# House Parties - Where do you put your pedal board?



## boltzthrower (May 30, 2015)

Been thinking about getting back into playing house parties, but now my songs revolve around a big pedal board. How do you keep a crazy drunken pit off your pedals? And to compound the issue, I do the vocals too, so I can't just put my pedal board behind me and turn around when I need it.

What do I do? Build a box around my board? Electric fence? Hire a goon to kneel in front of me? Seriously, I'm at a loss.


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## MaxOfMetal (May 30, 2015)

Put a board about as wide as your board and about a foot high on the front of your pedalboard. That'll work about as good as anything, and it's cheap. Put the mic stand in front too if you want. 

That said, I'd probably look into consolidating your setup, maybe switch to a muti-effect unit that can replace them.


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## noUser01 (Jun 2, 2015)

What worked for me is having my huge friend who plays football stand in front of me and my board during house shows. One time I got nailed during a solo and fell backwards so I was leaning up against a window with my neck and back. I couldn't step back to catch my footing and get myself upright again, because my pedalboard was behind me for protection. While soloing he got me back up without missing a note.

tl;dr get a footballing playing friend... ?


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## Mprinsje (Jun 9, 2015)

I never played a house show but i have played some shows in old industrial buildings where there was no stage and everyone was drunk. I just put my pedal board away against my amp and used my pedals a bit less then i would like ideally.

Still hella fun shows those.


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## Albionic (Jun 19, 2015)

fit a cattle prod to your headstock and fry anyone who comes near


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## thrashmetal85 (Jun 19, 2015)

Be careful as a singer player, since you don't have hands to protect you you may end up with a microphone to the teeth. I've nearly lost a couple that way.


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## sage (Jun 19, 2015)

^That. All day long. I've taken a few mics to the kisser on stages, let alone floor shows. 

Max's idea of a little fence might help. Gilky's football dude sounds like a pretty sweet deal. Frankly, I don't know what I'd do in your sitch.


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## fogcutter (Jun 19, 2015)

+1 to putting your board in the backline near the amp. Also, try to pare down to the absolute essentials for your sound. 

In those sorts of situations, no one but your is going to appreciate the luxurious swoosh of your boutique chorus pedal or your perfectly-timed tap-tempo delay ;-)

Still, totally worth it. Those types of shows are so much fun.


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## bhakan (Jun 20, 2015)

fogcutter said:


> +1 to putting your board in the backline near the amp. Also, try to pare down to the absolute essentials for your sound.
> 
> In those sorts of situations, no one but your is going to appreciate the luxurious swoosh of your boutique chorus pedal or your perfectly-timed tap-tempo delay ;-)
> 
> Still, totally worth it. Those types of shows are so much fun.


Exactly this. It'll normally be in some ....ty concrete basement with literally the worst acoustics possible, and everybody will be drunk. Nobody will care about subtle effects. 

If you put good energy into your set everybody will love it. They can be some of the most fun shows ever.


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## Mprinsje (Jun 21, 2015)

bhakan said:


> Exactly this. It'll normally be in some ....ty concrete basement with literally the worst acoustics possible, and everybody will be drunk. Nobody will care about subtle effects.
> 
> If you put good energy into your set everybody will love it. They can be some of the most fun shows ever.



Let's be honest: who, besides yourself, cares about the subtle effects? the general public won't hear the difference between an 80 and a 300 dollar pedal. I always just use the bare necessities: tuner, wah, HM-2, a fuzz and a boss SD-1. I'll use my regular big muff instead of my more expensive fuzz because who will even notice?


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