Sweetwater’s Pedalboard Gauntlet: Mitch Gallagher’s 23-Pedal Rave Bunker

Ultimate Pedalboard or Madman’s Dream?

Mitch Gallagher doesn’t mess about—he kicks off by announcing his quest to build the ultimate pedalboard, cramming as much sonic firepower as possible onto a Gator Vertex Tour Elite. Forget minimalism; this is a maximalist’s bunker, with 23 pedals squeezed onto a board that barely contains the mayhem. There’s no genre purity here, just the promise of total tonal domination.

Sweetwater’s video wastes no time hyping the sheer absurdity of the challenge. Mitch is out to prove you can fit an entire session rig in one (barely) portable package. No rules, no budget, and apparently no fear of migraines from LED overload—just wall-to-wall stompbox action.

"That's a lot of stinking pedals."

© Screenshot/Quote: Sweetwater (YouTube)

23 Pedals, Infinite Tones: The Rig Rundown

If you thought 5 pedals was plenty, brace yourself. Mitch’s rig is a parade of classics, cult favourites, and a few curveballs, covering everything from pristine clean to fuzzed-out chaos. There’s a Peterson StroboStomp Mini for tuning and buffer duties, an Xotic Wah for old-school squawk, and the Empress Compressor MKII for dynamics trickery. Step further and you hit octavers, tube preamps, and enough gain stages to start a small war: Ibanez TS808HW, ProCo FAT RAT, Origin Halcyon Blue, Archer Klon-clone, and Keeley Fuzz Bender, all lined up for stacking carnage.

Each effect is picked for maximum versatility, not price tag snobbery. Mitch runs through the chain, demoing how you can morph from glassy clean to melting distortion and back again, all without unplugging. It’s a compendium of stompbox culture—wave after wave of sound possibilities, from subtlety to full-on toaster-fight.

Cable Tetris and the Art of Not Losing Your Mind

Packing 23 pedals onto one board is like playing Tetris on expert mode while blindfolded. Mitch lays out his cable management philosophy: pre-made EBS flat cables for tight fits, no room for a switcher, and two Walrus Canvas Power 15s to keep the current flowing. The result? A snaking jungle of connections that somehow stays tidy enough for the Sweetwater stamp of approval.

Signal flow is king here. Mitch makes it clear: first the tuner, then the flavor chain—gain, modulation, delays, reverbs. He’s forced to get creative with cable lengths and pedal placement, bending to the will of the board’s cramped real estate. If you want to see the fine details of this cable ballet, the video’s close-up shots are a must—no article can do justice to the surgical pedal choreography on display.

Guest Shredders vs. the Pedalboard Leviathan

"I'm gonna say looking at this gives me a migraine of thinking about this."

© Screenshot/Quote: Sweetwater (YouTube)

After the big build, Sweetwater unleashes a few guest guitarists to take the pedalboard out for a spin. The reactions range from awe to comic disbelief—”How many pedals?” is the recurring refrain, with one player threatening to sell the lot and buy a house. It’s a nice reality check: even the pros have to find their way through this maze.

But the point is proven—everyone finds a sound they love, whether they use three pedals or all twenty-three. The board’s flexibility gets the real-world stamp, and the video’s playful banter drives home that, yes, sometimes more is actually more.

What’s on YOUR Ultimate Board?

Mitch signs off by throwing the question to the mob: what would you put on your own do-it-all pedalboard? It’s a clear invitation to join the Sweetwater gear-head club and flex your own stompbox philosophy. Forget gatekeeping—here it’s all about sharing setups, swapping ideas, and maybe, just maybe, out-weirding Mitch’s 23-pedal marathon.

More articles about these products:

Andrew Huang’s Gear Madness: A Kangaroo on Red Bull!

All articles about:

Tags BOSS GE-7 EQ, Catalinbread Many Worlds, Dunlop DVP5 Volume (X) 8, EarthQuaker Devices ZEQD-Pre, EBS Flat Cables, Electro-Harmonix Nano Pog, Empress Effects Compressor MKII, EVH 5150 Overdrive, Gator Vertex Tour Elite, Ibanez TS808HW v2 Tube Screamer Overdrive Pro, IK Multimedia TONEX ONE, J. Rockett Audio Designs The Jeff Archer, JHS Unicorn V2, Keeley Fuzz Bender 3, Origin Effects Halcyon Blue, Peterson StroboStomp Mini, ProCo FAT RAT, Red Witch Plurious, Revv G3 V2, Source Audio Ventris, Strymon Lex, Universal Audio UAFX Flow, Walrus Audio Canvas Power 15, Walrus Audio Polychrome, Wampler Metaverse, Xotic XW-1 Wah Pedal