Suggestions for pedal boards when you have no room

[Bill McCloskey]

With my Mullen 8x5, I’d like to get some suggestions on pedal boards and where to put them when you have no room at your feet because…you have 8 pedals there already.

Is there a vertical unit? Suggestions?

[Paddy Long]

I bought a nifty little raised pedal board/tray from Dan Rollins at Steelers Choice steel guitar seats ..... it's a fairly new product from Dan and he calls it the "SideEffects" ....and as the name suggests you can set it up right next to your guitar, or seat - with your pedalboard sitting on top of it .... or built into the top of it. The benefits being that your Efx/stomp boxes are right there at seat level and you can reach them easily by hand - without having to bend down to ground level to activate anything ... just loving it ... the longer legs on it are foldable as well so it packs down to a compact size for transportation. it also has a detachable lid so you can integrate your pedals into the unit itself.

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[Bill McCloskey]

That is a great idea, thanks Paddy.

[Richard Sinkler]

Minimal cost. It's just a board, a bracket mounted on the bottom to put on a small tripod speaker stand. I used to use the rubbermaid shelves you get at Home Depot for like $10. I don't remember the cost of the stand, but i believe the whole thing was less than $50. A friend made me the board used in this pic.

[K Maul]

I got from a music store a small tray that clamps on my right rear steel leg. It holds 3 Boss size effects or 4-5 mini effects. When I need to use my larger Pedaltrain board I use a toolbox from Harbor Freight.

[Ronald Dahl]

I made a small powered pedalboard that hangs on the side of my pak-a-seat, puts everything at my fingertips for effects I use with my steel.

[Ronald Dahl]

I made a small powered pedalboard that hangs on the side of my pak-a-seat, puts everything at my fingertips for effects I use with my steel.

[Dave Grafe]

I use my steel case as a stand for my pedal board when there is room. If space is tight I set it on the open side compartment of the packseat, although that can be a tight squeeze. The late Jonn Light made a pair of brackets that allowed him to hang his pedal board on the side of the seat

[Brooks Montgomery]

Lately I’ve been using two very small pedal boards, one for pedal steel, one for dobro.

I use raised rubber floor mats (that I guess are for warehouses and such) and I cut the big square mat pieces to the smaller sizes I need. They are perforated and have hollow spaces underneath for wiring. Velcro and/or zip ties.

I set them on my Zum Encore case which lays to the right of my guitar and seat, and it’s just high enough that I can manipulate the knobs with my picking hand, and the case is pretty narrow so it doesn’t take up much stage real estate.

[Donny Hinson]

My humble suggestion is simply to do without them. I've been to steel shows and big-star concerts out the ying-yang, and some of the best sounds were just a volume pedal/steel, maybe one stomp-box, and an amp. I've got a ton of stomp boxes gathered over the years, but never used more than one or (rarely) two at a time.

[Dave Grafe]

My humble suggestion is simply to do without them. I've been to steel shows and big-star concerts out the ying-yang, and some of the best sounds were just a volume pedal/steel, maybe one stomp-box, and an amp. I've got a ton of stomp boxes gathered over the years, but never used more than one or (rarely) two at a time.

Thet is all well and good if all you are playing is traditional country music but what do you do when the call on the stage is Allman Brothers or Pink Floyd? I played for decades with no effects other than reverb but there are plenty of times now when the sound of an an organ or overdriven steel is more effective than a clean steel sound. Tools for a job to be done well.

[Richard Sinkler]

My humble suggestion is simply to do without them. I've been to steel shows and big-star concerts out the ying-yang, and some of the best sounds were just a volume pedal/steel, maybe one stomp-box, and an amp. I've got a ton of stomp boxes gathered over the years, but never used more than one or (rarely) two at a time.

Thet is all well and good if all you are playing is traditional country music but what do you do when the call on the stage is Allman Brothers or Pink Floyd? I played for decades with no effects other than reverb but there are plenty of times now when the sound of an an organ or overdriven steel is more effective than a clean steel sound. Tools for a job to be done well.

I couldn't agree more. I play in multiple bands, and sometimes it calls for non-traditional steel guitar sounds on certain songs.

[Donny Hinson]

My humble suggestion is simply to do without them. I've been to steel shows and big-star concerts out the ying-yang, and some of the best sounds were just a volume pedal/steel, maybe one stomp-box, and an amp. I've got a ton of stomp boxes gathered over the years, but never used more than one or (rarely) two at a time.

Thet is all well and good if all you are playing is traditional country music but what do you do when the call on the stage is Allman Brothers or Pink Floyd? I played for decades with no effects other than reverb but there are plenty of times now when the sound of an an organ or overdriven steel is more effective than a clean steel sound. Tools for a job to be done well.

Well, I've never heard anything by The Allmans that was more than overdrive and reverb. Perhaps you could enlighten me on a few songs? (sidebar: Every band that does "Jessica" now uses echo or slapback, along with overdrive, and maybe compressor, but I don't hear those things on their recordings?) And for Pink Floyd? My MXR Phase 100 and a fuzz (along with ample amp reverb) will provide plenty of spaced-out, etheral sounds.

I guess I'm different that way, I like the simple approach - less to buy, less to schlep around, and less to worry about when you're on stage and all of a sudden, - no sound! In truth, was never impressed by a player's gear. And actually, I think it's a limiting mindset that dictates "You gotta have a new gizmo to get a new sound", or "You gotta add a pedal or lever to get a new lick or chord". It's the same as thinking "You gotta have an Emmons guitar to sound like Buddy Emmons". Sorry, but I don't go along with that. Be creative! Use some imagination! Yes, I've played my share of straight whiny country and Bakersfield, but I was also lucky enough to play with musicians that played everything from Billy Joel to Badfinger, and from The Music Machine to Bruce Springsteen, and none of the lead players in those bands had a pedalboard. I never heard any complaints, and I thought the stuff I played behind the group sounded pretty good. One thing for sure, it wasn't country-sounding!

Learn the feel, learn the style, learn the techniques, and get away from the idea that a band's sound comes from a box, and if you don't have a certain box that people won't appreciate what you're doing.

[Dave Grafe]

I understand your sentiment Donny, but I've got a show to play and the more I can do to make it sound really fabulous the happier everyone is going to be, including me. If I had a paying gig playing straight ahead classic country and western music I would leave the pedal board at home, but paying folks today want a bit more than that. The bands I am playing with in the Hudson River Valley have huge song lists and in that context it serves for me to bring multiple voices to the party.

[Brooks Montgomery]

Donny, I love playing straight into an amp and do when I can (usually just practice).
Many of these pedal boards function as “the amp” with line out to the PA.

In my case, I’ve found it simpler to separate my little soundboards, because my dobro is dependent on the Jerry Douglas Aura box to mate with the Nashville PU. I suppose I could get rid of the tuner pedal and reverb pedal and I hardly use the Earth Drive. But why would I?

A mic for the dobro could work and did in the past, but there’s not many dobro players that are playing to mics in electric bands anymore—because they feedback.

My pedal steel pedal board is my amp, literally, along with delay and verb pedals. I guess I could get rid of the delay and reverb—but why would I?

[Donny Hinson]

I think we got derailed here? Seems some got the impression I'm not fond of using EFX pedals. (I've probably used far more different sounds and techniques than most other steelers have!) The question "What to do when you don't have room for a pedal-board" somehow seems to have changed to whether or not to use EFX pedals. Of course, if you want to use 5 or more EFX pedals but have no room for a dedicated pedal-board setup, then you either have to get them off the floor (by mounting them on your guitar or packseat), or just select the 2 or 3 most versatile pedals you have. (I suppose you could also buy one of those big, multi-effect pedals, but they also seem to take up a lot of real estate.)

Normally, when I was playing regular, I'd carry an MXR Phase 100, a fuzztone, and maybe a digital delay, MXR B9 Organ Machine, or auto-wah. And if the song wanted something the fuzz and phaser couldn't do, I'd unplug the phaser and plug in another pedal. It's not a big deal to swap in one pedal, only takes a few seconds. In addition, there are also other ways to get different sounds using different bars, different bar techniques, and using guitar picking and playing techniques. Few players I've seen seem to take full advantage of what they already have.

In short, I think you can come up with a pretty varied pallatte of sounds using minimal gizmos when there's little room on stage.

[David Friedlander]

I just got this mike stand table that fits on the leg. I’m in heaven!
https://www.gravitystands.com/en/produc ... /ma-tray-2
I can easily switch on the effect in one beat.



Mod note: I fixed the link and added an img link to the photo on that website.

[Brian Spratt]

I use a couple stacked milk crates. Handy for transporting gear (I don't use a pack-a-seat) and then the pedalboard sits right on top.

setup2jpg.jpg

[David Friedlander]

I’d love to attach a pic from my phone but I can’t figure out how to do it.
The tray is stable and in a perfect position

[Marty Broussard]

Here’s another possibility that might work for some folks.

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[Karl Paulsen]

I keep my pedals at the same height as my steel, just to my right.



It's a keyboard stand that I shortened. The board i built myself to fit in a particular case I had.

It proved very useful in my past group where I was sometimes rapidly switching during a song.

[Andre Dardeau]

I drilled two holes in a pedaltrain nano + and bolted in two adjustable camera clamps which attach easily to the leg of my steel, this puts it on the right side of the guitar below the cutout for the tuners. The only hiccup is the clamps are conductive so the whole thing ends up sharing a ground. I put some masking tape on the legs where the clamps attach and the hum went away. It took me way too long to figure that one out. I’d post a picture but I have no idea how to insert one.

[Andre Dardeau]

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[Patrick Huey]

Dave
My friend Jim Lindsay took a small flat rectangular piece of wood and measured the space between his front leg and back leg probably a foot or so, from where the leg meet the body and then took a hole saw a little larger in diameter than the legs and cut two holes on one side of the board about a half an inch from the edge spaced apart the width of the first measurement he took. He then took his legs off slipped the top of the legs through the holes in the board screwed the legs back into the steel and flipped it over.Board slid down Perfectly level and stopped at that exact distance between the legs that he had measured because of course the legs get wider apart. Applied Velcro and routed a few holes for bars in it too

[Patrick Huey]

Another option I use myself is a small all wood no w/ unpadded seat piano bench with flip top lid for at home. 3” wide Velcro and the flip top lid with storage underneath is convenient