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Re: pictures of Randy's pedalboard

Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2021 3:11 pm
by stealaway
Pete Holmes died, like 5 or 4 years ago, I think. There was a brief discussion about it here too. Regarding Randy's pedalboard, I think this topic must be one of the most interesting ones and has been going on for few good years now 😃 Which makes me wonder; does Pete Cornish still live? Wasn't he the one who built the pedalboard?

Re: pictures of Randy's pedalboard

Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2021 7:26 pm
by stealaway
Right, I got my Petes mixed up here: Pete Mertons, Randy's guitar tech is the one who has died. Then I mixed up Pete Holmes with Pete Cornish, so nevermind about that :lol:

Re: pictures of Randy's pedalboard

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:42 pm
by equinox
Yep! Pete Mertons is gone. Pete Holmes?!?? tbd. and he is the one that made the pedalboard, not Cornish and all contained in Bob's (Daisley) book along with the fact it cost 2000 pounds!

Re: pictures of Randy's pedalboard

Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2021 8:38 pm
by equinox
Hey guys

Just wanted to report that I went to the RARHOF yesterday again!

I took my new Nikon P950 camera and took a bunch of photos. The cell photos were actually better than with the automatic settings on the Nikon(just got it the day before, so still need to figure it out fully), but with the flash ON (not supposed to, but no one around and said, screw it and took some good ones), I was able to get a few excellent photos (as well as things like Eddie's rig and the back as well as front settings)!

A couple things to note...
1. The first input on the rear is NOT an XLR, but figured out that it's actually the POWER input for voltage!!
2. The guitar does NOT go into the pedalboard, but into the volume pedal (right side)! The left side (output) is hard-wired thru the right side of the pedalboard!
3. the one wire that was by the volume pedal and hard-wired harness is just a ground and with the flash on, I can see fastened to the road case thru a screw.
4. I can clearly see the pedal settings on the pedalboard, so i'll set my accordingly when i finish now in the near future!
5. The pedalboard was propped up in a different position that initially, so back jacks were facing straight up and more toward the glass, so was able to measure the width and depth!
6. Not sure if I reported before, but there is a screen that changes and gives information in regard to the items on display. In regard to the pedalboard, it confirms that under the hood, the pedals were taken out of their enclosures! Below is what it stated on the screen:

Randy Rhoads Pedalboard
Collection of Kathy Rhoads Dargenzio and Kelle Rhoads

"Rhoads used this custom-made pedalboard to achieve his highly
revered guitar tone during live performances. Bringing together
all his distinctive effects - including wah, distortion, EQ, chorus
and flanger - Rhoads' individual pedals were disassembled and
installed within this large enclosure with footswitches for him to
engage each effect as needed. Sadly, the pedalboard was also
difficult to repair and became notorious for it's unreliability, with
Ozzy Osbourne dubbing it "the chip pan" because of its
constant hissing sounding like a sizzling frying pan."

Re: pictures of Randy's pedalboard

Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2021 4:18 pm
by Shockwave
equinox wrote: ↑Sat Nov 20, 2021 8:38 pm
Randy Rhoads Pedalboard
Collection of Kathy Rhoads Dargenzio and Kelle Rhoads

"Rhoads used this custom-made pedalboard to achieve his highly
revered guitar tone during live performances. Bringing together
all his distinctive effects - including wah, distortion, EQ, chorus
and flanger - Rhoads' individual pedals were disassembled and
installed within this large enclosure with footswitches for him to
engage each effect as needed. Sadly, the pedalboard was also
difficult to repair and became notorious for it's unreliability, with
Ozzy Osbourne dubbing it "the chip pan" because of its
constant hissing sounding like a sizzling frying pan."
All of that is good to hear and know now but I don't agree that the pedals are out of their enclosures. Kathy is always very vague in her answers or statements and is also wrong herself at times or even contradicts her past statements. I have no doubt the pedals were taken out of their enclosures at one point in order to apply the resin to the boards, but also removed in order to mount the original enclosures prior to putting the circuit boards and potentiometers back into them.

Below is the original uncropped photo that I posted earlier in this thread showing the guts of Randy's pedal board. This is Kathy's original instagram story post in which she was preparing the white Jackson and other items for shipment to the RRHOF. The items were shipped around July 8th so she was documenting the condition of everything inside and out.

There are many photos of the white Jackson if you look at the thumbnails in the pic, then at the bottom right she started taking pics of something else and 3 viewable thumbnails are obviously of the inside of the pedalboard, to me at least. The next pic is the zoomed in pic of those last 3 thumbnails. The pedal layout, wiring, LED's, and foot switches, and really old wiring all line up with it being the inside of the board. You can even see the angle in the sheet metal where it drops for the foot switches. I could be wrong but I would bet any amount of money that that is the inside of his board.

09F01E3B-85E0-4EB1-814D-84325A112C25_1_101_o.jpeg
09F01E3B-85E0-4EB1-814D-84325A112C25_1_201_a.jpeg

Re: pictures of Randy's pedalboard

Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2021 9:02 pm
by equinox
Shockwave

I know you're hot and hard about believing the photos to be authentic and PCBs and nt taken out of the enclosures and just epoxied in or whatnot....BUT, it doesn't make sense!

For 1 - The family left comments for the artifacts including pedalboard and they said the PCB's are taken out of the enclosures.
But further 2 - As we can see in my photos, there are holes/screws on the top of the pedalboard and below the pot/knobs! There would be no need if the pots were holding the pedals in and the location of those holes do not line up with say the back plate mounting holes and make NO sense where whey are located if that were the case!!

I would say you are incorrect in your opinion based on the above. The family comment would be enough, but also knowing the weird location of the screws and holes...makes no sense to put them there and thru the pedal.

So, let's put this to bed and agree with the family that they are just taken out of enclosures.

Re: pictures of Randy's pedalboard

Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2021 10:31 pm
by The Flying Dutchman
equinox wrote: ↑Sat Nov 20, 2021 8:38 pm 4. I can clearly see the pedal settings on the pedalboard, so i'll set my accordingly when i finish now in the near future!
I wouldn't rely on that too much since Bernie Torme used Randy's pedalboard for a couple of shows. It's not unlikely he changed settings to his taste.
There are some clear photos of the pedalboard when they recorded Blizzard where his MXR EQ settings are clear to see.
But if you are also after Randy's exact sound it's by far not enough to copy only his pedalboard settings when not having the exact entire rig he had. Just in case, but you probably know that. :)

Re: pictures of Randy's pedalboard

Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2021 12:59 am
by equinox
The Flying Dutchman - "it's by far not enough to copy only his pedalboard settings when not having the exact entire rig"

Yep! And that's why I now have EVERYTHING to complete his rig when the pedalboard is done!
I have the guitar (real 72-75 LPC) with the Super 74 pickups with Alnico III pickups. I have the 1959RR head. I have the 4x12 cabinets with a complete set of original late 70's Altec 417-8H Series II speakers! I have all of the era correct MXR pedals (1977-1980). I have the GHS strings. I have the correct Medium Fender pics. I have an era correct 1980 Space Echo!!!

This will be the CLOSEST Rhoads rig without having and playing the real deal and original...and that will never happen (anyone own it). It will never go for sale in our lifetime (unfortunately) and would go for millions and millions of dollars (again, unfortunately).

I have a sickness...but it's worth it and can't wait!! :) Happy Thanksgiving to All!! :) :)

I'll post photos for the entire rig when done also! I'm just sorry it's taken this long and 2 years to complete the pedalboard when I already had everything 2 years ago, but I'm a perfectionist!! :O

Re: pictures of Randy's pedalboard

Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2021 11:12 am
by stealaway
You have to record and post some clips when you have the entire rig completed and ready to go?! :D

Re: pictures of Randy's pedalboard

Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2021 9:27 pm
by equinox
"You have to record and post some clips when you have the entire rig completed and ready to go?!"

Absolutely! That's the plan!!

Probably make a few phone calls and get some amazing players lay down some clips with me as I will!! :)

Re: pictures of Randy's pedalboard

Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:59 am
by The Flying Dutchman
equinox wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 12:59 am The Flying Dutchman - "it's by far not enough to copy only his pedalboard settings when not having the exact entire rig"

Yep! And that's why I now have EVERYTHING to complete his rig when the pedalboard is done!
I have the guitar (real 72-75 LPC) with the Super 74 pickups with Alnico III pickups. I have the 1959RR head. I have the 4x12 cabinets with a complete set of original late 70's Altec 417-8H Series II speakers! I have all of the era correct MXR pedals (1977-1980). I have the GHS strings. I have the correct Medium Fender pics. I have an era correct 1980 Space Echo!!!

This will be the CLOSEST Rhoads rig without having and playing the real deal and original...and that will never happen (anyone own it). It will never go for sale in our lifetime (unfortunately) and would go for millions and millions of dollars (again, unfortunately).

I have a sickness...but it's worth it and can't wait!! :) Happy Thanksgiving to All!! :) :)

I'll post photos for the entire rig when done also! I'm just sorry it's taken this long and 2 years to complete the pedalboard when I already had everything 2 years ago, but I'm a perfectionist!! :O
Cool man! Gonna be interesting to see how far you come with the actual gear! 8)

*be aware Randy didn't use his white Plexi much, mostly as a backup, and when he did he didn't use the cascaded mod. And also the settings on the pedalboard you saw can't be trusted as the actual settings Randy used. I think Randy's rig evolved from using the MXR distortion and tweaking/building around that to get things sounding right. I tried once the MXR distortion (old script reissue with the germanium diode) but I felt I lost too much dynamics when using it for clean boosting a plexi. Also tried a Altec 417-8H and didn't really like that speaker for overdriven sounds. But my aproach is from using a Marshall plexi and start from there to get things sounding right. :)

Re: pictures of Randy's pedalboard

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2022 3:36 pm
by equinox
...just a couple updates...

1. Was not able to finish the pedalboard over the holidays due to:
i. After start assembling and wiring, had some questions in regard to the looper and question if it is now going to do what I want (it's technical). If not, I will use a custom one I came up with over the last couple of years! Works 100% (already validated) and will do what I need it to. I had about 10 board produced (only need 8), but will have to come up with a housing to support it/everything or have new PCBs produced and fastened to the bottom of the board.
ii. Randy's indicator lights were 1/2" (12.7mm). I had these 1/4" ones installed and will work 100%, but once I say the board at RARHOF, I wanted to be more accurate. I had previously purchase some indicators, but they are 16mm and larger. I still wanted 12mm. I found some recently! They are in transit from Hong Kong, China and should land on Saturday! I can evaluate if they will work or not, but should. Likewise, the 1/4" only drew 2-3mA of current at voltage. The larger ones was more like 20mA, but at voltage I'm using 10mA, but still much more than 1/4" and I have 8 of them to trigger, so 80-160mA just switching bulbs on and off. From a design and engineering standpoint, just trying to make efficient.

All of the appropriate jacks were drilled and installed, so that is done. Just need to finalize indicators and looper method, install and wire everything up! As this year marks the 40th since Randy's death. I should have done much earlier, but can showcase on 03/19/2022 and with the entire rig and white amp! Soo looking forward to it. :) It's been soo long. :(

Re: pictures of Randy's pedalboard

Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2022 8:45 pm
by equinox
Today is a happy day and sad day....We lost Randy Rhoads (my favorite guitar player of all time) 40 years ago today (on my birthday), but rejoice and celebrate his life and contributions.

Today, I finished a clone of his original pedalboard custom made by Pete Holmes!
I started working on it 2 years and 4 months ago and had it almost done (custom roadcase, custom enclosure, all vintage era-correct pedals). The one thing that I have been kicking around is how to switch the FX, whether to be just true bypass on 3PDT switches, or something else.

It wasn't until a close friend communicated that Randy had a switcher/looper in the board. I at first said no....but when I started looking at the more in more detail, I noticed the footswitches are industrial momentary switches! Meaning, it absolutely could not be on latching 3PDT switches. Soo, I needed some sort of switching scheme and using either transistors correct for the era or something else. This is what took me soo long. I decided on utilizing latching relays and readily available transistor and a 555 IC timer, again readily available during the time in a flip-flop circuit and acting like a true bypass shunting the effect to ground when not in use and passing the signal thru!
After 40 years since Randy passed and almost 50 years since the board was built....I am unaware of ANYONE that has tried to clone it, none-the-less actually recreate it and a working unit!!! It is 1 of 1
clone and 1 of 2 similar to exist!!! 😮

As today is as I said, my birthday and booked up, I will in the hopefully near future post actual videos/clips of the unit and rig in action! In the meantime....enjoy!

LONG LIFE RANDY RHOADS

Re: pictures of Randy's pedalboard

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2022 7:32 pm
by joediesle
VERY VERY nice...I was looking a picture of randy's board the other and notice his has a trap door that opens and closes over the EQ. The link to the Randys gear..Amps, board and guitars is on You Tube under the link youngguitarmagazine . Good pic of his board. Go to the 20:34 min mark in the link.

Re: pictures of Randy's pedalboard

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2022 8:01 pm
by equinox
Oh, yeah, I know his does. On Randy's its hinged on the top, I think spring loaded possibly. There are 2 inserts on the bottom where 1/4 turn screws go into, turn 1/4 turn to lock. That would take additional thought, so I left off. If you look where the screw holes are on the top, Pete made it much harder than he needed to. All he needed to do was remove the the bottom of the pedals and with a long thin drill bit, drill all the way thru the other side, then drill to proper width, and tap, so as you can see on mine where the EQ screws are in the corners of where the footpedal footprint is. If mounting pedals to the top, you need deep pots. I don't think the originals will go thru the pedal, then enclosure, then still have threads for washers and nuts. If you don't mount to the top and mount on the bottom, you have to run 3-pin harnesses to the pots.