How to make a pedalboard breakout panel

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lublin
  • Start date Start date
Lublin

Lublin

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I recently sold a Pedaltrain PT-2 with a breakout panel which I installed. I received a lot of questions regarding why and a bunch of how to's, so I thought I'd post this thread. Before we get started, here's a photo:

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A8DCBDE1-67EF-4CA4-83F6-78127A549F7B-1400-000000D042543C7F_zps104afd07.jpg


  • You wire your front of amp pedals (tuner, overdrives, chorus, wah, etc.) between the guitar jack and the amp jacks. These effects will go in before the preamp section of your amp.
  • You wire your time-based effects (delay, reverb, tremolo) between the send and return jacks. These effects will go into your effects loop and after your preamp.
  • This allows you you use the 4 cable method on amps with effects loops and have your effects sound optimal.
  • On amps without effects loops you can jumper the amp and send jacks and plug the return jack into the front of the amp. All effects will go through the front of the amp.
  • This setup has allowed me to use my board for a variety of different amps and never have to reconfigure or rewire it.

The 1/4" locking connectors I used are from Redco:

PM-TRSTRS.jpg


http://www.redco.com/Redco-PM-TRS-TRS.html

I color coded them using these:

scdp.jpg


http://www.redco.com/Neutrik-SCDP.html

I did this a while ago, so I don't remember what size drill I used. Just make sure it's big enough to fit the jack through the Pedaltrain extrusion but small enough to leave some room to mount the jack's flange to the pedalboard. To mount the flanges to the Pedaltrain I used rivets. Measure carefully, twice or three times, even! Also, center punch the hole location centers to keep your drill from walking.

Also, please be sure to wear eye and hand protection. The aluminum can fly and the edges can get sharp. Don't want to damage those eyes or money-making hands!

Hope this helps you guys out!
 
very nice. I wish I could add those to my NYC pedalboard, but they would take some serious work to add them in. You have given me some ideas though. :)
 
blackba":hghg108o said:
very nice. I wish I could add those to my NYC pedalboard, but they would take some serious work to add them in. You have given me some ideas though. :)
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I'm glad to have inspired at least a thought!
 
Thanks for the step by step. I'll be doing this next week. :thumbsup:
 
I'm doing this, but don't have space for the breakouts, so creating a custom snake.
 
racerevlon":7mvvt6u0 said:
I'm doing this, but don't have space for the breakouts, so creating a custom snake.
Click to expand...

You can get input/outputs without the long tube - the wires solder right to the back of the plates.
 
Do rivets need to be used though? I don't suppose screws could hold it in place (nut and bolt might look a little cheap)
 
Kapo_Polenton":3hnrog6i said:
Do rivets need to be used though? I don't suppose screws could hold it in place (nut and bolt might look a little cheap)
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The ones from Tour Supply that Rack Systems uses have screws with bolts. Looks great.
 
Kapo_Polenton":1s526898 said:
Do rivets need to be used though? I don't suppose screws could hold it in place (nut and bolt might look a little cheap)
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I used rivets because there's no chance of it getting loose, unlike a screw or nut and bolt.
 
I dug this up for reference. I'm about to do this for my board, and I wanted the links. I figured I'd give it a bump for more people to see. We'll see how my little project comes out.
 
BeZo":1t32kz2a said:
I dug this up for reference. I'm about to do this for my board, and I wanted the links. I figured I'd give it a bump for more people to see. We'll see how my little project comes out.
Click to expand...

Very cool, let us know how it works out. Its on my list of projects, but I haven't gotten time to get to it yet. :(
 
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