Sorry if this has been asked before (it definitely has), but does the position of the power socket bother you as a user?

I've been rearranging my pedal board and the inconsistency of the power position between pedals has made the power routing a nightmare!

Do you prefer the power input to be on the top or side? does it matter to you?

I think the location of the audio input and output is far more important to the way the pedals lay out on a board than the power.

Just run the power from below and all should be fine unless you are OCD (Not the Fulltone pedal I'm talking here)

I had never thought about it before until literally today as I'm planning out my hardwood pedalboard build. Looking as some of these side jack pedals in disappointment, "Why are you like this??"

It's not even being on the side that creates a problem, it's being different from most other pedals that's the issue.

You really have to think your way through a pedalboard. I used to use the biggest one PedalTrain made, packed, with a few extra pedals off to the side (volume, looper, wah, etc.).

Obviously the order of the effects changes what they do and how they sound. They also activate in ways that require some planning. Some of my pedals had really close switches that needed to be on the outside of the board, and others that stayed on so they could be landlocked. Then power supply and cabling. Then the whole thing becomes a puzzle of sizes and shapes. A shitload of velcro and zip ties.

Took me a long time to get mine just right. But once I did , I could throw it together super fast and it was crazy reliable. Nothing moved; everything was anchored. It was a big setup, but I used it all and was able to create some really interesting material. I was behind a singer and sometimes acoustic, kinda like a Coldplay or Radiohead vibe (rhythm guitar). I had a big carry case for it.

Yeah not really one standard so it can all be rather tricky. The closest to a standard was input on right and output on left but really old pedals did just about anything.

Lately really small pedals are trending towards a front standard rather than sides because some are so small there isn't enough depth to do sides. This results in two "standards" as well as a sh!t ton of other odd balls from old vintage stuff to boutique to the generally weird.

I just took my pedal board apart to pack for moving. Pretty basic and simple with just three fuzz pedals, an overdrive, a tuner, and a Joyo American along with an ADA analog cabsim that are on the board but often not patched in.

It's going as checked baggage and I only have a soft case for the pedalboard so I just pulled them all and boxed them up individually so they don't get crushed by the amp head in road case that will be traveling in the same box.

I've got a mix of pedals with I/O on sides, front, and both front and rear but I have it figured out pretty well and it will go back together in probably ten or fifteen minutes.

I think guitar pedals are an abomination unto God, and to man. With all the different sizes, positions, and the horrible, hellspawned paint and names.

If I had my way, they would all be a standard shape, standard ports, industrial in strength and design, and any graphics beyond labels would be outlawed. This is why I rebuild a lot of them into new enclosures, or better yet into racks. Because who wants to bend down every time you wanna adjust a knob? MIDI foot controller for me mom, all the way. I can't be switching all different combos of pedals manually. I'm an artist, not a tap dancer.

The worst looking pedals of them all are the JHS pedals. They are creepy, the pastel colors are creepy, the graphics are creepy, the guy is creepy, his face is creepy, the YouTube channel is creepy, and "JHS" is a Christian reference. Creepy. I know you read this too ya creep, I once had a pedal collection as large as yours. But I grew up.

This is an outrage. I demand satisfaction. All guitar pedals should be built in a standard, modular size, which can go on the floor, in standardized pedalboards, or slide into modular rack enclosures. Just like 500 series, or Eurorack. And the boards/racks double as effects loops. If I get the chance I will form a thug squad and intimidate all the builders into compliance, in keeping with American tradition.

So basically pedals are just a pain thanks guys

Playing guitar is a pain too!!!

You have to contort your hand to make all these weird shapes while your other hand has to hold on to a little plastic or nylon thingy for the whole time without dropping it or if you don't use one of those things then you need to figure out how to play with all your fingers which is even more difficult.

After that there is all that music stuff you need to keep in your head like where exactly you put your contorted fingers and when to move them to some other crippling shape or you need to be able to move your fingers really fast across lots of single notes (and the correct ones) or people don't think you are very good at any of it.

And then there's the nail on my right index finger that keeps getting beaten up because the only way I know how to play is like a caveman trying to bash the strings into submission. I try playing more gently but I just can't do it. I put collegen in my smoothies and meditate on my fingernail growing but it's always so short and beat up. I try putting fingernail polish on it to make it stronger and protect it but it doesn't seem to help, maybe it's because I keep forgetting to put it on and don't do it enough... I don't know. There's just so much to keep track of.

What the hell were we talking about about??? Oh yeah pedals. They're cool. All different shapes and colors and designs. Some have really old unobtainium parts in them like geranium transistors. Damn, making electronics out of flowers now that's a pain and they can't even do it anymore so people have to scour the planet for these little three leg creatures that were made like over half a century ago and then charge some insane price for them because there are only like ten of them remaining in the world.

Maybe this is why I wake up at 4:00 AM because my brain can't stop thinking about pedals and guitars and microphones and cables and the things that are inside of them and how they work and which one is better... AAaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!!!!


Ok then I reread my post here before pushing SUBMIT REPLY because I hate getting stuff wrong and the word scour just doesn't look right to my brain. That is how you spell it I say to myself ?!?!? HEY SELF... Does that word look correct??? Ummm I'm not sure, it looks weird. Have you ever heard the Bill Cosby routine about the word Obey ??? He goes on and on about the sound of the word "obey"and that if you focus on it too much it seems wrong and it was pretty funny.



So... I Google SCOUR and it says it means to polish or clean excessively. NO... No that's not it. Oh wait a second further down it actually says "Does scour mean to search? Then my eye catches another definition on the page for scour: diarrhea in cattle it says. WTF ??? Then there is the word scower which seems to be the obsolete version of scour maybe that was what I was thinking of? British and obsolete words always seem to get into my brain when I'm tired. Oh, then on the right side of the page it says scour has something to do with bridges and concrete. Damn, I'm not sure if anything anymore... I'm posting this.

You ok pal? That almost seems like parody of me.

You forgot the biggest problem of guitar- it is never actually in tune.

Pedals are very unprofessional format. I appreciate it is fun for a minute, like Steve Vai said, it's like collecting bottles of hot sauce. But it really should be standardized.

Any word sounds strange if you say it over and over. Some more than others.

Doesn't matter. If you're using a cheap daisy chain power supply then it might, but I have a CIOKS SOL and a Pedal Power 3 and run dedicated cables with 1 dual output cable and zip tie excess underneath.

If you are still using a cheap daisy chain power supply, that would be the thing to upgrade first.

Yeah, fine now and back then too. Just my idea or humor. It made me laugh so I thought maybe somebody else might understand of at least find it funny.



It's an unintentional parody of probably just about anyone who spends too much time on these forums.



Truth, but I came to terms with that quite a few years ago.

Lightening up my gorilla grip on the neck as well as understanding the need for a properly cut nut and using graphite and Vaseline in the slots have tuning way more under control for me but you're certainly right that guitar is a very imperfect instrument as tuning goes and some things about it probably belonged in my rant.



I'm good with pedals all being their own special snowflakes. Yeah there are big ones that take up too much real estate on the board and ones that don't conform to standard for where the jacks are but I'm pretty ok with that stuff.

I've got a copy of a Roland Bee Baa that is as large as an original (three foot switches and about the size of three small Hammond boxes) so I have to put it at an angle on my board to get it to fit along with everything else but that's fine. I usually only use the brighter of the two fuzz settings on it but the boost function on it is pretty cool and useful. Keeping track of its settings with three lights that are either red or green can be tricky tap dance at first or if you don't use it regularly but that stays in my head now.



Words are weird, fun, and sometimes frustrating.

I really do like helping people out here when I can and a side benefit of it for me is keeping my brain working by typing out lengthy crap (kind of like people doing crossword puzzles) this seems to annoy maybe a few more people here than people who are appreciative of it but hey sucks to be them I guess.