John Hendow

Over the years of working as professional musician my equipment setup has undergone numerous modifications and updates. I’ve always had a few effect pedals in my setup and this introduces a logistics challenge for setup. Back in the early 1980s I started to build my own pedalboards in order to manage my effects. One of my favorite pedalbards was a beautiful mahogany plank that I stained and carefully covered with multiple coats of spar sealer. Gorgeous, but a little heavy. As my setup evolved to include the Pod XT Live, I got away from using most of my individual effect pedals, thus a pedalboard seemed unnecessary. But slowly I started to add some pedals to my setup again… I carry a Crybaby wah pedal that I use in The Dudley Manlove Quartet, and of course I have my wireless receiver… oh, and a couple of other fancy pedals that I occasionally bring to gigs… and my strobo-stomp tuner… which brings me to the realization that I actually do need a slightly more organized pedalboard. Everybody says the 80s are back, and so is my need for a pedalboard!

I’ve started to put together a plan for the 2010 version of my pedalboard. The physical setup is something I’ve already started to lay out in Visio. I have exact dimensions of every item I intend to use on the pedalboard including the clearance necessary for the right-angle plugs. Geeky, yes. But by carefully laying it out in advance I was able to determine the ideal layout for the pedals. I’ve already ordered the pedalboard – a PedalTrain PT Pro – and will begin to assemble my new rig during December. This time I’ll be using some very specific items:

• Line6 Pod XT Live
• Line6 XDS Digital Wireless
• Crybaby Wah
• Keeley Compressor
• Way Huge Pork Loin “Soft Clip Injector”
• Peterson Strobo Stomp Tuner
• VoodooLab Pedal Power 2+

There is actually one somewhat “weak link” in my signal chain, and that is my Crybaby wah pedal. It’s a stock unit and has an unbuffered signal path, so even when it’s off the guitar is actually going through part of the circuitry. Given then work I’ve put into everything else in my signal chain, this is not acceptable. So what’s the solution? I’m going to send it to Robert Keeley for modification. When I get it back, the pedal will have a switchable second inductor, jack for external power, switchable bass response, external volume control and true bypass. I look forward to getting it back and putting it to work. In a few weeks I should have all the pieces of my system and as the official assembly begins I’ll be taking pictures to document the entire project.