My 1992 Pedalboard ASK ZAC 43 

The fact that you still have all of this stuff makes me want to drive over to your house....and rifle through your "gear closet"!

Boss figured 'why would you need more than 5 pedals' and made a pedal board for them! Reminds of Bill Gates saying 'why would you ever need more than 640K of memory'? Wow, that really channeled my inner geek today! Thanks Zak! Great segment!

That’s great! I have one of the 3-pedal units by BOSS (Boss BC3)I have a mint 1967 Fender blackface 50 watt Bassman tilt-back piggy back set up with two 12” speakers, that does not have reverb or tremolo, so I got a Boss BC3, and put in a Boss "Tremolo" (TR-2) pedal, a Boss FRV-1, Fender ‘63 Reverb pedal, and a Boss "Blues Driver" (BD-2) pedal. Voila - all the “necessary” effects I usually use. Sounds great!

I still use one of these pedalboards. It’s easy to carry and always works. It has a TU-12X, AW-3, PS-6, CS-3, JB-2, CH-1, and DD-7 on it.

The “in today’s money” examples really puts in perspective how good we have it now. Not to mention the power supply solutions we take for granted. Thinking back to your guitar tech video, it would be awesome if you could make a video about what basic skills and tools a person should have to take care of a couple of guitars and amps on a regional tour of a rural area, from a van band perspective. Thanks for your continued efforts!

My husband Massachusetts country and rock guitarist Phil Brigham bought the same Boss molded plastic board, the red power supply AB box, and several Boss pedals in the mid 80s. The red power supply died in the early 2000s, replaced by a TU2 tuner that also daisy chains the following 80s MIJ pedals : CS2 compressor, SD1 overdrive, a noise gate, a Dimension C and a DD2 digital delay. And he’s still gigging with it…

Very cool reflection. My first reverb=tile bathroom.

I once traded an original 808 for a ten gallon aquarium. Yeah, I'm that guy. ; )

The most honest channel on utube. Love it.

Zach is so funny he reminds me of the guy who’s got the wrapper from his first piece of bazooka chewing gum, I love it! :)

LOVE your videos and this one is no exception! Really appreciated the 'old vs new' comparison. Goes to show that our way of setting up our sound does not really change as we grow older :). LOVE the Telecaster you are playing here. My dream is still on: I WILL get a Telecaster soon and that is for sure. Thank you for this Sir!

Love it Zac! God, this brings back so many memories. I remember buying my first Boss pedals: DD2 and CS2....and yes, that cost ALOT back then. I was in College at the time. GREAT pedal. Mine broke when I had an accident....don't have it anymore..This was fun...thanks bro'..Love your demeanor and style. Hope all is well!

I'm still using a lot of these pedals or similar reissues. Like Zac said guys like Vince Gill were tearing it up in 80s with stuff like this so its not like they cant' get the job done. Great Vid

A cool installment. That board was ahead of the curve! I still use my DD3 which was the first thing I used my first credit card on at the Guitar Center Hollywood around 1987! It still sounds good to me.

It’s hard to imagine a time when chorus pedals were so important that that would’ve been your first pedal :-) I have a chorus pedal on my board right now and I can barely find a way to use it on a regular basis. At one point I bought a Fender M80 Chorus amplifier, which was a really good solid-state amplifier, but I rarely used the chorus on it.

That board is incredible! I only got into guitar pedals in 2018 so classic stuff like that is amazing to me. I'm 29, so I didn't get to experience guitar in his peak but I can experience pedals in their peak! Kidding, gear and no playing doesn't equal fun but great video man. Love hearing all this

I really appreciate your posts. I’m cooped up living low at a YMCA, your vids are like a good hang with friends

Even tho I don't use pedals, I really enjoy your site and your explaining things in depth.......ROCK-ON !

It's funny that all of us that had those Boss pedalboards in the 90s had to always reserve spot one for the red Boss switcher thing

Talk about perspective! This is one of the few gear videos that actually really made me appreciate what I have rather than stoke up my GAS. Many thanks!

Love this video. I had an 808 back in the day as well. My 90’s pedalboard consisted of an 808, the old LARGE memory man delay, the standard boss tuner, Danelectro “cool cat”, BF-2 flanger, Dunlop cry baby, DOD comp/sustain ….and whatever else I would trade or buy to try out lol.

Great Video! Always fun going back in time rekindling almost gone Memories!

I have the updated version, the bcb-60 with stereo out and the foam spots instead of molded plastic. It covered me for a lot of gigging in my band playing days. I still have it. You're right, there great for a few pedals in a handy enclosure.

I have tried a ton of overdrive pedals and I always go back to my trusty 50 dollar Boss SD1

So much nostalgia in this video. Thanks Zac 🙂

My first pedalboard was in 1983/4 with a BCB6, TU12H, PSM5, SD1, DF2, CE3, BF2, DD2. It was so cool, i loved it! I sold it in the mid 90s, but have replaced it with 3 more fully loaded BCB6 cases!

Love the reflection on coming full circle. I'm getting back to playing now the kids are older and I'm selling off the "vintage" stuff... And making a killing btw. But my pedal board/amp channel setup will still be providing me with overdrive, distortion, delay, reverb, vibe... And an envelope filter... There's nothing new under the sun...

Loved all of those sounds! I’m still using a DM3 delay 20 years later...

My first "pedalboard" was, like my contemporaries, simply a collection of pedals on the floor. It consisted of, in order, a Univox Uni-Comp, an MXR 6-Band EQ, an MXR Envelope Filter, and an MXR Noise Gate. I also had one of those "cheese wheel" VIbratone cabs, taken and adapted from the guts of an organ. But since it was plugged into the output of the amplifier, I'll exclude it from the pedals category. The Uni-Comp itself was governed by an EHX Hot Foot, that allowed me to use the compressor as my volume pedal and also as my booster, given the push I could get by maxing the volume on it. That could also overdrive the EQ pedal, and yielded a nice smooth overdrive from the amp. Of course, everything was powered by batteries, as was typical of the time. Many pedals didn't even have any jacks for external powering. I don't think people realize just how much of the technology and changes in it, were predicated on battery-power. For instance, people have undoubtedly heard of the MN30xx and MN32xx series of delay chips. All bucket-brigade chips require a DC "bias" voltage, which is adjusted at the factory with a little trimmer inside the pedal. The trimmer divides down the battery voltage to arrive at the required bias voltage. But what happens when the battery voltage *itself* changes? That bias voltage can become invalid and the sound quality suffers. Panasonic came up with the MN32xx series of delay chips which can operate off a mere 5 volts. A regulator in the pedal drops whatever the battery voltage is down to a stable 5V, and the bias is derived from *that* voltage. It still has to be adjusted, but it is derived from a reliable source, so it won't change or need re-adjustment. The regulator will provide a nice smooth 5V until the battery itself drops down to 7V from its original 9 to 9.6, but by then the battery is likely to weak to even light up the status LED. Of course, all of that is pretty much moot, now that the overwhelming majority of pedals end up being powered externally. Since "battery drift" is no longer a concern, several companies have re-issued the original MN30xx series chips, in response to consumer demand. External power is also what permitted the glut of tiny pedals on the market, that don't have to plan around having room inside for a 9V battery.

This was entertaining! Thanks for the upload. Cant beat a simple vintage board.

That was a fun walk through my memory banks. I was in college back in the early and mid-80's. No money. So I couldn't afford these. But I was still playing and learning. I have no nostalga for those pedals, but they sound great!

Back in the day if your favorite store was a music store your second favorite store was Radio Shack.

You amaze me just about every time I watch your videos. On this one, you started playing one of my all time favorite solos / songs ! A few yrs back after hearing that solo of the HoneyMan, I had to learn the whole song, start to finish. I still play that solo at least once or twice a week. I had youTube up on my big screen, watching (listening) you while doing dishes. I almost dropped a few dishes when I heard you playing that solo ! I would of had to tell the misses, it was your fault :-) I just put together a black & white Tele like yours about a month ago, then I noticed yours, and knew I was on to something good ! I dig the hippie strap too. Cheers !

Owned a bcb-3 with an sd1, tremelo/pan and dd3 😁 Boss was having a promotion at the time if bought 2 pedals, you got the board free!

Hey Zac thanks for the pedal board info..cool stuff as always..now I gotta get one of them

Hi Zac, Loved the pretenders guitar work also, Letterman was my favorite late night host , just laughed and laughed some nights..

Takes me back to my first pedalboard in the late 90s lol. I made it from a chunk of dads scrap plywood (he was a carpenter), some cabinet handles, some black fuzzy carpet that worked well with Velcro, and a regular power strip. Was quite noisy but I used it a lot lol. I had one of the “new” Zoom 505 units on it that I also purchased the expression pedal for, a Boss CT-6 tuner (still use one today), a peavey dirty dog that I used to make my amp like a 3 channel, a carvin a/b switch, a morley lil alligator volume pedal and I think a bad horsie wah. Later I “upgraded” to a Samson wireless system on it too lol. Everything about that board was a tone suck and noisy but I thought I was cool!

I love your videos Zac. Always so much interesting history to learn. I was very surprised at how expensive the analog delay was when it came out.

From Leo: Great story about your gear, especially the deal at the pawn shop. Pedals became an addiction with me for a while. I played with multiple pedal setups over the years, but am back to basics now. Tube screamer, delay, and Acoustic simulator sometimes I add a chorus. Reverb is in my Fender twin, and I use a clip on tuner. I seem to find my sounds with just those.

Man, both of those boards are eerily similar to what I ran when touring. I found an original Ross that sounded like magic and I always left it on. My drive was a 1st ed OCD but before that was a crowther hotcake. A DD5 with hi cut mod and tap tempo, analog man clone chorus through a Boss stereo tremolo/pan. That was the constants and I changed stuff around it.

Very cool! I'm into the less-is-more kind of thing, too, and I sure do love me some Boss pedals. I've got one of those boards in the mail and can't wait to set it up!

I started in the late 70's with Boss pedals and they still remain my first choice. The only pedal I ever sold was a Boss DS-1 when someone told me what I needed was overdrive and not distortion to drive a Twin Reverb I was using. I bought my plastic Boss carry case when they came out and still use for the forced economy of pedal use. Latches broke off, now I Velcro the handle. The only thing I have done is drop the Boss power supply and use a brick to power 6 pedals vs. 5 and upgraded all the cables. I added a Boss TU-3 in the front now as I have become obsessed with being in tune. I started to replace my older Boss pedals with Waza craft versions to just not travel with 40 year old pedals anymore. Something about being vintage with gear you bought original and still own. Tears for all the guitars I have bought and sold. Now I live by the Jay Leno factor of never sell anything. I have seriously considered buying a used Boss case for an alternate board.

nice to hear somebody playing lovely clean tones for a change great vid

That's cool that you still have it, I'm probably close to your age and I have nothing from back then guitar-wise.

It's fun/interesting reminiscing on the gear we had when young(er). I remember having a jcm 800, half stack, a Boss chorus, and delay and that was it back in the '80s. I did try a Korg A4 Multi effects unit in my ignorant years and I'm glad to say that I'm now a "Fender" man. I'd love to have a '65 Fender Deluxe Reverb like yourself but I'm not unhappy with the Bandmaster that gives me nice "Fender" clean and 'low gain' drive sounds. Another great video, Zac. Keep 'em coming.

You got me at James Honeyman Scott. There is still something about those early Pretenders records and his guitar playing I still love to this day. I remember trying to find a teacher to teach me that sound and none could understand it was the sound I was after, not the playing of chords or licks. Got brass in my pocket

Great video Zac! Some good reminiscing and the price comparisons were very revealing. Also my snazzy new Ask Zac t-shirt popped through my letter box yesterday. Too much fun! Thanks also for the tip of the hat to James Honeyman-Scott. An awesome player, sadly missed.

Great video Zac. I grew up in that same time period of the late 70s and 80s with those pedals. I just bought a '64 Custom Deluxe Reverb Handwired reissue amp. I never knew the Deluxe Reverb could sound so good. Great bottom end. You should do a review of this amp. Maybe compare it to the the lower priced PCB version of the Deluxe Reverb.

Hi Zac, Use the BCB 6 till this day. Same setup as Jorgenson. Only the tubescreamer 808 was replaced by a Paisley drive pedal which cut more through the mix. Other pedals are a TU-3, Ibanez sound tank TS-5, dimension 2 pedal and DD-2. Love it.

Had and used a BCB-6 on the road for many years. Still have probably a half dozen DM-2s sitting around the house...great stuff!

Just seeing that thing brings back SO many memories! I smell Robin (manager of Yo Rehearsal in NoHo)’s fantastic foods cup of noodles to my phaser getting stuck on for the rest of the gig after somebody spilled an oatmeal stout in it after the second song (I don’t think Hank done it that way either). Another gem Zac.

Rabid Boss pedal user for over 27 years. Comp, chorus, ds1 dd3 and the same analog slap/echo you have there...David Gilmore uses them. Went ( modern) with me80 Can't go wrong with Boss. Thanks brother great memories.

I would gig with that board now into a Fender Deluxe!!! Keep that thing out to play on!!

This as great! How funny that your current board is basically 1992’s, tweaked a bit. My first real pedalboard was that same board, loaded with Boss pedals, and it hasn’t been that long ago since I got rid of all that gear to make room for other manufacturers pedals, etc. Props to you for still having all those old pedals!

Very nostalgic and entertaining My first pedals were the DD-2 and Dimension C.I had the same board that came with the adaptor.I used an OD-2 and an Octave of some sort.I found some recordings and I sure miss being able to play LOUD.

I just got that Tremulator pedal like 3 months ago from guitar centers used market. It’s a black knob version. It’s a fantastic trem. I was in the market for a trem that would basically bury the guitar signal at full bore. And after diving into the rabbit hole, which I always do when buying gear, that’s the pedal I came up with. It’s that good.

Wow man, Boss has been on top of it FOREVER!! That PSM-5 is blowing my mind right now. Why don't more people know about that? Or do they and I've just been living under a rock? Anyways, GREAT video man, thanks so much!

I enjoyed the video, even though it made me feel Old. I've never had a pedal board because rarely have I used more than 2 pedals at a gig. I never owned a Boss pedal until two years ago when I bought a TU3 tuner pedal. Boss makes great pedals but they didn't exist when I was in my teens. I got by with a Gibson Maestro Fuzz pedal and later I switched to a Big Muff pedal, and I added a Vox wah wah. I relied on my amp for Reverb and Tremolo. That's what many guitarists did back in the Stone Age.

Mine was very similar, Korg tuner, Boss PSM-5, DD-2, HM2, Ibanez TS-9, Yamaha Chorus, volume pedal after the tuner into a HiWatt 50 That board is luxury, mine was black plywood and cable ties!

Fascinating AND interesting as usual Zac. I still own and use a lot of those pedals - although I stupidly sold the Boss plastic board. I went to a guitar show in London in the late 80’s when I was writing for Guitarist Magazine, and one dealership was actually giving away the boards if you bought a pedal! So I bought the DD2 and got a free Boss board. I thought the PSM5 pedal was useful - so built it all up from there ... Boss chorus, compressor etc. Now many of these pedals languish on my Swan flightcase pedalboard - which weighs nearly as much as my Deluxe Reverb! This is stupid - because I’m taking tons of heavy kit in my car to gigs (if we’re ever going to be able to play gigs again) - so I’m downsizing to a smaller board with a tuner, wah, Klone, Strymon Flint ... and that’s it!

I had one of those Boss BCD-6 pedal boards. On the NYC Subway, the heaters are under the seats. One day I was sitting on the train, the board was near the heater, and it melted and warped!!!! Hiram was amazing. I did a session with him and he was carrying around an MXR blue front digital delay, so I went out and blew $1,000 on one (in 1979 dollars). So I carried that and eventually the Boss board. I think I had the power supply, a boss compressor, an OD-1, a TW-1, a CE-2, a boss flanger, a boss phaser, and the analog delay. I probably had a DS-1 as well.

Ha Ha--the DD-3 battery devouring scene-yes, yes-fond memories of that! I don't even think mine made it through 3 sets...Great vid by the way.

Watched JayLeonardJ's first board video the other night, and now this...Love it! TBH, IMO, Boss is still boutique for me Its great to see where we updated to, and to see full circle as you said Much love Zac, thank you

Great to see the "old" gear. This stuff was all horribly expensive in Australia for us kids in the 80's. Pedals were always good. Our cheap guitars and solid state amps were questionable at best. Thanks for sharing Zac 👍

Cannot beat a double bound tele. I dig the pedals but man that guitar looks nice. Hope all is well. Your rock licks sound nice 👍

Yeh my little pedal train is very similar to yours , just not Boss pedals , I have a mini tuner , mini compressor , mini clean boost , regular OD/DIST , mini chorus , mini echo/reverb.....gets the job done . Fun video . Loved that riff about the 16 minute mark , I'm gonna build on that !

I have the Demeter tremulator with the red knobs ,DD3 delay, Cs3 instead of the 2 and the TU12 tuner. My 90’s rig... lol

When I was a kid I had an old black and white 13" tv with foil wrapped around the rabbit ears. It didn't have a place to plug in headphones, but I'd turn it down real low late at night after everyone had gone to bed. I'd watch Hogan's Heros and Fantasy Island. Sometimes the late night show. I'd have been in trouble if my parents caught me. Good memories.

It's hilarious (in a good way) that when you show your current "updated" board it still has Boss and Ibanez on it. I've been down the boutique pedal rabbit hole (several times) and am finally coming to terms with the fact that, in spite of technological innovation, stuff that sounded good five, ten, twenty, fifty years ago still sounds good now. I've played teles for the last 20+ years (after being a strat guy) and never had a problem with feeling out of date. I wanted a PRS for about a minute, and have played other stuff, but I always end up back on a tele. I've lucked into a few "hand made" amps, but really my main gigging amps have been an old Bandmaster head or a Music Man 1x12 (with onboard phaser...!). Sure I'd probably like a Two Rock, or some such, but I never feel at a loss when I'm gigging (ahem... when I used to gig...). So I've never had the "newer is better" problem with instruments or amps, just pedals. Perhaps it is easier to fetish-ize pedals than amps or guitars. (It's certainly cheaper...) "Trending" and being able to play good music are different things -- and they may not even overlap that much. The CS-2, DD-2, and Demeter sounded real good -- but that has to do with your hands.

Thank you very much Zac! You guessed it? I also have your old pedalboard and still use it occasionally. With an original TS-808, of course, and almost the same arrangement as you. Before the FX pedals, I like to use a volume pedal and another boost. Yes, your video was fun. :-)

Boss TU-12H Tuner! Ha, I had one of those since the mid '90's and just last year I traded it in at my local music store for $25.00. I was not able to afford the whole set back in the day, very cool.

The only effects that I had in the 1970's ... A Marshall Plexi ... and the volume control on the Guitar! ( occasionally used a WEM copycat and a Univibe ... when I could borrow them 😂🤣 )

I think my first board was a slice of pegboard that I attached my pedals to with zip ties. Like yours, it had a tubescreamer, which I absolutely loved and a cry baby wah. That was pretty much it for years, until I got over being a snobby kid who thought compression was a dirty word. I was all kinds of stupid in my youth.

that was my first pedalboard, too! Xmas present from Mom n Dad, probably 2004 :-)

Nice storry, thanks!

Used to love watching the World's Most Dangerous Band with Hiram Bullock and then Sid McGinnes. And that board would still probably suit most guitarists needs.

Hey, Clawson's music. Great store. Also Sound Vibrations. Good memories. Great Video.

My first pedals when i was fourteen were.. -crybaby -ibanez smash box -ibanez ts-7 tubescreamer -ehx small clone chorus Great video!

Dude, that is such an awesome story and score on your pedalboard with that pawnshop. Gear stories are some of my fav. 🙌🏻🎸🎶

I have one too and i have original made from japan pedals on it. I love this it is really handy

My favorite bit was the DM2 and those tasty B Bender licks. More of that please Zac.

I have the BCB-6 and I still use it. It’s important to note that it would be next to impossible to use it without the PSM-5, and even just because of the guitar in and amp out inputs, which have to go trough this pedal from above.It has to be plugged in from the top as there are no room to plug in/out through any other pedal off the pedal board(no room/trims or other cable in/out canals). Not the brightest design by Boss, but still..a very compact design and a good protection. I actually chose it over the BCB-60..however limited.

Dig the effective and ergonomic Boss pedal board!!

Boss pedals are still the working musician's go to...watch the Rig Rundowns.... John 5. There is usually at least one Boss pedal on the board or rack tray.. Probably, because that is what we all grew up with.

If I remember correctly, my first pedal was a Roland Phase II. A cast housing in brown color. Used, I bought it from a friend around 1977. I never owned a board.

Wow. That brings back some memories. 🙂

When I started playing in the 90's there was no internet so I didn't know I was wrong about everything. If you want to see my first pedalboard most of it went to Nashville New and Used Music during a Pedal Purge a couple of years ago.

That was my first pedalboard too. I also had the 3 space one.

Great video!! And here's me thinking my pedalboard that has 10 pedals on it and cost me little under €1800 is expensive! I guess, in comparison to your 90's board, not.

In the 80s I worked in music stores, and sold Boss pedals. The board you have was too expensive for me. Later I worked for a distributer that sold Arion. Arion made a pedal board that I used for years. There weren't many pedal board choices back then.

Had one back in the 80's!!!

Still using the same board at church!!

Still using my BCB6 on gigs :) guess I am a dinosaur! My compressor is the CS 3 and DD3 for Delay. I have only used Boss pedals throughout my 35+ years of weekend giging. The BCB6 is very convenient...finish the gig, unplug the power supply, put the lid on and walk away. My Bass Player uses the larger version which he bought at a local pawnshop.

This was great! Thank you!

LOL. Looks like my 2021 pedal board 😎

Paying tribute to James Honeyman-Scott by playing the solo from "Kid"? You just earned a sub, my man! :)

Hey Zac I'm from San Antonio and probably the same age as you. I wish i had stayed on my guitar journey like you - but the Army, graduate school and general life had other plans for me. I played guitar from 1992 to 1998 then picked it up again in 2011 to present. You show me a bit of my ,"what if's" had i stuck to the guitar.

How funny, just received my karma mtn-10 today. From California all the way to The Netherlands. Nice Video!

That was very enjoyable, with an excellent ending 😎🎙🎸✅

From memory not many people used actual pedal boards in 92. Mostly just a few pedals on the floor.