PRODUCT REVIEW
Hydra True bypass
bADAPle
Pedalboard
I love effects pedals, and I appreciate a neat
pedalboard. I like the ease of being able to
quickly set up a tight and solidly constructed
pedalboard and have everything work the
way I like it—no fuss, no muss, and nobody
is going to accidentally step on a stray pedal
to knock it out of whack. When Randy Mills
of Badaple sent me his Hydra model effects
pedalboard I was a little apprehensive.
Although I like a pedalboards with features,
I also like to keep things simple. I’m no rock
star with a crew, and as technically inept as I
am, I had a feeling this would be interesting.
Features
The Badaple Hydra comes inside a rock-solid
ATA road case (a padded soft case with a
pocket is also available). You lift off the larger,
heavily padded topside of the case to reveal
the pedalboard inside. The pedalboard rests
securely inside the padded shallower side of
the road case and sits securely on the floor—
you don’t have to take it out of the lower
portion of the case. The pedalboard measures 26"x17.5" and is made from powder
coated lightweight aluminum. Mine came in
black, but they also come in green.
You get eight true-bypass loop stations,
plus a station for your wah and one for your
tuner; it also features one input, one output,
a removable power cord, an external 9V jack
for slave, and a ton of extra Velcro for your
pedals (the hook side of the Velcro is already
attached to the board). There’s also a Buffer
circuit with a switch located at the front edge
of the board. Also included is a “Goodie
Bag,” which contains George L cables and
various plugs, grommets and a handy instruction sheet. The total weight of the pedalboard and the flight case fully loaded with
effects pedals is around forty pounds.
Preparation
To get this baby up and running you have
to unscrew the underside of the unit and
plug in your own power supply inside the
unit. The pedalboard (AC Panel) powers the
power supply, but you need your own power
supply to run the pedals. You attach it to
the inside top of the pedalboard with a big
piece of Velcro that’s provided. Then you
need to figure out how many pedals you’re
going to use and attach that number of
DC cables to the power supply. Next, feed
those DC cables through the holes that run
through the top of the board. Use the grommets to secure them in place and then reattach the bottom plate of the pedalboard.
After cutting and attaching the Velcro to the
bottom of your pedals, secure them in place
and plug in your DC cables. You can use
your own effects cables or use the George
L cables that are provided. The George L
cables are convenient because they allow you
to tailor the length of the cable from your
stompbox to the inputs and outputs. This
keeps everything nice and neat.
Starting on the right at the top tier, you have
loop stations 1 through 4. On the bottom
tier from right to left you have loop stations
5 through 8. On the upper right side of the
board you have a single input to place your
tuner. Below that is a space to put your wah.
Your tuner and wah come before loop station
one in the effects signal chain. This wah space
has four holes so that the rubber feet can fit
snuggly inside. If you have something wider
than a traditional Vox style wah, you’ll have to
remove the rubber feet and Velcro the bottom of the unit to the board. A volume pedal
can be used in place of the wah in this space.
Start your engines
After inserting the power cable and plugging it into the wall, I connected my amp into
the right side of the board marked “Amp”
and ran a guitar cable from the input marked
