It starts innocently enough. You buy your first electric guitar and maybe an amplifier. If the amplifier has a overdrive option, you work with it long enough until you realize you probably need to invest in a distortion pedal. You buy a cheap one starting out, then quickly realize that you need one that is sturdier with better sound. Thinking more clearly, you get both a high gain pedal for hard rock and metal and an overdrive pedal for classic rock and blues. You soon figure out that some songs use a wah pedal so you do the research and pick one out. After awhile you might add a chorus pedal to your collection. Then maybe a flange pedal, a phase pedal, a digital delay, a compression pedal, an equalizer, and a noise suppression pedal. Finally, your floor is littered with cables and old batteries and a light goes off in your head – how can I organize all of these pedals in a way that suits my playing style? Ideally, it would also eliminate the need for batteries! Oh yeah, and be light and portable too in case I have to haul it all to a gig or rehearsal. Finally, a solution exists that satisfies all these needs, the Furman SPB-8 pedal board!

SPB-8 Stereo Pedal Board from Furman Sound



The SPB-8 pedal board was designed as a result of many requests from guitar players, bassists and other instrumentalists who required a simplified solution to organizing effects and other types of sound support gear. When you open the box of the SPB-8 you will notice that everything is packaged in a high quality carrying case. The interior of this case allows enough room for even the largest pedals. There are also two interior pockets for extra cables and miscellaneous gear.



The board itself is a ¼” polycarbonate platform that is both light and only slightly flexible. Pedals attach to the board via a Velcro pad. A big mating strip with an adhesive back is included that can be cut down to fit the individual pedals. The board is roomy enough for at least eight to ten pedals. Five detachable rubber feet keep the pedal board in place.

Beyond just a convenient way to carry around all your pedals, the SPB-8 was designed to solve two other important problems – sound configuration and power supply.



First, the SPB-8's has a stereo patch bay with ten 1/4" switching phone jacks. This allows for multiple configurations for mono and stereo effects and multiple amplifiers. Below are a couple of common configurations, although more are listed in the manual. This allows an unbelievable amount of flexibility when configuring your signal chain.





Second, at GuitarGearHeads.com we have reviewed some of Furman’s other power solutions in the PL-8 and the Power Factor Pro. Furman has taken the essential elements of these great products and put them into the heart of the SPB-8. The SPB-8 delivers two levels of surge and short circuit protection, as well as RF and EMI filtering in a compact unit designed specifically to power almost any kind of pedal. There are three 120VAC, 15A electrical outlets for gear that require a separate “wall wart” power source. The SPB-8 is designed to be quiet, powering both AC and DC pedals without hum or noise. Each output is individually protected from shorts – so that if one pedal goes out the rest will continue to function – allowing you to get through the gig relatively intact.

Feature Set at Glance:

• Solid, non-slip base for up to 8 pedal effects
• Pedals attach securely to a 12" x 25" Velcro pad
• Padded travel case that fits pedal board with all effects attached, along with two internal storage pouches, and a shoulder strap
• True stereo effects return, external effects loop, patch bay and amplifier outputs in a steel enclosed chassis
• Eight individually protected 9VDC outlets, with 8 included power cords
• Three widely spaced 120VAC, 15A outlets allow enough room for "wall warts"
• Power and signal jacks are insulated and isolated, eliminating noisy ground loops
• Furman's quality power conditioning with 15A circuit breaker, spike/ surge protection, and RFI filter
• Patch bay's dual stereo loops allow nearly infinite patching combinations
• Toroidal transformer assures no hum field will contaminate sensitive effects boxes and pedals
• Five detachable rubber feet assure stable, sure performance without rocking or flexing
• Extra-long 10-foot AC cord

Set-Up and Test

As a test I generated a simple linear pedal chain and placed them on the board. The board included:

ProCo “You Dirty RAT” Distortion Pedal
ProCo “Turbo RAT” Overdrive Pedal
Boss Blues Driver
BBE OptoStomp Optical Compressor
BBE Sonic Stomp
Ibanez Weeping Demon Wah Pedal

I plan on doing a lesson on configuring this pedal board to include two separate signal chains for an electric and an acoustic guitar. However, for this test, I kept it relatively simple.

As for individual pedals, the Boss and BBE pedals were the easiest to configure since they had flat undersides. The Weeping Demon was also easy, but I had to spend a bit more time cutting the Vecro mating strips to fit properly. The ProCo pedals were much tougher because I had to remove the rubber feet on the bottom and cut mating strips to fit in a way that didn’t prevent me from accessing the battery compartment, should I ever want to, but all in all it was a quick process.

Before you put Velcro on your pedals, I suggest spending a bit of time testing out your signal chain through your amplifier and thinking about the placement of the pedals on the board. You might draw yourself a simple diagram as well. Once the pedals are stuck on the board the Velcro holds the pedals in place almost too well! The pedals can then be difficult to move around, so a little forethought will go a long way.

As a little twist I did secure my KORG tuner to the board and patched it in through the “Send” jack. This allows me to tune my guitars without having to send the signal through the signal chain.

I also suggest using high quality patch cables with “L” type jacks. In my research, some individuals have complained about noise from this board. I personally found this board to be whisper quiet. I think some of the problems people have are due to either cheap pedals that do not have good electronic design with true signal bypass circuitry or even more likely lower quality cables that introduce interference into the signal. Do yourself a favor and spend the extra couple of dollars for good patch cables in various lengths – and do not use more length than you need.

Power distribution worked perfectly. All the pedals except the ProCo pedals have standard 9V jacks that fit perfectly with the standard power cables shipped with the pedal board. The ProCo pedals use a different kind of adapter called a “mini-plug” connector. Luckily the pedal board kit contains two special power cables: a 9V battery adapter (typically for pedals that do not have a power jack) and a mini plug connector. Using these two I was able to wire these up with no further difficulty. Although, when you order the pedal board you may want to check your pedals though to see if you need any additional cable types.

Once I had arranged my pedals and wiring, I then plugged my guitar into the pedal board and the pedal board into the amplifier. Everything worked beautifully on power up. Finally, I was able to use all my effects with ease with no annoying battery changes! Better yet, when I was done I just unplugged the board and put it in the case – allowing me to free up the floor space in my office.



My only gripes with this unit are minor. First, I would like to have some way to clip down the wires since they do tend to get jumbled. Maybe some holes in the board where you can thread a plastic tie or, even better, run the cables underneath the board. I intend to remedy this in future setups by simply braiding the cables. Second, a dedicated ON/OFF switch would be nice so that I could turn off the unit without unplugging the entire board.

Conclusion

This pedal board is a perfect choice for guitarists who have collected eight or ten pedals and are looking for an ingenious solution for organization and electrical power. I found the board to be rugged and incredibly versatile – allowing for even sophisticated signal chains. I just checked Sweetwater.com and this pedal board is on sale at a street price of $199. That’s an awesome price point. This piece of equipment definitely earns our “Approved” award for 2005 and since I got my pedals all over it – it also gets a “Rig Ready” award too!



Written by Daniel L. Halberg

Copyright © 2005 Allen & Halberg Publishing, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Guitar Gear Heads™ is a Trademark of Allen & Halberg Publishing, Inc.

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