How To Attach Pedals To Pedaltrain Pedalboards Without Sticky Velcro

I've always used sticky Industrial Strength Velcro to affix my pedals to my pedalboard. 

And it's always bugged me that I might be seriously depreciating the future value of my pedals with Velcro gummed to the bottom, covering serial numbers, country of manufacture and useful 'avoid exposing unit to excessive moisture'-type information.

Scouring the net for anything I could find on 'attaching pedals without Velcro' yielded one dude who used individual bicycle chain links, attaching one eyelet to the pedal baseplate and screwing the other eyelet down to the woodbase of the pedalboard.  An elegant solution by itself, and certainly rock-solid.

But I was looking for something a little more simple that would allow me to swap out pedals in a couple of minutes instead of a couple of hours.  Not to mention that the aforementioned method would be well nigh near impossible on the aluminum base of my Pedaltrain pedalboard.

Well, maybe not impossible.  But well beyond my limited metalwork machining skills.

But necessity, as the say, is the Mother of Invention. 

And since idle hands are also the devil's workshop, here's what I came up with, using plastic cable ties and Velcro One-Wrap -- Velcro straps of the non-adhesive variety.

I first wrapped two cable ties around the pedal, in this case a BB Preamp by Xotic, one before the footswitch and one in between the control knobs.  Doing this ensures that the cable ties will never slip out from the pedal.

I then got out the Velcro One-Wrap straps, cut them to an appropriate length, and simply threaded them through the cable ties at the back of the pedal. 

After deciding on where the pedal would be placed on the 'board, I wrapped the Velcro straps tightly around the appropriate aluminum strip.

The pedal mounted reasonably securely but with some side-to-side movement.  After torquing the cable ties a bit more with pliers and tightening the Velcro wrap further, I found the pedal was as solidly mounted as I needed it to be.   

I love it when a plan comes together! 

The last pic shows the final pedalboard assembly with both the BB Preamp and RC Booster given the same cable tie and Velcro wraparound treatment.

My Voodoolab RotoVibe, RMC wah and Boss volume pedal already have sticky Velcro I attached years ago to their baseplates so they are mounted to the Pedaltrain in the usual way. 

Go ahead and try this at home, folks!

And here's my earlier review of the Pedaltrain Jr. pedalboard.

Cryptic Message On Analogman Pedal?

This Analogman pedal had me doing a double take. 

Analogman Pedal

Silkscreened on the back of this innocuous, but very fine Analogman custom loop pedal is "WE DOPED AL SRIGHT".

Who is Al Sright and why was he doped? 

Intrigued by this cryptic message, I accessed the Oracle of the modern information age. 

But Google revealed nothing.

We have to get to the bottom of this.

It's time to we all head down to our local boutique pedal store to check out as many Analogman pedals as we can.  Don't forget to bring along a Phillips screwdriver so you can access the inside of each pedal as well.  Look out for any serial numbers that might coincide with a date from the last ten years or so.  Just because.

And go ahead and plug 'em into your favorite Class A tube amp while you're at it.  The mystery of Al Sright might be right there in the tone.  Listen closely and let the pedal speak to you.

After you've soaked in all that boutique analog juiciness, buy a couple and bring them home for closer inspection.  No more pedal real estate on that 6' x' 2' custom pedalboard?  Analogman pedals make great stocking stuffers for Christmas!

Let's make this a concerted effort folks.

Keeley Phaser Set To Stun!

Long known for their custom modded hi-fidelity guitar effects pedals, Keeley Electronics has just launched the first Keeley Phaser. 

In addition to its extremely lush sounding 6-stage analog phasing circuit, the Keeley Phaser also packs in Tap Tempo and a Ramp control to more closely simulate an actual Leslie speaker.  According the the Keeley website, while the phaser's signal path is purely analog, Tap Tempo and Ramp are controlled by "digital circuitry to feel like an 'Invisible Hand' turning the knobs".  Spooky.

While Tap Tempo mode enables hands-free, on the fly changes to the basic Rate speed of the effect, it is in Ramp mode that the Keeley Phaser really shines. 

When the miniswitch is set to Ramp mode, the dialed-in Slow Rate speed makes a gradual transition to the selected Fast Rate speed.  The speed of this transition depends on the setting of the Ramp knob -- the slower the Ramp knob is set, the slower the transition from the Slow to Fast Rate speeds, and vice versa. 

The Keeley Phaser's Ramp mode was designed to emulate the mechanical rotation of the classic Leslie speaker as it gradually speeds up and slows down, and this unique feature really makes the Keeley Phaser stand out from the pack.

You can check out the Keeley Phaser and other Keeley pedals at http://www.robertkeeley.com/

Why Didn't I Think Of That? #2 -- Modular Pedal Risers

This might be of interest to any pedalgeek who never leaves for a gig without a veritable fruit-stand of pedals.

If you have a single level pedalboard -- and two rows of pedals -- you've probably hit a control knob out of position by accident. Causing, for instance, a chorus pedal to warble madly out of tune during Message In A Bottle.

Or worse -- (insert personal experience here). Those clunky CAT workboots are not exactly pedal friendly.

Enter the Pedal Riser.

Designed to elevate the upper row of pedals on a pedalboard, the additional height lessens the likelihood of a clumsy boot heel or steel-toe from knocking out a pedal setting on the bottom row.

Pedal Risers are made out of 18-gauge steel and attach to the pedalboard with a very heavy-duty hook-and-loop fastener, which according to the company's advertising, is far stronger and more heat-resistant than the Velcro product we've come to know and love.

Pedal Risers are modular units -- use one for a single Boss or MXR-type pedal, or two, side-by-side, for larger pedals like the Line 6 Modellers. The space under each Riser also serves to conceal any unsightly wiring for a clean, professional look.

My only concern is how much additional weight all that 18-gauge steel is going to add. On a pedalboard it seems like every ounce counts.

Picture from http://www.pedalriser.com/

Roger Mayer's Voodoo 1 and the Virtues of Bi-Amping

I purchased a Roger Mayer Voodoo-1 pedal about 10 years ago. I stuck it on my pedalboard as the last pedal in the chain for its signal buffering qualities and set it for a slightly gritty boost and left it 'on' always -- volume at 3 o'clock, tone at 10 o'clock and gain at 9 o'clock. I liked the gritty boost because it sounded like a clean amp set to LOUD and on the verge of breakup.

For the uninitiated, Roger Mayer designed and built some of the pedals Hendrix used, most notably the Octavia which created the random octave generating effect heard on Purple Haze. It's no small feat coming up with a whole new category of pedal like Mayer did with his Octavia, and have it become a sort of cult classic.

But after a few months, for some reason or another, I relegated the Voodoo to the dark recesses of my pedal closet.

To my ears my Ibanez Tube Screamer or Boss Blues Driver sounded better -- particularly the Blues Driver for its clarity of tone.

With its design pedigree, the Voodoo 1 was a 'semi-boutique' pedal, with its more reasonable price being the only factor in its not qualifying for full-boutique status. Bear in mind that around this period of time, boutique pedals hadn't yet taken off to the degree they have today. And the ones that were out there were seriously over-priced and generally sounded like 'carefully executed farts' -- to quote bassist Michael Anthony. Damn germanium transistors..

Of the better known boutique overdrive pedals of note 10 years ago, the Klon Centaur and Fulltone Full Drive were high on the tone list. But I didn't think they were very good despite the hype and hoopla. I dislike pedals that color the basic guitar tone too much, or make everything sound like you're playing through a vintage Fender Bassman -- that dark, thick, clunky, fat for fat's sake tone.

I'll say it again -- the Tube Screamer and Blues Driver sound pretty good. Still do.

Getting to the point of this story (finally) -- I recently got out the ol' Voodoo 1 again to explore the dual buffered outputs of the pedal. I got it out totally on a whim prompted by a sudden recollection of the bi-amp possibilities of this pedal.

I fired up my Marshall TSL amp and Fender Stage 160. The tube TSL100 has really nice classic Marshall tones while the solid-state Stage 160 does a half-way decent job of replicating a clean Twin Reverb. The words 'fired up' when applied to tube amps always makes me feel uneasy..

Combined together via the Voodoo 1 set to the cleanest setting, I was amazed at the complexity of sound, even at the relatively lower (for me) volume I was playing at. Setting the Fender on a very mild overdrive and with the Marshall's preamp channel pumped, I got a clear singing tone and great note separation on diads and 3-note chords.

Playing around with the guitar's volume pot yielded a whole spectrum of colors. Single notes had definition and character and were easily nuanced by changing pick attack. Feedback also seemed so easily attainable at certain notes on the guitar, particularly on the upper frets on the second string.

If you ask me, bi-amping is the way to go -- it truly is 'the secret' as tonemeisters Lukather, Landau and Thompson will attest. And we haven't even scratched the surface of the stereo reverb/delay possibilities.

The Voodoo 1 might have a little voodoo in it after all.