Pedals without off switches

[Stratman]

You would think by now that pedal manufacturers would use on-off switches instead of using the input jack to energize the pedal’s battery on feature.

Simple, instead of using a stereo jack and passing current via the plug’s grounded section, use a standard ¼ jack and add a switch (on-off) for the battery.

This would work really nice with pedal boards - instead of having to disconnect the input plugs so that the battery doesn’t wear down.

JUST my 15 cents worth! (Hey - no more 2 cent worth, inflation folks, pennies are not worth what they used to be)

 

[Bludave]

Re: Pedals without off switches

Why not just use a power supply? Its more convenient then Batteries are and you don't have to disconnect anything. My gigging board is setup with a CE2 clone, a DD3, a TS9, wah & tuner. I show up, remove the cover, plug a cable into my amp,then into my CE2, the from my tuner to guitar. I plug in my one spot & I am ready to play...The One spot cost me like 30$. Its such an inexpensive device I use it on all my boards & I keep a spare as well as a Daisey chain in my gig bag.

 

[Stratman]

Re: Pedals without off switches

The use of a power supply defeats the purpose of using one or two pedals...

Sure power supplies are great for pedal boards, but some pedals will not work if the battery is dead even if your using a power supply. Bad design - yea!

So much easier if pedal MFG’s would start using on-off switches and stop using stereo jack of controlling voltage to the pedal via a guitar cable’s plug.

Cost is just a few bucks...

 

[trevorus]

Re: Pedals without off switches

The problem I see with this if what happens when one pedal on a large pedal board, one pedal is off, switch on the side where it's impossible to see? The input jack switching makes sense from a design standpoint. It's simpler, effective, and it is one less failure point not having another switch somewhere. It wouldn't be that hard to add yourself, and I feel like it would be a very small minority that would even want this.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Pedals without off switches

There are a few reasons why this isn't done:

1. Switching the power supply on and off can induce pops and/or clicks in the signal.

2. It would require an extra set of poles on the switch (i.e. if the pedal has a 3PDT switch, you would need a 4PDT switch to do this), which increases part cost, design complexity, and probability of failure.

3. It would mean every pedal would have to have true mechanical bypass so that the signal would keep flowing with the power off. In other words, nearly every pedal on the market would have to be completely re-designed (including all Boss pedals).

4. It's only really a problem if your pedals are permanently mounted to a board AND you're not using a power supply. I doubt there's many people who do this, because it doesn't make a lot of sense.

5. Decent power supplies are cheap, and solve this problem easily.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Pedals without off switches

The use of a power supply defeats the purpose of using one or two pedals...

Sure power supplies are great for pedal boards, but some pedals will not work if the battery is dead even if your using a power supply. Bad design - yea!

So much easier if pedal MFG’s would start using on-off switches and stop using stereo jack of controlling voltage to the pedal via a guitar cable’s plug.

Cost is just a few bucks...

If you were using one pedal no big deal, just plug the cables in & when your done pull them out. Done, but if you have two or three or more its a big hassle pulling all the cables, keeping spare batteries in your gig bag. Just use a small board(I made mine) velcro everything down, use good quality cables (I use George L cables) plug a power supply & daisy chain in to power everything and your done. FOREVER!

 

[constant mesh]

Re: Pedals without off switches

There are a few reasons why this isn't done:

1. Switching the power supply on and off can induce pops and/or clicks in the signal.

2. It would require an extra set of poles on the switch (i.e. if the pedal has a 3PDT switch, you would need a 4PDT switch to do this), which increases part cost, design complexity, and probability of failure.

3. It would mean every pedal would have to have true mechanical bypass so that the signal would keep flowing with the power off. In other words, nearly every pedal on the market would have to be completely re-designed (including all Boss pedals).

4. It's only really a problem if your pedals are permanently mounted to a board AND you're not using a power supply. I doubt there's many people who do this, because it doesn't make a lot of sense.

5. Decent power supplies are cheap, and solve this problem easily.

Sorry, what?? You just disconnect the ground lead from battery/input jack/DC jack and put a switch in between. Simple as that on virtually any pedal that needs sort of external power, be it battery or AC to DC supplied. To prevent pops you install a smoothing capacitor. If it wants to pop it'll pop too if you pull the cord. And I don't know many people who would wish to lean down, flip the switch and send a large statical pop while his amp is still at volume.

Cheap power supplies are ****. Nowadays they are all switching PS and after they break you can just get a new one. The best power supplies are those that still have the old rugged transformer, like Boss for example. These can be repaired indefinitely and as stage/club electricity can be a bit skanky, these will take much more abuse and surges than switchers. Of course if properly cooled.

Why would you need a new switch? Even with TB switches the circuit is still on and hot even if your pedal is off. Pedals with buffering circuits are a bit more complicated but when pedal is off the signal is just rerouted to the buffer circuit and when you switch it on it goes back through the main circuit.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Pedals without off switches

Sorry, what?? You just disconnect the ground lead from battery/input jack/DC jack and put a switch in between. Simple as that on virtually any pedal that needs sort of external power, be it battery or AC to DC supplied. To prevent pops you install a smoothing capacitor. If it wants to pop it'll pop too if you pull the cord. And I don't know many people who would wish to lean down, flip the switch and send a large statical pop while his amp is still at volume.

Cheap power supplies are ****. Nowadays they are all switching PS and after they break you can just get a new one. The best power supplies are those that still have the old rugged transformer, like Boss for example. These can be repaired indefinitely and as stage/club electricity can be a bit skanky, these will take much more abuse and surges than switchers. Of course if properly cooled.

Why would you need a new switch? Even with TB switches the circuit is still on and hot even if your pedal is off. Pedals with buffering circuits are a bit more complicated but when pedal is off the signal is just rerouted to the buffer circuit and when you switch it on it goes back through the main circuit.

Ah, I misunderstood the requirements. I thought he wanted it to switch the power off when the pedal is bypassed. I realize now that he was asking for a separate toggle switch for turning the power on and off.

I guess the main reasons that's not a common thing are:

- it adds an extra control, which costs money and takes up space
- points #4 and #5 in my original post still apply

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Pedals without off switches

Switches like this are fairly common on Germanium based pedals, as they usually don't sound optimal when using a power supply. I have one on my Fuzz Face, and I have a custom ToneBender clone being built and a battery on/off switch was one of my requirements.

For other pedals though, it just doesn't make sense. The number of people still using batteries is dwindling, mostly because of units like a 1Spot, which make powering just a few pedals both easy and cost effective.

 

[Frankly]

Re: Pedals without off switches

Frank Lee is currently working on a prototype of a robot that will automatically unplug cables from pedals if they have not been stomped on for a time period determined by the user. The Deluxe Version of the LeeBot will be able to remove the bottoms of pedals and disconnect the battery, thereby rendering the pedal truly "off." The High Speed Deluxe Version (HSDV) will be able to do that so quickly that users will be able to use one battery for up to eight pedals (twelve if using the easy-to-render-off-in-the-True-Frank-Lee-Sense (TFLS) Ibanez '9' enclosures).

Thank you. Frank Lee thought the LeeBot might be a marketable idea but this tells Him that He is on the right track with this.

Thank you.