Show and describe your pedal board setups

[themetallikid]

Ok, I have some clearing in my extra funds account and am looking to add to my Helix rig potentially, but I'll have to do it in pieces.  Right now I have the Helix and bring it to my gigs/practices in the Helix backpack.  I love it.  

 

BUT....I'm needing to replace my Sennheiser wireless, and would like to do a 'pedal' version wireless I believe and that makes me want to look into a pedal board to mount everything to and have an all in one carrying setup.  

 

Wants:

1) large enough size to allow an external pedal if I decide I need or want to add one back on the right side.  Also allow enough space at the top for potentially adding an external pedal or 2 (thinking possibly a talkbox style pedal, Mimic, Freqout, Digitech Drop).

2) being I'd be getting away from my rack wireless, which also has a power strip in it. I'd need a power source hub of some sort.  I've never been a pedalboard guy so not sure what options are there that would allow me to expand in the future with the pedals I mentioned.  I also power my powered wedge as a monitor at our shows.  

 

 

So what you using that may fit some needs or get me close and maybe I compromise on some things....Thanks!

[emagli]

Hey there,

 

I have a pedalboard alongside my Helix LT. I thought I ‘d use it for my “best” analog pedals + wireless receiver. What is on it: ABY switch (for 2 guitars), digitech drop, clyde wah deluxe, ernie ball vp jr. Then suhr koko boost and mad professor forest green comp connected to one of the helix fx loops, and finally the receiver for line6 g50. Power supply for all of this comes from a power brick mounted under the pedalboard (a pedaltrain jr, iirc). 
 

The bad: the whole setup is about 1 meter wide. But I wanted a pedalboard that I could mount the power supply underneath, which rules out flat ones. 
 

The good: I have all I need neatly mounted,     and a single power supply for everything. 

[themetallikid]

21 hours ago, emagli said:

Hey there,

 

I have a pedalboard alongside my Helix LT. I thought I ‘d use it for my “best” analog pedals + wireless receiver. What is on it: ABY switch (for 2 guitars), digitech drop, clyde wah deluxe, ernie ball vp jr. Then suhr koko boost and mad professor forest green comp connected to one of the helix fx loops, and finally the receiver for line6 g50. Power supply for all of this comes from a power brick mounted under the pedalboard (a pedaltrain jr, iirc). 
 

The bad: the whole setup is about 1 meter wide. But I wanted a pedalboard that I could mount the power supply underneath, which rules out flat ones. 
 

The good: I have all I need neatly mounted,     and a single power supply for everything. 

Yeah that sounds like more than I need, but I'd like to have something all in one including the helix, which would make the footprint much larger.  

[emagli]

16 hours ago, themetallikid said:

Yeah that sounds like more than I need, but I'd like to have something all in one including the helix, which would make the footprint much larger.  

 

I perfectly understand that. I also contemplated a single pedalboard as you mentioned, but then I thought it'd be very bulky and deep (and possibly hard to get into the pedalboard case). Plus, I thought I did not need one single pedalboard but could have 2 pieces, and that would give me more flexibility.

 

For me the most important thing was to have neat wiring including power supply, in order to avoid using batteries and multiple small 9 V power adapters. This dictated that I choose a raised pedalboard. So my suggestion is to first think how you'd like to supply power to your pedals. Pedaltrain has boards in many different sizes, but there are many other brands too.

[nhoven]

I've mounted my Helix on a Thomann pedalboard together with a few other gadgets, see the attached pics - sorry for the dirt and the loose cables, need to clean up. Had the pedalboard home for maintainance (I needed to cut a few calbe ties to get the Helix off the board as I had to lubricate the expression pedal), usually it sits in our rehearsal space where the pedalboard tends to get a bit dusty.

 

The board is the Harley Benton Spaceship 80, which is a tilted metal frame with velcro covering. The board area is 800 mm by 390 mm,  sturdy contruction, the bar spacing is variable, it comes with a soft carrying case and is really affordable. With everything on it it is pretty heavy (my scales say 16,5 kg), but managable.

 

As you can see, to the right I have the Mission Engineering SP1-L6H, which is the version for the Helix Rack, i.e. the one with the toe switch. The pedal is connected to exp 2 (pedal) and 3 (toe switch). I had to modify the pedal's toe switch circuit, I don't really remember too clearly - I think the toe switch switches between closed contacts and a 47k resistor. Next to the ME pedal is my old trusty wah, which I didn't want to give up, as I built and tweaked it myself and it sounds great.

 

I use all four FX loops on the Helix, the first of course for the 4CM. The white pedal at the top is a small linear boost that allows me programming-independant on-the-fly volume correction for different guitars - I needed this before the snapshot bypass feature introduced in 2.8. But also I don't have to waste a Helix footswitch for that feature.

 

The grey pedal is a Foxx Tone Machine clone that I prefer to the one offered by Helix. Lastly I use the Mini Vent II for rotary sounds as the Helix rotary sucks through a guitar amp.

 

On the underside of the board I have mounted a Palmer power supply that powers the pedals. It's a bit overkill concerning the power and connectors, but the footprint fit well under the board. Below the palmer is a Rockboard MOD 2, which is a small interface box designed for the rockboard boards. The MOD 2 passes four symmetrical 1/4", MIDI in/out, USB and power to the board. The four 1/4" are the three connections the the amp's in/send/return plus the channel switching. The MIDI out is used alternatively to the EXT AMP on one of my heads. I have a cable snake with four 1/4"-cables, one midi and an IEC cable in a mesh sleeve.

 

The blue box in the center is a Palmer PLI-05 dual isolation transformer needed for the 4CM-connection. At the top right of the picture you can see a small power strip diverting the incoming 230V to the Palmer PSU's power adapter and the Helix.

 

Hope you can get some inspiration from my board. Even with some DIY it wasn't the cheapest solution (PSU, Mini Vent II and the ISO in particular),  but especially the HB Spaceship is very good value for the money and a good fit for the Helix plus some extras.

[codamedia]

On 2/1/2020 at 8:46 AM, themetallikid said:

Right now I have the Helix and bring it to my gigs/practices in the Helix backpack.  I love it.  

 

That's been my approach for the past year.... it's worked fine but for some reason I decided it was time for a change :) 

 

This is the setup I have recently gone to.... it's a 29.5" x 15.5" board... enough for the Helix, an external expression, then two additional pedals stacked upper/lower. If you need a lot of extra pedals, and/or a power brick or similar it might not be the best choice for you, but I like it's versatility. 

 

 

There are many variants of this board out there... they seem to change regularly so I don't know what is available now. 

[themetallikid]

Yeah I just went through and spec'd out what I'd need D x W x H wise and not finding a lot of options initially.  I came up with 31"w x 19"d x 5"h (leaves about 1.5" of clearance.  

 

Looked just briefly on my phone and I'll definitely have to look into some options and see.  

 

Being that I've never run an actual pedal board.  I assume that I could install a power strip (if nothing is provided built into the board) to plug the 3 pedals into underneath?  and also allow the helix and my powered wedge to run off of?

[antonio1961]

Although you can use pedals quite happily with the Helix, the whole idea of it for me that it is an all in one solution, and it's heavy enough for me without adding any extra weight, so just Helix floor and G10 relay ,which for me has been the best wireless i've ever used , it just works without any fuss and hassle.

I A-B'd some of my pedals with the Helix ,and the difference was negligible.

 

What you want is sometimes not necessarily what you need ;-)

 

[themetallikid]

1 hour ago, antonio1961 said:

Although you can use pedals quite happily with the Helix, the whole idea of it for me that it is an all in one solution, and it's heavy enough for me without adding any extra weight, so just Helix floor and G10 relay ,which for me has been the best wireless i've ever used , it just works without any fuss and hassle.

I A-B'd some of my pedals with the Helix ,and the difference was negligible.

 

What you want is sometimes not necessarily what you need ;-)

 

while I generally agree with you, my helix is an all in one when it comes to amp tones there are some things it does not do, that would make my life easier (hauling stuff and potentially just make me enjoy the Helix tones even more.

 

Digitech Drop - I could get a variax, sure...but that will cost more than the total of the pedals and such I'm looking at, also will cause additional tweaking time/headaches.  All I would really use it for is to simplify shifting down 1/2 step, maybe down a whole step.  In a live band context any artifacts will be lost on most of my crowds anyway, and any tone altering can be adjusted for.  Also, this would allow me to play one guitar all night, except for breaking a string which I can switch to my backup no issues.  This makes my tone creation much simpler as I'm not having to craft presets for different guitar/pickups when I prefer consistency.  Also a variax would not solve my next issue of it being tuned to E but outputting an Eb/D tuning structure will not lead to feedback when I want it.....which leads to...

 

Freqout  Pedal - This can at least help create the illusion of feedback on those nice long drawn out bends or moments.  My band runs direct mostly, so to get my wedge to the point where I can get the feedback I need in spots is hard cause my wedge is blaringly loud compared to other onstage noise.  its a simpler, sound efficient solution that again, most my crowd wont even know the difference.  

 

Talkbox pedal - Plan and simple, Helix doesn't have one, and most of the 'automated' I've tried just don't do the effect justice.  Also, the visual curiousity people have when they see the tube and hear the sound is worth its novelty effect when applied correctly and we play a few songs that feature that sound....or ones that don't and its used creatively.  

 

Wireless - I've been looking at the G10 as well, but if I get a pedalboard setup, I'll still need to keep my rack for the power strip aspect more than likely, so I'll probably stick with a rack mounted wireless.  This point is debatable for me and may change my approach when searching for power solutions.  

 

Guitars - adding these pedals would lighten one guitar from my load times and again allow for more consistency.  I'll be able to turn the Drop's loop on/off as needed for songs in those keys, same with the FreqOut, I can have it off on the snapshots that I don't need it and incorporate it when I need it.  Talkbox just the same.  Leave the talkbox on and incorporate it in one of the loops to allow the Helix Amp sound through the box.  

 

I appreciate the concept, but I've done my homework.  

[antonio1961]

I use tronical tuners on my spare , it solves any tuning variations that may arise, and it is authentic , you can just tune to whatever tuning you like at the press of a button.

If you're clever about it, your set can be geared towards very little change-over time between guitars, great investment imo, and can open up a whole other load of options for you too.

[Naigewron]

Specs:

• Board: Gator GPB-LAK-1
• Power: Strymon Ojai
• Chain: Korg Pitchblack Mini -> Line6 HX Stomp -> Source Audio Collider (in stereo in the FX loop of the Stomp).
• Expression pedal: Dunlop DVP4. Plugged into the HX Stomp and controls different things for different presets (volume, delay levels, wah pedal, modulation speed, etc).
• Tap switch: MXR Tap switch (bottom left) controls the HX Stomp footswitch modes - I jump between preset mode and stomp mode.
• Dual aux switch: Scrolls up and down through presets on the Collider.

I'm a reverb and delay junkie, so I really want to keep those effects in a separate pedal. This means I can use any of my reverb and delay presets with any of my Stomp presets, which is really flexible.

Most of my Stomp presets also have a delay block, either assigned to a footswitch or the expression pedal, allowing me to have these massive double delays. The Adriatic delay is definitely my favourite of the Helix delays.

 

Definitely my smallest and most powerful board so far.

 

 

[themetallikid]

36 minutes ago, Naigewron said:

Specs:

• Board: Gator GPB-LAK-1
• Power: Strymon Ojai
• Chain: Korg Pitchblack Mini -> Line6 HX Stomp -> Source Audio Collider (in stereo in the FX loop of the Stomp).
• Expression pedal: Dunlop DVP4. Plugged into the HX Stomp and controls different things for different presets (volume, delay levels, wah pedal, modulation speed, etc).
• Tap switch: MXR Tap switch (bottom left) controls the HX Stomp footswitch modes - I jump between preset mode and stomp mode.
• Dual aux switch: Scrolls up and down through presets on the Collider.

I'm a reverb and delay junkie, so I really want to keep those effects in a separate pedal. This means I can use any of my reverb and delay presets with any of my Stomp presets, which is really flexible.

Most of my Stomp presets also have a delay block, either assigned to a footswitch or the expression pedal, allowing me to have these massive double delays. The Adriatic delay is definitely my favourite of the Helix delays.

 

Definitely my smallest and most powerful board so far.

 

 

 

That's a nice compact setup, not feasible for my situation, but I can see why it works for you

[phil_m]

I ended up going the other way. I had my Helix mounted on a Pedaltrain Pro board along with a few other pedals, but it just got to be a big and heavy board. So I decided to get a Helix Rack and go with this setup.

 

 

[themetallikid]

Yeah if I'd had known i'd be adding these after, that may have made sense.  I could maybe look into a sell/buy scenario and go that route....I'd have to look into it though.  not sure I wanna go through that hassle.

[themetallikid]

So a newb question...being that I've never been a pedal/board setup kinda guy.  Will something like a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 power the 3 pedals I'm adding (Digitech Drop, Digitech Freqout, MXR Talkbox)?  I know I'll need separate power for the Helix and probably the wireless unit correct?

[DarthHollis]

You will probably need a Pedal Power digital or a Cioks DC7.  Each of those pedals takes a fairly high draw of current.  I know the Drop is 300 mA.  The normal Pedal Powers usually have 100 mA per output.  Check the draw of each pedal.  The digital PP only has 4 outputs.  The Cioks has 7 outputs and each one is 600 mA plus you can change between 18V, 12V, and 9V for each output.

 

MXR talk box is 18V. The power draw is unknown but it comes with a 1000 mA supply. I did quite a search but 240couldn't find the information.

Digitech Frequout draws about 240 mA at 9V.

Digitech Drop is 300 mA at 9V

 

[themetallikid]

Ok, that helps, sorry i'm pedalboard dumb. lol.   Always used rack stuff or multieffects only.  

 

I'll look into those options the Cioks sounds like it'd be the best fit, but I'll check it out.  Thank you

[themetallikid]

Ok, that Cioks 7 looks pretty badass for the price/size/power options.  If I reading/understanding correctly the only one I think I'll have an issue with is the talkbox having such a high mA requirement.  

 

I think my best bet board wise is to go with Trailer Trash, and that way I can get the power options routed on the side of the board as needed....

 

Monitor wedge - Plugged into female power plug on side of board

Digitech Drop/Freqout, L6 G50 Wireless (9v, 500mA) connected to Cioks 7 connected to male power plug on side of board

MXR Talkbox, Helix  - separate power run connected to side male power plug on side of board

 

Board would then be powered from an extension cable on my left side.  Am I on the right thinking with this?

[themetallikid]

Ok, I think I found the power supply that will do it.  

 

Mission engineering

 

https://missionengineering.com/shop-2/products/power/529i/

[spikey]

I have this in front of my chair, mixer and Mac and can control it while recording tracks- Love my Helix and Kemper!

[themetallikid]

Nice....I ordered all the pedals yesterday they arrived where I had them sent today.  I just need to set them up on a template to find out what size I really need for a pedalboard.  I'm still leaning towards the TrailerTrash Pro Series.

[Flippen96]

On 2/3/2020 at 10:24 AM, nhoven said:

I've mounted my Helix on a Thomann pedalboard together with a few other gadgets, see the attached pics - sorry for the dirt and the loose cables, need to clean up. Had the pedalboard home for maintainance (I needed to cut a few calbe ties to get the Helix off the board as I had to lubricate the expression pedal), usually it sits in our rehearsal space where the pedalboard tends to get a bit dusty.

 

The board is the Harley Benton Spaceship 80, which is a tilted metal frame with velcro covering. The board area is 800 mm by 390 mm,  sturdy contruction, the bar spacing is variable, it comes with a soft carrying case and is really affordable. With everything on it it is pretty heavy (my scales say 16,5 kg), but managable.

 

As you can see, to the right I have the Mission Engineering SP1-L6H, which is the version for the Helix Rack, i.e. the one with the toe switch. The pedal is connected to exp 2 (pedal) and 3 (toe switch). I had to modify the pedal's toe switch circuit, I don't really remember too clearly - I think the toe switch switches between closed contacts and a 47k resistor. Next to the ME pedal is my old trusty wah, which I didn't want to give up, as I built and tweaked it myself and it sounds great.

 

I use all four FX loops on the Helix, the first of course for the 4CM. The white pedal at the top is a small linear boost that allows me programming-independant on-the-fly volume correction for different guitars - I needed this before the snapshot bypass feature introduced in 2.8. But also I don't have to waste a Helix footswitch for that feature.

 

The grey pedal is a Foxx Tone Machine clone that I prefer to the one offered by Helix. Lastly I use the Mini Vent II for rotary sounds as the Helix rotary sucks through a guitar amp.

 

On the underside of the board I have mounted a Palmer power supply that powers the pedals. It's a bit overkill concerning the power and connectors, but the footprint fit well under the board. Below the palmer is a Rockboard MOD 2, which is a small interface box designed for the rockboard boards. The MOD 2 passes four symmetrical 1/4", MIDI in/out, USB and power to the board. The four 1/4" are the three connections the the amp's in/send/return plus the channel switching. The MIDI out is used alternatively to the EXT AMP on one of my heads. I have a cable snake with four 1/4"-cables, one midi and an IEC cable in a mesh sleeve.

 

The blue box in the center is a Palmer PLI-05 dual isolation transformer needed for the 4CM-connection. At the top right of the picture you can see a small power strip diverting the incoming 230V to the Palmer PSU's power adapter and the Helix.

 

Hope you can get some inspiration from my board. Even with some DIY it wasn't the cheapest solution (PSU, Mini Vent II and the ISO in particular),  but especially the HB Spaceship is very good value for the money and a good fit for the Helix plus some extras.

 

How did you mount the Helix on the board? I'm looking to do something similar with my LT. Thanks! 

[j_hotch]

Pedalboard from Chumleys Pedalboard Shop. Strobostomp HD into Helix LT.  MeloAudio mini expression pedal.

[nhoven]

17 hours ago, Flippen96 said:

 

How did you mount the Helix on the board? I'm looking to do something similar with my LT. Thanks! 

 

I removed the rubber feet from the bottom panel and applied copious amounts of the velcro that came with the pedalboard. I used four strips, one for each pedalboard bar, over the whole width of the Helix. That's alot of velcro, but the fluffy part of the velcro is very well applied to the metal bars of the spaceship, so unless you tend to remove the Helix from the board on a daily basis there is no danger of ripping it off, and the Helix is secured very firmly to the pedalboard. To remove the Helix from the board I need some help from a largeish screwdriver, though :-)

[SaschaFranck]

I recently finished this board. Some smaller things will still happen (the EQ and tuner on the upper right will be replaced by a small custom-built mini-mixer, allowing me to control all levels, mix a monitor feed in and connect some headphones, so I can go IEM without any additional stuff). On the floor (the board is raised at home, so I can easily grab everything) there's a Hotone Soulpress II (which fits into the space left of the Stomp during transport).

Already played two gigs with this bad boy and couldn't be much happier. Soundwise, this just blows any other stuff I've been using during the last years away. Patch organisation and switching are a breeze as well, even if it might not exactly look like it. And fwiw, that's the reason this board blows everything away soundwise as well, because I can instantly adjust each and every relevant parameter.

In case anyone's interested, I'll explain what's going on and how everything is connected/switched.

[PierM]

I dig it! Looks very versatile.

 

I also recently completed mine. Purpose is ambient/live looping, with part of it in the HXS Loop, and part before HXS. Zoia is working as "brain" It can automate HXS params, act as controller, or generative synth, or keyboard, or multi fx addon, swiss army knife. :)

 

MIDI is using WIDI so the board can work standalone MIDI wise, or can be totally edited from the outside wirelessly (iPad, Live Logic, PC etc)

 

HXS USB is remoted on the back, so no risk of damaging the port.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SaschaFranck]

On 10/29/2022 at 9:29 AM, PierM said:

I also recently completed mine.

 

Oh wow, that looks like a very complexed thing (and quite great).

 

Some questions, if you don't mind:

How are you using the Iridium in this setup, do you skip the amp modeling entirely on the HX Stomp?

What's the thing in the upper left corner?

Does the WIDI thing require a dedicated master unit (I don't think I need MIDI for my purposes anymore, but you never know...) and is the switching working fast enough to switch, say, between 8th notes at a medium tempo?

Which PSU(s) are you using?

What kinda cables are you using for power connections and patching? I can see some Rockboard ones (using them myself, too), but are there others as well?

 

I'm not too unhappy with my board, especially given that I wanted to make it fit into an existing case, hence had to build the pedal carrying construction myself, but I'm not particularly fond of the cabling. I soldered a few cables myself but for the most part I'm using pre-made patchcables which usually are either too short or too long. I simply wanted those flat plugs on the visible side of the board to save some space here and there and have never found them as separate plugs so I could configure the cable lengths myself. Same goes for the 9V cable mess. Even the angled plugs very often stick out too much. And I just hate it that every vendor seems to have an own idea about where the connectors have to be places. I really wish that they would at least stick to "everything on the top end". Using an angled signal plug with the 9V socket next to it is just awkward on the left/right sides of whatever pedal.

 

Oh well, I'd like to try out a Zola one day, too. But I'm afraid it'd start something unstoppable (I actually plan to configure a pretty much 100% computer based rig one day, which should be somewhat cheaper than the hardware route).

[PierM]

On 10/29/2022 at 10:12 AM, SaschaFranck said:

 

Oh wow, that looks like a very complexed thing (and quite great).

 

Some questions, if you don't mind:

How are you using the Iridium in this setup, do you skip the amp modeling entirely on the HX Stomp?

What's the thing in the upper left corner?

Does the WIDI thing require a dedicated master unit (I don't think I need MIDI for my purposes anymore, but you never know...) and is the switching working fast enough to switch, say, between 8th notes at a medium tempo?

Which PSU(s) are you using?

What kinda cables are you using for power connections and patching? I can see some Rockboard ones (using them myself, too), but are there others as well?

 

I'm not too unhappy with my board, especially given that I wanted to make it fit into an existing case, hence had to build the pedal carrying construction myself, but I'm not particularly fond of the cabling. I soldered a few cables myself but for the most part I'm using pre-made patchcables which usually are either too short or too long. I simply wanted those flat plugs on the visible side of the board to save some space here and there and have never found them as separate plugs so I could configure the cable lengths myself. Same goes for the 9V cable mess. Even the angled plugs very often stick out too much. And I just hate it that every vendor seems to have an own idea about where the connectors have to be places. I really wish that they would at least stick to "everything on the top end". Using an angled signal plug with the 9V socket next to it is just awkward on the left/right sides of whatever pedal.

 

Oh well, I'd like to try out a Zola one day, too. But I'm afraid it'd start something unstoppable (I actually plan to configure a pretty much 100% computer based rig one day, which should be somewhat cheaper than the hardware route).

 

Im using the Iridium instead amp/cab on HXS, as my core guitar tone always move around a 65 blackface. But I also put an amp block (usually a princetone block, set with very low drive and flat eq) in front of Iridium, as this makes the miracle of creating a HUGE clean base, which to my ears is way more close to my actual tube blackface.

 

The thing in the top left corner is just an expression knob, that I can patch to zoia CV port when needed. Means I can have an extra knob to control whatever param from Zoia, or HXS, or Looper. The oher two boxes are the WET pass for the Plus Pedal, and the strymon mini FAV, that flip my El Capstain from a standard tape echo, to a tape looper.

 

WIDI tech works standalone, and if you have more WIDI device, it can create a closed group, with a Master and a group of 4 devices. In my case, I do have HXS set as Master, and Zoia as part of a WIDI group with a WIDI Host (that I use with either a fishman tripleplay midi pickup, or a keyboard, or whatever MIDI that needs a Host), and other two WIDI jacks; one for the Live Logic Midi controller on the ground (remoting HXS FS 1,2,3,4,5 + Tuner), and the other for my Echoplex loopers. Im not forced to use all of them all the time. WIDI will just connect with what he "feels" available. It can be set to auto pair, or better, to what we want specifically, as if it were hardwired. Then, an iPad can connect to such group, or single WIDIs, offering MIDI control over everything is available. Latency is 3ms average. Cant report any problem, even when doing stutter sampling, which can be extremely fast.

 

PSU is ZUMA for everything but HXS. I do use its original small Line6 PS, velcroed in a corner, as it gives me a more stable HXS boot. Sometimes with ZUMA, using the current doubler, I was getting HXS booting with no audio. Using its own PS, seems solving the problem.

 

Cables are all Rockboard, various versions and lenght, depending on the need. I did a wiring plan before to start, to grab the shortest version for each line. There are TRS, TS, TRS to TS/TS, 5cm, 10, 30, 40, 60, etc etc...all same Rockbkard series. They works good, but there is MUCH better stuff on the market, but I needed a very tight package, and these are doing the job.

 

Then there are angled MIDI TRS A for ZOIA, converting to DIN for the patch bay on the back.

Also an angled USB B to USB A that does remote HXS USB port to the back. Good for HXEdit, firmware update, or direct MIDI with iPad.

9V cables are those original from ZUMA. There is just a little daisy chain for the Tuner.

 

Zoia is an intimidating beast, and does require some energy...but there are SOOOO many good patches from the community, that you can use it right away out of the box, and take your time to dive into the programming. You can make your own reverbs literally from scratch, or program a LFO circuit that does control a param in the HXS, that does react to playing dynamics through a slew limiter etc etc.. Its just a door to the outer space. :)

 

 

[SaschaFranck]

On 10/29/2022 at 10:52 AM, PierM said:

Zoia is an intimidating beast, and does require some energy...but there are SOOOO many good patches from the community, that you can use it right away out of the

box, and take your time to dive into the programming. You can make your own reverbs literally from scratch, or program a LFO circuit that does control a param in the HXS, that does react to playing dynamics through a slew limiter etc etc.. Its just a door to the outer space. :)

 

Uhm, stop triggering my GAS!

No, seriously, that's a great device and I'd really love to give it a more intense testride.

Do you, by any chance, have any soundfiles of that setup at hand? I wouldn't mind listening.

And btw, thanks for the detailed description, pretty interesting stuff.

 

---

 

As far as my board goes, it's pretty much a hack. Didn't want to invest more than I already did before I'm not 100% sure that I'm going to stick with the hybrid approach. Thing is, for functional gigs it's likely overkill and for my own pleasure I'd likely slap in some more adventurous stuff. And regardless of how my final decision will look like, I might still need an all-in-one modeler for easier traveling and such (a GT-1000 is still on my list for those purposes).

However, if I decide to stick with a somewhat more elaborated pedalboard, I will likely have to redo plenty of things from scratch. The Mooer loopswitcher is working fine but there's certainly better ones available (I wish I had 8 instead of 6 patches without switching banks), I would as well like to have the wah/vol pedal(s) back on the board but as I wouldn't want to cover more real estate, I'd likely have to construct a dual-tier board (kinda like those from Schmidt Array), and in case I'd manage doing that, I'd obviously need a new case as well - so it's quite some bucks worth of stuff I had to spend.

 

Fwiw, right now, my board is organized in a way you'd probably also come up with when using real amps. In a nutshell, it's a dual amp channel board, the NUX Amp Academy serves for clean sounds (with an option to add a bit of hair through the Rated Boost in front), the Amplifirebox is used for all driven sounds (there's an almost completely clean Bman model loaded, but I'm using a customized IR and some EQ trickery to make it work with all sorts of drive pedals - which it does exceptionally well). Most of the drives are sitting in the AFB loop. The Mooer Yellow Comp and Pure Boost are sitting in the very first loop which I engage on all lead sounds. I used to have a Boss GE-7 in a post-amp loop to finally level my leadsounds and finetune the overall timbre, but by now that's handed over to the HXS, which, apart from a few exceptions, I'm only using for leads anyway (I simply like most rhythm stuff to be bone dry).

Talking about the HXS, it's almost overkill as I'm really only using it for 4 sounds per gig (3 of them called up via snapshots, the 4th via an external switch). But, overkill or not, it's pretty much the only unit of a comparable size doing it so well (Mooer Ocean Machine requires you to enter an extra Tap Tempo mode, TC Plethora has no global tempo at all, others don't do delay and reverb in one unit, etc.). It's obviously quite nice to have a backup straight on the board, too - and in case the HXS breaks for whatever reason, I have another MS-50G sitting in my utility case.

Talking about the MS-50, they're WAY better than what the price might suggest. There's some really godawful stuff in it, namely the drives and amps, but some modulations and spatial FX are really great. The MS-50 on my board is sitting in a dedicated loop in front of all dirt and I'm using it for modulations only. I usually set up 2-3 patches that I can then A/B/C/etc... cycle through, which is comfortable enough, given that I usually may only need things a handful of times per gig, if at all.

 

Mainly, this board built is all about "gain staging/stacking" with some variable basic sounds. And it does that job incredibly well. I might exchange some drive pedals one day, but I absolutely don't need to. The Joyo Kings of Kings serves as a nice, mellow oldschool overdrive (I could actually do with just one side of it), the TC Magus, basically a rat clone, is set to "turbo" and rather dark, it's quite a fuzzy affair, the Hustle Drive serves for distortion kinda things (I originally use a Harley Benton Drop Kick for that position, but it had to be exchanged and won't arrive for 2-3 months due to the usual supply shortage...) and the Golden Plexi 2 does exactly what the name says. It's my main drive for pretty much anything, extremely dynamic, working super fine with additional boost(s) in front, etc. Get's my vote for the most compact and affordable MIAB pedal (IMO it needs a suitable amp to follow, might get somewhat shrill in front of a typical Fender amp/speaker combination, really needs another cab sim to work best).

 

Oh, before I forget: The entire board is powered by a single Harley Benton ISO-12 Pro PSU for a mere €99. Overall current draw is something around 2000mA, the unit should be able to deal with that just fine. But I already noticed it to get sort of warm with the HSX running through it as well, so I may do it as you do and run the HSX from a dedicated PSU (unfortunately, the form factor of the latest L6 one is horrendously bad, I will likely just cut the cable off and solder it onto something more suitable).

 

Alright, on to the gig (just some sort of functional party stuff, but the band is pretty decent and having a great sound certainly helps, too).

[HonestOpinion]

On 10/29/2022 at 4:52 AM, PierM said:

 

Im using the Iridium instead amp/cab on HXS, as my core guitar tone always move around a 65 blackface. But I also put an amp block (usually a princetone block, set with very low drive and flat eq) in front of Iridium, as this makes the miracle of creating a HUGE clean base, which to my ears is way more close to my actual tube blackface.

 

The thing in the top left corner is just an expression knob, that I can patch to zoia CV port when needed. Means I can have an extra knob to control whatever param from Zoia, or HXS, or Looper. The oher two boxes are the WET pass for the Plus Pedal, and the strymon mini FAV, that flip my El Capstain from a standard tape echo, to a tape looper.

 

WIDI tech works standalone, and if you have more WIDI device, it can create a closed group, with a Master and a group of 4 devices. In my case, I do have HXS set as Master, and Zoia as part of a WIDI group with a WIDI Host (that I use with either a fishman tripleplay midi pickup, or a keyboard, or whatever MIDI that needs a Host), and other two WIDI jacks; one for the Live Logic Midi controller on the ground (remoting HXS FS 1,2,3,4,5 + Tuner), and the other for my Echoplex loopers. Im not forced to use all of them all the time. WIDI will just connect with what he "feels" available. It can be set to auto pair, or better, to what we want specifically, as if it were hardwired. Then, an iPad can connect to such group, or single WIDIs, offering MIDI control over everything is available. Latency is 3ms average. Cant report any problem, even when doing stutter sampling, which can be extremely fast.

 

PSU is ZUMA for everything but HXS. I do use its original small Line6 PS, velcroed in a corner, as it gives me a more stable HXS boot. Sometimes with ZUMA, using the current doubler, I was getting HXS booting with no audio. Using its own PS, seems solving the problem.

 

Cables are all Rockboard, various versions and lenght, depending on the need. I did a wiring plan before to start, to grab the shortest version for each line. There are TRS, TS, TRS to TS/TS, 5cm, 10, 30, 40, 60, etc etc...all same Rockbkard series. They works good, but there is MUCH better stuff on the market, but I needed a very tight package, and these are doing the job.

 

Then there are angled MIDI TRS A for ZOIA, converting to DIN for the patch bay on the back.

Also an angled USB B to USB A that does remote HXS USB port to the back. Good for HXEdit, firmware update, or direct MIDI with iPad.

9V cables are those original from ZUMA. There is just a little daisy chain for the Tuner.

 

Zoia is an intimidating beast, and does require some energy...but there are SOOOO many good patches from the community, that you can use it right away out of the box, and take your time to dive into the programming. You can make your own reverbs literally from scratch, or program a LFO circuit that does control a param in the HXS, that does react to playing dynamics through a slew limiter etc etc.. Its just a door to the outer space. :)

 

 

 

I tend to prefer simplicity and minimal cabling, but this is just next level. Bravo!

[boynigel]

On 8/25/2020 at 10:00 AM, j_hotch said:

Pedalboard from Chumleys Pedalboard Shop. Strobostomp HD into Helix LT.  MeloAudio mini expression pedal.

Holy crap, is that a Washburn Wonderbar on that guitar?  haven't seen one of those since the 80's!

[SaschaFranck]

Good morning, fellow pedalboard!

[PierM]

Omg... did someone in the crowd pissed you off? +___+

[SaschaFranck]

On 11/12/2022 at 11:07 AM, PierM said:

Omg... did someone in the crowd pissed you off? +___+

 

Kind of. Or rather the other way around...

Nah, at least kinda finalizing things today, got all things together and need to do some new pedal arrangements and some housekeeping. Will look pretty similar to the last iteration, though.

I'm sure that I'll be building an entirely new board next year or so, but that needs some serious tinkering (and possibly some serious investment, too), so until then I just want to call it a day (perhaps even longer, obviously needs some longer term tests).

[SaschaFranck]

Still defenitely no beauty but doing exactly what I want it to do. Some cables could run tighter but that's what you get when you try to cram things into existing arrangements. Also, I want some of the things to be more or less freely exchangable (such as the Stomp, should I need it for smaller gigs and what not, even got a fly gig in India next spring...). Adding that little mixer (which was intended to be a custom-built thing but my electro-dude didn't get back for me so often that I just gave up) apparently was a neat idea, I can now instantly use the board for IEM gigs, route some backing tracks into it on boring soundchecks and what not.

Soundwise, I couldn't be any happier, either. Still waiting for my Harley Benton Drop Kick, apparently a Suhr Riot clone, to arrive (was broken, no instant replacement due to the usual supply shortages) which will take the place of the Hustle Drive. But there's way more than enough fun to be had with what's on there already (my last addition, the Rockett "Dude", is just awsome).

Would've loved to add a patch bay (in fact, I have one sitting on the shelve already), but with this design it's impossible. I'm defenitely not going to ever take the actual board out of the case, too many people have been stumbling over my stuff in the past already. Well, they can stil do that, but at least they will now break their ankles in return, hrrhrr...