the O.G. multi-FX pedal board

Part 1: the beginning

So this project started out as (2) effects in a 5" x 4" aluminum enclosure. It was going to be a Red Ranger EQ Booster and Green Ringer Octave pedal. I was going to do one side red and the other green and call it the 'Christmas Bonus'. Then I found an old car stereo amplifier that I no longer use and started dreaming up something a little bigger with (4) effects: Delay, Tremolo, Chorus, and Overdrive. That model remained nameless. Then I found an old single space audio rack EQ that my friend Pete gave me to gut for parts. The dream got slightly bigger. Now I had room for (3) different distortions and (3) modular effects.

... then one day I was staring off into space looking at my audio gear rack and the steel pull out shelf caught my attention. I pulled it out, removed the rails, and set it on the ground. What I had in front of me was something that sort of looked like a pedal board but was made entirely out of steel. Sparks started to fly in my head and light bulbs were turning on like floodlights. "I could fit so much stuff in this thing." My thoughts were racing. Eventually, I ended up with (4) overdrive/distortions, (4) modular effects, (4) secondary effects, and several other bells and whistles.

Part 2: the journey

I knew this project was going to need a lot of planning. I never imagined it would be as much as it was. The whole project took approximately 8 months to complete, working most weekends and evenings that I didn't come home dog tired from work. probably 5 of those months was in planning and preparation. Figuring out which effects to use, making all the PCBs, putting together parts lists and ordering all the parts, doing the graphic design work, etc, etc.

The board you see in these photos is actually Version 2.0. Version 1.0 looked pretty much the same, except the main part of the enclosure was black instead of silver and there were some significant changes in the guts. After much trial and error with the graphics and paint, I eventually ended up hard sanding all the paint down to the bare steel which is what you see. The graphic adhesive paper stuck much better and the clear coats came out much cleaner.

Once I had Version 2.0 completed, it still needed something. It still looked very much like a DIY project. It was at this point that I decided to make the wood siding piece. They were simply cut from pinewood and stained with a Pecan wood varnish. I also add the steel "U" rings on the front and when all was said and done, it looked pretty legit.

Part 3: the present

Even though I'm still building pedals and using them in my rig, this unit remains the staple of my setup. It has served me quite well.

The O.G. in completed form.

(4) modular effects: Delay, Tremolo, Chorus, and Phaser

(4) Distortion Effects: Tube Screamer, EH Big Muff, Fuzz Face, and ProCo Rat

(4) Secondary Effects: Red Ranger EQ boost, Green Ringer Octave, Orange Squeezer Compressor, and MXR Microamp Clean Boost

Graphic Logo. Because of the name, I wanted to put some of the original gangsters on the logo. So making their way on to the beat up old strat are Al Pacino as Tony Montana, Joe Pesci and Robert DeNiro from Goodfellas, and John Dillinger.

The Guts. Not nearly as pretty as the outside. Although Version 2.0 is much cleaner than 1.0 because in 2.0, I made the little PCBs for each of the stomp switches and I re-did the wiring in a way that was cleaner both visually and aurally.

This is the Orange Squeezer Compressor PCB. Each circuit has a modular wiring harness so all I have to do is unscrew the knobs and disconnect the harness and I can remove it for troubleshooting or replacement with a different effect.

I added a standard A/B Switcher for an external tuner. This keeps the tuner from adding any color or noise to the signal chain.

This is the output mode switch. Live mode routes it through the main 12 effects. Studio mode route the final output through an amplifier simulator circuit so you can plug it into a computer for direct recording. Silent mode routes the signal through the amp simulator and then through a headphone amplifier which then send the signal to a separate 1/8" headphone jack on the back of the board.

Each effect has a separate input and output jack which are arranged on the back like a patchbay. This allows the user to put the effects in whatever order they want as well as opens the option to add in external pedals to any point in the signal chain. Also, if the user has an FX loop I/O on their amp, this setup would allow him to plug the distortion effects into the input and then run the modulation effects separately through the FX loop.