Attaching An MXR EVH Phase 90 To A Pedalboard Without Sticky Velcro

If you read one of my earlier posts on attaching pedals to Pedaltrain pedalboards without sticky Velcro, I wrote about using a rather cumbersome method involving non-adhesive Velcro straps and nylon cable tie.

Two cable ties were looped around a pedal, torqued sufficiently, and Velcro straps were threaded through the cable ties from underneath and then tied to individual slats of a Pedaltrain pedalboard.

Did it work?

Sure.

Pedals were held in place securely and the idea proved gig worthy. But I'll be the first to admit it wasn't the most elegant solution. The cable tie was very visible, and there was the possibility of some pedal paint wear with prolonged use. It was also a bit of a hassle to remove a pedal or swap pedals around, not to mention that this method would only work with slatted pedalboards such as the Pedaltrains.

MXR EVH Phase 90

However, astute reader 'REM Tribute Band' certainly came up a much better idea and offered this in the comments section of that earlier blog post:

"I remove the screws from the bottom of the pedal, pierce some holes in some Velcro strips (non-adhesive) and screw them back in so the Velcro is screwed to the bottom of the pedal! Nice and tidy and no glue gunk."

A great idea and one which I've copied and used with great success over the last couple of years. And also something I've been meaning to blog about for some time now.

Baseplate of the MXR EVH Phase 90

So when I got my hands on an MXR EVH Phase 90 today, I figured better late than never.

The MXR EVH Phase 90 features a really cool paint job with the Edward Van Halen-approved black and white stripes against a red background. Even the baseplate of the pedal is painted in the same graphic -- not something you would want to stick patches of adhesive-backed Velcro, leaving gunky residue, or worse peeling off patches of the pedals paint job should you need to remove the Velcro later.  

MXR EVH Phase 90 baseplate removed

The Velcro I used was taken off a regular MXR Phase 90 which, when placed before my Dunlop Band of Gypsys FuzzFace has started to sound a little too radical. The EVH Phase 90 is a little less swooshy and more vintage sounding, especially with the Script button engaged, creating a pleasant and not overpowering modulation for single-note lines and riffs. 

This is how we do it!

So off went the Velcro from my orange Phase 90. 

In the picture above, you can see how grotty the Velcro has become, living under that pedal all this while. And just for illustration purposes, I show how I made the holes with a sharp pointed tool from an old screwdriver set that has been with me since the '70s! Notice also, how I left the plastic backing on the Velcro so as not to expose the adhesive.

After making suitably sized holes in the Velcro, I simply threaded the four screws through and screwed the base plate back on.

Base plate screws threaded through the Velcro

My estimation on the screw distance for one of the Velcro pads was a little off as you can see in the picture, creating a slight crimp in the Velcro. The perfectionist in me wanted to redo that particular strip, but then I realized that I had run out of white Velcro!

Base plate reattached with Velcro in place

In a similar vein to all things Van Halen, check out my earlier review of the EVH Striped Series guitar. We just can't get enough of that black, white and red paint job!

The Orange Squeezer And The Dynacomp -- A Tale of Two Compressors

Back in the 70's there were two compressors of note -- the Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer and the MXR Dynacomp.

Plainly speaking, the Orange Squeezer was the more sought after of the two by tone connoisseurs.

But the Orange Squeezer had a major downside. It wasn't a floor-dwelling stompbox but a small box with a right-angled 1/4" plug that connected directly to the guitar's input jack -- not a viable option for Stratocaster players because of the Strat's recessed input jack. It also wasn't very adjustable having just one flip switch to turn the unit on or off.

But it did sound pretty good.

The choice of top studio guitarists of the day such as Tommy Tedesco, Jay Graydon and Lee Ritenour, the unit's characteristic slightly exagerrated compression appeared on many a hit album. Ritenour was often photographed with an Orange Squeezer attached like a permanent appendage to his red Gibson 335.

But nearly non-existent marketing and poor distribution meant an early ride into the sunset for the original Orange Squeezer. Although there were attempts at re-releasing the Orange Squeezer by Mutron in the late 80's such as the one pictured here (Pic Source: AnalogMan), the lack of availability of the the original IC chips meant that similarities were little more than cosmetic.

Throughout the 70's and 80's MXR, on the other hand, was aggressively marketing its comprehensive line of effects pedals for the modern guitarist, including phasers, flangers, choruses and distortion boxes.

The Dynacomp, the company's flagship compressor pedal, was a strong contender and was the standard pedal that appeared on many pedalboards long before the mass marketing and profileration of the Boss pedal line by Roland Japan in the late 70's.

Fast forward to 2009 and Dunlop Mfg., the present owner of the MXR brand, has reissued the '76 Dynacomp in all its vintage glory.

With the original thin-script lettering framed against the familiar matte red box -- along with a true-to-the-original lack of an LED indicator -- this pedal is more than a mere cosmetic reissue.

According to Dunlop, the internal components are identical to the original -- from the handmade wire harness to the original out-of-production 'new old-stock' CA3080 IC chip. Because of limited availability of this chip, the Dynacomp reissue is being produced in a limited run by the MXR Custom Shop.

Visual Sound 1 Spot Pedal Power Supply

I'm a big fan of Bob Weil and his company, Visual Sound.

I own a couple of his pedals -- an original issue Route 66 overdrive (with the coveted new-old-stock JRC4558D chip) and the ultra-lush H2O analog chorus/echo. This guy makes a good product.

And Visual Sound's 1 Spot is hands down my favorite pedal power supply.

Doing away with conventional notions of bulky power supplies with toroidal transformers, the aptly-named 1 Spot handles up to 1700 mA (milliamps) -- compare this to the once ubiquitous Boss PSA adapters rated at 200mA.

Assorted multiplug cables are available as options, allowing one to daisy-chain pedals with standard 'barrel' power sockets. It's interesting to note that this connecter was pioneered by Boss/Roland around 1977 and is now the de facto standard that has been adopted by virtually every manufacturer.

For very old pedals, cable adapters for the early US-type 1/8" (3.5mm) are available allowing one to power 70's and '80s DOD, Ibanez, MXR and Electro Harmonix devices -- I successfully powered my original 1980 TS808 Tubescreamer on my pedalboard from the 1 Spot before deciding the 808 was too valuable to take out on gigs.

Also available are adapter options for Line 6 pedals and reverse-polarity adapters for Yamaha devices. And there's even a battery clip converter to power pedals that do not have a DC socket such as the earlier Dunlop and Vox wahs, or (if you have 'em and are so inclined), vintage Fuzz Faces and Colorsound Tonebenders .

I bought two 1 Spots five years ago and the one I've been using has proven very reliable through several hundred gigs and, touch wood, shows no signs of quitting yet. And I've not had reason to break out the spare at all.