Pedalboard Build 2018 || What Not To Do 

Ah man, I feel your pain. Been there many times. Learned a pedal board is like a pizza, you can’t put everything you love on top and get a tasty result.

If you still want a very flexible board I would do the following: get rid of tremolo, colour box, tuner and bit commander. Choose which of the strymon pedals you can live without because of the H9. Do you use the looper in the timeline? if so keep that and maybe get a smaller reverb pedal e.g. Source Audio Ventris. If not then dump it as the H9 can do everything else Timeline can.(though not analog dry thru) H9 also acts as your tuner by the way. I'd also get a smaller volume pedal or even consider an expression pedal instead given the capabilities that will give you with the H9 and strymons as well as potentially being able to act as a volume pedal Do you really need two fuzzes? If not decide which one is most versatile and which stacks best with other pedals. Like lots of others have said get a switcher which does midi and also one that can change the position of pedals in the signal chain (really useful for the H9): gigrig or Boss ES8. This is the most important thing to do in my opinion. Also a tiered board would increase your pedal real estate significantly. Sorry about the essay but I've just been through something similar so its fresh in my mind. Great content by the way

That was just as helpful as a seeing a successful build.

This guy needs a switcher. Problems all solved.

As a size 14 foot who is starting to get into building a pedal board, I appreciate your honesty.

The last thing you want is to quick on a gnarly fuzz pedal 😂

Thank you so much!!! I can't TELL you how many people have said things to me like, "There's so much space between your pedals! If you arranged them better, you could get more in there or get a smaller board!" Or... I could have enough space to actually operate the board live without having to point my toe like a ballerina! Thank you for advocating for function over form!

genuinely cant believe this guy doesnt just fix the issues

Loop switcher and a multi tier board. The best thing I ever bought for my board was a Boss ES 8 switcher. Once you've had one you'll wonder what you ever did without.

Call Daniel Steinhardt at the Gig Rig!

If you are not using some of the pedals, then why even have them on the board? It's not rocket surgery. Your foot is big, get rid of a pedal and make more space, which will also give you more power to other pedals, solved.

I don't judge other people's boards because I don't know what their needs are for their gigs. I always tell my students when putting a board together to "think of the essentials" and then show them what I use. I get a lot of church gigs and blues/rock gigs, so I built a board for both. The signal path is Volume Pedal, Tuner, Compressor, Dual Overdrive, Delay, and Reverb. That's all I need, and for the blues gig, I typically switch the Volume Pedal for a Wah if the gig calls for it. But, that's all I really need, and working guys have to think that way. Since you've made this video on what not to do maybe make a video in helping to identify what a player needs for a specific gig like "Building a Worship Pedalboard Tutorial" or "Building an RnB Pedalboard." I know for me I just leave essential pedals on the board and adjust one or two for the gig if it calls for it but others might enjoy that, and if it may seem too tedious or unnecessary maybe do guide videos into playing in specific genres. I'm not sure if you do that already, but I know when I teach my more advanced students they ask me questions like that a lot. Keep posting! You're doing great.

Awesome video! I’m so happy you learned and are adept at sharing that learning. It’s not failure if you can make a lesson of it.

I love my Strymons, but unless you are changing settings during a gig, there are many great smaller delay and verb pedals out there. My Strymons are just used in a reamp loop in Logic Pro now. If you’re doing session work, and that’s where the versatility of the Strymons becomes necessary, then just keep them in your bag, not on the board.

I was watching your "How to stack overdrives" video, when you went to turn on your Vertex SSS, you angled your foot in a way to only hit it. I instantly knew your pain. LOL. So, I built a DIY oversized board, that only goes from home to studio. Purposely built so my size 9 1/2 only hits one pedal.

Almost every lesson I've learned in music has been the hard way. (e.g. trading my early 60's LP gold top 40 years ago for a guitar I ended up hardly ever playing). As in life itself, I think that's just the way it works. It's great when we can share what we've learned from experience with others to help them avoid making the same mistakes, as Brett has done here. There is so much valuable information on this video, and I have no doubt it's going to be a big help to a lot of musicians.

Building a pedalboard is piece of art :)

"are you breaking up with me?" - pedalboard

This video is why I love your channel...you're honest, and you're real.

"Less is more"

I started off building and trying to get as many pedals as possible. Now, I’ll play with at max 5 pedals and that includes tuner/ vol pedal. But that’s for my needs. Just try to play with the least amount of pedals. You’ll be able to focus more on the playing and enjoy it more and less worrying about stepping on the right pedals. Howdy from Texas!

Agreeing with a few others I've seen: a switcher I the solution. If you have a power or cable failure, it's so much easier to isolate the issue on the fly and won't leave the rest of the board unusable. You have those wonderful midi pedals, you should take advantage of it. Keeping things tidy and attractive is a good idea, it shows you care. People do kind of hate the "instagram era of pedalboards, usually because they don't have the time to dedicate on such a project. Musicom and Boss make excellent solutions, but I think you don't want a larger size board. Morningstar ML5 or VooDoo Labs Hex are switchers you can fit under the board and control with a small midi switcher (both are easy to chain together). You can even have a switcher off you board if you'd rather not take a pedal off with just a midi out on the side of the board. You will have to essentially double your cable count, however, so it isn't exactly the cheapest option. But it's the most ideal for your setup

Great and informative video. I’m still building my collection of pedals to put my board together, and I’m almost at the point where it’s time to actually do it, so this kind of advice is invaluable to me.

When I first saw your board I thought about some of the issues that you said in this video. Nice to see that you are willing to teach others about your mistakes. Great video.

Rhett, first of all, recent subscriber speaking here, i enjoy your videos, awesome job and as they say - keep 'em coming! :) But, if i may i would like to share some of my thoughts with you regarding this topic, and what i have always regarded as simple, somewhat obvious priorities when designing all of the layouts of my gigging pedalboards to date: 1) Only what is needed and necessary -- as you realised yourself, having excess pedals on the board makes things unnecessarily crowded and just more difficult for precise live use. Trim it down, leave what is essential for the gigs you need the board for. I know that this most probably clashes directly with the needed versatility, BUT, if being honest, i think we all realise at a certain point, that more often than not, we tend to keep some pedals on the board even if we don't use them that much. I stopped doing that because i can't stand having something on the board if i don't use it on a regular basis. 2) Front row of pedals should be those that are being stomped on THE MOST -- i know that this (well, as everything else, i guess :) ) is strictly personal thing, depending on needs, habits etc, but i always, and i do mean always fill the front row with pedals that i use the most, so that they are most accessible for stomping, but always paying extra attention to the spacing betweeen the switches. You saw for yourself what can happen if the two wrong things are too close one to another. So, cramming as many pedals as possible is not the best idea most of the time, especially if the board is for live gigging, where all sorts of things can happen. I always tend to populate the front row with drives and a delay (because of the tap tempo which gets corrected all the time), and IF there is leftover space, maybe i'll put something else in there, but only if it doesn't make it too crammed for stomping with average care and precision. 3) Wah/Volume/Expression pedals to the side of the board - this is also strictly my personal taste, but for example, having a fairly large pedal of that type in the middle of a densely populated board as you do (and we should keep in mind - those pedals are being used in a picky, more delicate manner compared to the simple stomping of the footswitch), would make me somewhat uncomfortable because i would have to pay extra attention of not screwing up my settings of the neighbouring pedals every time i go near that wah/volume/expression. Since the physical placement of pedals does not have to follow the signal flow, i feel that people should take advantage of that fact more often. That's all. The rest of the decisions take secondary priority compared to those three. Everything else must be according to those three basic principles. And this way of board layout and design has served me well for over 700+ live gigs. I hope this was somewhat helpful, looking forward to seeing more quality content. :)

Great lessons and that's the most valuable! Shows how important it is to edit yourself during the creative process.

My board's being built right now, with room to grow and space for my feet to switch comfortably. It's been a 10+ year journey. So stoked!

Great video! Totally agree. It took me a while to get mine done too. I appreciate your advice. I kept mine simple too. Compressor, overdrives, Preamp to Boss Volume pedal then to Zoom G3 for all delays, reverb to the Joyo Cab Box and that finally worked for me. Definitely keep enough room purposely on the board to step on the right pedals at the right times!

I can relate to this. I spent a year, in which I got 3 boutique amps in a box, some really nice time based effects, 11 pedals in total, built the board itself, and decided to be an inventor and power it all, by lithium ion battery pack. Well of course I needed to learn that you can't just use adaptor cables for the 5 to 9v jump required. Then I learned a real good lesson about isolated power supplies. Yes, I learned a lot and came up with an elaborate 12 circuit individually voltage adjustable power supply running off my original battery pack (by the way, my electronics background could be classified as "average guitarist" level). And it was quiet. And it sounded good. Then just take a wild stab at what happens next. Ding ding ding! You are right! Dude! I need a Joyo switcher real bad, can't live without it, gotta get one! Well I got one. And yes it was a super pain in the ass to have to re wire it AGAIN after having just made 30 or so custom length Canare wire cables. Duhooooh... Didn't see that coming. And then, the final of all improbabilities. A sudden windfall of money, allowing me to replace my so so effect platform amp with a Friedman...Who needs those amps in a box now? Such a labour of love, I actually am pretty proud of my originally 12 dollar Ikea challenge pedal board. I am gonna feel like a real heal as I part it out to be replaced by yes.....An HX Effects. I might even miss that colourful 3 tiered monstrosity. Great video by the way, thanks man.

Why don’t you just take the colour box off? It would free a power cable and give free real estate to help with the drives and volume petal/fuzz situations. Thanks for making content like this Rhett!

Nobody “needs” that many pedals on a board. 6 pedals tops including a tuner. 🤘🏻

If you’re not happy with your board give it to me.. 🤪

Get some barefoot buttons to avoid stepping on knobs. Theyre about $10 a piece. I didnt wanna spend money on switch caps before, but its the best addition to my board! It essentially eliminates the chances of stepping on other buttons and messing up knobs

whether you're building a pedal or a pedalboard, rushing it only leads to more headaches and work later on. think long and hard about it before you drill/solder/attach anything anywhere. good that you made a video about this. a good-looking pedal/board means nothing if it's not functional.

Great video. Thoughtful and all that stuff. -this I why I hand-built my own board and had a custom flight case made for it. I’ve seen boards like yours in the video and always wondered if I did the right thing... -thanks for the confidence boost -I think I did.

You keep some gear in your car? That's where stuff gets nicked.

You nailed it - That's an Instagram board, not a practical one. I've built those myself too and the realisation part sucks. My current board is still tight, but with a lot more thought put into accessibility and switch placement. No sideways pedals, using pedal risers and Barefoot Button Tall Boys for tight spaces really helped me a lot.

Man, your videos are not only perfectly done, but VERY useful, thanks from Argentina!

From this video to the other one with Mason, it looks like you solved all of your headaches with boards. Tiers, switchers and not putting a volume pedal in the middle are the best things! and I like your comment in there, "I....need.....more......power"

I don't get it -- if you get rid of those redundant pedals you mentioned doesn't it solve all the issues (clears up space, not as many power cables needed)?

You're making me so glad I'm happy with 2-4 pedals at at time.

This kind of confirms why I think I'm going to go with a tiered board...something like the Friedman. You lose out on some real estate, but you're not stepping on your front row when trying to reach the back row. And, it keeps you from cramming pedals too close together, at least front to back. Just found your channel a couple of days ago Rhett. Good stuff.

I really enjoy your videos. For several reasons. You have a certain helpful quality that shows through; that you want others to benefit from your experience and knowledge. And generally you seem like a really nice guy. If I were much younger and lived in your area; I would enjoy hanging with you and talking shop. I have been a musician, practically all my life, and have had various musical experiences that I value and cherish. But the one thing I've never done (for reasons too involved to go into here), is go on tour with a band. So, in a way, I am living vicariously through you when I see your videos of your travels and gigs. And I do really like the instructional videos, like this one and the others you did on building a pedal board. And the ones on equipment you like and use - guitars, effects, amps, etc. Keep it up. I am now a subscriber. BTW, your wife is gorgeous. You are a lucky man.

The dude has every pedal and piece of gear on earth and is unhappy. Oh what a world.

I went through a similar thing. I've got a loop switcher now which makes turning on certain effects a lot easier and less risky for a crowded and large board. Its working for now but I think it might be better to run 2 smaller boards than cramming everything into one.

Hey Rhett!! Thanks for sharing your experience. I can really relate to this video because before I got my Pedaltrain Classic Pro my pedals were all in a very tight position and I would frequently touch cables and switches when turning on a pedal and would even touch the power cable, causing unwanted noise. From that I realized we just don't have to populate the whole board because there is not only problem with turning on a pedal accidentally, there is also problem with power supply, which I tried to solve using my Korg tuners but a couple of times I stumbled upon the problem with voltage requirement and saw pedals that wouldn't power up.

Good video, thanks for the insight. Something I suggest you consider looking into are "Barefoot Buttons". I found they made a huge difference in hitting effects more reliably. Plus they look amazing.

I keep my wah and volume pedal off the board and all the effects on the board only. That being said.. I've effed up my pedal board and reconfigured it numerous times before I got happy. .. what's refreshing about your video and all your videos really, is that you're so humble and honest about your learning experiences. *Respect

The guys at my church have always had hugely oversized boards (compared to the small number of pedals on them) and it makes sense for this very reason. I very rarely see either of them hit a pedal unintentionally.

Hey! Another nice video! I designed you another board, with a couple of extras, note that the Boost pedal showing is taking the place of the Steel String, (they didn't have the steel string on the site... lol) Anyway, here's the signal chain I would recommend: Guitar > Volume Pedal (Volume Pedal out to Tuner) > HoofReaper > ES-5 > (In the loops they can be rearranged with the Boss ES-5) 1. Tremolo 2. Boost 3. Steel String 4. LightSpeed 5. Bitcommander > H9 > Timeline > Big Sky > Amp You can use the Boss to send tap tempo and everything through Midi and control turning everything except the fuzz on and off. It also has buffers in and out so you can keep a strong signal without messing with the fuzz. It also gives you plenty of space to work with where you're not hitting things you don't want to hit. Here's a little picture of what it would, kind of, look like. Also, you can power the entire thing with very simple power supplies. Let me know if you have any questions about any of this, I'd be happy to help out any way​ I can. thaddaeus@chasingthetone.com www.dropbox.com/s/ccyeds3k8qbcumh/Screen%20Shot%202018-09-12%20at%201.06.01%20PM.png?dl=0

love how real you are rhett

Thanks for the honest vid, Rhett. I'm in the process of revamping my own board. Biggest problem I have is the central part of my setup is a boss gt100. It's lengthy and kind of wide as well. I like that it has it's own effects loop so the small handful of pedals I want to incorporate can be integrated that way but I have cabling issues like you described. Great tips-thanx again. Back to the drawing board (pun intended), for this ol' boy! 🎸

Nice of you to help others with your mistakes - Thanks - great job!

What about a looper/Switcher? Really would like to hear your opinion..I am about to purchase a one control one.

I think I've learned a lot through building a few boards myself. After trying many pedals, I've settled on the very pedals that I will use night after night. I then chose the size board to hold my pedals. I don't want an oversized board that I have to drag out to my car or van at the end of the night when I am tired. So, I've got my board down to two rows of pedals and give enough space between them that I don't hit an unwanted switch. I placed risers underneath my board's back so I don't mess up the front rows settings. I've very happy with how it ended up. I think sometimes it's good to go through the growing pains to be smarter about it all. Well, for me at least.

The GigRig modular power supply is great

Appreciate the candid perspective. It helps.

I recommend the Road Rage True Bypass Looper. They are available in combinations of 4-16 'staggered' loops. The are hand built and made of thick anodized aluminum. True pro quality! They use Neutrik jacks, Taiwan Blue 3PDT switches and audiophile grade hookup wire. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

OK, sorry for the long reply, but my opinion. Pull off the Color Box and Bit Commander are they are not used. Unless you need a bunch different delays and reverbs running simultaneously, remove the Timeline Big Sky and get a second H9. Run one H9 in mono (pre/post... check Eventide website for details), that will also allow for removal of the Tremolo (and give you back the functionality of the Bit Commander). Next add a midi enabled loop switcher, something like a Musicomm Lab EXF-LE or even a Boss ES-5. This will give you both presets and handle midi switching of the 2 H9s. please don't hesitate to message if you think I can be of more assistance. And yes I agree, having a pro shop do your board is a GREAT idea. Dave Philips at LA Sound Design would be my first call.

Appreciate the honesty :) this is really helpful!

Some throats: 1) interchange 2 pedals on bottom (empress and fuzz) with 2 pedals above them 2) or just use loop switcher 3) or just remove 2-3 pedal to leave more space for big foot))

Lots of very good points made and appreciated. I too really dig the NOVO 24.

Best way to build a board is to start off with only a few essentials and then add more as you go, if a pedal doesn't work you will know straight away.

Man, I'm having the exact same problems! This is basically a video talking about my board haha.

Even me, in my Woman's boots, couldn't use that board. Nice that you were honest and made your mistakes into a useful video.

I've made some of those same mistakes. I think when people have that many pedals on a board, they generally have a switcher to control it all. That should solve the button & knob accidents, and then if you find when you're setting up your patches that you don't use certain pedals for tones you want, then take them off the board. I found the Boss MS-3 to be a great "brain" for the board, because it also has built in effects, in addition to FX loops, MIDI control, expression, amp switching, etc. Still, if you ever need something that's missing, or are using the H9 for something, you can always pop in one of the on-boards. Also has a built-in tuner. It's a great size to integrate with a board where you need space for your favorite analog pedals. The main limitations are that it only has 3 loops and they have to be adjacent in the chain. If you remove the bit commander and have a little more vertical space for the H9, you might consider the Barn3 OX9 to get some more functionality out of the H9, including built-in tuner, phrase looping, expression switching, etc. (then again, if you have the MS-3, you can have that trigger a lot of those functions on the H9 via MIDI).

This was very helpful. Thanks Rhett!

You're not so far from a perfectly usable board. Just remove 2 pedals, raise the second row and space out the volume pedal. There is no such thing as a perfect board: it's constant refinement.

If you've large feet/wear boots, I strongly recommend a tiered pedal board. I also suggest ditching any pedal you don't use in for at least 75% of the gig. Anything else can be thrown in the loop/in front of the amp (depending on where your board is). Check your total power draw, and upgrade your supply as required. You've a couple of Strymon, try one of their supplies, if you've not already. Outside that, well, I'd say switch over to as many Boss Pedals as possible, but I'm a bit of a fanboy of Boss, so maybe I'm biased? lol

I'm on my 3rd setup on my board, and it's just a learning experience. Gets better every time.

This seems like a pretty normal thing to go through. I've done it myself. It's kind of a pain in the ass but ya just rethink and adjust. I discovered I didn't need as many pedals as I tried to fit at first. I think of it as packing a suitcase for a trip. Only bring what you really need and leave open space in case you want to add something at the last minute. I've been playing 35 years and I still make adjustments.

First things first. Keep your volume pedal on the right hand side (if you're right handed), take off the redundant and unused pedals and rewire. You will have so much more space. When placing the pedals, make sure you have space to operate the various footswitches. We all learn through experience. It's a good looking board Rhett, now you can make it better :)

Brave confession! Admirable. My solution (I also have big feet) is to put most used pedals in front row, with space. Least used on top. Volume (or wah) pedal on far right edge/bottom. It's ok to have open space. Good luck! 🙂

Thank you for sharing. I have always used only one or two pedals without a board. But, now, I want to make a board. Your video is very helpful.

pedal placement was something i never considered. I also play at church, and I remember going tap dancing my board to get ready for a recognizable guitar hook in the song, only to step on the POG accidentally, then frantically try to turn it off, only to turn off the OD. I also had my tuner set to kill the signal when tuning, and have many times accidentally killed the signal during songs... I think I need a bypass looper. lol

Working with Schmidt Array for a full-proof board is a kick ass idea & removing redundant pedals so you have space to stomp is definitely wise. But also, maybe you should consider using 1 of em midi/switcher thingies. GigRig it buddy 🤘 Well, GigRig switcher or not, drop Daniel Steinhardt a personal message about this situation. From pedalboards to optimising power usage, the man's a bleeding genius.

You should make a video about building a small board with all the essentials for a church gig!

Kudos for sharing your failure - I know how much courage that requires, but it was of great value to me. I'm myself planning a board of similar size myself - and your video just boosted the previous messages how essential a simple loop switcher might be for my setup, or how I should really plan to have an "empty space for the extra pedal" built into the design. Good luck rebuilding this one. I am confident that you'll end up with a marvellous setup now!

Have you considered removing the volume pedal and having it beside the board? If you could have a little more space between the pedals, some of your issues would improve. Secondly, wouldn’t changing the direction some pedals are facing, stop your foot turning them off and on by mistake? If you could find ways to free up some space (as you said some pedals weren’t getting used much), and changed the orientation of some pedals, you might find it a lot more useable.

Great vid. For anyone using/splitting their modulation FX through an FX loop. I had similar volume pedal issues. Saved a ton of space by taking my volume pedal off the board

I think a Rhett Shull-Daniel Steinhardt video is order where he designs you a kickass board with a Schmidt Array

Great video with a lot of great points. I do a lot of fly dates and the motto "less is more", is more important than ever. This video hit the key issue in that when something goes wrong, it's always just minutes before curtains are up and you don't have time to start pulling shit apart to see what is going on. Talk about stressful. I play country so I am lucky to not need as many pedals, just 6 including a tuner. I try to also pick pedals with dual function. Since I use slap back 98% of the time, I can easily combine reverb/delay into either my Wampler Etheral or a Dispatch master. I set the reverb and forget it. Same with the delay. I also like to use smaller pedals when possible. The Wampler Tumnus is small and is a great option. I also use an inexpensive and small Mooer Pitchbox for my chorus. It's just one sound, but it only gets used 2-3 times so it's cool. It's not what I have on my main (big) board that I get to use on bus runs, but it works fine for a 60-90 minute fly-show. And there's room to get to everything fast....THAT IS SO IMPORTANT...... The power supply is smaller, too. And it all fits in a laptop bag that fits into my carry on backpack together with a few clothes......and my guitar flight case doubles as my suitcase for the rest of my clothes!! Smells like dirty sox now.........sorry to be long winded. Great video!!!

as always , very honestly done video. the sign of those fellows whose main goal is to improve in life. so according to what you said, my 2 cents in a very easy step : taking off 2 pedals will resolve main of your complains. - power issues - pushing buttons errors etc.. - give your volume pedal "breathing" - get all your main pedals in vertical position back. cheers from Israel.

I learned long ago to always test out the feel of my volume pedal when re-arranging my board. Looking to just getting a mini volume pedal now.

I always try to keep expression pedals and tap tempos on the sides of the board with space around them. Also, I've found running 2 power supplies is better than a single larger one. This helps isolate certain noisy or hi-fidelity pedals as well as provide more options. It also looks like the case is big enough to support an addition of a tier. Thus making some easier to reach. I'm sure someone has pointed out and you've updated since, but larger add-on buttons may help too. It's all trial and error if you don't have it custom built.

Great advices on this topic, thank you

So true, so many boards look great on Instagram but when it comes to playing actually live they must be impossible. You kind of want more space if anything, having everything tightly packed means you're going to he pressing everything! When you're live you need to be able switch quickly. Without triggering the wrong effects/pedals. So yeah more space is needed, bigger boards dependant on what you need are the key

I needed to see this. As someone who scaled down and still had a cake and eat it mindset I needed to see this

I feel ya, dude. Sometimes gotta go through it to know. If it were me, I’d keep the processors (strymon, eveneide) a few select gain pedals, and the volume pedal - and pull everything else. Maybe consider using the volume pedal as an expression pedal for the H9 and swelling with you volume knob. That’s what I did and much happier for it.

I think with that many pedals I would use something like a Boss ES-8 or a Crocodile Tail. You’re obviously going to trim some fat off the board which will free up power and space and once you do that, you can have a switcher which will make effect switching more convenient and reliable but it will also clean up your signal path giving you truer tone. Thanks for your videos, I learn a lot from your honesty.

Thank you for sharing your story on this.

I got 7 pedals on my board. BOSS TU3---->BOSS CS-2--->EHX Op-Amp Muff---->BOSS Angry Driver----> MXR EVH Overdrive-----> TC Flashback -----> MXR reverb. What do you think people?

This is a phenomenal video, thank you

So in other words, you are bored with this board. Thanks for sharing Rhett! I have been watching your videos these days and absolutely love them! Props from Greece! Keep it up!

Thanks for sharing. It's not easy admitting mistakes, but I know people will watch this and reconsider some of the choices they'd make for their pedalboards. I ran into the same thing with pedals being crammed together and crazy signal paths. Wish I'd seen this video first ;)

I always put the overdrive pedals in the first row of my pedalboard, because I alternate from clean to dirt parts very frequently, or at least I have to do that the easiest way possibile without troubles. Hitting a delay and a boost of volume for solos is also something you have to be able to do easily, so they usually are next to the drives. All the other pedals can be placed in a second, elevated row. Yes, elevating pedals with little bits of plywood covered with isolating tape is both fun and useful: all the problems of accidentally moving pedal settings will be gone!

in my opinion, you need to downsizing your pedalboard. Since you have bad stocking dirt, remove the canyon. As you mention, you have redundancy in modulation, remove the trem, so that you have lots of space, then change them with disaster switch pedal for easiest way to dial all your pedals..hopefully it will help..

You know, I couldn't agree more, Rhett. Many pedals that I have on my board are all wish-list pedals that I wanted individually but did not give much thought into whether they 'played nice' together. In specifics, my distortion stacking. I also wish I had investigated on a better delay pedal.. I digress.. Thank you much for this video!

As far as I’m concerned this video ought to be the primer for anyone looking to set up a board. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Simplify your setup for live situations. As a guitarist in a shoegaze/alternative band... I change my setup depending on the tour or on the material we'll be playing. Sometimes I just buy a smaller pedal with a similar sound to make some space. Or buy one that can combine two effects.