Related: Universal Audio guitar pedal comparison: Which amp emulator is right for you? What to consider when buying the best pedalboards If you’ve bought a Pedaltrain pedalboard, you may have noticed that two rolls of velcro were included – the ‘hook’ and ‘loop’ sides. Some other brands also ensure that their boards come with velcro, so that you have one less thing to worry about buying before building your pedalboard. Pedal arrangement is something specific to you. If you’ve decided to buy patch cables, you won’t have much flexibility on the layout of your pedals. However, with a cable kit you can place your pedals wherever you like and still connect them together without difficulty. If you’ve started to accumulate a number of guitar pedals, you might find it difficult to manage them when playing gigs or rehearsing. That’s where a pedal board is ideal, allowing you to mount all of them onto a solid metal frame, typically with velcro. Along with patch cables to connect all of your pedals together and a power supply to provide them with consistent electricity, a pedalboard is the foundation. Using mini guitar pedals is bound to limit the number of controls featured on the device compared to full-sized equivalents. Nevertheless, manufacturers still find creative methods to ensure that their small-size stompboxes allow you to tailor the effects to suit your preferences.

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Who is this best suited for: The EP Booster by Xotic is a highly useful tool for any guitarist looking to ensure that their instrument is always at the required volume. This mini pedal is one of the most versatile stompboxes I’ve come across, and I believe that all guitarists would benefit from acquiring it.The BOSS TU-3 is the industry standard, not only accurate but practically indestructible too. However, TC Electronic’s line of PolyTune pedals are also solid and precise, and their PolyTune 3 units come in ultra-compact mini enclosures too. These particular tuners can also identify which strings are out of tune when you simply strum all of them at once. Pretty cool, eh? My Review: Ibanez receives many accolades for their range of electric guitars and basses, but I don’t think they get the credit they deserve for their reliable stompboxes. Their mini-series includes this chorus pedal, which despite its small dimensions produces lush, warbly modulation. Why it made the cut: Temple Audio’s pedalboard system grants users access to the flexibility, control, and organization required in the most demanding working environments.

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The standout feature of the Mini Cry Baby has to be its internal preset switches. I loved the classic 60’s wah tones of the ‘Vintage’ setting and found the ‘Low’ setting to be an effective way to remove some of the harsher tones from the pedal’s output. Daisy chaining’ is another method for powering your guitar pedals. Unlike a PSU, with this process you’re using a single power source to supply electricity to all of your pedals, connected by a single ‘daisy chain’. This method is quite popular, as daisy chaining is significantly cheaper than buying a dedicated pedal power supply. As you can see, pedalboards come in all shapes and sizes, and it’s really up to the user to fill up a board however they see fit. Everyone uses different pedals, and every musician has their own creative needs. In general, smaller pedalboards are great for taking to rehearsals, bringing on the road, and storing a streamlined effects setup. Larger boards tend to offer more cable management systems and accommodate bulkier gear, but this added capacity comes at a cost in portability. When all is said and done, determining the best pedalboard for your needs starts with the gear you’re bringing to the table and ends wherever you plan to follow your creativity. Why trust us Once you’re happy that they are functioning, unplug from the wall. At this point, you can use cable ties to group the loose pedal power cables together underneath your pedalboard. You can even tie them to the rails of your board for extra neatness! This will ensure that they are out of the way and not interfering with your patch cables, which brings us on nicely to the next section… How To Connect Your Pedals With Patch CablesMy Review: I’m a huge admirer of TC Electronic’s pedals. This prolific manufacturer produces devices that push the boundaries of stereotypical guitar effects. The Vortex Mini is a unique flanger pedal, which offers a surprisingly broad range of modulated tones. Who is this best suited for Phase 95 is the perfect addition to any guitarist’s pedalboard if they’re looking for a compact phaser pedal. It sounds incredible and leaves plenty of room for customization depending on your requirements. Guitar pedals are important tools in your sonic arsenal. Creating one pedal chain to act as a cohesive soundboard is vital for song writing, gigging and simply having a fun time playing your instrument. My Review: I’m always on the lookout for capable fuzz pedals, so I was eager to test the Mini Foot Fuzz V2 by JHS. Featuring a simple two-knob design with a single switch, I found the tonal versatility of this device a pleasant surprise. Mini guitar pedals that use a buffer aim to achieve the same goal of ensuring signal strength throughout the chain. However, unlike true bypass pedals, they boost the strength of the signal before it leaves the pedal, which compensates for any loss that occurs it moves through the chain.

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Learn how to make synth sounds without a synth and get to grips with one of the coolest experimental music techniques in our guide to No-Input Mixing Pedalboards also make it easier for the guitarist to access all of their effects easily without having them scattered around on different surfaces or having cables running everywhere that limit movement on stage. Who is this best suited for: If you’re looking for the finest analog delay tones to breathe life into your guitar’s clean sound, the Carbon Copy Mini is the perfect addition. It’s a great choice for guitarists who combine rhythm and lead playing and is compatible with basically every style and genre.

How Do I Put My Pedalboard Together?

Wah is next, as the sweep is supposedly wider when it is placed before your overdrive or distortion stompboxes. This only applies if you’re intending to use them in conjunction with one another. But c’mon, a wah is meant to be used with some grit! A pedalboard is a unit designed to contain your guitar pedals, making them easy to access whilst keeping all your cables neat and tidy. As well as providing ease of use, they’re also great for players who gig regularly, as you simply need to turn up, plug your guitar into one end, amp into the other, and away you go. How much do pedalboards cost? Don’t worry, we’re getting there! This is the last step before we explain how you put your pedalboard together. However, it’s just as important as the other things. The type of cables that you use to connect your pedals can also be the difference between good and bad tone, just like power or the effects themselves. Larger pedals offer undeniable benefits, but compact alternatives are a great way to make sure you’re maximizing the space you have available. The more mini pedals you incorporate into your signal chain, the more you can keep adding to your collection as your preferences change, which is inevitable for most musicians!

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Run your guitar/bass/keyboard through the first pedal, then to the next one, and so on until you get to the last one. The scrappy 18-inch-long Nano+ from Pedaltrain is a great compromise for musicians who want portability from a pedalboard but aren’t keen on cutting out equipment for the sake of saving space. Users looking to string together one of each of the most common effects pedals—a tuner, distortion, modulation, delay, and reverb—will find that the Nano+ is perfectly sized to include one of each of these essentials with room to spare. This combination of flexibility and “just enough” capacity make the Nano+ a good choice for an everyday pedalboard that can easily move from the rehearsal studio to the stage with minimum fuss required. Sleek, lightweight, and durable, the Pedaltrain Metro 16 is a premium three-rail aluminum board that offers plenty of customization and heavy duty construction for the guitarist who gigs often (or just wants a pretty-looking pedal station for their home).Typically the main difference between mini guitar pedals and full-size guitar pedals is the access to functionality. Mini guitar pedals don’t have as much physical space as their full-sized brethren, and thus you’re not as likely to find the same number of controls on their enclosures. It’s very easy to be envious of successful guitarists when we catch a glimpse of their gigantic pedalboards which house a seemingly infinite number of effects. It’s important to remember, however, that many iconic guitarists choose to keep their pedal selections simple to inspire more creativity. We’ve alluded to them already, but over the last few years mini pedals have soared in popularity. There are now many pedalboard brands that have jumped onboard with this surge, manufacturing their own mini pedalboards. These extremely easy-to-carry boards are designed to fit up to 3-4 standard-sized stompboxes, or between 8-10 mini pedals. These are even small enough to have as hand luggage on a plane! It may sound boring, but a tuner pedal is undoubtedly the most important thing to have on your pedalboard. No matter how great the rest of your pedals are, if you’re not in tune then you’ll still sound like crap! Two of the most popular phaser pedals in recent years are MXR’s Phase 90 and Phase 45. Somehow, they’ve managed to squeeze both of those devices into the mini pedal, without overcomplicating things in the process. This allows you to create everything from long, pulsating modulating to choppy swirls of phase.