New pedalboard day

fazool · #1 06-03-2016, 09:48 PM

Getting back into (very casually) playing electric I bought a few of my favorite pedals and made a really nice portable pedal board. I had to DIY my own battery holders and external adapters (they are wired the opposite of the standard Arduino ones). It came out awesome and fits perfectly in my former laptop bag (Coach that my wife bought me).

Having so much fun with this!

blue · #2 06-03-2016, 10:24 PM

Love it! I may cop your battery arrangement! I haven't built mine yet, but taking a page from Phil McKnight, I bought a skateboard body, still in the wrapper from value village for $4.99. It'll be the platform.

Like your pedal selection. That ditto is so tiny! Awesome.

fazool · #3 06-03-2016, 10:44 PM

It was a pain to find the battery arrangement. I got heavy duty snap clips from Radio Shack, then right angle 2.1mm barrel plugs (on a cord which I stripped down). I soldered, taped and shrink-wrapped them. The battery boxes I got on eBay from China for super cheap.

I used industrial strength velcro and my dremel to make openings in the battery boxes and the pedal board itself.

I moved a patch cord so you could see the battery arrangement better:

fazool · #4 06-03-2016, 10:51 PM

And I had this smaller Coach bag that I love from my older laptop, but my new laptop doesn't fit it so my wife bought me a bigger bag. So, this bag was sitting around looking for a purpose and my new pedalboard and cables and all accessories fit perfectly - a STYLIN' gear bag!

Dru Edwards · #5 06-04-2016, 11:01 AM

Looks great, Fazool! I've never seen batteries located like that. Nice idea. I've mounted a power strip on my pedal board - just another option.

fazool · #6 06-04-2016, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Looks great, Fazool! I've never seen batteries located like that. Nice idea. I've mounted a power strip on my pedal board - just another option.

Yeah, I can live with batteries due to my light usage and I hate disassembling to replace batteries. Most importantly I wanted to minimize cords and size.

blue · #7 06-04-2016, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fazool

Yeah, I can live with batteries due to my light usage and I hate disassembling to replace batteries. Most importantly I wanted to minimize cords and size.

thanks for the tutorial and parts list! Truly a job well done. The only damage I've ever been able to do to a Boss pedal was back in the 80's when I was dead broke and had to shift batteries around pedals. Wore out a couple connectors. The approach you're using is so much more refined.

Bob Womack · #8 06-04-2016, 04:37 PM

Very cool!

Bob

Dru Edwards · #9 06-04-2016, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fazool

Yeah, I can live with batteries due to my light usage and I hate disassembling to replace batteries. Most importantly I wanted to minimize cords and size.

I think it's an excellent way if you're using batteries. I've never seen one like that before but it looks so practical.

Paully · #10 06-05-2016, 06:46 AM

Nice bit of DIY.

CarryOn · #11 06-05-2016, 06:49 AM

That's really cool, especially the battery arrangement.

I'm in the middle of making a DIY pedalboard from an old attache case. I'm terribly slow at things, so what would normally be an afternoon's work for anyone else has taken me about three months, but I'm almost there.

fazool · #12 06-05-2016, 10:06 PM

Well, one lesson learned the hard way:

There's a reason TC never put a battery option on the Ditto: it requires an insane amount of power. The Phase 90 only draws 5 mA, the SBA draws 10mA but the Ditto draws 100mA so it chews through batteries way too fast and won't power on with a low battery at all.

So, the looper is going to require the AC adapter no matter what - I'll keep it in the train since I use it very infrequently.

The Growler · #13 06-05-2016, 10:23 PM

Love your battery DIY Fazool. Very creative and looks sharp. Well done.

patrickgm60 · #14 06-06-2016, 04:00 PM

Interesting; i don't think I've seen that power supply workaround, before. AC supplies have come a long way - multiple feeds, various voltages, etc. I'd probably go that route, if building one, today.

The small size would be very handy. Once you add a wah, the board suddenly grows by about 3x. : )

moon · #15 06-06-2016, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fazool

So, the looper is going to require the AC adapter no matter what - I'll keep it in the train since I use it very infrequently.

If you really need battery power, stack up a bunch of D cells in series until you get >9V. That should store enough charge to keep the Ditto running for a while.