
| 105 | +Then there's the art. Walrus generally has awesome art on their pedals, and they also do limited runs of alternate art. This is not the standard art, but the "Kamakura" series. It certainly caught my eye, and I prefer it over the standard art howling wolf. Although if I'm honest, it's not the look I associate with the _feel_ of tremolo. Cool, but not perfect. |
| 106 | + |
| 107 | +## [OBNE Expression Ramper](https://reverb.com/p/old-blood-noise-endeavors-expression-ramper-v1) |
| 108 | +<img src="/media/posts/pedalboard-v3-expression.png" class="left"/> |
| 109 | +Between the Monument, Afterneath, and Flight Delay… I had added some pedals with "expression" input options. Previously the only pedals I had that supported this were the Pitch Fork and the Attack Decay. With a stereo cable it's possible to use my volume pedal as an expression pedal… but I kind of like having it available as a volume pedal. So I wanted to get a dedicated expression pedal. It wasn't a top priority, but when the right deal popped up on reverb… |
| 110 | + |
| 111 | +I ended up getting 2 things. One is a [slider](https://oldbloodnoise.com/pedals/p/expression-slider-hk), which is less for your foot and more for your hand. But the user interface developer in me finds it charming. The other is this expression "ramper," which allows me to program in a start and stop point, a speed, a curve, and kick the whole thing off with a press of a switch (or put on loop). It's a creative tool in my kit that I don't use often but is pretty fun. |
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