REVIEW: Palmer Pedalbay 40PB and 60PB Pedalboards

The slat wall pedalboard design has offered up a platform for guitarists that is flexible, but always needed add-ons such as power supplies and mounting brackets. Palmer’s Pedalbay system is an all-in-one package that can support and power pedals with ease.

The sizes are reasonable, with the 40PB at 17.75” wide and the 60PB is 23.75” wide and both have a 12” depth. The slat design allows for audio and power cables to snake under the boards. Each board is constructed of black coated aluminum and is done with a bolt-together design for the cross members. Palmer has thought ahead on the design with the ability to move the center slats via hex bolts. Ever try to put a pedal at the bottom edge of a slat pedalboard, the top half just hangs off the edge, meaning it has to be placed to catch two slats, and eats up precious space? The adjustability tailors the spacing to the pedals. Thankfully each comes full assembled, and the main platforms have the soft side of Velcro already installed. Threaded rubber feet fitted with ball joints provide a decent angle that’s common on pedalboards these days. The overall construction feels durable and robust as well.

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For an all-in-one design Palmer has designed a power bar system; simply unbolt one of the cross members and replace it with the power bar which is designed to work with the existing hardware with no issues, and includes an extra package of nuts for mounting it in place of the back cross member. Palmer has also included a stretch of extra Velcro to apply on top of the power bar as needed. With the standard center negative pin connections, the power bar has selectable outputs for 9V, 12V or 18V. Six 9V at 300Milliamp connections also are available, along with the ability to run a 12V 2amp output to an additional power supply. LED indicator lights are also there for status. For optimum power cable routing, a cable management tray is also included for when using the power bar as the rear crossmember. The 9v power supply and cables for powering pedals are included, as well as a sturdy nylon carry bag with heavy duty zippers, shoulder strap, and storage pouch.

Loading these up with pedals big and small was no issue across the board (pun intended). Being able to make a nice tight and simple rig on the 40 with a Revv Tilt, Earthquaker Wildwood, Vintage Boss CE1, Earthquaker Astral Destiny, EHX Synth 9 and TC tuner. Placement wasn’t an issue, but it was a tight board that offered up plenty of options. The 60 is quite a bit wider, and larger pedals like Death by Audio’s Fuzz War, Amplitube’s X-space Reverb and Coppersound’s TripleGraph still gave us a lot more space to work with, and less chance of hitting a footswitch by accident. Both the 40PB & 60PB have the same power configurations and with that extra width it would have been nice to be able to power at least two extra pedals.

Overall, the modular design makes it very adaptable, and the included power supply makes this an all-in-one configuration that’s very player friendly.

PROS:

modular design, all in one package, excellent power options

CONS:

The power bar on the larger 60PB could use an extra output or two.

STREET PRICES:

Pedalbay40 @ $269

Pedalbay60 @ $299

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