Custom Boards Finland

Koti
Suomi
Helsinki
Custom Boards Finland

Kimmo Aroluoma
Consultant & rig builder for electric music gear | Roadie | Event freelance worker | Author

Give us a week and we’ll make you
the pedalboard of your dreams! –
Teemme sinulle unelmiesi pedaalilaudan viikossa!

29/12/2025

A very interesting pedalboard project that took pretty much the whole fall to accomplish. Guitarist Kiko Loureiro had a bunch of pedals in his home studio unused and asked for my help to build several different setups. He was touring pretty much all the time, so we planned everything via Zoom while I was working on other projects in between.

At the beginning, we had a total of 35 pedals, from which we selected 23 together and installed them on four different pedalboards, each with a different purpose.

This was my first project using D’Addario XPND pedalboards. This lineup includes pretty much everything needed: boards, power supplies, risers, Velcro for attachment, etc. We used two single-row and two double-row pedalboards and came up with the following setups.

Pic 1 – Special FX board.
This board included all the “weird stuff” for when there’s a need to experiment in the studio. It also has two analog modulation pedals and the everlasting Boss RE-20, which sounded great along with the other effects. The D’Addario battery power supply is mounted on top for easy monitoring.

Pic 2 – Go-to small board.
This board includes the basics: tuner, overdrive, reverb, and looper for practice or small gigs.

Pic 3 – Moog board.
It made sense to have all these gems on one board. These are highly valued items and deliver a wide variety of sounds for inspiration. As these pedals use positive center polarity and are sensitive by nature, I used an isolated Cioks SOL power supply on this board.

Pic 4 – Distortion board.
This was my favorite, with well-selected distortion, overdrive, and fuzz pedals. Kiko has a Marshall amp in his studio, so this board alone gives him pretty much everything he needs in terms of gain structures.

In the end, this was a very fun project, as I tested every single pedal myself and also had the chance to test D’Addario XPND pedalboards firsthand. Looking forward to what Kiko comes up with using this palette of sounds.

07/12/2025

I found this clip while going through photos from 2017. Erja Lyytinen visited our shop that August, when we designed her first twin pedalboard system, which she still uses today. Here we’re testing some ideas with an EHX Freeze drone effect, and Erja is improvising on top of it. Eetu Lehtinen is assisting her as I watch the process from the side. Great memories from our old location in Kruunuhaka.

04/12/2025

This is the way to do it. We spent the whole morning with Ursus Factory’s Jussi Pelkonen and the band’s agent, Anssi Tähtinen, testing different amplifiers, cabinets, and their routing for the band’s upcoming tour.

We started at 9:00 in the morning and finished by noon, had lunch, and went our separate ways. A very inspiring session in so many ways. Looking forward to seeing where this leads to…

Anselmi Tähtönen

02/12/2025

Two pictures: after and before.

A client has moved from a traditional tube amplifier to using the .gmbh Amp1 via the Torpedo Captor X to the console. His influences were Joe Bonamassa’s sound and, for more distorted tones, Phil X. Effects pedals were ready, but he needed help installing everything on a pedalboard that would serve him in rehearsals and gigs.

Gain and compressor were placed before the amp, while modulations and reverb were routed to BluGuitar’s effects loop. We also placed an EP Booster in the loop to make it more effective as a solo boost. Cables were routed on top, so pedal order and possible swapping would be easy.

Pedalboard: Pedaltrain Novo 32
Power supply: Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 3 Plus
Connectors: Square Plug
Patch cable: Van Damme

Gear supplied by Uraltone

24/11/2025

Ellinoora’s 4ever concert in Tampere last Saturday was an experience on many levels. First, there is the technical side:

The week before, I had serviced guitarist Samuli Sirviö’s pedalboard and added two new effects to it. We swapped the Mad Professor Simble for its new version, and replaced the old octaver with Mad Professor’s Snow White Auto Wah.

Samuli’s playing relies not only on excellent rhythm work but also heavily on long, echoed soundscapes that blend seamlessly with the synthesizers. The Simble is his main lead pedal, and with the Whammy we heard soaring octave-up solos. I also paid close attention to the acoustic segment of the show and the guitar’s natural tone — full credit to the technical crew for that. Samuli is one of the few younger-generation musicians who still play traditional tube amps. Some of his influences come from the ’90s, yet as a musician, producer and composer he’s remarkably in tune with the present.

The concert held its energy throughout the entire two hours. On my way home I realised, to my surprise, that all the songs that really struck me were from the new album ”Melankolisten laulujen klubi”. The show’s dramatic arc and visuals were meticulously crafted, while the on-stage banter was delightfully loose and improvised. Bonus points for the fact that the corridors were selling my favourite Hartwall vichy — served, in the spirit of the evening, in a pink cup. I enjoyed myself so much I didn’t get up from my seat once. Possibly the most impressive arena concert I’ve seen — if not ever, then at least in recent memory.

05/11/2025

What a night at Helsinki’s G Livelab!

Pekko Käppi played to a packed house, and the band sounded absolutely fantastic — with the ever-reliable Kimmo Antikainen behind the mixing console.

Pekko has been a long-time and trusted client of mine, and recently I also had the chance to collaborate with guitarist Tommi Laine when we shaped his sound. You can see his new pedalboard in pic 2.

It had been a while since I last saw Pekko live, and what an experience it was! Pekko is a magnetic frontman, the band is top-notch, and their compositions filled the room with a near-shamanistic energy.

After a few exhausting weeks, I’m so glad I went — feeling inspired, enlightened, and surprisingly rested ☺️

03/11/2025

On Wednesday, November 5th at 17:00, we’ll gather at Suomalainen Kirjakauppa on Aleksanterinkatu for a special Music Book Evening to talk about the creative process and the meaning of music books, as well the artistry and talent behind them.

Joining me are authors Timo Kalevi Forss and Timo Isoaho, with our editor – and author himself – Jarkko Jokelainen leading the discussion.

Like Kustannus’s autumn lineup of music books has certainly been on point.

Just six days after the release of my own HIM-focused book “Viimeinen kiertue” (The Last Tour), the band’s frontman Ville Valo received the Suomi Award for his contributions to Finnish culture. Meanwhile, Children of Bodom members will reunite for a couple of shows at Tavastia Club in February 2026, and Eppu Normaali have announced their farewell tour.

Who would’ve thought! So, there’ll be plenty to talk about. 😊

For me, this will be the final promo event for “Viimeinen kiertue”, so now’s the perfect time to come say hi, share your thoughts, and chat about pretty much everything.

📍 Suomalainen Kirjakauppa, Aleksanterinkatu, Helsinki�🕕 Wednesday, November 5th – starting at 17:00

01/11/2025

About a week ago, I sat down with Pekka Laine at Levykauppa Äxä to talk about my then brand-new book – exactly one week after its release. The atmosphere was electric, thanks to the themes the media had already brought to light, yet together we managed to create a coherent, even profound moment.

I recorded the conversation on a whim. Later, when I watched the footage – and after everyone involved gave their blessing – I realized this one-hour, unedited discussion deserves another round.

As a journalist, Pekka is among the very best in Finland: his questions and observations are perceptive and insightful, and I think I, too, managed to bring out new shades and themes in myself and the book that I hadn’t realized before.

So yes – I dare to recommend it. You’ll find to the whole video from ”Viimeinen kiertue” - landing page. Link in bio.

30/10/2025

Long time no see.

Prepping for today’s sessions, I’m cleaning, adjusting and changing strings on a few of Linde’s guitars and realized that this very same instrument was his main axe for the last seven years in HIM.

I’ve written quite a lot about this guitar — its issues and wear — but it’s still going strong! This instrument has seen loads of torture but also a lot of care, and has literally been all over the world.

Originally bought in San Francisco and prepped for us by Gary Brawer, it sings even better than I remembered.

This guitar is definitely on its way to becoming one of the classic instruments in Finnish rock music history.

29/10/2025

In Radio Helsinki’s ”Kuusikielinen taivas” (Six-String Heaven), Mare Nordenstreng’s guests are Mikko “Linde” Lindström and his longtime guitar tech Kimmo Aroluoma, whose book ”Viimeinen kiertue” (The Last Tour) offers an insightful deep dive into Linde’s and the entire HIM band’s journey — from the stairwells of the Munkkiniemi youth center demo studio to the top of the U.S. charts — not forgetting the six-string master’s favorite fuzz pedals.

On air Thursday, October 30th at 20:00. Link in bio.

28/10/2025

Back on HIM’s 2010 tour we filmed a Rig Rundown–style video together with Dunlop, one of the band’s main partners at the time. The video was shot on April 20th in San Francisco, on stage at the Regency Center Grand Ballroom, right after soundcheck.

The film crew was running late, so there really wasn’t much time left to shoot. We got it done, though, and Dunlop released the video on their YouTube channel.

At some point later, Dunlop revamped their site, and since YouTube changed it’s policies and the video included HIM’s then-new song “Heartkiller”, it couldn’t be monetized anymore. The video was hidden, and I didn’t see it for years.

While writing my book ”Viimeinen kiertue”, I dug it up from the depths of the internet, knowing it would bring back memories that would help with the writing process.

So here it is — the video at last. I’ve edited out “Heartkiller” from the beginning, hoping it can stay up for a while this time.

For a young and enthusiastic guitar tech, getting to make a video like that was, of course, a huge honor. It’s both funny and touching to see my younger, nervous self, excitedly talking about gear at what was then the peak of my career. Mige and Linde, on the other hand, are relaxed and natural — by that point, they already had a decade of media experience behind them.

In its own small way, this too is a piece of Finnish music export history. Hope you enjoy it.

More on the same topic — twice over — coming this Thursday.

27/10/2025

Back at the office and doing what I love the most. This morning I have been preparing a pedalboard for our Thursday’s masterclass with at

It’s gonna be epic, for sure 🤗

Osoite

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00880

Puhelin

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