How to Bypass the battery when a pedal is off

[BlackhawkRise]

Howdy,

Is there any mods, specifically for a Boss style pedal, that would make it so that I could leave my pedal plugged in when I'm not using it and have it not drain the battery? Also, how come this isn't standard? Is there a reason the battery shouldn't be connected when you turn the pedal on?

 

[beaubrummels]

If you cut battery power to the circuit when bypassing, often you can get a pop in the audio signal, unless there's some resistor or something in the line to absorb it, but that can affect the sound when not bypassing, depending on how it's done.

Just use AC power and skip the battery.

 

[JamesPaul]

I will guess this is not standard because the simple devices for doing this, like a diode, would drop some voltage. The pedal would not have the full 9V available when operating from the battery. It could be overcome on the converter side with a higher voltage. Now if the pedal did not need the full 9V...

 

[GuitarStv]

Howdy,

Is there any mods, specifically for a Boss style pedal, that would make it so that I could leave my pedal plugged in when I'm not using it and have it not drain the battery? Also, how come this isn't standard? Is there a reason the battery shouldn't be connected when you turn the pedal on?

Boss pedals always have a buffer on. If you bypass the buffer the circuitry that powers the buffer isn't powered, so no signal will go through. If you want a pedal to completely bypass drawing power while still passing signal you need a true bypass switch.

 

[dave74]

You can always put a dummy-plug in the power jack to keep it from draining the 9v, but if you're doing that every time then it might wear the jack loose over time.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

If you’re pedals are mounted in such a way you can’t unplug them easily, I’m assuming they’re on a board.

If you’re using a board, get a power supply. I did batteries and loose pedals for a long time. When I put them on a board, I switched over to a One Spot, then a Donner or Mooer isolated supply. It’s way easier. Even now that I only use a couple at a time loose, I still use the power supply.

 

[Chistopher]

You can't do that with a Boss. It would have to be converted to true bypass, which is a major pain on a Boss pedal.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Pedals are made to be unplugged when not in use. Before that was a standard feature, some had power switches like my old EHX Big Muff Pi.

Your choices are: remove the batteries, unplug the input jacks, or get a power supply. A power supply will save you money in the long run.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[alex1fly]

Power supply - brick style - is a game changer. I resisted for the first 20 years of my guitar playing. Now, there's no going back. I'm not talking power adapters for each pedal - no, a single brick to power all your pedals.

 

[ehdwuld]

my current one is this one

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07S68CXJD

it has some plugs on top in case you need that outlier