I've been building and modifying pedalboards throughout my time as a gigging guitarist, from a few pedals tacked to a wood board playing fraternity parties in college to pro-level boards that a real touring musician would love. Genrally I am very creative with these, and I usually have new plans before I'm done wiring the current one. Sometimes it's just a better way to do something it already does, other times it's a whole new approach. Here is a little history.
Here is a fairly conventional board that I used with a band who gigged little but rehearsed a lot. It's got the basics: Amp channel pedal, tuner, drive, wah and delay. EQ for solo boost. Looks like everything is in front of the amp (Mesa F50 at the time) with delay in the loop. Messy, as I'd thrown it together for a one-off festival gig. Worked well, though reaching the drive pedals over the amp switch wasn't ideal.
Why stop there? In-between bands, I wanted to see just how much flexibility I could add for at-home jamming. This is the big Pedaltrain board, and you can fit a LOT on it. Little consideration of ergonomics, and definitely no concern about trying to switch in a live setting where efficiency and accuracy matter. Lots of fun options, including stuff I'd NEVER use, like the Metal Zone. More is Better! Had moved to an ElectraDyne, a REALLY great amp. Lots of drive and delay options. Carl Martin compressor as I was enamored with Andy Timmons at that time. Volume pedal added. A bit more work on the wiring, though it wasn't going to win any awards.
Wanted to try my hand at some automation. Remotely-located some pedals in a rack with a Ground Control. Worked well. Went through CONSTANT tinkering to add more and more automation. Never used it live, as the G System was released and I went that way.
Next band, and a new G-System. I LOVED that board, both an effects unit AND a controller, it worked super well and sounded great. I had SEVERAL versions. I was constantly modifying and perfecting. Better wiring. Drive pedals in the G-System loops, so I only touched the G-System, EXP pedal (wah) and the Morley A/B/Y (allowed for a different signal path for piezo). Wireless, with a Line 6 G50 that I still use.
Wanted to offload some of the mess on the pedalboard, so I built a little rack unit to accompany the amp. It cleaned up the system quite a bit and I gigged this a lot. Yet another amp (I went through pretty much the whole Mesa catalog in this period). "Upgraded" to the ib version of the G-System (yes, the black looked cooler). Had a Dunlop rack-wah briefly, but it was more trouble for little payout, so I actually gigged the EXP-wah only.
I skipped the AXE-FX, but when the AXE-II came out, I was all-in. Went for EXTREME stompbox-mode control and gigged this once before leaving the band. Sounded good, worked well. I used this at home for a couple of years before looking for a smaller alternative for a couple travel-gigs that had popped up.
Bought a Helix HX Effects. I really like this MFX. Amp control plus pedal switching in a REALLY compact, efficient design. I had to get away from the "1000 buttons" approach and start using Scenes and more intelligent planning to get what I wanted with fewer buttons. I learned a lot, and made lots of mods. I used this into a couple different 2-channel amps with clean and drive channels. I added outboard effects that were also onboard the HX Effects because you can't get all the effects all the time, so I compromised with a digital delay that was controlled by the HX Effects via MIDI. The Nemesis delay is an AWESOME pedal, highly recommended. Put the BE-OD in a loop to use as sort of a third amp channel. Compressor and drive in front. Reverb also relegated off-processor. The Mini HOF sounds really good! The Friedman wah is really great.
Continued mods. Replaced the HOF with the Collider (delay + reverb). Different comp, drive. Not better, just different. The PlexiTone is a favorite for sure. Messy build. Pedals piled nearby as I tried to add more...
Cleaned-up for a gig. Worked great!!! Output tube blew up during the gig though... I used this with a Mesa Stiletto ACE, Friedman Smallbox combo and (later) Runt 20 combo. Beautiful!
Still had the AXE-II at home, and used it a LOT. Wasn't thrilled with the tone, and did a lot of work with IRs and A/B with real amps. Then the AXE-III came out. I waited, but as soon as the FM9 was released I was on board. This is how I configure it at home. For gigs, I only take one EXP pedal for wah. I found it quite easy to move from the HX-Effects to the FM9, having finally learned how to use fewer buttons and using scenes. I use scenes EXTENSIVELY with the FM9. Plus NO AMP! So easy to gig with, and sounds better than I could have wanted. I still have my amps at home, and do a lot of A/B to get better and better tone. But this kills it live, AND at home. I use the FM9 as an amp switch control (with a KHE amp switch) and amp channel-switcher (with an AMP Gizmo) and for effects in 4CM at home. It works every possible way.
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