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Pedal Bored
by Rick Wheeler
A few years ago I built a new pedalboard
for Larry Carlton and gave it to him as a
Christmas present. I will confess that I selfishly
built it so I wouldn’t have to repair the
old one every time we traveled. Still, it was
accepted as a wonderful gift and works
great to this day. I get a ton of questions
about it on the road, so here’s a detailed
description for those of you interested in
such things when you should just be getting
out more, but I know how you are, so
here goes.
Larry’s pedalboard needs to be able to
accommodate both electric and acoustic
guitars, providing volume variation, effects
triggering and tuning capabilities. We start
with an A/B switch that toggles
between electric and
acoustic guitar inputs and
determines signal flow in
and out of the pedalboard.
Like many of the items on
the board, I labeled this
switch clearly with big letters
– neither Larry nor I are
getting any younger.
Each input has a dedicated
volume pedal. The acoustic
volume pedal is the Ernie
Ball on the far left; it has
“in,” “out” and “tuner out” options. The
electric volume pedal is a Sho-Bud that
was modified by Alexander Dumble and is
centered exactly on the board. The pedal
was originally designed to be a volume
controller for pedal steel guitars, and has a
smooth feel and great accuracy. Alexander
brilliantly installed a small 9V circuit board,
which boosts the highs proportionately to
the output level; typically Sho-Buds tend to
lose highs in that process.
The Sho-Bud is patched directly to a customized
Dunlop 535Q Wah pedal, which
offers greater sweeping adjustments to the
frequency range and narrower and broader
wah settings from the “Q” dial. Both
volume pedals send to a Korg DTR-2000
chromatic, single-rack space tuner, which
is an absolutely fantastic piece of gear. Two
sets of tuner inputs are mounted front and
center on the pedalboard on two window
hinges that are fully adjustable for easy
storage. The A/B switch for electric and
acoustic also triggers the input selection
on the Korg tuner.
Once the signal goes in and out of the
volume pedals, it is routed to two simple
effects pedals – chorus and delay. The
chorus pedal is just an on/off trigger for a
TC 1210 Spatial Expander with a 9V power
connector for the indicator light. The delay
pedal is a momentary, non-latching footswitch
that taps tempo with the first two
taps, and resets with a third, triggering the
delay from a Roland SDE-3000. Each of
these effects switches can be replaced by
a standalone stomp box effect if necessary.
There is also a Dumble footswitch
with two switches that serve two distinct
purposes: a pre-EQ boost, and routing to
the overdrive section of the amp.
On the right side of the pedalboard is the
input/output section, which is basically a
patch bay clearly marked with electric in
and out, acoustic in and out, chorus, delay,
and Dumble footswitch. The left side houses
the power distribution for the various
9V items and the Korg DTR-2000. I used
a computer power supply transformer
that takes inputs from 100V to 240V and
generates 120V, which allows us to use it
anywhere in the world.
A simple IEC cable out of the back of the
pedalboard plugs conveniently in to any
available power downstage, and avoids
one extra cable to trip over upstage. Lastly,
each pedal is secured from underneath the
pedalboard with long screws so they survive
the “Olympic Gear Toss” practice that
occurs between baggage handlers every
day at airports all around the world.
Not only is Larry’s pedalboard an essential
piece of equipment for each gig, it is the
starting point for all of our stage setups.
Once the pedalboard is in the correct
place, I can set up Larry’s rig 4
1/2’ directly behind it, and the
drums directly behind the rig.
Everything else falls into place
after that.
I first used this pedalboard three
years ago in Japan at the Tokyo
Blue Note and the response
from the Japanese crew was
a cacophony of ooohs that
lasted about ten minutes. I knew
then that what seemed simple
and concise to us was indeed
remarkable and noteworthy in
the technical world.
I hope this has been helpful for all of you
techno-nerds out there who need more
sun and fresh air, and enlightening for Larry
Carlton fans who want a little more info
about the master and his sound. For even
more info, visit mr335.tv. I’ll see you there.
Rick Wheeler
Rick Wheeler currently works as Larry Carlton’s guitar tech and front of
house engineer. He is also an accomplished jazz guitarist, vocalist, and
educator. You can contact Rick at rickwheeler@hughes.net
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