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So I find myself in a little new position that many (most) of you are familiar with. I'm jamming with a couple people real regularly (read 1.5 times a week) and don't need a huge board for what we are doing. It's like surf punk with an old school vibe. I use tuner, fuzz, od, reverb, od. Even that is more than I really need, and the cool vibe around here is definitely just throw two pedals on the rug and plug them in each time. My board ive been using at home is like twice this size. Multiple reverbs, boost, delay, looper. All sorts of stuff. This leaves me a few options.
1) be cool. Just bring two pedals and a 1spot. (I don't actually want to do this one)
2) make my board into 2 boards, modular style. This might be my favorite idea, but there might be cons I haven't thought of.
3) just bring the big guy. Screw em. The downsides I see to this are theft and that my board is pretty tight so I sometimes mess up stomps like an idiot, which is lame at practice.

Thoughts? What do you do or what would you do?

I couldn't make the modular board system work. Unless I was using both of them, I always wanted pedals that were on one or the other boards. The other problem was that because of my signal chain I wasn't able to split the one board into two smaller boards. So it was a constant shuffling of pedals and I was never able to make it work to my satisfaction....

Go big bro

Yeah the only way I'll do modular is if I go dual chain. I like to put this rangemaster clone first with dual outs, then I can put a mixer pedal on the end of the home module. One chain for normal/most of my dirt, the other for mostly delays and modulation. I've been experimenting with this for the drone comp thing and really liking it, but I'm still at the huge mess on the floor stage...

IMO bringing more pedals than necessary in a band situation isn't usually a good thing. It can be distracting when you're playing, it leaves more room for things to go wrong technically which can cause unnecessary frustration (troubleshooting one shitty cable on a megaboard is not fun and a waste of valuable practice time) and like you said, the risk of theft. Also lugging around more/bigger/heavier stuff isn't fun.

I would just carry around a little case that you can tidily throw the appropriate pedals/cables/power supply in whenever you're going to jam, and it's still easy to change things up if you wanna substitute or chuck an extra one in there rather than having to dismantle a meticulously constructed board.

I mean at the end of the day do what is going to make you happiest overall but I think these little things can add up and it's not hard to get a bit too OCD about these things so it's worth considering.

I've had sort of this dilemma. I want my board to be as versatile as possible but I'm wondering if I really need everything all the time. Do I need 4 dirts when I'm jamming some chill stuff? Do I need a bit crusher when I'm playing doomy stoner rock? Do I need glitchy stuff ever, outside my bedroom?

That's all stuff I was kid of thinking about. Especially while we are working to get our first pile of songs tight the last thing I need is distraction of which reverb to use, of which probably no one will probably notice. So many options and I just want to jam so hard! The last time I had technical difficulties at a jam it was infuriating... Totally forgot about that part of the equation.

I've got a board that's streamlined for my band. Streamlined means that only the pedals I actually use for the band survive on the board. And there is some stuff I keep around in case a certain kind of project / jam comes up. There is a pedal perfect for noise, another one that brings the Doom etc. If anything like that ever came up, I'd either just slap another pedal in front of my regular board chain or use 1-3 pedals.

I think it comes down to what feels and sounds best. And for the style of music you're describing I would go minimal. One good sounding reverb plus an OD or light fuzz and I'd be set.

Word. I'm trying going hella simple tomorrow and then maybe working backwards. Cut so deep it hurts, then add anything I really miss. Sort of related, I've been trying to ditch the pedal tuner for a clip on to free up a pedal spot, but the pedal is quicker and my guitar goes out of tune so often I need that speed. Or new tuners...

I would just do a board with the stuff that you need, and if you deem it necessary to have a MASF Possessed, Glitch Computer, and a Bit Mangler on it so be it. Fuck em. (I know OP is dealing with tamer stuff, but the glitchy fuzz comment made me think about that) If you don't use something take it off, but something else on, or not. whatever works. Get on with ya bad self.

I haven't jammed with another project in awhile, but I usually just bring my whole board. Most folks go "wow thats a lot." If I am not doing my own stuff, I am usually playing lead or adding ambient textures to songs. Stuff that is not really "necessary," in order to play the song. Icing on the cake/cherry on top sort of stuff. My board reflects that. I just try to serve the project the best I can and pick the pedals that get the job done.

Yeah, I try to keep things on my live board down to stuff I'll use in a set. For the home/jamming/anything-goes type stuff I like to move pedals around too much to put them on a single board anyhow. Unfortunately, that means that sometimes I want something for messing around with that's already on my board, and I hate taking it off and messing with the settings... so in those times, I just try to find something close, or a workaround, or reevaluate the sound I'm going for to see if there's something else cool I can drop in instead...

I don't have many pedals anymore, but my gig board rarely changes and if anything has gotten smaller. When I want to jam I usually just gather up the pedals that aren't on my gig board to use in the jam.

phantasmagorovich wrote:I've got a board that's streamlined for my band. Streamlined means that only the pedals I actually use for the band survive on the board. And there is some stuff I keep around in case a certain kind of project / jam comes up. There is a pedal perfect for noise, another one that brings the Doom etc. If anything like that ever came up, I'd either just slap another pedal in front of my regular board chain or use 1-3 pedals.

I think it comes down to what feels and sounds best. And for the style of music you're describing I would go minimal. One good sounding reverb plus an OD or light fuzz and I'd be set.

Yup.

D.o.S. wrote:

phantasmagorovich wrote:I've got a board that's streamlined for my band. Streamlined means that only the pedals I actually use for the band survive on the board. And there is some stuff I keep around in case a certain kind of project / jam comes up. There is a pedal perfect for noise, another one that brings the Doom etc. If anything like that ever came up, I'd either just slap another pedal in front of my regular board chain or use 1-3 pedals.

I think it comes down to what feels and sounds best. And for the style of music you're describing I would go minimal. One good sounding reverb plus an OD or light fuzz and I'd be set.

Yup.

Pretty much what I did too (except I really didn't keep anything until recently).

I currently dont have a board set up but there was I time I made 2 boards (like....from parts) and I use them as a super-size board at home or take one to jam with. If its just jamming, All I do is add a tuner. Whatever is on the board is on the board. If project turn into a band or more-serious-than-just-jamming, I'll rearrange my pedals, but I like my pseudo modular approach.

In the future, I'm going to set up a TC Electronic board for "grab and go" purposes. It may not have all the toanz or have any indie cred, but it will be a swiss army knife of getting me through.

Once my EHX C9 comes in I will be making an attempt at a 2 board modular system. However I already know I won't be able to have the signal chain of my dreams and 2 boards, so we'll see.