I've slimmed down...

There have been several threads recently about guys getting their rig down to a PedalTrain Mini, so I thought I'd share my effort.

I first decided upon my "must have" effects (tuner, OD, comp, delay and chorus), and then picked my favorite pedals with a preference for smaller pedals over larger ones (thus the Line 6 DL just didn't make the cut). I managed to stand a Fuel Tank Jr. in the upper right corner, without losing any effective pedal space. I stole an extra inch on either end of the pedal board by using zip ties to supplement the usual velcro strips, which gave me the room and the luxury of adding an extra OD pedal. Even with the extra inch on both ends and the extra height to the Fuel Tank Jr., everything fits easily into the soft case.

The George L cables effectively leave a 1" gap between pedals. If I could find some smaller right-angle plug, I think I could free up another 2", which would let me do away with the zip-tied pedals on either end. I've gigged with this set-up twice now and really like the set-up, the pedal selection and the small footprint.

Nice!

I tried to slim down a while back but my efforts failed and went back to a bigger board (the same as before) last week. I just find I need more options as I A- need to cover a wide range of music and get the recorded tones and B- get bored very easily. I use a wide variety of dirts, mainly just to cover the different amp drive tones and generic drive tones I need to emulate. Instead of running multiple amps, I use pedals through a clean amp to get my sounds as amp in a box pedals these days are fantastic and just like the real thing.

Nice board! I love the Paisley Drive. It will never ever leave the board.

I've slimmed way down myself :lol: Playing in a cover band, I need something that would cover a lot of ground very quickly. It's not so much of needing countless effects..but rather having to change the parameters of the effects I do use for each and every tune. I just couldn't see bending down for every tune and dialing knobs on each effect to add more or to decrease it's intensity for every song.

This is where I discovered the multi effects pedal and being able to store patches in several banks. All said and done, I have probably 10 stored presets that I use for a nite out when playing. Each one has just the right amount of Tremolo or slapback or whatever that I need for certain tunes.

It's nice to be able and craft a preset for a specific tune and just tap a button and be there without having to go down and start dialing the knobs for each effect that is being used on that tune :wink: I get the fact, that most players prefer certain pedals over others and that is why they would never consider a multi effects pedal...but I must say, it's a nice compromise and they have come a long way in recent years with quality sound in my opinion.

Heres the one I use..not very big at all, but very effective :cool:

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D Schief, great pedalboard! You can see below that I did a very similar thing recently. You have elegantly addressed an issue that I've faced (noise from a OneSpot power supply) with fitting a small power supply in the unused spot up top. Good idea.

As for your spacing issue, I have seen that both Visual Sound (http://www.visualsound.net/index.php/custom_shop/) and Hardwire

make super-slim couplers that are less than 1/2". I ran the measurements and realized that I could fit another Boss-sized pedal on my mini (6 total) if I would use the slimmer couplers.

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/attachments/stomp-box/115066d1329834323-my-simple-pedalboard-back-basics-image-1164977509-jpg

If you gig, slimming down makes sense:

1 - Unless you're in a cover/tribute band and have to exactly duplicate tones, most rigs don't have to be pedal-heavy.

2 - In a full band mix, most of the nuances among and between your pedals that you can hear at home are mostly lost. And, the audience really can't tell the differenmce between your Analogman-modded TS9 and your Way Huge Green Rhino.

3- Most stages are smallish and there just isn't a lot of room for a huge pedal board. Even if you can squeeze it in, do you really want others on stage stepping on and tripping over your gear?

4 - Loading in and loading out are much easier with a minimal rig.

Personally, I mostly play blues. Not into compressors, modulators or delays. I have a Crybaby Classic Wah (used sparingly), an MHP 72 Degrees overdrive which is on most of the time, the od controlled by my guitar volume, a Proco Sound Rat2 which I mostly use for slide, and a Korg Pitch Black tuner.

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Since this photo was taken I've made a slightly smaller homemade board, eliminating the spaces between the pedals and thereby making it even more compact. The wah is technically off the board, so for some gigs I can leave it in my pedal board case and not have it on stage at all. All of which fits easily into an old Fender briefcase along with my power cord (OneSpot).

Mark -- Thanks for the tip on the couplers. At 1/4 inch total, that would give me about 3 3/4 inches extra! Every little bit helps!

^ Those are a bad idea. They stress the inputs and outputs of the pedals. There is variance in pedals to begin with and things get worse when you step on one.

^ Emphatically agree, from actual experience.

Look at the Hardwire photo above - you can see that both end plugs of the one on the left aren't even aligned with each other.

What will you do with all the other pedals ? Maybe you could have 2 boards. One for the big gigs, and the prctice/small gig board. That would be my ideal setup, but I'll just stick with my big wooden board for now. I might invest in a Pedaltrain 2, maybe I could go as small as Pedaltrain Jr. Congrats on the simple board. It's just too hard for some people. It's a realy good thing that you're happy with the setup.

What will you do with all the other pedals ? Maybe you could have 2 boards. One for the big gigs, and the prctice/small gig board. That would be my ideal setup, but I'll just stick with my big wooden board for now. I might invest in a Pedaltrain 2, maybe I could go as small as Pedaltrain Jr. Congrats on the simple board. It's just too hard for some people. It's a realy good thing that you're happy with the setup.

You're right. The "small" board doesn't work for everything I want to do. It's great for my classic rock/blues/R&B band. I also have another PedalTrain Mini for acoustic gigs that simply has a delay, chorus and a LR Baggs Venue (a great combo pre-amp, D.I./E.Q., boost and tuner). And then for more "artsy" stuff that I do as a three-piece I have a PedalTrain 2 with several delays, a looper, etc. along with some of the usual pedals. You need the right tool for the job.