Pedal board upgrade - pegboard to Holeyboard

[rockymtnguitar]

I finally decided to upgrade my cheap pegboard pedal board to something a little classier… actually, it’s a lot classier. I ordered a Holeyboard while they were on sale around Christmas.

I’ll start by thanking Chris at Holeyboard for the quick turnaround of my order. He included a personalized message and links to YouTube videos for setup. The board is easy to assemble and looks sturdy. It had enough zip ties to reorganize the pedals at least twice. I think it was well worth the cost (which wasn’t too high). Chris said Holeyboard is a small business, so I want to give him a shout-out. I run a small business, too - it can be tough.

Santa brought me a JHS Harmonic Tremolo pedal, and I ordered a Wampler Belle, so I was excited to get this all put together. I removed a Boss TR-2 Tremolo and an MXR Super Badass distortion pedal to make room. I also left space to put my CryBaby back on (haven't yet). Everything went on easily, and I could place the pedals just about where I wanted them. I don’t care for velcro on pedal boards. The zip ties worked great.

For those curious, the signal chain is:

Guitar > A/B switch > Donner tuner > Xotic SP compressor > MXR Uni-Vibe > Fuzz Bender > Blues Driver > JHS Series 3 Overdrive > Wampler Belle > JHS Series 3 Harmonic Tremolo > Carbon Copy > Keeley Mag Echo > JHS Series 3 Octave Reverb > Spark booster > Supro Blues King 12 amp

Here are pics, including working out the spacing for the pedals.

The original mess.

Assembled

Test fits

The back, where the two boards come together.

Underneath

Fitting

Finished!

I was a little skeptical of the sturdiness where the two pieces come together, but it seems solid.

I quickly tested my Boss AD10 acoustic pedal to see whether it would attach easily to a Holeyboard. It does, and I’ll order a small board for my AD10 and Fender Smolder Acoustic OD. I included this note and picture in case anyone else was considering something similar.

If you read this far, thanks! Fun project that should result in a better looking and better functioning system.

 

[green_henry]

Love my Holeyboard. You may want to consider 2 zip-ties going vertically on that AD-10 rather than the one horizontal tie.

Also, what happened to the volume (wah)? FWIW, I have an EB VP jr on my board, and I run the Xotic SP on top of it as a starting point.

 

[rockymtnguitar]

@green_henry Thanks! The back of that AD-10 is full of connectors and switches, making it tough to run a zip tie through there. Same issue with the buttons on the front. I don't love the horizontal option but it was fairly steady and the zip tie covered the least number of labels.

I haven't installed the wah. I have no real reason to use it so I'm not sure it's worth putting on yet. It'll go in space above the A/B and tuner. I accidentally cut the A/B out of the final picture. I play in standard and open G, so it's handy to switch guitars quick.

 

[bullfrogblues]

Looks great!
What power supply are you using?
thanks

 

[Superfuzzz]

I've got one. I bought two sections separately on Reverb back in’21 and joined them with those plates. I think the bigger of the two was meant to be a stand-alone unit. “Big Zig”. The two combined are nearly 34 inches across.
I gave up on the zip ties and use small pieces of Dual-lock. Power supply fits neatly under that top riser.

 

[rockymtnguitar]

Looks great!
What power supply are you using?
thanks

My power solution is not very elegant. I have an MXR DC Block and a Donner Power Supply. I didn't daisy-chain any pedals off the supplies this time, so I needed a lot of plugs. I think I need to figure out a better way. Suggestions welcome. 12 pedals, plus the CryBaby (eventually), with room on the board for 1-2 more.

I've got one. I bought two sections separately on Reverb back in’21 and joined them with those plates. I think the bigger of the two was meant to be a stand-alone unit. “Big Zig”. The two combined are nearly 34 inches across.
I gave up on the zip ties and use small pieces of Dual-lock. Power supply fits neatly under that top riser.

I originally mounted the Donner power supply under the horizontal top riser, but its zip ties interfered with the pedals. I didn't try mounting it on the underneath vertical surface, which might work well. As noted above, I'm not sure my power solution is solid.

 

[JuneauMike]

Zip ties will get the job done, but they aren't aesthetically pleasing. But maybe that doesn't matter to you. As for the power supply, you could use a small isolated supply to mix in with what you have. Not all pedals need isolated power, but digital pedals and some other finicky ones do. Maybe a small 5-bank iso supply plus the Donner would take care of everything. Does this behemoth have a carrying case?

Seems like you could construct something similar to this with some sheet metal and pop rivets. Was the board expensive?

 

[rockymtnguitar]

The aesthetics of the zip ties don't bother me. I think it's going to work out well. I don't have a case for it. I host our group at my house so it wouldn't travel much. It was on sale - $160. I'm not good at DIY projects, so money well spent for me. Liked helping out the Holeyboard business, too.

Thanks for the thoughts on the power!

 

[scrapyardblue]

New to the Holeyboard myself, got me the expandable 123, looks like yours is 223. If anybody saw my mess of a board before, they'd think my zip tie look came from an art gallery. Looks good.

I put a cheap Donner underneath, but it wouldn't power two of my pedals, so I got smarter fast and bought a Truetone One-Stop. Between this board and my Supro 5 watt, I had a great 2023.

 

[FourStringsorSix]

I really like my Holeyboard. It's allowed me to configure for one big board or two smaller boards. I posted in the show your pedal board thread my current set ups. I'm good with zipties. I don't like velcro--Duo lock--tape residue and all that. Each to their own. I put the power supply along the back wall of the upper riser. I like the two stage and angled aspect as well to see the dials knobs on the upper deck. My other board not being used at the moment is an Aclam S1.