Step 2:
I/O Routing and You
Before discovering the magical
convenience of in-out interfaces, I used to
just plug my guitar into the first pedal and
send the signal to my amp out of the last
pedal.
And sure, that sounds simple enough, but
it wasn’t always the case.
For instance, I once mounted a volume
pedal on my board as the first pedal
in the chain. But, for the sake of flow
and pedal access, I needed to mount
a pedal above it on the board, making
the input jack completely inaccessible
without removing a pedal each time I
wanted to plug in. I even ran it that way
for a while—and it worked, sorta—but I
eventually got fed up and went hunting
for a solution.
of your board quickly.
Other companies, such as Empress
Effects and Goodwood Audio, make full-
on I/O interfaces complete with buffers,
boosts, mutes, noise gates and tuner
outs. Whether or not you’d need any of
those features is up to you, but no matter
what—mounting one of these under your
board will save you time and possibly
even some frustration.
This is when I discovered junction boxes.
There are several companies who make
these fantastic little devices, some in
wondrously small, 1590A-style boxes that
mount perfectly in the upper corner of
your Pedaltrain with the help of a little
Velcro. In reality, these are usually as
simple as four jacks wired up to go in-
one-side and out-the-other. But even still,
they’re really handy for getting in and out
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