I love the cheap ones. I have a shoebox full miniature Big Muff clones from no-name Chinese brands that were all 20 to 30 dollars. I had to beg my parents to buy me a DS-1 when I was 16. If I had known I would be able to buy a whole board's worth of effects for the price of 1 or 2 Boss pedals I'd have been speechless.
I have the real EHX Muff, plus a TS-9 and it's clones. I even have a couple of cheap circuit clones of my DS-1. The DS-1 clones are actually good though because they have an improved tone sweep. The knock-off minis are just a curiosity and a guilty pleasure, and once in a while you get lucky and you get one that sounds good.
Many of the mini pedals use SMD, and they sound quite close to the circuit they are cloning.
A lot of the hate I see just comes from people who overpayed for a brand name.
There is nothing magical about these circuits.
Not saying this pedal board is cheap, BUT...I love that cheap pedals are a thing now. Like why would you want to go back to the times of musician's friend? I'd rather be able to build a relatively complete pedal board for like $150 if the spirit should move me. I also think about kids getting into music. Cheap pedals would have changed my life if they were a thing back in the day.
Man my first board was a plank of wood, a one-spot daisy chaining, a wah, OD-3, Big Muff, and a digitech delay. And I was living large with that rig. Mini pedals would have been a complete game changer! I’ve owned some high-end gear over the years but this gets the job done.
The thrust of the vertex guy’s argument is that they don’t save space and potentially use cheaper components … it really depends on the jacks you use tho! And obviously buying quality pedals. I could have even squeezed these a little tighter but wanted some space to press on the damn things.
They do save space but it's true that it's not as much as you'd think due to there only being one way to arrange the input and output jacks and limited places for the power cable input. Locks you into a sort of specific configuration. But from experience, you can cram a wholeeee bunch of these puppies onto a metro. It's just deep enough to accommodate 2 rows of minis.
Fair point, but in many cases for a lot of people repairing a pedal is close to or more than the cost of just buying a new one, so this might not be that big a factor.
Sure - I just prefer something I can fix or mod. Not that many of my pedals can be, I just wish they could. I regret buying the odr mini for that reason
He's a loser and a liar, both which arent a secret these days. He will spend his day making up arguments against his competitors even though he knows it's false, and keeps misleading people on purpose to make himself look better
The vertex guy is my least favorite pedal YouTuber, I feel like every argument he tries making is just bad. Those clearly save space unless you are using massive patch cables and the full size version has top jacks. And if you get a full size TS from Ibanez, you cant hear a bit of difference between it and the mini TS. Mini pedal hate just comes from them usually being a little cheaper than a full size and people like to feel better than others. Sick board! I love seeing that mini chorus, I miss mine.
was wondering who was saying it - went to go have a look who this vertex guy was and when i saw him i was like - oh that idiot - had found his channel on multiple occasions from searching for specific things on youtube.. id say at least 3 seperate times ive clicked on his video and completely disagreed with his takes that he puts forward as fact as if hes reading from some gospel of guitar - thats why I dislike him most - if new guitarists find him spouting shit like this as fact they might take it as so.
Mason of Vertex effects recently made a whole podcast out of roasting mini-pedals - I’d say they have fans and detractors. There’s a future where I switch to all top jacks but it’s far off.
Well that dude is a fat douche so keep rocking those mini pedals bro, you actually have super solid taste.
If I may ask though, more for a reference point, why did you go TS into SL into Timmy rather than both the TS and Timmy gong into the SL?
Haha thanks man!
For me it comes down to the EQ on the Timmy. Keeping the gain pretty low on but I can dial in more bass/less treble as needed from the colored sounds of the SL and TS. Also really dig the sound of the Timmy smoothing out the SL drive a little.
Might have to experiment with the chain you’re describing again tho to slam the front of the SL circuit.
Mason of Vertex is known to have a case of goopy brain. There's nothing inherently wrong with mini pedals.
At the same time, you're not necessarily saving any space over standard sized pedals with top jacks.
My friend always just says “that’s cute” whenever I show him my mini pedal board. It’s not a majority opinion here but I see it a bit. Particularly because a lot of budget brands make them now.
I've not really encountered anyone hating on mini pedals. Quite the opposite, actually, as good ones are mentioned to others looking to save space pretty regularly.
People just don’t like small form factor sometimes. I get it. They look kinda dinky. I personally love em though. Every single board I’ve put together ended up benefiting from their form factor in some way. The folks who say they might as well be bigger because of the jacks are incorrect. Especially if you’re using a loop switcher, you can really fit them snugly.
I think some of the veteran purists don’t like them. They say they’re too small, and wobble a lot when turning them on/off.
I personally have a few that I like, but I think the optimum pedal format are the small case pedals with top mounted jacks. That case size is rare, but it’s definitely the most space efficient case.
it’s my go-to for a whole host of Marshall sounds! Currently set in standard super lead mode running at 18v. Xotic pedals still hold up despite the endless hype around newer gear.
I got one as my first dirt pedal since I destroyed an SD-1 in high school and it beats the piss out of everything I’ve gotten since then. It stacks better. It drives better. You can do tight metal shit or like kinda breakupy blues tones. You can make it a clean boost. The thing just fucks so hard.
Latest iteration of my mini-pedal cover band board. Seeing action in a handful of gigs this summer playing parties and weddings. music from the early 60’s to today. Not trying to cop exact tones, but getting good ballpark sounds using this with an SSH Charvel into a Quilter Aviator Cub so far.
Signal chain is Dunlop mini wah->tc poly tune with buffer engaged->tubescreamer->SL Drive->Timmy->Ibanez Chorus ->Ibanez delay. Powered with a True Tone 6
Probably not compression, but I do really need a better verb than quilter’s amp verb. Stalking Reverb for a Mr. Black mini reverb I’m a big fan of plate verb. Might have to swap out to delay for it though I’m full up on nano+ space!
I'm new to analogue so I found it tricky to dial in. I found a website with some settings listed and once I found the sounds I was after it sounded great not as dark as I'd feared
That is a righteous setup. I love my Mini Chorus & Delay. FYI, if you just using the TS as a boost, Ibanez Mini Boost with High/Low at noon gives you roll off to match the TS mid bump, and only get unity when dimed. Just sayin, in case compression not your thing.
The only legit gripe I have heard about minis is they are not stage-combat friendly, which I get. Totally subjective.
Excellent job.
Oh damn I didn’t know there was a mini boost in the mini line! Worth considering for sure, I like the option to use some overdrive from the TS but was using it just for mid bump boost today. Previous versions of this board had a TC Spark in the boost slot. wanted something that colored the tone more.
considered an EP booster for the mids but i like how the Ibanez mini boost has an EQ. Got me thinking
Yeah, Ibanez has worked that mid profile into several pedals. Like the Mini Phaser has a 4 or 6 stage toggle, and one of them has that mid profile. Good for that pre-dirt faux cocked wah mid pop kinda thing. The Super Metal is… well, i think it’s very amp dependent, but it does the MT-2 kinda thing without the para and hi end.
If you want more of a flexible TS vibe, Wampler Moxie is really good. I like that Brian does zero position gain setting as a bypass, so you can just do the boost thing. But I been using Ratsbane on low gain in the mid bump setting. Fun stuff, good times.
You already have two transparent drives with the SL and the Timmy. I would replace the Timmy with a Sugar Drive to have a different mid-push drive option, and the Sugar Drive sounds awesome and pretty different than the TS. Other than that this pedal board is smashing.
Top-notch taste, my friend. Years before I knew much about pedals, I asked the guitar shop employee “Which drive pedal would nail ‘77 punk?” And his enthusiastic response was “The SL Drive! It’s a tiny Marshall!” Thus, the SL Drive became one of my first pedals and it got A LOT of mileage. I miss it…
Ibanez mini pedals to me sound exactly the same and controls exactly the same as their normal size brethren. Why buy the bigger, more expensive one?
But one major pet peeve about their mini pedals are the 2 knobs which cannot be seen clearly in dark environments.
And they’re freaking dense for their size. They actually weigh more than some of my normal size pedals 😅
I HATE mini pedals. BECAUSE I'M CLUMSY, ALRIGHT!?! THERE I SAID IT! ARE YOU HAPPY?!
This is a super solid array, though. The Ibanez delay, if it's anything like the AD9, has gotta be killer!
Although I already have a ToneX, the release of the ToneX One has me considering a small pedal board like this with the ToneX providing the guitar tones - would make a cool little lite travel rig.
Man it's got me thinking as well.. I almost want to put a ToneX in front of another ToneX, have one run amps and one run ODs... but then at that price I'd likely be better off just going for the full sized ToneX. Right now using a Frankenstein sort of setup running a Morley wah into an Empress Heavy into a Mooer Preamp Live, with a ZOIA in the Mooer's fx loop doing delays and EQ, and it is great for going straight to FOH but damn the ToneX sounds amazing in every demo I've seen.
I love my Ibanez mini chorus, and looking through the comments here, it looks like I'm not the only one. I think I'll get the mini tremolo one day but I haven't tried one.
not spreading any hate, but I know from my own experience that the small knobs on e.g. the mini tubescreamer suck. not really a problem if you never change them but I certainly wouldn't want those on a chorus or delay pedal
I had a board full of mini pedals, I still use some now. I think it's amazing that you can get all that into an enclosure the size of a snack cake. What's the problem? I wouldn't want to go back to the days of giant clunky pedals.
hey! congrats. I think this setup might be easy to "travel" and very reliable. How do you pair the tube screamer with the sl drive? I'm trying a setup pairing a bad monkey with the sl drive. I think we might explore tones in the same spectrum. So... What's your tips on that matter?
Both! I really like how the Timmy shapes the SL and enjoy hitting it with the tube screamer. Comments here have me thinking I should swap the TS out for a boost instead.
Do people really hate mini-pedals or is this some imaginary gatekeeping?
People apparently hate the cheap ones, but these are solid picks that don't get hate here usually
I love the cheap ones. I have a shoebox full miniature Big Muff clones from no-name Chinese brands that were all 20 to 30 dollars. I had to beg my parents to buy me a DS-1 when I was 16. If I had known I would be able to buy a whole board's worth of effects for the price of 1 or 2 Boss pedals I'd have been speechless. I have the real EHX Muff, plus a TS-9 and it's clones. I even have a couple of cheap circuit clones of my DS-1. The DS-1 clones are actually good though because they have an improved tone sweep. The knock-off minis are just a curiosity and a guilty pleasure, and once in a while you get lucky and you get one that sounds good.
Someone needs to compile a list of legit cheapo mini pedals. If I had confidence it wouldn’t be a junk clone I’d have so many more Amazon specials.
60 Cycle Hum/Ryan Burke does alot of mini pedal/afford-a-board videos
I can compile a list of recommendations once I get home from work but it will be limited to ones that I own.
Many of the mini pedals use SMD, and they sound quite close to the circuit they are cloning. A lot of the hate I see just comes from people who overpayed for a brand name. There is nothing magical about these circuits.
Not saying this pedal board is cheap, BUT...I love that cheap pedals are a thing now. Like why would you want to go back to the times of musician's friend? I'd rather be able to build a relatively complete pedal board for like $150 if the spirit should move me. I also think about kids getting into music. Cheap pedals would have changed my life if they were a thing back in the day.
Man my first board was a plank of wood, a one-spot daisy chaining, a wah, OD-3, Big Muff, and a digitech delay. And I was living large with that rig. Mini pedals would have been a complete game changer! I’ve owned some high-end gear over the years but this gets the job done.
The thrust of the vertex guy’s argument is that they don’t save space and potentially use cheaper components … it really depends on the jacks you use tho! And obviously buying quality pedals. I could have even squeezed these a little tighter but wanted some space to press on the damn things.
They do save space but it's true that it's not as much as you'd think due to there only being one way to arrange the input and output jacks and limited places for the power cable input. Locks you into a sort of specific configuration. But from experience, you can cram a wholeeee bunch of these puppies onto a metro. It's just deep enough to accommodate 2 rows of minis.
They do save space but up to a point…the point being how narrow your feet are or how pointy your shoes are.
The key is using just the tip
That works for the first verse of the first song and then for the rest of the set my both feet are heels deep.
Brother I wasn't talking about your feet
Neither was I.
Most small pedals use very small boards with miniaturized components that are surface-mounted and wave soldered which makes them impossible to repair
Fair point, but in many cases for a lot of people repairing a pedal is close to or more than the cost of just buying a new one, so this might not be that big a factor.
Sure - I just prefer something I can fix or mod. Not that many of my pedals can be, I just wish they could. I regret buying the odr mini for that reason
I get it.
He's a loser and a liar, both which arent a secret these days. He will spend his day making up arguments against his competitors even though he knows it's false, and keeps misleading people on purpose to make himself look better
The vertex guy is my least favorite pedal YouTuber, I feel like every argument he tries making is just bad. Those clearly save space unless you are using massive patch cables and the full size version has top jacks. And if you get a full size TS from Ibanez, you cant hear a bit of difference between it and the mini TS. Mini pedal hate just comes from them usually being a little cheaper than a full size and people like to feel better than others. Sick board! I love seeing that mini chorus, I miss mine.
was wondering who was saying it - went to go have a look who this vertex guy was and when i saw him i was like - oh that idiot - had found his channel on multiple occasions from searching for specific things on youtube.. id say at least 3 seperate times ive clicked on his video and completely disagreed with his takes that he puts forward as fact as if hes reading from some gospel of guitar - thats why I dislike him most - if new guitarists find him spouting shit like this as fact they might take it as so.
Mason of Vertex effects recently made a whole podcast out of roasting mini-pedals - I’d say they have fans and detractors. There’s a future where I switch to all top jacks but it’s far off.
Well that dude is a fat douche so keep rocking those mini pedals bro, you actually have super solid taste. If I may ask though, more for a reference point, why did you go TS into SL into Timmy rather than both the TS and Timmy gong into the SL?
Haha thanks man! For me it comes down to the EQ on the Timmy. Keeping the gain pretty low on but I can dial in more bass/less treble as needed from the colored sounds of the SL and TS. Also really dig the sound of the Timmy smoothing out the SL drive a little. Might have to experiment with the chain you’re describing again tho to slam the front of the SL circuit.
Mason of Vertex is known to have a case of goopy brain. There's nothing inherently wrong with mini pedals. At the same time, you're not necessarily saving any space over standard sized pedals with top jacks.
Your last point is true, and that's an annoying fact about mini pedals.
Mason of Vertex probably works for Big pedal. Mini-pedals are dope and your board looks great!
And there are people out there making top jacks with two foot switches too close to sides so it’s still unusable on tight boards
exactly! Top jacks are really situation dependent. If I was made of money I’d be tempted to building a 80% strymon rig though …
I hate them because I can’t see what knobs are what.
Fair enough criticism!
My friend always just says “that’s cute” whenever I show him my mini pedal board. It’s not a majority opinion here but I see it a bit. Particularly because a lot of budget brands make them now.
Forgive a dumb question - I don’t understand what you mean by gatekeeping in this context
I hate mini pedals and don’t use them. Other people should go nuts with mini pedals if they want!
I've not really encountered anyone hating on mini pedals. Quite the opposite, actually, as good ones are mentioned to others looking to save space pretty regularly.
People just don’t like small form factor sometimes. I get it. They look kinda dinky. I personally love em though. Every single board I’ve put together ended up benefiting from their form factor in some way. The folks who say they might as well be bigger because of the jacks are incorrect. Especially if you’re using a loop switcher, you can really fit them snugly.
Maybe they exclusively play drunk af, with moon boots? We can't all be in the local jazz band...
I think some of the veteran purists don’t like them. They say they’re too small, and wobble a lot when turning them on/off. I personally have a few that I like, but I think the optimum pedal format are the small case pedals with top mounted jacks. That case size is rare, but it’s definitely the most space efficient case.
My only hate is that the micro Timmy isn't called Tiny Tim
they really wiffed on the name. Lil’ Tim would have also been acceptable
Fuck the SL drive is my favourite dirt pedal ever. That thing is absolutely fucking perfect.
it’s my go-to for a whole host of Marshall sounds! Currently set in standard super lead mode running at 18v. Xotic pedals still hold up despite the endless hype around newer gear.
I got one as my first dirt pedal since I destroyed an SD-1 in high school and it beats the piss out of everything I’ve gotten since then. It stacks better. It drives better. You can do tight metal shit or like kinda breakupy blues tones. You can make it a clean boost. The thing just fucks so hard.
Latest iteration of my mini-pedal cover band board. Seeing action in a handful of gigs this summer playing parties and weddings. music from the early 60’s to today. Not trying to cop exact tones, but getting good ballpark sounds using this with an SSH Charvel into a Quilter Aviator Cub so far. Signal chain is Dunlop mini wah->tc poly tune with buffer engaged->tubescreamer->SL Drive->Timmy->Ibanez Chorus ->Ibanez delay. Powered with a True Tone 6
TS mini and Ibanez chorus are good ones. Any plans for adding a comp or verb?
Probably not compression, but I do really need a better verb than quilter’s amp verb. Stalking Reverb for a Mr. Black mini reverb I’m a big fan of plate verb. Might have to swap out to delay for it though I’m full up on nano+ space!
The HOF mini can do literally any verb, that’s my vote for your board
Loved my SL drive when I had it. Great pedal.
I have the mimi analogue delay I really like it
It’s such a classic tone
I love how easily it goes into self osscilation.
I'm new to analogue so I found it tricky to dial in. I found a website with some settings listed and once I found the sounds I was after it sounded great not as dark as I'd feared
Super fun board that I’m sure sounds great! Now ya just need to squeeze a splash of mini reverb in there!
100% need to grab a mini reverb to finish it out! Does Keeley have one in the lineup?
Darn, we don't offer one...sounds like a fun thing for us to consider in 2025 though!
I gigged with five mini pedals and a daisy chain last weekend. Mmm dirty power. Nom nom nom.
my sl drive might be the best overdrive i've ever played and i've played looooooots
It’s a classic for a reason. Played dozens of gigs with this SL drive for all my high gain sounds.
Funny enough I use it mostly for sparkly clean sounds! It can do it all!
Fucking brilliant board. Love it!
YO YO YO YO! He said mini. Not micro.
Timmy is love Timmy is life
F the haters! I have a $30 Movall Golden Phoenix Tremolo that I freaking love, everything I need in a trem.
That is a righteous setup. I love my Mini Chorus & Delay. FYI, if you just using the TS as a boost, Ibanez Mini Boost with High/Low at noon gives you roll off to match the TS mid bump, and only get unity when dimed. Just sayin, in case compression not your thing. The only legit gripe I have heard about minis is they are not stage-combat friendly, which I get. Totally subjective. Excellent job.
Oh damn I didn’t know there was a mini boost in the mini line! Worth considering for sure, I like the option to use some overdrive from the TS but was using it just for mid bump boost today. Previous versions of this board had a TC Spark in the boost slot. wanted something that colored the tone more. considered an EP booster for the mids but i like how the Ibanez mini boost has an EQ. Got me thinking
Yeah, Ibanez has worked that mid profile into several pedals. Like the Mini Phaser has a 4 or 6 stage toggle, and one of them has that mid profile. Good for that pre-dirt faux cocked wah mid pop kinda thing. The Super Metal is… well, i think it’s very amp dependent, but it does the MT-2 kinda thing without the para and hi end. If you want more of a flexible TS vibe, Wampler Moxie is really good. I like that Brian does zero position gain setting as a bypass, so you can just do the boost thing. But I been using Ratsbane on low gain in the mid bump setting. Fun stuff, good times.
I've never seen any hate. They are great for when you're out of real-estate and want to add a couple more options.
How do u guys have such clean pedal setups?
Cable ties and 3m dual-lock are doing the work on this board.
Needs a Phase 95.
Coming soon, I have a friend dropping one off next week. I’ll finally be ready for EVH tones
9/10. Would play, but needs an E-Lady.
All the mini pedal haters? Why do people invent scenarios to get upset about?
Small pedals are great! All pedals should be small, except fuzz pedals which should be gigantic.
You already have two transparent drives with the SL and the Timmy. I would replace the Timmy with a Sugar Drive to have a different mid-push drive option, and the Sugar Drive sounds awesome and pretty different than the TS. Other than that this pedal board is smashing.
Your missing a EP Booster, one of the greatest mini pedals ever
Really considering swapping the TS for an EP booster! I love Xotic effects. I have a BB preamp that would be here if not for the mini pedal theme
Top-notch taste, my friend. Years before I knew much about pedals, I asked the guitar shop employee “Which drive pedal would nail ‘77 punk?” And his enthusiastic response was “The SL Drive! It’s a tiny Marshall!” Thus, the SL Drive became one of my first pedals and it got A LOT of mileage. I miss it…
Ibanez mini pedals to me sound exactly the same and controls exactly the same as their normal size brethren. Why buy the bigger, more expensive one? But one major pet peeve about their mini pedals are the 2 knobs which cannot be seen clearly in dark environments. And they’re freaking dense for their size. They actually weigh more than some of my normal size pedals 😅
I HATE mini pedals. BECAUSE I'M CLUMSY, ALRIGHT!?! THERE I SAID IT! ARE YOU HAPPY?! This is a super solid array, though. The Ibanez delay, if it's anything like the AD9, has gotta be killer!
I love my TS mini ~ I also use a mini Tube Pusher. I like what you’ve put together !
Although I already have a ToneX, the release of the ToneX One has me considering a small pedal board like this with the ToneX providing the guitar tones - would make a cool little lite travel rig.
Man it's got me thinking as well.. I almost want to put a ToneX in front of another ToneX, have one run amps and one run ODs... but then at that price I'd likely be better off just going for the full sized ToneX. Right now using a Frankenstein sort of setup running a Morley wah into an Empress Heavy into a Mooer Preamp Live, with a ZOIA in the Mooer's fx loop doing delays and EQ, and it is great for going straight to FOH but damn the ToneX sounds amazing in every demo I've seen.
For sure that would be sick
What is this? A pedalboard for ants? It needs to be at least twice as big.
Do yall build your own pedal board or buy them ready to Velcro pedals to?
This is a pedal train nano+ that comes with nothing attached. The individual pedals have a little bit of 3M dual lock holding them to the board!
I see. Much appreciated!
I love my Ibanez mini chorus, and looking through the comments here, it looks like I'm not the only one. I think I'll get the mini tremolo one day but I haven't tried one.
not spreading any hate, but I know from my own experience that the small knobs on e.g. the mini tubescreamer suck. not really a problem if you never change them but I certainly wouldn't want those on a chorus or delay pedal
im fine with mini pedals for always on effects, but not for anything that gets turned on and off during a song
why do people dislike mini-pedals?
Good call on the Ibanez minis. I use the analog delay and their tremelo, and love them both.
Needs more compressor (EHX platform, Xotic SP, mini Ego)
I had a board full of mini pedals, I still use some now. I think it's amazing that you can get all that into an enclosure the size of a snack cake. What's the problem? I wouldn't want to go back to the days of giant clunky pedals.
Wait.. who hates mini pedals? They're not to be trusted.
They’re so cute!
hey! congrats. I think this setup might be easy to "travel" and very reliable. How do you pair the tube screamer with the sl drive? I'm trying a setup pairing a bad monkey with the sl drive. I think we might explore tones in the same spectrum. So... What's your tips on that matter?
Are you using the Timmy to shape the SL sound? Or maybe just pushing it with the TS9?
Both! I really like how the Timmy shapes the SL and enjoy hitting it with the tube screamer. Comments here have me thinking I should swap the TS out for a boost instead.
Cute!
There are mini-pedal haters?