DIY Guitar Pedal Board (Effects Pedal Briefcase)

Those consumer-based guitar pedal boards are way too expensive for my taste. I came up with a simple way of carrying and powering all of those important guitar pedals boards in a briefcase.

Visit my website for other projects as well: www.kevindemarco.com

Step 1 Materials

The guitar effects briefcase consists of...

1.) Low-cost briefcase (found at Ross - DRESS FOR LESS!) I bet they have these at Wal-mart too.

2.) '''Dunlop DC Brick Power Supply'''

3.) 1/4" Guitar cables (Guitar center / your local music store)

4.) Velcro strips (found at any craft store in strips for about $5)

5.) Effects Pedals (whatever you got)

Comments

[kameronk92]

I built on your design- by adding an input and an output jack on the briefcase making it easier to plug into

[SyllogismRXS]

That's a great idea. Did you mount jacks on the actual briefcase? Any photos?

[kameronk92]

yeah I did- and i installed a plastic grommet to put my power cable through. The first two pics are of the grommet and the second two are the output jack

[Detman101]

Genius!! Utter Genius!!

Dm

[kramer5150]

Just a thought, but if you really find yourself needing a pedal board because you have a good number a pedals, it wouldn't be a bad idea to invest $100 in a real pedal board. I did this with my pedals for a long time, and I finally got some money to get a reall pedal board. It looks much more professional on stage and the quality is much better. But hey, thats just me... Do what suits you best...

[SyllogismRXS]

For a couple of reason...

1.) Designing your own pedal board is in the spirit of this website.

2.) I am a professional guitarist and the definition of "professional" is quite subjective in the music industry. My custom pedal boards and DIY equipment draws a lot of attention and sets me apart from other guitarists in my city (Atlanta).

[kramer5150]

Standing out is a great thing, I did this same thing with my first pedal board (using a leather briefcase). And I realize it is in the spirit of Instructables, do forgive. I forget at times when I post comments.

[Gypsyman]

is there anyway to make the multi power supply, because i always found them waaaaay over priced too.

[millersxtremedepot]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-A-Power-Supply-For-Your-Guitar-Pedals/

[tudgeanator]

HERE Is good if you are in the UK

[SyllogismRXS]

That Diago Powerstation is the same price as the Dunlop DC brick. But, the DC brick has 7 - 9V outputs and 3 - 18V outputs.

Since the first couple of comments I have been developing a home-made power supply for these boards. Cost in parts will be about $20, where the AC-AC wall transformer is the most expensive part at $10. I will post an instructables within the next 2 weeks on how to assemble it. I might even include a PCB!

[tudgeanator]

I thought that the dc brick was £100 pounds.I'm probably wrong it has probably gone down in price.

[jimmy dean]

Why wouldn't you just get a 9v wall adaptor and just run everything off of that?

[SyllogismRXS]

Typically 9V wall adapters do not provide enough current for multiple pedals. If you wire it up, it might work if you only have one or two pedals active at one time, but if you are pumping up the volume and using multiple pedals your pedals will most likely "brown out" and turn themselves on and off. Thus, you need a more robust power supply that will provide 9V consistently and at least 1 to 2 Amps of current at the minimum.

[wasteofspacester]

Here is a good place to start. There are many places out there, but I have built a couple of these without problems.

[SyllogismRXS]

Yes, you can definitely make a multiple output power supply. I've taken the DC brick power supply apart before in order to inspect it and its fairly simple as far as reliable power supplies go. Maybe I'll do some reverse engineering on the DC brick. One of the reasons that the DC brick is so great is that it allows a current draw of up to 1.0 A! Which is a lot as far as small consumer electronics go. Check back later.

[Gypsyman]

if you figure, something out let me know, because that's a lot of dough to blow on a power supply. But i am at the points with my pedals that i am spending too much cash on batteries.

[tyler_sav]

Godlyke

here you go is 25$ cheap enough it works great no hum and more convinent than a powerbrick

[mcflyalright]

theres been talk about it on the message board at http://experimentalistsanonymous.com/board/

as far as i can tell you can run multiple 9v pedals off of one brick if there low enough milliamps

[cpmilani]

I had this same idea about a year ago and set to work on building a pedal board from an old brief case i found at a thrift store. I did mine a little different though. I put all the pedals in the lid so that they wouldnt sit so deep into the case and be hard to hit when using in a live performance. Also for power iSpot has a power supply that also comes with a daisy chainer for power to up to 9 pedals i think and its only like $30. some more final touches i did was a got a bit of foam to raise the back row of pedals so that they to would be easier to activate and put some foam in the top of the case to help protect the pedals and hold them in place when transporting. Feel free to email reply and I can get pictures if anyone wants to see.

[captainspand]

How on earth do you use the stomp boxes pedals though? Is it easier than it seems, as it looks rather tricky. If it's easy I may do it myself, as I have about 9 pedals... I think I'd need a bigger brief case than yours though :D

[Bradlez92]

well what about all those cables? are there any holes in the briefcase to run me through? or is it just up and over? thats my only issue. great job otherwise. went to your site, not TOO many projects eh ;)? keep it up!

[HAL 9000]

i have a few pedals and im thinking about building a pedal board, this really gave me some good ideas. i think im going to head down to the pawn shop and see if they have any of the old "briefcase style" toolboxes that electric drills and such used to come in. i think it would be a little more durable.

one note on jumper cables: people spend hundreds of dollars on pedals, i know, theyre expensive, and im broke because of it. but when you buy an effects dont wire it up with cheap cabes!! you will never know how great your effects sound until you run GOOD cables in your board. i recently bought the Geore L Pedal Board Kit and i cant say how much it improved my overall sound. i am actually playing a lot now with no effects, just because "perfectly, sparkly clean" is an effect unto itself.

anyway i will post pics of mine when its done.

[mboggs45]

sweet. looks like you guys improved on my original briefcase pedal board that i posted back in march HERE. the plastic grommet idea is genius. i mounted my pedals on the opposite part of the briefcase though, because i found that the lip on the base kept getting in the way of my foot when I was trying to hit the pedals.

[kameronk92]

I also screwed in the pedals from the back and took off their base plates.

[Weissensteinburg]

I like the idea of putting it in a brief case...it must look good on stage.

[spockofborg]

Ditto, I definately like this idea better than the laptop bag I've been using (which was a step up from a l3g0 box w/ built-in handle).