New Acoustic Pedalboard in the Works...

[jsboswell]

Having spent the last 2 years designing and putting together my electric guitar pedalboard, I've now decided it's time for a nice, streamlined acoustic-only board. Here are the details:
Grace Design Alix Preamp > Origin Effects Cali 76 CD Compressor > Source Audio Programmable Graphic EQ > Source Audio Ventris Reverb. It will also feature a Sonic Research ST-300 mini Tuner. It will be housed in a customized Schmidt Array Go-Board and have Cioks power. Plan is to run it into an AER Compact 60-3 and FOH. Should be fun!

[Dru Edwards]

I see this is your first post, although you've been a member for a few years. Still, a Welcome to the AGF.

Assembling pedal boards is both fun and frustrating, depending upon how many pedals you have vs space on the board. You seem like you have your acoustic pedal board under control. You should post your electric pedal board over in the Electric Guitar sub forum .

[jsboswell]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

I see this is your first post, although you've been a member for a few years. Still, a Welcome to the AGF.

Assembling pedal boards is both fun and frustrating, depending upon how many pedals you have vs space on the board. You seem like you have your acoustic pedal board under control. You should post your electric pedal board over in the Electric Guitar sub forum .

Thanks for the kind welcome, Dru! Yeah, I've been a member for a while

I've been a lot more active over the years on The Gear Page Forum. I agree with you about pedalboard design and building. I'd be embarrassed to admit how many different iterations of my electric rig I've had over the years! It kept growing and growing until it peaked with a Bradshaw midi-controlled rack system that just became ridiculous! I finally decided to start afresh and build what I hope will be my final electric rig (yeah, I know!). It does everything I ever truly need, the sounds are great, and the rig is dead quiet! I posted a photo of it in the 2017 Show your Pedalboard thread on The Gear Page. Perhaps I'll figure out how to post photos here!

Anyway, the acoustic board will be much simpler than the electric board. That said, many of the principles I've learned over the years will still be incorporated. The longest wait will be the customized Schmidt Array board. Martyn's stuff is just phenomenal.

Too much rambling! Again, thanks for the kind welcome. Merry Christmas!

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by jsboswell

Having spent the last 2 years designing and putting together my electric guitar pedalboard, I've now decided it's time for a nice, streamlined acoustic-only board. Here are the details:
Grace Design Alix Preamp > Origin Effects Cali 76 CD Compressor > Source Audio Programmable Graphic EQ > Source Audio Ventris Reverb. It will also feature a Sonic Research ST-300 mini Tuner. It will be housed in a customized Schmidt Array Go-Board and have Cioks power. Plan is to run it into an AER Compact 60-3 and FOH. Should be fun!

Having a dedicated acoustic board mini fly board has made my life easier...

I just did the same thing with the Grace Alix as the center, but I used the Keeley Delay Workstation which is a combination Delay/Reverb with 8 presets for both reverb and delay, and the last two presets on the reverb are delays so you can run delay into delay for multiple delay times. I run it in the FX loop of the ALix. For a tuner I used a Boss Wazacraft TU3w which is ridiculously easy to read in any light situation and locks on to the lowest notes I throw at it fast (C#), I also used a Tapestry Bloomery volume pedal which is totally transparent. I haven't found a situation yet where the EQ on the ALiX wasn't enough to take care my EQ needs but I did try the board with an Empress Para EQ and it sounded great. I also went back and forth between the Cali76 and the MXR studio compressor pedal. I loved them both for different reasons. I liked the Cali76 for the parallel compression and the slight color, and the MXR for it's transparency and metering, but I decided I would rather use them in the main insert of my Schertler JAM 200 amp so they never made the board. I like that the Alix powers all the pedals so no power supply needed!!!! I also like that everything fits on a small pedal train Metro 20 board. The pedal board, a Shure Beta 87 mic, a few cords, and a small bag with picks/capo/slides, fits in the carry case of the pedaltrain. With the bag in one hand and the guitar case in the other, I am ready to gig. In places without the PA I just add mic stand, and small AC amp (Shertler JAM 200 or Jam 400)

Sounds like the combo of pedals you are using should sound great together. There are so many good options I found it very hard to make the decisions, and it sounds like you've thought it through with the choices you've made!

Here's the small pedal board when I was testing out, I have since made new cables for it and tidy-ed it up a bit

[jsboswell]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

Having a dedicated acoustic board mini fly board has made my life easier...

I just did the same thing with the Grace Alix as the center, but I used the Keeley Delay Workstation which is a combination Delay/Reverb with 8 presets for both reverb and delay, and the last two presets on the reverb are delays so you can run delay into delay for multiple delay times. I run it in the FX loop of the ALix. For a tuner I used a Boss Wazacraft TU3w which is ridiculously easy to read in any light situation and locks on to the lowest notes I throw at it fast (C#), I also used a Tapestry Bloomery volume pedal which is totally transparent. I haven't found a situation yet where the EQ on the ALiX wasn't enough to take care my EQ needs but I did try the board with an Empress Para EQ and it sounded great. I also went back and forth between the Cali76 and the MXR studio compressor pedal. I loved them both for different reasons. I liked the Cali76 for the parallel compression and the slight color, and the MXR for it's transparency and metering, but I decided I would rather use them in the main insert of my Schertler JAM 200 amp so they never made the board. I like that the Alix powers all the pedals so no power supply needed!!!! I also like that everything fits on a small pedal train Metro 20 board. The pedal board, a Shure Beta 87 mic, a few cords, and a small bag with picks/capo/slides, fits in the carry case of the pedaltrain. With the bag in one hand and the guitar case in the other, I am ready to gig. In places without the PA I just add mic stand, and small AC amp (Shertler JAM 200 or Jam 400)

Sounds like the combo of pedals you are using should sound great together. There are so many good options I found it very hard to make the decisions, and it sounds like you've thought it through with the choices you've made!

Here's the small pedal board when I was testing out, I have since made new cables for it and tidy-ed it up a bit

That's a great board, and very similar in concept and size to the one I'm putting together. The Keeley Workstation is a wonderful multi-function pedal. The Ventris reverb also does several interesting things (I also have one of these on my electric board). It will hold 8 presets, and it also has 2 independent processors on board. There are reverb engines on board that also combine delay, tremolo, and volume swells. So, for my purposes, it does quadruple duty. I agree that the EQ on the Alix leaves nothing to be desired. The reason for the additional Source Audio EQ is that it also stores presets, so I can have presets set up for flat picking, finger style, soloing, etc. and toggle between them on the fly.

I do love the built in power supply on the Alix, and I'd probably use it were it not for a couple things: 1) The Ventris is pretty power-hungry, and I'm not sure I'd have enough left for the Cali, the EQ, and the tuner, and 2) I really like the Cali 76 at 18v. Also, I still have several Cioks units left over from cannibalizing my old rack rig.

Glad to see another example of a well-executed small acoustic board!

Best,
jeff

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by jsboswell

That's a great board, and very similar in concept and size to the one I'm putting together. The Keeley Workstation is a wonderful multi-function pedal. The Ventris reverb also does several interesting things (I also have one of these on my electric board). It will hold 8 presets, and it also has 2 independent processors on board. There are reverb engines on board that also combine delay, tremolo, and volume swells. So, for my purposes, it does quadruple duty. I agree that the EQ on the Alix leaves nothing to be desired. The reason for the additional Source Audio EQ is that it also stores presets, so I can have presets set up for flat picking, finger style, soloing, etc. and toggle between them on the fly.

I do love the built in power supply on the Alix, and I'd probably use it were it not for a couple things: 1) The Ventris is pretty power-hungry, and I'm not sure I'd have enough left for the Cali, the EQ, and the tuner, and 2) I really like the Cali 76 at 18v. Also, I still have several Cioks units left over from cannibalizing my old rack rig.

Glad to see another example of a well-executed small acoustic board!

Best,
jeff

Yep I figured you were going for presets! I just found presets weren't working for me (other than delay times), from venue to venue, so I just wanted something that was easy to dial on the fly. I was using a QSC Touchmix 8 for places where presets worked, so I am overloaded with gear

And I also figured you would go with the 18 volts for the Cali. No question it sounds better, just like my para EQ, and Fulldrive III sounds better with 18V that I have on my electric board. I love the clean headroom. I have 1176 in my studio, and two LA610s, and I find the Cali gets that UA flavor. I'm also a big Lowell George fan so I love their slide rig! I hope you post up some demos of your board, I'm sure it will sound great!

I never knew about the ST300 mini, it looks like it has a brighter display than my ST200, that's why I went with the wazacraft! If I had known about it, I would have given it a go, because they are great tuners!

[jsboswell]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

Yep I figured you were going for presets! I just found presets weren't working for me (other than delay times), from venue to venue, so I just wanted something that was easy to dial on the fly. I was using a QSC Touchmix 8 for places where presets worked, so I am overloaded with gear

And I also figured you would go with the 18 volts for the Cali. No question it sounds better, just like my para EQ, and Fulldrive III sounds better with 18V that I have on my electric board. I love the clean headroom. I have 1176 in my studio, and two LA610s, and I find the Cali gets that UA flavor. I'm also a big Lowell George fan so I love their slide rig! I hope you post up some demos of your board, I'm sure it will sound great!

I never knew about the ST300 mini, it looks like it has a brighter display than my ST200, that's why I went with the wazacraft! If I had known about it, I would have given it a go, because they are great tuners!

The ST300 mini is definitely brighter then the 200. I put the 300 mini on my electric board for space reasons and relegated the 200 to my workbench. Seems to be faster than the 200 also, but maybe it's my imagination. Great little tuner.

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by jsboswell

The ST300 mini is definitely brighter then the 200. I put the 300 mini on my electric board for space reasons and relegated the 200 to my workbench. Seems to be faster than the 200 also, but maybe it's my imagination. Great little tuner.

Okay I'm going to pick one of those up, I'll find a use for it. I wish it used a battery so I could just carry it around in a case I relegated my ST200 to my studio!