Purchasing First Pedal Board

Open lane

Open lane

New member
Hi. I have never owned an actual pedal board and have a bit of a newbish question

When i leave input and output cords in a pedal, it will drain the battery, correct?

If i set up a board with the idea being to use a powerbrick, will leaving the chords in the inputs/outputs of my pedals potentially damage my pedals?

is there any way i can build a board that won't need to be reassembled time after time?


Please let me know.
Thank you!
 
Open lane said:
Hi. I have never owned an actual pedal board and have a bit of a newbish question

When i leave input and output cords in a pedal, it will drain the battery, correct?

If i set up a board with the idea being to use a powerbrick, will leaving the chords in the inputs/outputs of my pedals potentially damage my pedals?

is there any way i can build a board that won't need to be reassembled time after time?


Please let me know.
Thank you!
Click to expand...

Leaving your pedals plugged in won't damage the pedals or a power supply. It will drain batteries, so you'd need to unplug them if you're using battery power.

I'm not sure what you mean by "won't need to be reassembled time after time". If you use a power supply, I don't see why you'd need to reassemble anything unless you're changing the layout or which pedals you have on there. How often you do that is up to you.
 
Skip the batteries and go with an isolated power supply. I have Trutone CR12, gives me a couple 18v, a few 9/12v outlets and a few more 9v outlets. I leave that plugged into the wall and plugged into my board at all times and havent had an issue. I just turn the pedals off when not in use. My board is a Pedaltrain, probably way bigger than Ill ever need, I have probably 10 pedals on the board with room for growth.

I think if you use velcro or the cable ties to hold the pedals in place, really only thing you have to keep redoing, once you get your layout where you like it, is the input and output cables to your amp.
 
GuitarStv said:
Using a distributed power supply shouldn't damage your pedals, but it's probably a good idea to unplug it the power supply during electrical storms just in case.
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This! My board is not plugged in unless it is being used. When not in use it is in the case.
 
So far, i've just been using a wall wart with a daisy chain...

can someone here tell me if a power brick's output in ma100 or 250ma will function differently?
 
not sure exactly what unit you are talking about but most analog pedals dont use 100ma. some digital pedals use more than that
 
Some power supplies say that they’re isolated, but are suspected not to live up to the claim. They’re still likely to be better than daisy-chaining.

Regarding batteries, I think only the input jack activates the battery, so if you do want to leave the batteries in, you can, but you have to unplug the inputs.

Many pedalboards will come with carry bags or cases, so you should be able to lay the pedals out, secure them, cable them up (signal and power), secure the power supply underneath, and store the whole thing neatly between uses. The only thing you will need to plug in to use the pedals will be the power supply to the mains, the guitar into the first pedal, and the last pedal into the amp (unless you use the four cable method, or something more complex).
 
I only use batteries in a pedal if it's not on a board and I unplug the input when not playing.

When pedals are on the board, I take the batteries out beforehand and only use a power supply, and power is only plugged in when I am using the pedal board.
 
You can leave the batteries in most pedals and leave all cables hooked-up, as long as there's a plug in the power supply it won't drain the battery.
It only drains the battery if there is nothing in the power supply and the input cable is in.

I have a couple "dummy plugs" I use for when I insert a pedal (that is using a battery for power) into anywhere in the middle section of my signal chain.
This way when I get done playing I can leave it all hooked-up and just insert the dummy-plug so it won't drain the battery with the input cable left inserted.


If you are going to leave a pedal on the board permanently and it has rear-access for the battery,,,,,,,,,then definitely remove the battery so it doesn't get forgotten and cause corrosive damage over the years.

Corrosion from a leaking battery can even start running up the battery cable itself!

Boss-style top-access battery compartments are great in this regard since you can still get to it even when the pedal is locked or velcro-stuck.

Heck just start with a Godlyk Powerall 2000ma daisy chain rig for a whopping $25.
It will come in handy at some point, even if you later switch to a supply with isolated grounds for your main board, and if the isolated-grounds setup leaves you a few pedals short you can use the Powerall as a supplement. Poweralls are as quite as they come for daisy-chains.
 
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People are dancing around the answer, here is what you are asking.

(This holds for ~95% of pedals, since most use the BOSS convention. If you have some old vintage pedals we can determine what to do later)

-When powered by batteries, the input jack engages the battery and turns the pedal on. The Output jack does nothing. If you are using batteries, you’ll need to unplug the Input side when you are done playing to preserve battery life. This doesn’t have to be completely removed, just backed out enough to break the circuit.

-When using the power jack (with any supply) inserting the cable end into the pedal disconnects the battery from the circuit. So if you have everything permanently powered by a daisy chain or isolated supply, you don’t need to unplug inputs.

-Best practice is to remove batteries if you don’t use them so they don’t ooze all over the inside of a pedal if you forget about it. (I’m guilty of forgetting this)

-Basically, if you are looking for a permanent board, remove the batteries, wire signal and power cables and you are good.

-Regarding Daisy Chain vs Isolated Power Supply, I am hugely in favor of the later. You can always daisy chain off of an output if you have several analog pedals without negative impact. A great test to see if you need an isolated supply is to have all pedals powered by battery, all connected and play. You may or may not notice noise. One by one, remove the power supply plug from each pedal, if it get quieter one the power is removed (and it’s on battery) that pedal really needs isolated power. A lot of digital pedals can cause pedals in other pedals.... you’ll think a drive is noisy, but it’s just picking up digital noise from your reverb.

-Current (mA) requirement. All pedals have a certain current requirement. You must use a supply that provides AT LEAST that much current. Some pedals will work if they are on a lower current outlet, but that is a recipe for a shortened supply life.

Examples:
-Boss DS-1 draws 20mA. You can use a 100ma or 250ma output.
-Boss DD-7 draws 57mA, you can use 100 or 250.
-You have three DS-1 pedals that you daisy chain. 3 x 20mA = 60mA, you can still use 100 or 250.
-Strymon Blue Sky draws 250mA. You MUST use the 250mA output.
-Strymon Timeline draws 300mA. You should use a current doubling cable from two 250mA outputs.

Go here to check you pedals.
https://stinkfoot.se/power-list

Once you understand it all, it’s not too bad. Good luck!
 
GuitarStv said:
Current (amps) is like the amount of electricity that the power supply can send all at once. Each pedal has a certain amount of current that it needs. As long as you keep the power supply current rating above the total current draw you're fine.
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Kinda fixed that for ya. You can daisy chain multiple pedals off of one output on an isolated supply as long as you the total draw doesn't exceed the rating on the power supply. I would also not recommend daisy chaining pedals in front of the amp with pedals in the fx loop.
 
Could it create what they call "groundloop"?

I run my loop pedals from their own power to avoid this, but I never tried it the wrong way just to see.
 
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