Hands Custom Pedalboard Unboxing

[aleclee]

My board just arrived via USPS (they're made in Brazil). It's a big board (28"x16") and I was pleasantly surprised at how light it is. I got the soft case which has decent (0.4") padding and backpack straps on the back side.

Some of the features that appealed to me:

• Audio jacks and IEC power inlet
• Under-board area enclosed
• Top of board perforated for light weight and easy cable routing
• Side cutouts for easy grip

Other things that struck me upon delivery

• Supports in the middle of the lid to help keep it from flexing
• Catches on the front edge to keep the lid secured

I got a big board because this is going to hold my Quad Cortex rig. It'll be a work in progress but I have some serious ambitions regarding what's going on / in the board and how it'll be routed. Stay tuned.

 

[onwingsoflead]

Looks slick! Can't wait to see it set up

 

[aleclee]

Here's how I'm planning to have it laid out. Power supply, wireless receiver (L6 G50) and MIDI loop switcher will go underneath. I have extension cables to mount the G30's antennas on the surface of the board.

 

[Mortuary of Disharmony]

Good god man, that thing is beautiful.

 

[aleclee]

Good god man, that thing is beautiful.

Thanks! I’m very happy with my purchase. It wasn’t cheap but the price was in line with similar boards. Shipping from Brazil was reasonably quick and I did not have to pay any fees.

 

[aleclee]

I've now purchased all the extra goodies to get this together:

• Cioks 4 to power the Poly and other pedals not on my current board
• Voodoo Lab Hex for switching devices in/out of the loops

I should have everything on hand by the end of the week so I'll get to putting it all together this weekend.

 

[pickleweed]

great looking board. been seriously thinking about getting one

 

[aleclee]

It's starting to come together. Got everything laid out and working on hooking everything up.

The perforated top relieves weight and provided for routing but I did kind of miss the Pedaltrain rails for ease of cable routing. At least the big holes can fit multiple cables and even easily accommodate full-size DIN plugs for MIDI. One other consideration in cable routing that I hadn't run into before is having adequate slack for when the lid is opened. Definitely not a deal breaker but it's another thing to keep in mind. Made me happy that I'm not passing signal between anything in the bottom row.

For attachment it's a bit of a mixed bag: While there's more to attach to, it takes a different approach to make sure you have enough surface to stick to. To be fair, they provide zip ties for attaching pedals but that would probably make me crazy from a pedal alignment standpoint.

As I thought about things and actually laid things out, one change I made was moving the SoloDallas underneath and putting the second FreqOut up top. I never plan to tweak the SoloDallas once set and the FreqOut starts up disengaged so if one was underneath, I'd have to open the lid to get it engaged.

I'm glad I didn't plan to have too much stuff underneath. While there's a good bit of space, leaving room for plugs and cable runs as well as the structural items does constrain things a bit. I could probably fit a few more pedals underneath but it's not like it doubles the space.

 

[astrolux]

Looks great. I remember my own surprise with the extra slack needed for a hinged board and a patch bay. It's so obvious, but so easy not to think about.

 

[Digitalshrub]

It's starting to come together. Got everything laid out and working on hooking everything up.

The perforated top relieves weight and provided for routing but I did kind of miss the Pedaltrain rails for ease of cable routing. At least the big holes can fit multiple cables and even easily accommodate full-size DIN plugs for MIDI. One other consideration in cable routing that I hadn't run into before is having adequate slack for when the lid is opened. Definitely not a deal breaker but it's another thing to keep in mind. Made me happy that I'm not passing signal between anything in the bottom row.

For attachment it's a bit of a mixed bag: While there's more to attach to, it takes a different approach to make sure you have enough surface to stick to. To be fair, they provide zip ties for attaching pedals but that would probably make me crazy from a pedal alignment standpoint.

As I thought about things and actually laid things out, one change I made was moving the SoloDallas underneath and putting the second FreqOut up top. I never plan to tweak the SoloDallas once set and the FreqOut starts up disengaged so if one was underneath, I'd have to open the lid to get it engaged.

I'm glad I didn't plan to have too much stuff underneath. While there's a good bit of space, leaving room for plugs and cable runs as well as the structural items does constrain things a bit. I could probably fit a few more pedals underneath but it's not like it doubles the space.

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Those DOD expression pedals working out okay for you? I went through two of their mini volume pedals that use the same design, and they were decidedly not gig worthy. Plastic gears inside!

 

[aleclee]

Those DOD expression pedals working out okay for you? I went through two of their mini volume pedals that use the same design, and they were decidedly not gig worthy. Plastic gears inside!

Had em for quite a while but I don’t put a lot of weight on them.

 

[Digitalshrub]

Had em for quite a while but I don’t put a lot of weight on them.

My advice is to never ever open them up or adjust the big screw on the bottom. I had to adjust the bottom screw on mine in order to situate it on my pedalboard, and doing so threw the plastic gears out of alignment. Just using it once like that stripped the plastic gears irreparably.

 

[aleclee]

My advice is to never ever open them up or adjust the big screw on the bottom. I had to adjust the bottom screw on mine in order to situate it on my pedalboard, and doing so threw the plastic gears out of alignment. Just using it once like that stripped the plastic gears irreparably.

Thanks for the heads-up. If something happened to 'em, I'd replace with a Dunlop mini.

 

[DGTCrazy]

Looks great Alec!

 

[Selsaral]

Wow love it. Tempted.