Is Grounding FX Input when bypassed absolutely necessary or beneficial?

Started by bluelagoon, August 26, 2023, 09:24:09 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

bluelagoon

Is Grounding FX Input when bypassed absolutely necessary or beneficial?

ElectricDruid

It's not "absolutely necessary", but it might be "beneficial" in some situations.

I never used to bother, wiring things up with a simple DPDT that switched between the effect and a straight-through wire. At some point, I saw the Input-grounded scheme, and started using it intermittently. I've only had one pedal (a high gain distortion) where I had problems without it, and had to rewire a simple scheme to the ground-input scheme. After that I figured if it fixes the issue, why not use it? So now I treat it as the default.


GibsonGM

Yep, same here. I think of it as a 'preventive measure'.  Might make things quieter, or prevent something odd from happening if a high gain circuit had some form of oscillation going on.   It's a nice practice to do but not required; good hygiene.
  • SUPPORTER
MXR Dist +, TS9/808, Easyvibe, Big Muff Pi, Blues Breaker, Guv'nor.  MOSFace, MOS Boost,  BJT boosts - LPB-2, buffers, Phuncgnosis, FF, Orange Sunshine & others, Bazz Fuss, Tonemender, Little Gem, Orange Squeezer, Ruby Tuby, filters, octaves, trems...

amptramp

With most pedals, it is a good idea because the signal output may be the processed noise input for a brief time after switching if there is some latency in the circuit or the 3PDT switch connects the output before the input.

There is one case where the the signal input should remain connected and that is where you have a delay element such as a chorus or vibrato or flanger.  In this case, if the input is grounded, you have no output until the signal is transported through the delay, so there is a 'hole' in the sound until then.