Should I get a Pedaltrain? Decimator? Or what?

[mr_sooty]

Hey guys, new here. Looking for some thought's on the following dilema.

Ok, I've just sold my US Deluxe Strat, and my '57 Reissue Strat is as good as sold, and I have bought a new '08 US Std Strat, and I'm gonna have a fair bit of cash left over. So my thoughts have turned to my pedalboard. Here's my current board:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v176/ ... ard002.jpg

I have on the way from the States a Seymour Duncan Shapeshifter (tap tremolo), a BBE Sonic Stomp, an MXR Carbon Copy, an a Korg Pitchblack Tuner. Believe it or not, I could actually fit all this on my current board, because the CT6 Tuner, the AB Box, the TR2, and the Amp footswitch will all be taken off. (I've been practising
placement scenarios with carboard cut-outs!)

But my current setup has some issues. Firstly, I'm powering it all with a Godlyke PA9 adaptor, which works OK, but can pick up some interference. In fact I even get radio signals on occasion. Sometimes if I unplug my guitar, my PA9 can pickup Newstalk ZB and broadcast it through my amp! Plus, I have a Strat, which can be noisy. I've sheilded it well, and it's quiet for a Strat, but in a noisy environment it still picks stuff up. I was thinking of getting an ISP Decimator. I've actually figured out that I could fit that on too, along with the rest. But noise supressors have their own issues. It can affect your modulation pedals negatively for example, like my Phase 90. Plus, I've heard the Decimator actually adds noise when it's turned off, and because my other guitar is a Humbucker equipped Reverend, I wouldn't need the noise supressor all the time, and would probably want to turn it off.

One idea would be to get a couple of Artec Power Bricks for power, ( http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =151705720 ). They power up to 8 pedals with a max of 1 amp. But I'm gonna have 12 pedals, or 11 without the Decimator, plus I couldn't fit the Artec's on my current board. Or I could fit just one Artec, but without the Decimator, but I'd still need to daisy chain something.

If I have two Artec's, I'll have two adaptors, so I'll need a power strip, and there's definitely no room for one of those. But under a Pedaltrain, I believe you can fit a power strip, and those Artecs.

But the negatives of the Pedaltrain are:

I'd have to get the biggest one. My current board is about 24.5" long. Quite big, but not too big. The medium sized Pedaltrain would be too small (it's just about long enough but only 12" wide), so I'd have to get the Pro, which is 32" long. I'm thinking that could be a bit big, and I'm worried I might get complaints about the amount of room I'm taking up on the stage at church.

The other negative is that while I could afford the pedaltrain and the Artec's, that would be all I could afford. I've been thinking about getting a practise amp because my beloved Peavey Classic 50 is quite big, and a bit of a pain when your just having a 15 minute practise or something. I was thinking I might get a Blues Jr. But if I got a Pedaltrain there'd be no money left for that.

I know it's a rather blessed position to be in, but I'm having quite a tough time figuring our what to do. Should I get a Decimator, or is it going to hurt more than it's going to help? Should I get a Pedaltrain? Or a Practise amp (which is only going to really come in handy sometimes).

The other option is to cut back the pedals. I probably don't really need the Carbon Copy (I do have a DD-20 after all), but it'll be fun to have for the oscillation and all that. If I flagged the Carbon Copy and the Decimator, I'd only have ten pedals to power.

Argh. I dunno. I'm also gonna get some George L's cables by the way. What do you guys think about this dilema? Should I get a Decimator, or is it going to hurt more than it's going to help? Should I get a Pedaltrain? Or a Practise amp (which is only going to really come in handy sometimes)?

[Michael]

Really sorry that this is an off-topic reply, but I have to ask.. what do you think of the '08 Strat? Keen to get one myself and haven't heard a lot about them.

[mr_sooty]

Really nice. The neck feels very similar to the '04 US Deluxe I had. Very nice to play. The case is really decent too, a big improvement on the previous SKB. Tone is good, a bit of pickup height adjustment and I got it sounding pretty much like my 20 year old 57 reissue. Only things I don't like are the tuners (got some Klusons coming from guitarparts) and the fact that I had to do a fair bit of setup work, mainly because they shipped detuned with 9's, and I use 11's. Good gat though.

Back to the topic at hand....

[slash-ed]

I want pictures of the Transformers

[Trueman]

Hey there,
If you want to give me a call or PM i am more than happy to discuss some ideas with you. Details on my website.

MXR Carbon Copy! Very nice, I'd love to hear you thoughts on it.

Trueman

[robnobcorncob]

The Decimator does not create noise when it is turned off. You are simply taking the Decimator out of the circuit so it's not turned on so it can't silence any hum/noise.

Where abouts are you going to get yours from? are there any NZ dealers? I've been trying to find a local dealer for a while..

[mr_sooty]

The Decimator does not create noise when it is turned off. You are simply taking the Decimator out of the circuit so it's not turned on so it can't silence any hum/noise.

I've seen a greatr youtube video that demonstrates it does in fact add some hiss to your signal when it's off. I was going to post a link, but it seems to be gone now. Funny, I was just watching it this morning. The ISP website even addresses the issue and explains why!

Where abouts are you going to get yours from? are there any NZ dealers? I've been trying to find a local dealer for a while..

I was just going to get it off Ebay.

[robnobcorncob]

Haha that's weird.

I guess I might have to resort to eBay aswell then..

I'll be leaving mine on all the time most likely, 5150 is a noisy as Samick these days

[Trueman]

For what its worth I use the Rocktron Hush Stompbox in my rack. Its absolutely great! I have it programmed in my rack on all presets at around 9 oclock (minimal). I picked it up on Ebay.

[Trueman]

No added hiss with the Hush, eliminates hiss, especially in my MI Audio Crunch Box

[mr_sooty]

Hmmm, the thing about that is that the ISP is made by the same people as the Hush, apparently.

[borge]

i run 10-13 pedals with the artec power brick, i daisy chain a few of my daisychain friendly pedals, it works fine.

have you thought about building a pedal board/having one built?
i knocked this up in a few hours with a couple planks o' wood and some free carpet samples.

(pic taken before i got the artec)
got a bag made for $50, the board fits on 1 side, cables, leads, pedals ect on the other

[mr_sooty]

Oh cool about the Artec, thanks for that. Actually, the board I have at the moment I made myself recently. It's good, and fit's in a suitcase I got from the Warehouse. That's why I'd kinda rather try and squeeze everything on that. I'm thinking about getting in a Diago Powerstation (http://www.diago.co.uk). It's a daisy chain based system but it has really good reviews.

[rickenbackerkid]

You need a real power supply, not a Godlyke, or a Artec Brick. Look at the Pedalpower 2 (NZ VERSION), the Juicebox or the BBE SupaCharger.(both international voltage)
You could use a daisy chain on one output to boost the plug numbers.

I also wouldn't recomend a Noise Gate. I call that flogging a dead horse. If you have good power, you probably wont need one.

Thirdly, Pedaltrains are great - certainly worth looking at. If you think it's going to be too big, maybe you could cut a few non-essential pedals. I play in church too, and it's nice to have a reasonably compact rig.
Pedaltrains are also pretty expensive, you could save money and stick with what you have.

Fourthly, have you tried George L's? I brought 24 ends and a lot of cable for a reasonally hefty amount of money, and hated them. They only lasted 6 months of my board and were replaced by Proel.

[mr_sooty]

Thanks for that man. No I haven't tried George L's yet. I hear mixed reports - some say I have to get them, other's say what you said. I dunno about a Pedal Power II, it's a lot of dosh. I'm considering a Diago Powerstation. It's still daisy chain based, but it's supposed to be way better than the Godlyke and such.