Wired Wood Guitars

Guitar Rig

The Rig Today

My current amp is the excellent VOX AD30VT valvetronix modelling amplifier. At 30W it is plenty powerful enough for me. On stage the amp is put on a stand to angle it up so that I can hear it. A microphone and bloody big PA make sure the audience can hear!

By taking advantage of the built in effects on the amp I keep my pedal board very simple. I contains just four pedals and a foot controller for the VOX amp.

So, looking at each component in turn. The tuner is a no-brainer. got to be able to tune up quickly and silently on stage. The Wah pedal is a new addition. I'm still getting the hang of it. The overdrive was a freebie with a magazine subscription and is actually much better than it deserves to be for the price. The acoustic simulator is a bit of fun. It works quite well with single coil pickups, but can't compete for sound with a proper electro-acoustic.

The pedals are mounted on a Warwick Gig board. This is a plastic affair with Velcro fastenings for the pedals and built in power regulation. It comes with a bag whick is big enough to hold the populated board. Acquiring this for just £25 from a clearance sale saved me a lot of work, because I originally intended to build my own board from plywood covered in carpet tiles. However, I was not impressed with the build of the Warwick board. The main problem I had was with the power supply, which melted on first use. I decided to make my own arrangements for power. I like the idea of keeping the mains well away from the performing area of the stage, so I still use a plug top power supply to provide 12 Volts over a long supply lead. The power regulator in the board is still utilised to reduce the voltage to the 9V needed for the pedals. I replaced the original 3.5 TR socket with a proper power connector. This will prevent any potential short circuits if the power plug is not correctly inserted.

Copyright © 2007 Wired Wood. All rights reserved.
Revised: May, 2008.