I’m in the process of learning to play lead / improv on my acoustic and as a result am using my looper (Ditto X2) heaps every day. So much that instead of chewing up batteries I want to get a 9v power supply and possibly (here’s where y’all come in) get several other pedals and build a small pedal board.
Several questions: How do you attach your pedals to the “board”?
What other pedals do you consider worth considering for acoustic?
I’ve been playing for well over a decade on acoustic and generally prefer the unmodified unplugged sound.
I’m also planning for a vocal looper, and the ditto one is on the list.
I’ve been thinking recently on the LR Bags Voice Print DI Acoustic but will probably settle with a Boss Ve-8 to cover guitar and vocals though the voice print does look good to me.
The standard method is with velcro “hook and loop” type tape, and many pedal boards come with it.
Some of this tape can be a bit cheap and rubbish though. It’s often worth buying some decent stuff separately. 3M dual lock is one that is often recommended.
Another approach is the Temple Audio system where you glue mounting plates onto the bottom of the pedals which then screw into the bottom of the board. This is a proprietary system which is quite expensive, but gives solid results.
This is a pedal board I built for a friend using the Temple Audio system.
Shout out to @Majik for such a neat and tidy pedal board. I change my board so often that it gets a little “untidy” most times. LOL
I just use velcro, my preference is to put the “toothy” part on the board and the fuzzy part on the pedal. No hard and fast rules so to speak, and if there were I would ignore them anyway.
Truth be told I use the same pedals that I use for my electric guitars for my acoustics as well. Why would they not work?
@Sociopath thanks for both of those ideas. I was thinking of the BOSS RC-600, but when I looked at it’s features I got quite overwhelmed. You’ve given me two more to watch reviews of.
Hey Keith, thanks for the detailed post. Love the pictures. You’ve given me a few ideas as to other pedals to look at. I already have the line6 wireless system, need to consider adding that to my coming board.
Hey CT, thanks. I guess for me it would depend on the pedals you use on your electric. If it’s overdrive and high levels of distortion, that’s not the sound I’m looking for, but otherwise I’m all ears.
I use bike chain links to screw mine down. Doesn’t work will all pedals but most you can unscrew the base plate screws and add in the chain link like you would a washer.
For power, I can highly recommend this battery unit if you end up with a few pedals. Has one selectable supply (9, 12 &18v) also which powers my mixer too…
Hi Tony reference attaching pedals to a board I have used velcro in the past not for pedals but similar, if you can imagine a an A4 size velcro stuck to the board and and the velcro hoops stuck under pedals , it becomes a very secure fix but you are able to remove and change pedals very easily and this does work. hope this helps Hec
I use 3M dual lock - it’s expensive compared to regular velcro but it’s super strong. If you want to move a pedal you need to slide a butter knife between the layers to separate it.
General practice is to put fuzz side on the board. This is convention but it also means you don’t get as much gunk and hair stuck to your board.
The other advice I follow is to put the fuzz strips right along the board (not just where you want the pedals). This means you can easily move pedals around on the board to make room for all the new ones you didn’t know you needed!
I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of throwing a little dirt on your acoustic playing. Granted my main acoustic (Epiphone EJ200SCE) has a neck pickup which basically makes it a hollow bodied guitar. Don’t sleep on getting some cool rock feedback at times as well. It also has a bridge piezo pickup that I can blend with the neck pickup.
Side note: Folks that don’t have decent electronics on their acoustic guitars are missing a lot of flexibility and useful options for recording and/or playing live --like a built in tuner, EQ controls, volume and phase shifting.
Lot’s of acoustic tone fidgeting on this track with regular electric guitar pedals: Zoom Open Mic: Bobbie D Medley. This guitar has a piezo pickup and worked out fine. I dial back the treble on this guitar to avoid the brittle nature of a piezo, but YMMV. Not sure which dirt pedal (probably a blues driver clone) I used or on which songs (for sure on Like a Rolling Stone), it was present but the drive knob was certainly not dime’d. Likewise I can’t remember if I recorded direct or off of a mic’d amp.
