Patch Bays for Pedalboards

[mikbank]

After quite a bit of lurking around the Webz I recently found and bought myself a great patchbay that fit my Pedaltrain Novo.

I really had a hard time finding any manufacturers besides add-ins for RockBoard (I’m in Europe), and not really having experience with it, I didn’t really want to pull the trigger on something that might end up janky on the underside of my board.
It was by pure luck, a random commentary on a Facebook group made me aware of the patchbay I ended up getting.

So I was thinking if perhaps we could try to collect our recommendations for patchbays?

I knooow it’s quite boring, but I think it would be awesome to collect some knowledge and experience on the subject?

 

[Whizzinby]

I use two Temple Audio patchbays that integrate directly in the board itself. Absolutely awesome to be able to reroute from the board vs the pedals directly.

I started looking at custom patch boxes to be able to switch between multiple destinations, but then just got an actual rack patchbay for that at the house.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I use two Temple Audio patchbays that integrate directly in the board itself. Absolutely awesome to be able to reroute from the board vs the pedals directly.

I started looking at custom patch boxes to be able to switch between multiple destinations, but then just got an actual rack patchbay for that at the house.

I am a believer on the Temple Audio stuff. The various modules available to upgrade your board are great.

 

[DrewJD82]

American Loopers is great, I’m going to order my 2nd breakout box/patchbay from them. I think the only way to get these items cheaper is if you make them yourself. While they keep a lot of stuff in stock, they generally make larger items to order and are great with making a recommendation or modding something to accommodate your use case.

Saturnworks Pedals seems to be on the same page as them but usually add some graphics to the boxes. I prefer the plain black or silver ones, myself.

 

[mikbank]

I really felt I got a better control of my routing. The one I got was a Looperwerk quintet.

What first sold me on it, was that it actually came with a mount for the side of my pedaltrain, but it also includes quite a lot of cool features, like auto-muting if my guitar cable is not jacked in, auto routing so I have a “audition” loop in the middle of my signal chain (or I can choose to run solely my drives directly to an amp), plus they are all TRS stereo if needed.

I noticed a sliiiiight dropoff in the high register on my neck pickup after routing to it, but I think it’s worth it!

 

[Whizzinby]

I really felt I got a better control of my routing. The one I got was a Looperwerk quintet.

What first sold me on it, was that it actually came with a mount for the side of my pedaltrain, but it also includes quite a lot of cool features, like auto-muting if my guitar cable is not jacked in, auto routing so I have a “audition” loop in the middle of my signal chain (or I can choose to run solely my drives directly to an amp), plus they are all TRS stereo if needed.

I noticed a sliiiiight dropoff in the high register on my neck pickup after routing to it, but I think it’s worth it!
View attachment 57790

Nice board dude

 

[DrewJD82]

The big thing with these patchbay/breakout boxes is that depending on what you’re doing with them it’s a good idea to have them isolated, especially for 4CM/effects loop shit where ground noise can be an issue. It can seem silly to drop $75 on a project box with a couple holes and 1/4” jacks until you reason that each line is isolated and you won’t have any bullshit noise to deal with.

The one I might get for my pedalboard has a switch to go from 4CM to in-line, which was way more important before I got the Power Station and might just be unnecessary now. I’ve gone my entire life never showing up somewhere and having to plug a pedalboard into an amp that didn’t have an effects loop, it’s probably safe to assume it won’t happen in my future either.