ALL pedals need reverse polarity protection?

[KORGULL]

I've read that every effect needs to have reverse polarity protection in place.
I'm experimenting with the Bazz Fuss circuit - adding some bells & whistles - there is no reverse polarity diode in the schematic. Is this an oversight by the designer or is it not necessary for this pedal since there aren't any extra-sensitive components (CMOS, Ge, etc...). I am making one for a friend so I want it to withstand abuse and not crap out on him.
Should I add this in?
Is anyone using R.G.'s "advanced polarity protection" setup with the MOSFET? Any problems with it?
I just printed out the article and need to read it a couple times and try it out.

[R.G.]

All pedals that you want to work reliably need polarity protection.

It strikes me that a series germanium diode is maybe the best so far. You lose maybe a quarter of a volt to the diode, but there's only microamps flowing in the reverse direction if you reverse the battery. Could be a good use for all those low gain and leaky germanium transistors, I guess.

Did you read "Good - and cheap!- polarity protection" at GEO?

[soggybag]

I have been throwing a 1N914 in as the reverse protection diode, though I always think it should be 1N4001. But I have no idea why since I am a complete novice.

I went art school and putting the parts together from a picture or diagram is not so hard for me. Why it all works is still a little over my head. After a few years of practice I can point some the common parts, input and output buffer etc. But there is always something in every circuit that I don't understand.

[KORGULL]

It strikes me that a series germanium diode is maybe the best so far. You lose maybe a quarter of a volt to the diode, but there's only microamps flowing in the reverse direction if you reverse the battery.

That sounds like a good option.
I'm wondering what the voltage drop is for the two transistor/four resistor/one diode scheme that is discussed in the "A cheap - and good - polarity protector" article?
-Guess I should try it and see.
I think I like the parallel diode setup - seems good as long as you don't keep reverse polarity hooked up for very long.

[R.G.]

I'm wondering what the voltage drop is for the two transistor/four resistor/one diode scheme that is discussed in the "A cheap - and good - polarity protector" article?

It's actually quite low. The NPN saturates the PNP bipolar pretty hard, and this can get well into the sub-100mv region for low currents. It depends on how much current you pull through it, but for a 10-20ma effect, one tenth of a volt is a good target.

[KORGULL]

Great, thanks.
I'm going to try that.