DIY Pedalboard Build

[Alex Kenivel]

Tuesday, Tuesday! I generally have every Tuesday off so these are the days to get shit done!

I wired up the XLR and Send/Return section of the patchbay. Had some length of thin gauge Redco 3 lead cable on hand for the XLR but opted for regular wire for the S/R. The XLR worked great but the S/R didn't like the wires I used so I used more of that Redco instead and viola!

I realized at this point that the holes I drilled weren't big enough to accommodate the pancake connectors which need to be seated down in the holes a bit to allow the Stomp to sit properly on the board. I spent more time drilling out the holes a little bigger, unwiring the S/R, and building new patch cables. I didn't put too much thought into how the expression pedal would be wired and after finding out that my current patch cable for it was a little too short I decided to make another TRS cable, drill a hole, and get that sorted.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Put it all together..

Well not all of it - still waiting for the Suhr Micromidi to arrive this Thursday so I'll save the cable ties for when I get that all wired in. Left out the jack plate for the channel switching until then, but it's actually starting to look like a real board now.

A nice little temporary spot for the amp FS fills up one of the empty spots nicely:

 

[laxu]

I'd just route those cable holes larger. One of the biggest pains in the ass on my Temple Audio board is the small holes to run cables through. Eventually you will need to fix or change something and making it easy to do saves a lot of time and annoyance.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I'd just route those cable holes larger. One of the biggest pains in the ass on my Temple Audio board is the small holes to run cables through. Eventually you will need to fix or change something and making it easy to do saves a lot of time and annoyance.

Yeah, absolutely seconded. Whenever I will rebuild my board (not likely to happen any day soon, but there's some things I'd like to finalize in one way or the other), I will redo the entire chassis and the main rule above anything else will be "as little wood as possible with as much space for cable runs as possible". If anything, there's always too little space for cables to cross the board "layers".

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I'd just route those cable holes larger. One of the biggest pains in the ass on my Temple Audio board is the small holes to run cables through. Eventually you will need to fix or change something and making it easy to do saves a lot of time and annoyance.

Yeah, absolutely seconded. Whenever I will rebuild my board (not likely to happen any day soon, but there's some things I'd like to finalize in one way or the other), I will redo the entire chassis and the main rule above anything else will be "as little wood as possible with as much space for cable runs as possible". If anything, there's always too little space for cables to cross the board "layers".

My Stomp stayed in this exact position on my little board for about 4 years so I'm quite comfortable with it where it is.

I thought about Swiss cheesing the wood for cables and weight but decided against it, not sure I remember exactly why as I wake up this morning - but I like the idea that I can just desolder the jack terminals and do whenever I wanted to to the wood.

 

[dronerstone]

My Stomp stayed in this exact position on my little board for about 4 years so I'm quite comfortable with it where it is.

I thought about Swiss cheesing the wood for cables and weight but decided against it, not sure I remember exactly why as I wake up this morning - but I like the idea that I can just desolder the jack terminals and do whenever I wanted to to the wood.

I also woke up to thoughts about wood and holes this morning.

Badumm, tsssss....

(Sorry. I had to. )

 

[Baba]

Damn, very cool!

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Got the Micromidi installed, made a very small patch cable run from it to the jack terminal:

And now it's complete

Yes, it looks like a cave man did it - a little rough as it was my first time (was it good for you?) - I'd definitely do some things differently if I were to do this again - I'll probably switch out the cup head screws on the jack plates for some dome/button style head screws to keep things a little more flush. Also want to add some feet but for now the board lives on a carpet at home. I also want to cover up the terminals somehow but haven't put a heap of thought into that yet.

Just really need more pedals now

 

[Sascha Franck]

Yes, it looks like a cave man did it

You know, there's a reason why I rarely show the innards of my pedal boards and guitars... so, you're defenitely not alone. But as long as it works, everything's just fine.

 

[Coalface1971]

Got the Micromidi installed, made a very small patch cable run from it to the jack terminal:
View attachment 6899
And now it's complete























View attachment 6900
View attachment 6901
Yes, it looks like a cave man did it - a little rough as it was my first time (was it good for you?) - I'd definitely do some things differently if I were to do this again - I'll probably switch out the cup head screws on the jack plates for some dome/button style head screws to keep things a little more flush. Also want to add some feet but for now the board lives on a carpet at home. I also want to cover up the terminals somehow but haven't put a heap of thought into that yet.

Just really need more pedals now

Well done, mate! It's a runner and looks flexible enough space wise to add some other stuff down the line.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I think it looks great and a hell of a lot better than anything I'd be able to build. I'm bloody terrible at wood work.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Resa-mur-recting this thread since @laxu was spot in with his advice:

Eventually you will need to fix or change something and making it easy to do saves a lot of time and annoyance.

So time it will take, but is a only minor annoyance because I enjoy the process.

I've added a couple more pedals into the mix.. The KoD sits nicely next to the Stomp and I plan to situate the Brig next the the KoD.

I wanted to route holes for the two new pedals so I pulled out the hand drill and went to work. Made holes bigger for the Stomp S/R and input areas, added holes for the KoD and Brig. Painted in some of the bare wood in the holes. I ended up catching the cable that goes to the expression pedal when I was trying to drill another hole next to it so I'll have to repair that when I'm ready to solder. Added another screw into the block of wood that holds the G10 into place because it was getting wobbly after routing more wood in that area.

Edit: forgot a picture

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Rockboard MIDI cable came in.. Directions of connectors work out well and is nice and flush. I previously had the OneControl connector sticking out the side and off the board a little bit.

I'll use the OneControl cable for midi thru out of the Micromidi into the Brig after I modify the cable to have a TRS end.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Did a bunch of work yesterday and today.

Got the MIDI to TRS cable done. The OneControl has no ground pin so just two wires to solder.

It works, sending bypass commands from the Helix Floor through the microMIDI works as advertised:

More drilling, cutting cables and soldering connectors:

I replaced some of the wider pancake connectors pictured above with some of the lower profile SP500 connectors where applicable. Those SP500 will be my new go-to for patch cables, So snug.

Put it all back together and it seems to work fine. Found a problem with the way the Paint Audio MIDI Captain sends CC messages. They let you enter a custom value command but it never gets saved. Also I have to double click a switch to get the brig to bypass, not the case when sending the same message via Helix floor

 

[Alex Kenivel]

FIgured out how to bypass the Brig in one click. Just had to read the manual more closely. Might want to eat some food. that might help me process information correctly.

Soldering really puts me in another place.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Had to crop down the image before it let me upload:

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Hmm.. Patch cable for the expression pedal must be wonky. It isn't giving me full travel. Should be an easy fix.

 

[Bob Zaod]

Had to crop down the image before it let me upload:

View attachment 10728

Very nice. I dont go near power tools because all that ever happens when I do is pain. My single "pedalboard build" was a cabinet door with 2 door stoppers glued to the bottom. It does hold a few pedals though.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

The OneControl cable is causing noise. I knew the lack of ground would be an issue...

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Very nice. I dont go near power tools because all that ever happens when I do is pain. My single "pedalboard build" was a cabinet door with 2 door stoppers glued to the bottom. It does hold a few pedals though.

My power tool so far has been a handheld drill. An orbital sander at times for sanding the planks but everything else has been done by hand. I don't own anything else besides a reciprocating saw and a torch lol