New Pedal Board – HD500X on Risers

I’m massively downsizing my stage footprint! This new pedal board will be much simpler- focused around my new Line 6 HD500X, and the footswitch controller for my Blackstar Stage 60.

The only pedals left on the board are my Planet Waves Tru-Strobe tuner and DIY clean boost. 

I’ve got the Stage 60’s 4-footswitch controller up front, along with an additional switch for the lead boost on channel 3 (repurposed from my VOX AC15, with a red LED added).

The problem as you can see here is that the Stage 60 footswitch is taller than the HD500X.  If I just sit them on the board next to each other, the Stage 60 switches are uncomfortably high relative to the front row of switches on the HD500X, making them hard to reach.

So I decided to put the whole HD500X on risers.  Here’s how:

I mounted the HD500X, footswitches and two pedals onto a piece of 1/2” plywood, large enough to accommodate everything, about 25”W by 14”H. I just used a piece of scrap I had around, spray painted it black, and mounted 6 rubber feet on the bottom to avoid the entire pedal board slipping around:

The HD500X has 8 1/4” x 1/8” screws with rubber feet on the bottom.  I removed the screws, and replaced them with longer screws, reusing the original rubber feet. I used 1 inch nylon spacers for each of the screws, to raise the whole unit by 1 inch, with the rubber feet between the spacer and the plywood.

The four corner screws need to be 2” – long enough to go all the way through the plywood and into the HD500X. These bind the whole unit down to the plywood.

The center four screws are shorter – 1 1/4”, long enough for the 1” spacer and the rubber foot:

Why do it this way?  It’d be a mistake to only put risers in the four corners, as the whole unit would flex in the center each time you step on a footswitch.  And it’d be a pain to put all 8 screws through the plywood – it’s kindofa challenge to drill the holes in the right spots.

Here I am screwing in the last corner screw, and then holding it up for you to see:

I also drilled holes in the bottom of the Stage 60 and VOX footswitches so I could attach them directly to the plywood.  And for the boost pedal, I removed two of its corner backplate screws and purchased longer screws of the same size, long enough to reach through the plywood.

Here you can see the Stage 60’s footswitches at the same level as the HD500X footswitches.  Much better!  Also, the risers leave a nice gap in which to hide wires.

Here’s the materials list:

• a piece of 1/2” plywood, spray painted black. about 25” x 14”
• 6x rubber feet
• 8x 1 inch nylon spacers. 1/2” OD, 3/16” ID
• 4x 2” x 1/8” machine thread screws for the corners
• 4x 1 1/4” x 1/8” machine thread screws for the center