🎵 Legendary Update to Pedalboard

⚠ Little yellow got a new friend! I wonder who that is...

Sup guys! Have you guessed what that green little pedal is? That's right folks. It is the legendary Ibanez TS9 Tubescreamer❗ This new overdrive (same say its distortion but I'll get back to this later) pedal is my latest addition to my humble pedalboard setup. In this lengthy post, I will talk all about my pedalboard cause it changed tremendously since the last post. So brace yourself, time for gear-crazy mode!

So my last post was on Monday, and it doesn't really seem like my style of work to publish another post just 3 days later. But this post is going to be one of my most important posts of all time. Let's recap abit from my last post... On Monday, after a whole lotta trouble and delay, I finally received my power cables. That night, I made up my mind to start working on my pedalboard seriously. I can like finally power all my pedals in isolation, tremendously cutting down background buzz compared to a daisy chain. But I realised my power cables aren't long enough. Fear not, I didn't get the wrong ones this time. Truth is, my power supply is ON TOP of the pedalboard. If I were to place it in the middle, it would mess up my signal chain, meaning then my patch cables wouldn't be long enough. If I place the power supply at either ends, the pedal on the opposite end couldn't be reached. Just when I finally thought all is well. The only sensible, and correct, way of solving this issue is mounting the power supply underneath. Actually, I wanted to do that for a long time already. It's just that I didn't know how long I would be holding on to the Voodoo Lab PP2+. Now that I have secured the power cables, I am confident I would be using the PP2+ all the way. So next comes the mounting process... 🛠

Mounting is actually quite easy, but tough for me because I misplaced the 4 screws for my brackets. :( That time I bought my PP2+, I remember I had the 4 screws along with the brackets, but I just couldn't find it anywhere. Got my dad to bring over the drill so I had some spare time to hunt for my screws. It wasn't until yesterday night when I did get out of my house (I was feeling lazy on Tuesday so I stayed home throughout) to buy my screws. First set of screws, $0.80. Following YouTube tutorials, I pasted masking tape over the black metal so I could see my pencil markings. Drilled the holes in and then realised my screws went right through. First set failed. Went back to the shop to get my second set. Same thing happened!!!!! :( Got my third set which finally fits! And finally I mounted my power supply. Feels awesome when I just look at it from above. Of course, the fun part is now I get to rearrange my pedals! 😂

While researching on the order of effects, I chanced upon a familiar green pedal on Carousell (Don't ask me how Carousell is related to research, I also don't know). An Ibanez TS9 is going at $110. I offered that guy $90, knowing that he has listed the pedal there for quite some time already and hence no one is interested. Of course, he accepted my offer and we dealt today. The thing is, this TS9 is quite new, except for the fact that the paint has chipped off in some places. I have long heard the positive reviews on this legendary pedal and everytime I hear it, I tell myself I'm gonna have it one day. And that one day, is today. 🎊 🎉

I was too eager to test the sound that I plugged my AC adapter straight into the pedal. I was quite confused because it made no difference to my clean sound. Then it hit me, the AC adapter is for my Line 6 M5 only. LOL. So I managed to find a spot to slot in my TS9 on my pedalboard. Here comes the annoying part. Should I put the TS9 before or after my OS-2? So I went online and read though tons of opinions. There seems to be no "wrong" answers to my question. Quite a headache. Instead, I asked Mr. Google a different question. Is TS9 an overdrive or distortion? Most results state that it's an overdrive and I even learnt how to differentiate each sound. Yes it does sound like TS9 is an overdrive to me. So done, overdrive before or after distortion? Assuming that now I will rarely operate OS-2 as a pure overdrive pedal since I got the TS9, my OS-2 would function as a half-overdrive-half-distortion or a pure distortion. With the OS-2 leaning more towards the distortion side, I will classify it as a distortion pedal for now. Next comes the order. Well, when I put my overdrive BEFORE distortion, I couldn't hear much of a difference if the TS9 is on or off. So I tried putting the overdrive AFTER distortion, and it worked quite well. The TS9 sort of boosts my sound that is coming out of the OS-2, which is what I currently need since I don't have a boost pedal yet. And with that decision made, the signal chain is more or less complete. 😊 Here's the flow:

First in my signal chain is my Wah pedal, followed by my CS-3 compressor. This is quite a logical placement since there could be lots of unbalanced sound coming out of the Wah pedal for the compressor to even it out.

After the compressor is my 'dirty' pedals. Since I have decided OS-2 shall go first, there you have it. Soundcheck shall follow soon.

Out of the TS9, next will be my Line 6 M5. Well, this is quite an awkward pedal currently but I have decided to use it as a chorus/phaser/flanger pedal. It would make most sense to put it after the dirty pedals since the sound is still quite simple at this point. 

Power for the M5 is also a big issue. Supposedly, I need to get a current doubler wire and power up my M5 via output 5 and 6 on the Voodoo Lab because it requires 500mA. But that would mean I am sacrificing 2 outputs for one effect. Doesn't make sense so I'd rather power it up via the adapter and one extra plug instead. Next, the signal would run into my delay pedal then into my reverb (standard placement here no comments), and then out into my amp.

For now, this would be all I need. Welcome to pedalboard version 1.2!!! If fate allows, the next few installments would consist of a Noise Gate pedal, a Boost pedal, probably a volume pedal, and definitely a wider range of patch cables. This patch cable problem is my last problem with the pedal arrangement. Some are too short, some are too fat, it's just so irritating. 😤

Next, I have something amazing to show you wonderful guitarists out there. As I was attaching the hook side of the velcro onto my TS9, I noticed the excess amount of loop side left behind. I begin to wonder what can I do with those unused loop side. Then I also noticed some of my guitar accessories staring right at me. 👀

Basically, since I removed my pick holder from my Bullet Strat, I was wondering where I could put it next. Then the shape of the string winder hit me. Underneath my Pedaltrain Classic 2, a mounted PP2+ only took like 30% of the space there. What if I could mount more stuff underneath the pedalboard, while maintaining enough space of the wires to occupy? And then it hit me, these 2 accessories shall be velcroed under the board. Here's how it looks like:

I call this "Things you put underneath your pedalboard!"

See how the string winder fits the shape of that corner right there? It stays well hidden to the audience if you are on stage and only you know it's there. (Something like the Gibson tuner ring) Quite handy if you need to restring and realise you didn't pack a string winder along because of its weird shape. Then, on the other side, a pick holder is well hidden too. Afraid that it will spoil the look on your premium quilt-top guitar? Or disrupt your tuner keys behind your headstock? No problem, just put it under your pedalboard. Don't like it when you are rearranging your pedals and it messes with your space? Fear not, it's only velcro. :) Pretty neat trick huh! 😎

I don't think anyone have tried this before since I researched about what people would put under their boards, and all the results are just power supplies. This might start something new because it kills multiple birds with one stone! What would you put there? I'll tell you again if I have a new idea on these neat and handy tricks! 😄

Thank you so much for surviving till the end of this crazy long post. Hope you have learnt something new just like I have for the past few days! After so much, this is yet the beginning of this wonderful music journey! I wonder what's in store for me next! 😆

Edwin Ang

8th September 2016

Tags: PBv1.20

Update as of 26th January 2018: Ibanez TS9 is no longer with me. It has been sold for $110.