Comprehensive Guide to DIY Pedalboard Maintenance & Troubleshooting 

Hey I have a problem that maybe you could tell me what it is...I'm running an mxr a/b box with a jet city head in input a and a dsl 40 in input b. The jet city gets this awful buzz if its plugged in at the same time as the dsl 40. If you know what's wrong please do tell

Rock's_Not_Dead Are they plugged into the same power outlet? If there’s different grounds for each power source it can cause a ground loop

@@VertexEffectsInc you mean the amps in the same outlet?

Rock's_Not_Dead yes!

they're plugged into a power strip...but it has separate circuits because it's supposed to be rack mounted

Hahahaha!! So true!

Ryan Weaver 🙏🙏🙏

VIP_Rideshare Thanks so much for watching! I’m so glad it helped

Leo Daniele Thank you for watching! I’m so glad it’s been helpful! I really like the old Rat pedals on bass, I also like our dynamic distortion.

@@VertexEffectsInc Thanks Mason for being kind in responding. And on the recommendation of the pedals, they are very dynamic and I like that. Hugs and I expect more from your episodes.

Have you scratched finish off your pedals with a paintbrush? If the powder coat can’t handle the bristles on a paintbrush to begin with, the finish is likely is too brittle. Most finished enclosures are packed in paper that more abrasive than a paintbrush. I do like the idea of some smaller brushes for hard to reach places under knobs however.

Blake Burkholder thank you so much! We should make some with Stew Mac!

👌agreed

Lou Tielli I’m so glad it’s helping! Let us know if you have any questions

Frozen Charlottes wow! Thank you so much! That’s what we’re here for!

lil vinc so glad it helped, I hope we earned your subscription

@@VertexEffectsInc yes you did ! :) 👍

Thank a million

Amazing!!! So glad you dig it!

It's not an absolute, but it's something to be aware of - there are conditions where there will be no audible symptoms, just be aware.

Could it also add noise if pwr unit is mounted underneath? What kind of distance should I have.

Ha! Yes! Forgot I played that!

Thanks for watching!

Perfect! Let us know if we can help or make suggestions!

DjJoeee it is. But it depends on how deep set the circuit board is set in. It’s better to pull off the rubber than bend or break anything important in the circuit.

DjJoeee I’d be surprised if the machine screws would reach

@@mattg9169 Truth!

👌

Thanks I guess...

Bruhh

gilbertrockstv Thanks for watching! I really appreciate it

@@VertexEffectsInc You put out great educational content. From one teacher to another...great job. Don't let the whiny kids get you down either. ha. :)

Thanks again for the support!

Our pleasure

Sure thing!

Magnetic field is still there. The only way to shield electro magnetism is with steel or mumetal realistically in this context of pedalboards. Aluminum (like the Pedaltrain) doesn't shield again electro magnet fields - only electro static. It can be problematic, but a lot of people don't notice the noise if they're running into a clean amp - however if you plug the pedalboard into a high gain amp, you'll find it has much more noise revealed comparatively. I did a Pedaltrain revamp last week with Kerry Marshall that you should check out on our page.

Jim Stanton handles are just wire pulls for cabinetry that I get at any hardware store. I use aluminum spacers if the handles need to be raised in height.

Vertex Effects awesome. Thanks!

Thanks again for watching!!!

Thanks man!

So glad you found it helpful! Hope we earned your subscription!

Thanks so much for watching Lyle!

Thanks Mat! Enjoy! Hope we earned your subscription!

@@VertexEffectsInc Oh, you had me at Cory Wong, mate!

Mat O'Neill Oh yeah! That was a fun one

@@VertexEffectsInc Yeah that was the first time I came across your channel - I'd just watched 2 hours of him playing live in Mineapolis and fet quite inadequate as a result. The Algorhythm must have decided it was time! Great stuff you're putting out - very high quality in look and feel, and incredibly helpful for morons like myself :)

@@MatONeill hahah! Thanks so much! Enjoy!

I’ll have to fix that

That's why we used several Dumble amps to voice the pedal over multiple eras and generations of Dumbles. We were trying to create a baseline with the sample size and it took several years to really get a good amount of amps to try side-by-side the pedal through a clean amp. The biggest differences weren't in the EQ to my ear, seemed like the focus was all around 800K - 1.6K in the midrange, with the bigger differences were in the amount of gain and the softness of the input - I surmise is largely dependent on the type of guitars, i.e. higher output humbucker players would likely get a Dumble with less gain unless specified, Strat players, by contrast would have something with a little more gain on the input to help overdrive the preamp, and then there is also the FET input as well for an additional sound variety, but we didn't add that feature as it's kinda a different thing. We tried to strike a balance of how the input responded on the Ultraphonix and make the filter control very interactive in the midrange EQ that we found consistent across the Dumbles we had available to us. Most have found it to be comparable, even preferable compared to the real thing.

@@VertexEffectsIncVery informative. Thanks!

You definitely want an isolated supply. I have links to recommendations in the description

Thanks for watching! This is a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2+

Lorneplumber it’s that bad huh!?

@@VertexEffectsInc I like the premiere thing. It adds a bit of anticipatory excitement. 👍

Hmmm....did you check your power cables? What power supply is it...that's pretty far off.

@@VertexEffectsInc yes all power cables are working good. It is a cheap JOYO power supply (from Amazon) I did the same test on another one (A Caline, also a cheap one) and it is delivering the same voltage at 8.27v. Seems like all of them are made this way, I found it interesting because all my pedals work and sound good. I was reading also that using old 9v batteries on some dirt pedals can provide a good tone (with less headroom) as they are providing 7-8v before dying. Something that Eric Johnson used to like in the past. Maybe it could be a topic for another video, I don't know. :) Thanks again.

El Gwapo What do you mean? Explain the problem little bit more for me

@@VertexEffectsInc my pedal board consists in order.. wah, compressor, tube screamer, Marshall blues breaker, DS 2 turbo, phaser. And modulation pedals. The minute I switch on the blues breaker or DS 2.. i get a lot of noise..

I have a Silencer noise gate how do I use it ( connect it to the distortion pedals) without affecting the modulation pedals that come after them.

haha! Thanks for watching Eric!!

Peter Machado don’t forget your Tone Brush

@@VertexEffectsInc I had to use the micro tone brush (toothbrush) for those hard to reach areas. I forgot that I used the brush to paint my garage door lol.

I like the "Micro" Tone Brush idea!

Michael Mike you can email us at info@vertexeffects.com

You might be able to find a hole plug from Keystone on Mouser.com

Bad contact, use Deoxit D5 and spray it in there in all you I/O's and power jacks and work it in.

@@VertexEffectsInc Ok thanks for the reply. I will buy some ASAP and work it in with a 1/4 “ phone plug. Keep up the great content. Much appreciated.

@@mikewilcox5909 my pleasure!

You can, however the limitation will be the amount of current they draw being less than the output provides and all the pedals having the same voltage and polarity. Also, some pedals might be noisy sharing power.

I would re-use your power cables you have and adjust them to length and make them parallel cables. We have a DIY tutorial on this you can check out on our page.

Typically, the contact cleaner will solve a lot of the problems a lot of times it has to do with oxidation on the jacks, if it continues you may also want to check out the cables and whether there is an intermittent connection there. If those don’t work then you have to start diagnosing the individual device, this can be a little bit more difficult it may require a technician if it’s not an obvious hardware issue, something like replacing a jack, or replacing a Power input

Probably a cable that's intermittent or a connection on the pedal that may have a dirty contact. I'd test your cables individually and also use Deoxit D5 on all the inputs/outputs/DC jacks on the pedals to clean them.

hahahahaha

Kevin Babb No, I typically try to reuse the provided power cables whenever possible and shorten them to length with new plugs, when they’re not long enough I use custom ordered ones from Voodoo Lab that are blunt cut on one end, which I’ve linked in the description along with all the other products I use.

Yes sir! Trick of the trade!

Matt Gardner uncle Matt!!!!

*Wah

D5 concentration is typically best for most applications. Some of the higher concentrations you have to be careful with.

@@VertexEffectsInc thank you doc once more ;)

Glad you dig it!

Liam O’ Callaghan no, Taiwan

Yes

hahaha! Zeek is such a ham!

@@VertexEffectsInc Zeek is good people. 👍

The best!

You could if you have a brush tip or something that is non-abrasive. Not as simple a solution however.

Long story - Prototype Custom Shop that I got from Mike Eldred back when he was the director at Fender CS. Great 50s Strat

@@VertexEffectsInc certainly looks and sounds the part :-)

It was the best of 300+ guitars there

@@VertexEffectsInc I can believe it

What the current and voltage requirements? Is it DC or AC voltage?

9v. 3.0A max and I believe it is DC my friend

JB Bingham If it really requires that much current, which I doubt, you won’t be able to use anything except the provided power supply. 3A is quite a lot.

That’s a bummer to hear but thank you so much for the help. Your channel is a Godsend

@@jbbingham209 you may want to check to see if it actually draws 3A, wish I had a Line 6 supply here to test for you, I'd be very surprised if it drew that much.

Interesting! You could check the cables. Could be a bad cable

@@VertexEffectsInc Further troubleshooting narrowed it down to the older DC Brick on my modulation and time-based board. Removing and disconnecting it from everything, I gave it a shake, and was horrified to hear rattling inside it! Tossed it out and replaced with an MXR Iso Brick identical to what I have on my utility and "dirt" board, which gives me no grief. Looked up the mA ratings for the pedals I'm using to make sure they're all connected appropriately and mounted the unit to the underside with Dual Lock. Will test again.

@@VertexEffectsInc All cables check out as good. Only faint hiss with guitar into amp at full amp volume, or into buffer to amp. Running through any pedal on this board (looper, either reverb, delay, flanger, phaser) gives more noise, the reverbs adding the most. Could be that the Iso Brick is faulty; I found one power ouput jack unreliable, and will mark it as unusable. Not sure what the next step should be.

@@VertexEffectsInc I strongly suspect this Iso Brick is also faulty. Will likely need to replace it with a new, different power supply.

We’re not, were using 3M Dual Lock

It’s just like owning a car, even the best ones in the world need to be maintained

Michael Haynes You can watch any number of our other videos on our page and they’ll demonstrate some of the soldering techniques etc. Some had requested that we reduce the time lapse sections during those assembly parts (i.e. soldering cables - which we didn’t a bit of here) to get more to the “meat”. This is pretty much the path that I would follow in the majority of boards that we would build, however I distilled them specifically for the idea of an existing Pedalboard that would need to be gone through for maintenance, I try to sequenced this with steps to make the sequence build temporally. Are you finding the information in accurate? What were you hoping to find in this video that you didn’t? Perhaps that something I can answer for you.

No. I Disagree. I have learned things from Mason ( and I am a pretty seasoned gear guy ) NYC Songwriter, Musician Engineer & Producer. Just take-away what is relevant to you, and be Happy that You already know the other stuff. C'mon man. We are all just trying to Increase our Knowledge. That was UnNecessary.

I guess from my Personnal perspective (and this is just my view) it come across as though something as simple as taking a pedal off of a board, giving it a clean, making sure there is nothing in the jacks, and making sure the connections are good etc is pretty basic stuff which we should all do when taking a board apart and putting it back together. but The way that this element of the video was put together with use of tools such as the “tone brush” made me spit out my coffee. I might be being a bit harsh here but it came across like these basics were taken to the extreme a little. It made something that was just case of taking pedals off and giving them the once over was more than it really is. I am with you on the re wiring etc and this was super useful (I actually didn’t get to any of this before posting my message) I actually ended up turning off half way through the first time around as I was getting annoyed watching someone dust a board with a paint brush. I will check out a couple other of your videos

Michael Haynes what were you hoping to see here that you didn’t in terms of pedalboard maintenance and how to trouble shoot basic issues with audio and power cables?

From what ive watched this guy knows his stuff on pedals, I believe he builds them for vertex as well..kinda rude to watch half a vid then drop a comment all judgy ya know?