Should I put a switching jack for a stereo mod?

[Shepherd]

Should I put a jack that grounds the tip when not in use?  Or is it okay to leave the terminal open on a stereo mod like the one here on the Small Clone?

http://www.tonepad.com/getFileInfo.asp?id=97

[Barcode80]

you would need a switching jack so that when there is no plug in the stereo jack the signal is normaled to the mono jack. unless, of course, you will NEVER use it in mono. then you don't need a switching jack.

[Shepherd]

So the switch terminal on the stereo out ties to the signal at the mono output?

[Processaurus]

What stereo effect is it you are making?  Some things you'd want the two outputs to get mixed together in mono (like anything where wet and dry go to separate jacks, like on a delay, pitch shifter, etc.) others it would ruin the effect (like a panner, or a chorus or flanger where the two stereo outs are out of phase wet signals mixed with in phase dry signals, mixing them together in that case would cancel out the wet and just leave the dry).

[Shepherd]

Thanks for the replies. 

The effect in question is a small clone from tonepad http://www.tonepad.com/getFileInfo.asp?id=97.

At this point I'm not sure how the stereo effect will be implemented.  I read somewhere that the stereo channel is the dry signal, but I won't be sure until I finish it.

Ideally mono operation would not be degraded by the unused stereo jack.  If I simply ground the tip of the stereo output will that keep things clean?  Could I put a blend between the two?

[Processaurus]

Hi, I took a second to look at the tonepad depth mod, it was what I was talking about.   The phase of the wet gets flipped 180 degrees before getting mixed with the dry, making it interact and sound different when it gets mixed with the dry.  It sounds cool.  Its the type of stereo output you just leave alone when you aren't using it.

About grounding the stereo output, that would just make life hard for that poor new opamp.  It can just sit there doing its thing until you want to use it in stereo.  Blending it would be unremarkable, because the two out of phase wet signals would just cancel each other out to some degree (total canecellation when mixed equally) so it could only make the chorus effect weaker.

For switchin, I'd throw true bypass to the wind and use a buffer (JFET at GGG is nice) and switch between the output of the buffer (which would also always be feeding the input to the effect) and the two outputs, and an LED with a 3pdt switch.

I've got to get my double small clone Frankenstein together, I'm lashing them together a la the Boss Dimension C, I've got to figure out the switching jack thing too, because in that case I'd like to do the opposite of what you're doing, and wanting to mix the two outputs when using it in mono.