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Compact Ten-Pedal Board


Alinghi

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I guess technically it's 8 pedals, plus a tuner and switch-box.

 

My approach to building boards has always been influenced by the mobile and home high-fidelity audio systems I have tinkered with through the years. A pedal board is not very different from either - I like to think of the guitar body as the turntable plinth, pickups - the moving magnet and coils of a cartridge, and the comp functioning like a pre-amp, while the wiring and power runs more closely resemble custom mobile audio systems.

 

I'll prb be swapping the Hotcake for something a little less OCD-like, but that will require moving the OCD to where the Cake is now due to where the AC jack is.

Jury is still out on the Nemesis.. it has got a lot going on, and sometimes I wonder if it's more than I need. The Small Stone has been a constant on every board I've built in the last 20 years

 

This is my first experience with anything more than an A/B box, and it is taking some getting used to, but the QMX-4 is very useful.

 

Power is supplied from below via a pair of linked Strymon Ojai units - cables are SIS Evidence solderless.

 

 

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As threatened, replaced the Hotcake with a JanRay so that the JR is now primary dirt and the OCD serves as dirt in my main loop... so signal flow is: 1. Tuner 2. FuzzFactory 3. JanRay 4. SmallStone > OCD > Comp > Trem/Reverb > Echo The Nemesis is last in the chain and is post Quartermaster.

 

One issue - I'm getting quite a bit of EMI noise, especially in the Comp.. i'm guessing it's the wiring under the board.. my power runs might be running to close or too parallel to my audio lines.. power is 2 Strymon Ojai units so i don't think that is the issue.

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Compressors and gain pedals can amplify stray EMF. It can also be AC ripple from the power supply. If you turn the Volume off on the guitar and the hum stays just as loud as it was I'd suspect the power supply. If the guitars volume affects it, its a shielding issue.

If you are using multiple pedals on a supply, try unplugging some and see if the hum goes away. Supplies typically have a maximum current/load limit and when its exceeded hum levels can go way up (its letting you know there's a problem) If its shielding then you want to add shielding to the instrument and use quality cords. If you still have the problem a noise gate can silence the hum between notes.

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Compressors and gain pedals can amplify stray EMF. It can also be AC ripple from the power supply. If you turn the Volume off on the guitar and the hum stays just as loud as it was I'd suspect the power supply. If the guitars volume affects it, its a shielding issue.

If you are using multiple pedals on a supply, try unplugging some and see if the hum goes away. Supplies typically have a maximum current/load limit and when its exceeded hum levels can go way up (its letting you know there's a problem) If its shielding then you want to add shielding to the instrument and use quality cords. If you still have the problem a noise gate can silence the hum between notes.

 

I'll test and report back..tk you for the advice! I'm pretty sure it goes away when i cut the guitar volume.

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Who makes the switch extenders that you have on your OCD and Small Stone, and how are those working out for you?

 

 

Those are Barefoot Buttons https://barefootbuttons.com/ They are pretty solid - and an easy way to get to the harder to navigate pedals. I had a clear (lucite?) one on my Hottcake which was nice because the LED on the pedal would illuminate the entire button.

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Those are Barefoot Buttons https://barefootbuttons.com/ They are pretty solid - and an easy way to get to the harder to navigate pedals. I had a clear (lucite?) one on my Hottcake which was nice because the LED on the pedal would illuminate the entire button.

 

Those look really cool, and it sounds like they could be really useful. Thanks for the information and link! :cool2:

 

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I had a clear (lucite?) one on my Hottcake which was nice because the LED on the pedal would illuminate the entire button.

 

I noticed that in the first photo - I think the clear would be really nice on some pedals, but it's cool that they also offer other colors, and even ones with different heights too.

 

Once you tighten the screws, do they tend to stay secure, even after you use them a lot, or are you constantly having to retighten them?

 

 

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I noticed that in the first photo - I think the clear would be really nice on some pedals, but it's cool that they also offer other colors, and even ones with different heights too.

 

Once you tighten the screws, do they tend to stay secure, even after you use them a lot, or are you constantly having to retighten them?

 

 

I have not had any issues having to re-tighten these yet - there are three small pins that are tightened via allen-key, and the buttons spin freely once they are secure, but have zero give, so the fit perfect.

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