JHS Pedals are one of my favorite guitar effects companies. They make some of the most sought-after pedals and offer some of the most unique and innovative pedal modifications. I don’t have any experience with their original products, but I have had a few of my own pedals modified by them – Boss TR-2, DD-5 and MXR Dyna Comp. Now, with that said, I do have one complaint…and it’s about the quality of their workmanship. It. Is. Sloppy…
music gear - pedals
Brady Cases Custom Pedaltrain-1 Case
Back in March, I ordered a case from Brady Cases for my Pedaltrain 1 to replace the stock hard case that it came with. The original case really wasn’t meant to last and it was only a matter of time before I needed to replace it. As you can see, it’s a lift-off style case and my board – Pedaltrain 1 – pretty much stays in the bottom portion of the case all the time (more about my board later). The pull-out handle and the wheels were options I decided to add on to make it easier to transport. Below […]
diy - music gear - pedals
RC-2 Stop/Tempo Switch Mod
Here’s my RC-2 that I modified. I found the instructions here and got this switch to install. The reason why I used this switch is because it was the strongest option for a momentary switch that was normally closed (NC). IMPORTANT: it MUST be NC in order for the switch to operate correctly with the RC-2. The wiring portion of the mod was fairly simple. I would say that the toughest part of the mod was cutting the square hole underneath the lid (not visible in photos). I’ve always wanted the simple functionality of killing the looped phrase with one […]
music gear - tech
TC Electronic Polytune Mini
I’ve seen this in person before, but I was, again, surprised at how small this little unit is. This is gonna replace my regular-sized polytune.
electronics - music gear - pedals
Walrus Audio Voyager
This is the Voyager from Walrus Audio, and it is quite the awesome overdrive pedal. If you love the sound of your amp and are trying to find an overdrive pedal that’ll preserve that tone, this transparent overdrive is what you’re looking for. I think my personal rule of thumb for choosing a good overdrive pedal is that it is transparent. It was actually pretty tough for me to compare the Voyager with other drive boxes that I currently own because I think all of them are actually quite good at doing this (Lovepedal Amp11, Boss OD-3, Maxon ROD 881). I spent a good […]
music gear - pedals - toys
My Mini Board
I know I mentioned that I’d be featuring my new pedalboard in upcoming entires…this is not it. At some point I realized that my days of acquiring effects resulted in a small stash of pedals that I didn’t use. So I wondered if I’d be able to make a complete and usable mini effects rig out of them. This is what came about from that curiosity. It’s mounted on a Pedaltrain Mini, and is pretty much really all I need to facilitate my style of playing. What it lacks, you’ll see when I feature my full board. Video demo coming […]
diy - electronics - music gear - pedals
Easy Mod
bought a pack of LEDs of varying colors off of amazon (3mm & 5mm) and decided to swap the LEDs on a couple pedals. for the Maxon chorus I had to do this because under the stage lights — with the stock diffused red LED — it would sometimes appear that the pedal was on when it was not. for the DD-5, I just did it for fun. coming soon: most recent pedalboard arrangement and new Pedaltrain case from Brady Cases.
music gear
MONO/Pedaltrain 1 Combo
What is this??? This is awesome. I’ve been looking for a good case replacement for my PT-1. The case that comes with it just isn’t that good. But until now, I didn’t realize that Mono made a case sized to fit the PT-1. Price is a little stupid, though…
cables - electronics - music - music gear - pedals - tech
Lava Cable’s Solder-free Patch Cables
My current set-up. But what I wanna highlight are the new patch cables. Previously, I had George L cables installed. I had been using them for about 8 years, I think. They were great, but there were a few occasions when the connections became insecure, causing me to spend anywhere between 10 and 45 minutes to figure out where the kink was. A couple of times the issue occurred right before a live set. THE WORST. Anyway, I was drawn to the Lava cables because of a couple things: 1) They had the smallest plug of any patch cable I […]
diy - electronics - music gear - tech
New Knobs
found these beautifully machined knobs at Mar Vac Electronics. the original ones were flimsy plastic – i had already kicked one off. Maxon made some pretty nice pedals back in the day (i think their pedals are still nice, but i haven’t tried them) but used unusually weak parts for some components. to make it worse, these parts are impossible to find. i already had to have special 1/4″ jacks sent from Maxon in Japan (!) to replace one that had cracked. replacing these knobs weren’t easy either. the shaft wasn’t a full 1/4″ cylinder. it was a freakin’ 1/4″ […]