The sound of the guitar if fed directly to an amplifier, however beautiful and performing this is, will hardly fully satisfy a guitarist. You want it to be because it lacks spatial effects such as reverb and / or delay, or maybe it is a single channel and therefore it lacks that crunch / lead that we all or almost all want, there is always something missing. Maybe the reverb and the second or third channel are there, but they are not what we want to sculpt our sound. Or everything is fine, but something like maybe a flanger is still missing.
In short: all guitarists ALWAYS have a plethora of external pedals to throw at the amp to sculpt their own sound! ????
These little colorful things that unleash a monstrous GAS, however, bring us a logistical problem: where do we put them? If we’re at home, we don’t want to wire up the effects chain every time we start playing! Time is short, maybe we are lazy, etc … If instead we go to play outside, well even worse!
Here is a nice pedal board where you can put everything already wired and in place… it becomes a practically essential necessity.
In this article I will talk about a rigid pedalboard in my opinion very practical, as it is light for its dimensions (it is in ABS or plastic, not wood or various metals), extremely roomy and sooooo strong, practically an impenetrable shockproof armor: the Behringer pedalboard PB1000.
Features
I bought the Behringer PB1000 again 10 years ago, tired of having to wire up my effects every time I started playing. I wanted something capacious, resistant, and that once put away as it was it wouldn’t cause me any other problems.
It is equipped with a convenient handle, plus two holes on the outside where you can insert the hooks of a shoulder strap (not supplied) for transport.
Inside the package …
A whip cable is supplied for the parallel power supply of 12 pedals, together with the various patch cables for wiring the effects between them. They are cheap, but not bad at all! In particular none of them have ever given me problems with various buzzes or contacts that jump! Well done!
In the package there is also the stabilized 9 V and 1.7 A power supply, which is also really well done! Small (very practical) but very powerful (with 1.7 A you can really feed the world), it has a long enough cable that allows it to be plugged into a socket distant from the pedal board so as not to generate any return of the network frequency in the signal. Really, zero disturbances!
Inside there are also internal dividers in sponge, very resistant and well made, fixed to the bottom with screws. In theory they would be used to house 12 single pedals, of the standard size, like the classic bosses. Okay, I’ve never used them. Immediately removed, unscrew the small screws and put them aside in case (remote) in the future you want to reassemble them. They are not for me because they limit the space available, without you can put well more than 12 pedals. Furthermore, not all effects have the standard size (see photo for example …).
Integral to the pedalboard are the connections for the input cable and two for the output cables. Here, if we want to nitpick. Once unscrewed and opened the two input and output boxes, I noticed that they are not shielded inside. The icing on the cake would be finding them already shielded, a small relief detail. But in the end a little bit of properly shaped aluminum adhesive tape and the problem is solved even for the most maniacs!
Usage
Placed on the ground …
Once placed on the ground, the lid (which inside is covered with sponge in order to prevent the effects from moving as much as possible, while providing a nice protection to them) is removed in an instant, leaving the underlying part free.
The internal metal channel that contains the effects feed whip is divided into two and both are removable, perhaps to house a wah or volume pedal. Here (http://musicanzait.trasferimentiaruba.it/2020/03/16/morley-bad-horsie-wah-en/) you can see how there was a Morley Bad Horsie (wah larger than the standard) and a G3X zoom, pretty bulky too, still leaving room for many other pedalozzi.
A note: the two plastic compartments that accommodate the input and output jacks, better shield them. As soon as it was connected, it gave out a little annoying rustle and noise. So I opened the two compartments (just unscrew a couple of screws) and I shielded the inside well with adhesive aluminum tape and the problem disappeared.
… And on the move
The body is really rigid and protective and if you have pedals or other of a certain value and you want to avoid that perhaps transporting them by car or van or simply that in the bustle of the stage someone throws something on them or tramples them, the PB1000 is a perfect protective shell. Pedalboards equipped with a soft bag don’t give me the same peace of mind, in the end it’s the same thing as having a hard ABS guitar case or a soft bag.
Unfortunately the same thing also applies to the weight … Inevitably it will be heavier than a pedalboard with a soft bag and this clearly if you go out to play often is not really practical. However, it is also worth pointing out that it is much lighter than some wooden houses I have seen, often self-built. It is the same thing as the guitar cases here too, the ABS ones will be a cross between those in Gibson-like wood and the soft ones.
Guys, it’s roomy !!! In fact, another thing that penalizes it in terms of weight, but this time it is not the fault of the Behringer PB1000, is the fact that it will be heavy simply because… you will fill it with pedals !!! The space is there, so … why not fill it! It’s like a large suitcase when you go on vacation! Eventually its capacity will make you want to fill it with all your goodness, until you actually have to lift it …
Conclusions
The Behringer PB1000 did perfectly for me throughout this period, to the point that I have never really regretted my purchase, in fact I still use it today.
It is practically the large copy of the corresponding Boss pedalboard, only at a fairly lower price, at least when I bought it (about 100 euros, plus the classic 20 shipping from Thomann).
Now new cost a little more (Thomann), but you can still find it easily used on music market or reverb.com.
Is it worth it? Absolutely yes, even if it wasn’t just as a mega warehouse to store your pedals at home. It was my first pedalboard and if I didn’t have it I would buy it again! Indeed, given the build quality in the meantime I also took the little sister PB600 … you do ????
Published on musicanza.it on: 31/03/2020.
