If you are wondering how to build a guitar pedalboard, this is probably a more realistic example than one of those perfectly measured builds where every cable is exactly 12.7 cm long and apparently nothing ever goes wrong.
This pedalboard started for a very simple reason: I needed something I could use at a friend’s wedding. The original idea was to make it semi-permanent, or perhaps half temporary, and then let it evolve from there.
Which, if you have ever owned a pedalboard, is usually how these things go anyway.
I had a pile of pedals, patch cables, power cables, Velcro, cable ties and a board sitting on my living room floor. The goal was not to build the prettiest pedalboard in the world. I wanted something practical that I could take to rehearsals and gigs without worrying about cables hanging everywhere or pedals suddenly losing power.
Along the way, I also ran into exactly the kind of problems you normally discover while building a pedalboard: a power supply that did not quite fit, a broken daisy-chain cable, unwanted noise and a layout that changed several times.
So, here is how the whole thing came together.
Choosing the Pedalboard
The board itself is a T-Rex ToneTrunk.
The main reason I chose it was the two-level design. I usually sing while playing guitar, and I have never really enjoyed pedalboards where two rows of pedals sit on the same slanted surface.
When I am concentrating on singing, hitting a pedal in the back row can become surprisingly difficult. With the ToneTrunk, I can keep the pedals I use most on the lower row and place the less important stuff further back.
It sounds like a small thing, but ergonomics matter.
A pedalboard can have perfect wiring and the most expensive pedals in the world, but if you cannot comfortably hit the right switch during a song, none of that really matters.
The downside is that this thing is fairly heavy. Once the pedals and power supply are installed, it is definitely not a tiny fly rig.
Still, I would rather carry a slightly heavier board that is easy to use.
Installing the Pedalboard Power Supply
For power, I went with a 1 Spot Pro.
There were a couple of reasons for that. First, I wanted isolated outputs. More importantly, the available outputs actually made sense for the pedals I was planning to use.
There are higher-current outputs for digital pedals, several lower-current outputs and switchable voltage options. That gave me enough flexibility for a combination of normal analog drive pedals and more demanding digital pedals.
At least in theory.
The first problem appeared almost immediately.
The power supply was simply a little too tall to fit comfortably underneath the ToneTrunk with its original feet. I had some larger rubber feet lying around, so I installed those to raise the pedalboard.
I genuinely cannot remember why I originally bought those feet.
Apparently I was preparing for this moment.
The larger feet helped, but then I ran into another problem. The mounting hardware that came with the power supply was not really designed for this particular pedalboard.
So, some improvisation was required.
Mounting a Power Supply Without the Correct Brackets
My solution involved Velcro, cable ties and a rubber strap.
Not exactly aerospace engineering.
However, it worked surprisingly well.
I attached Velcro underneath the board and used cable ties to create mounting points for a rubber strap that runs around the power supply. The combination keeps the unit firmly against the underside of the pedalboard while still allowing access to the power cable.
It is not particularly beautiful underneath there.
But it is sturdy.
That is an important distinction when building a gigging pedalboard. The bottom of the board does not need to win a design award. It needs to survive being carried into a rehearsal room, loaded into a car and placed on different stages without the power supply falling off.
I did have to move the feet around a few times because the board was still slightly wobbly. Eventually, moving them further out and adjusting the mounting points made everything much more stable.
That process took considerably longer than simply saying, “mount the power supply underneath the board.”
Which is why I think showing the messy part is useful.
How to Build a Guitar Pedalboard Signal Chain
Once the power supply was mounted, it was time to decide what pedals would actually make it onto the board.
The final signal chain was:
BOSS tuner → Mooer Tender Octaver → Caline Pure Sky → Orange Getaway Driver → Revv G3 → Source Audio Nemesis Delay → NUX Atlantic → Harley Benton Looper → NUX Solid Studio
The BOSS tuner sits at the beginning and also gives me a buffered signal. With this many pedals and patch cables, having a buffer somewhere near the beginning of the chain makes sense.
The Tender Octaver comes next because octave and pitch-tracking pedals generally benefit from getting a clean guitar signal.
After that comes the gain section.
Then I have delay and reverb, followed by the looper and finally the NUX Solid Studio.
Interestingly, I decided not to build this around an amplifier effects loop.
I know that running delay and reverb through the effects loop is usually considered the cleaner option when using an overdriven amp. However, I actually like the slightly dirty character you get from running delay and reverb into the front of an amp that is already breaking up.
It is not as clean.
That is exactly why I like it.
Why the NUX Solid Studio Is at the End
The NUX Solid Studio gives the board another useful option.
With its power amp and cabinet simulation, I can use the pedalboard without bringing an amplifier at all.
That could be handy for rehearsals, direct recording or any situation where carrying an amp around feels unnecessary.
It also gives me some redundancy.
If something happens to the amp at a gig, I already have a way of getting a usable signal out of the pedalboard and into a mixer or PA.
I am not completely sure the Solid Studio will stay on the board permanently, but having that direct option available is useful.
Attaching the Pedals With Velcro and Dual Lock
For attaching the pedals, I used a mixture of Velcro and Dual Lock.
One thing I have learned is that you really do not need much Dual Lock.
In the past, I would sometimes cover almost the entire bottom of a pedal with it. That makes the pedal extremely secure.
It also makes removing the pedal feel like you are trying to separate two parts of a suspension bridge.
This time I used smaller pieces around the corners.
That is more than enough to keep the pedals in place, especially when the board itself already has Velcro strips.
It also makes sense because this pedalboard will almost certainly change.
The NUX Atlantic might disappear. The tuner might be replaced. The Solid Studio and looper may or may not stay.
A pedalboard is rarely finished.
It is simply temporarily working.
Wiring the Pedalboard
For patch cables, I had a mixture of EBS cables, some Evidence Audio cables from older pedalboards and a couple of RockBoard cables.
Apparently I also have a strange need for all my patch cables to look roughly the same.
There are probably more important things in life.
Still, thin patch cables make a big difference on a crowded board. They allow pedals to sit closer together, and the connectors do not take up unnecessary space between pedals.
Once the audio side was wired, the more complicated part was power.
Powering Digital and Analog Pedals
The higher-current outputs on the power supply were immediately reserved for digital pedals.
The NUX Solid Studio alone requires one of the 500 mA outputs. The Source Audio Nemesis could use one of the other suitable outputs.
The problem was that I had more pedals than isolated outputs.
That meant some of the analog drive pedals needed to share power using split or daisy-chain cables.
In principle, that is not necessarily a disaster. Low-current analog drive pedals can often share an output without causing problems.
In practice, things became slightly more interesting.
One of my daisy-chain cables was broken.
Because obviously it was.
Initially, everything except a couple of pedals powered up correctly. After testing the chain, I found the bad section and rearranged the power connections.
Eventually everything turned on.
Then I discovered another issue.
The Daisy-Chain Noise Problem
When I connected the Harley Benton looper and Mooer Tender Octaver to the same daisy chain, I started hearing some additional noise.
Disconnecting one of them stopped it.
Unfortunately, simply removing power from the looper was not really an option because it would also interrupt the signal path.
This is a good example of why isolated power supplies are useful.
Daisy chaining pedals can work perfectly. I have done it countless times with analog drive pedals. However, certain digital pedals really do not enjoy sharing power.
For the gig, the noise was manageable.
Long term, though, this is definitely something I would change.
The better solution is to rearrange the power distribution or use a power supply with enough isolated high-current outputs for everything on the board.
Cleaning Up the Cable Management
Once everything powered up, the underside looked like someone had dropped a bowl of guitar cables onto the pedalboard.
Technically it worked.
I would not want to take it to a gig like that.
I used small adhesive cable clips and cable ties to keep the power leads close to the frame of the pedalboard. I also used electrical tape around a few connection points that I did not want accidentally touching the metal frame or coming apart.
After some rearranging, the underside still did not look perfect.
However, nothing was hanging loose anymore.
That is good enough for me.
Cable management on a pedalboard is not only about making it look pretty. Loose cables can get caught when you put the board into a gig bag, and connectors can gradually get pulled out.
A few cable ties can prevent a surprisingly large number of annoying problems.
Testing the Finished Guitar Pedalboard
Once everything was wired, powered and reasonably tidy, it was finally time to plug the board into an actual amp.
This was also where the pedal choices started making more sense.
I had basically built the gain section around several different levels and types of overdrive rather than trying to make one pedal do everything.
Caline Pure Sky: My First Gain Stage
The Caline Pure Sky is the first gain pedal.
I am mainly using it to remove some low end, add a little gain and push the overall level.
The bass and treble controls make it surprisingly flexible for this kind of job. Instead of dramatically changing the sound, I can use it to shape what is already there.
That makes the Pure Sky almost like gain stage zero.
It is the sound I can leave on when I want a slightly tighter and more focused version of the basic amp tone.
Orange Getaway Driver: The Main Overdrive
Next is the Orange Getaway Driver.
And this thing immediately reminded me why I like it.
The Getaway Driver has the type of dynamic overdrive response I tend to enjoy. It retains a healthy amount of low end, responds nicely to playing dynamics and feels more like an amp-style gain sound than a heavily compressed distortion.
For a more traditional rock overdrive sound, this would probably be one of my main pedals on the board.
Revv G3: The Modern Gain Option
If I want something heavier and more modern, that is where the Revv G3 comes in.
Compared with the Getaway Driver, the G3 gives me a much more aggressive gain sound.
That means the three drive pedals are not really competing with each other.
The Pure Sky tightens and boosts.
The Getaway Driver handles the more dynamic rock overdrive territory.
The Revv G3 takes care of modern higher-gain sounds.
That gives me quite a bit of range without using any complicated switching system.
Source Audio Nemesis Delay
After the gain pedals comes the Source Audio Nemesis.
I already had several presets stored in the pedal, including a long tape-style delay and a reverse delay.
The reverse delay is particularly fun.
Whether I need a reverse delay at a wedding is a completely different question.
Probably not.
But that has never been the point of owning guitar pedals.
The Nemesis is one of those pedals I could easily build a much bigger setup around. I was already thinking about adding an external preset switch so I could access more sounds without bending down.
That may happen later.
NUX Atlantic: A Temporary Reverb Solution
The NUX Atlantic sits after the Nemesis and gives me reverb plus another delay if I need it.
For this board, I mainly wanted simple ambience.
A little hall reverb works nicely, and the plate setting also sounds good.
The Atlantic can provide another delay as well, although I already have the Nemesis doing most of that work.
Because of that overlap, I am not sure the Atlantic will stay permanently.
It works perfectly well.
I am just not sure I need it.
Mooer Tender Octaver: Probably Staying
The Tender Octaver was almost a last-minute addition.
I had tried one in a local shop and found it ridiculously fun, so naturally I bought it and found space for it.
With both the lower and upper octaves mixed into the dry guitar, it can create some genuinely huge sounds.
Add overdrive and things become even more entertaining.
Out of all the pedals I was unsure about before building the board, the Tender Octaver is probably one of the ones most likely to stay.
Not because I desperately need an octave pedal for every gig.
Because it is fun.
Sometimes that is a perfectly valid reason to keep a guitar pedal.
What I Would Change
The pedalboard worked, but I would definitely change a few things before calling it completely finished.
First, the power situation needs improvement. Daisy chaining some of the pedals created noise, so I would rather find a way to give the problematic digital pedals properly isolated power.
I may also replace the BOSS TU-3 with something smaller, perhaps a Polytune Mini or a similar compact tuner. The TU-3 works perfectly well, but saving some space could give me room for another switch or pedal.
An external preset switch for the Nemesis would also be useful.
Then there is the question of the upper row.
I am not sure whether the looper, Solid Studio and Atlantic all need to stay permanently. The lower row already contains the pedals that form the core of the sound, while the others feel more like optional extras.
That will become clearer after actually using the board for a while.
Final Thoughts: How to Build a Guitar Pedalboard That Actually Works
If there is one thing I learned from this guitar pedalboard build, it is that you should not worry too much about making everything perfect on the first attempt.
Plan your signal chain.
Make sure your pedals receive the correct voltage and enough current.
Use isolated power where it matters.
Keep your cables secure.
Most importantly, arrange the pedals so you can actually operate them while playing.
Everything else can evolve.
My finished T-Rex ToneTrunk is fairly heavy, the power setup still needs some work, and there is a good chance several pedals will eventually move somewhere else.
But the two-level layout feels really good to use. The core gain section sounds great, the Nemesis gives me plenty of delay options, the Tender Octaver is far more fun than it has any right to be, and I can even run the board direct through the NUX Solid Studio if I need to.
It is not the cleanest pedalboard build ever made.
It is not the most complicated either.
It is just a practical homemade guitar pedalboard that I can take to a rehearsal or gig and actually use.
And really, that was the whole point.
GET The Gear Mentioned in the post:
Boss TU-3
http://bit.ly/2WVoM7o
Mooer Tender Octaver MK II
http://bit.ly/33uzqVk
Orange Getaway Driver
http://bit.ly/2K1PGFo
Revv G3
http://bit.ly/2JZb8Lo
Source Audio Nemesis Delay
http://bit.ly/2PYSFCA
Nux Atlantic
http://bit.ly/32woVzs
Harley Benton Looper
http://bit.ly/2Nt6ck9
Nux Solid Studio
http://bit.ly/36IZcqQ
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