Currently, I run two separate pedal boards. One consists of a Lehle A/B switcher, Cali76 Octaver, a flexible spot for either my custom built drive, OC-5 or MXR Bass Synth and a Trickfish Minnow preamp. I use that for smaller gigs where I don’t use IEM, don’t need anything fancy and usually also bring my Eich rig. The other board is very simple: Shure GLX wireless into a Line 6 Helix in a custom built case.
I’m considering rebuilding the whole rig by replacing the Helix with a Quad Cortex, and putting everything one one board.
Now, a couple of questions arise:
-How do I power all that? I have a Cioks DC7 for the smaller board, and if my research is correct I can use that to power all the pedals (I would get rid of the Minnow) and attach a Crux to the DC7 to power the QC. Am I correct?
-I want to be able to keep using the Lehle for shows where I don’t have to go wireless, and the Shure for wireless shows. Would it be the best solution to put the Lehle in one input of the QC, and the Shure in the other one, and then set up the presets in the QC to accommodate them both?
-If I want to keep using the drive, OC-5 and Bass Synth in some presets, would it be the easiest to put them in a Send-Return loop on the QC and set up the presets in the QC so that they are in the right place in the chain (eg. after the compressor)? I’m a bit hesitant with D/A-A/D conversion and subsequent latency.
-Has anyone compared the Cali76 in the QC to a real one?
this is what I came up with for now, based on the Rockboard Tres 3.2 board (it seems the board that would fit the best):
Where the MXR distortion is a placeholder for my overdrive, which is basically the same size.
If I power that with the DC7 and the Crux and put the Rockboard Mod3 Patchbay in the board itself, that should work fine, right? I’d put a flat XLR from the QC to the patchbay and wire the power output from the Crux to the Patchbay.
If you’re mounting your Crux on the underside of the Rockboard, then just run a cable up through to the QC directly to power it. The Mod 3 patch bay appears to only be a pass-through; routing power from the Crux through it seems unnecessary.
What I think you mean is, you want to plug an IEC cable (A.C.) to the patch bay, then route another IEC cable from the patch bay to your DC7, having a clean pass-through. This assumes that your DC7 is mounted underneath the board (along with the Crux).
That would be fine. Just make sure the DC7 can handle the different DC current loads for each other pedal on the board.
I’ve seen a bunch of people through the years posting about having grounding issues, etc with the rock board patch bay. Seems like a great idea, but probably not the best build quality or qc. Just depends if you get one that’s ok I feel.
Curious how well the soldering inside of these are considering how many people I’ve seen post about the grounding/noise issues. Other thing to consider is a lot of guitarists just don’t notice the extra noise their pedalboards have in general, so it’s hard to just trust random people online praising this sort of thing without actually using one. But they’ve had enough complaints online for me to be weary of getting one
Thanks all! I’ve spoken to a befriended bass player who has a lot of experience building pedalboards and he advised me to for a Pedaltrain as it is more flexible than a Rockboard, and check out the Looperwerk patchbays. They look great.
Also considering adding a Morningstar MC3 to function as a preset up-down switch for the QC. If I drop the OC-5 because there is both an OC-2 and an Octamizer in the QC, it would even fit a Pedaltrain JR (which I of course sold because I bought the Helix…).
I use a Temple board and have a DC-7 and Crux which is the way to go and saves using extra outputs. I have their IEC add-on so I can plug directly into the side of the board and power everything on with a single switch.
I’m not sure if you would consider replacing your Shure GLX with the newer + model (GLDX6+) but doing so allows you have a single connection into the QC and go either direct or wireless from the one unit so no A/B switch. There is an input on the unit that if you plugin a cable into, it will take precedence over the wireless. There’s still just a single out to the QC. I’ve found it very handy as it lets me choose whether I want to go wireless or not simply by just plugging or unplugging a guitar cable.
Alright a little update; I’ve ordered a QC, a Pedaltrain Classic JR, a Morningstar MC3 and some cables to patch it all together.
A befriended bass player advised Looperwerk patchbays, a German builder. That will probably work out fine, he also does custom orders so I can basically ask him to make one for me Can’t wait for the QC to arrive! Should be somewhere on Friday or Saturday.
The DC7 will be absolutely fine with the other pedals.
Can’t wait for the QC to arrive! Should be somewhere on Friday or Saturday.