my entry for "best noob question of the week"

[raycroft]

I hate unplugging the inputs of my pedals when I'm done playing.  Don't know why, just do.  My question is:  Couldn't I just use mono input jacks and add an led so that I know when the pedal is off; or is there still a voltage draw from the battery?  Thanks.

[GREEN FUZ]

If you just use a mono input jack the battery will be on all the time, whether or not the circuit is bypassed. You could add a switch to take it out of the circuit but you`d still have  to manually turn it off. The stereo jack is just an elegant way of doing it. You could of course do away with the battery altogether and just use a DC jack.

[foxfire]

generally if the cable is in the input jack then the pedal is on. if you use a power supply and your pedals have switched power jacks then you don't/wouldn't have to unplug them. or you could put a power switch in to break one of the supply legs. rylan

[frokost]

The bypass switch doesn't turn off the effect, it just makes the signal not go through it. So yes, the battery will drain.

[B Tremblay]

You could of course do away with the battery altogether and just use a DC jack.

This is the best solution.

[The Tone God]

I don't know if I would call a power supply the "best" sol'n. Some people still prefer the simplicity of a battery not to mention the lack of power supply / ground problems.

On my battery pedal board I keep everything connected but I don't want to drain batteries or change settings so I put in a small power switches on all my effects. Hit the switch when I'm done and everything is ok for the next time.

Andrew

[tranceracer]

I hate unplugging my pedals too which is why DC adapter is the way to go.  I like the power switch solution.  I'm surprised more pedal companies and DIYers don't use this.  (Of course it adds to the cost little)

[raycroft]

thank you for the many replies!  That's what I wanted to know, was whether the battery drained even though the switch was "off"- now I realize the pedal is not "off", it's "bypassed".  That answers my question.  I guess I'll add power switches to my stuff.  Thanks again, everyone!


By the way, did I win "best noob question of the week"?   

[Nasse]

No. You are lousy noob.

[GREEN FUZ]

Yes my friend, you have won, and here`s your prize. It`s a MAGICAL KEY that will open many doors. Now, go and use it. Godspeed.

[theblueark]

I don't know if anybody noticed, but foxfire already mentioned this.

Plugging one of this:


Will break the battery from the circuit, that's your switch right there.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Yes my friend, you have won, and here`s your prize. It`s a MAGICAL KEY that will open many doors. Now, go and use it. Godspeed.

Green Fuz gets my vote for "post of the week"!    Think I could use that key a bit more myself..

[ulysses]

there are noobs, and there are noobs who dont apply any researched theory to their hypothisis.

being directed to the search feature by various experienced members is a mandatory condition of qualification for the prize.

i would suggest learning how switching works as a first step.

cheers

[Mark Hammer]

I sent in a letter to Vintage Guitar a couple months ago, which included at the end a request that somebody make a short patch cable that would include a stereo plug at one end with a small built-in slide-switch to couple/uncouple the ring and shaft connections.  The intent was to have a cable suitable for battery-operated effects pedals that would let you turn the power off when done without having to unplug the cables.  Keep in mind that the pedals normally gets powered by plugging a mono plug into a stereo jack, thereby enabling the ground connection from the battery to find its way from the ring connection on the jack to ground.  Cutting that ring-to-ground path unpowers the pedal.  As long as the stereo/switch end is plugged into a pedal's input, it will work as intended.

The good folks at VG were nice enough to lop that portion of my letter off, and refashion it into a question to regular columnist Zac Childs.  Zac's suggestion was exactly that stated by the blueark above - just stick a plug in.  Hopefully, my note may spark some interest in someone (Planet Waves?) developing a commercial product; the original intent of the letter.

The dummy-plug-in-the-jack idea is a simple and elegant solution.  It's shortcomings are that you can lose the plug because its small (where do you put it when not in use?), and that if you were to make a daisy-chain cable of dummy plugs (i.e., the end does not really connect to anything), you'd need to be sure that the spacing was suited to your long-term objectives.  My own assumptions for the switchable cable were the situation where someone is gigging and has basically 2 or 3 pedals but no pedalboard as such, or external powering, and simply wants to leave everything plugged in and cut the power to the amp and pedals.  Certainly not a huge market, but big enough.  I imagine there are plenty of "basement warriors" whose setup is 2-3 battery-powered pedals and a small practice amp, and they'd like to be able to leave everything plugged in and unpower easily.

[arawn]

Yeah what mark said,
My primary set up is an orange squeezer and professor tweed to my little 30 watt practice amp (although I could easily gig with it, it's so loud I had to put a speaker attenuator in it). Back to my point I get tired of plugging and unplugging all the time. If there was an easier way to be able to leave it all hooked up I would be so happy

[rikkards]

All of my pedals have both a stereo plug as well as a dpdt in series to the ground. I got tired of unplugging all of them and decided to just add a spdt into the circuit. It is much quicker to flip all of the switches than fumble with all of the cables. Plus there isn't a lot of space between my pedals to pull them out enough to disengage the power but not enough so it would be easy to push them back in.

Yeah what mark said,
My primary set up is an orange squeezer and professor tweed to my little 30 watt practice amp (although I could easily gig with it, it's so loud I had to put a speaker attenuator in it). Back to my point I get tired of plugging and unplugging all the time. If there was an easier way to be able to leave it all hooked up I would be so happy