Are my pedals safe? (help)

Pi_Husky

Pi_Husky

Apr 18, 2022
282
151
801
Califorina
#1
Hi guys, im putting a new pedalboard together and have a quick question about power for my pedals. There's a few pedals I have on all the time like my compressor and preamp, but as well as some pedals only that are on when I first turn on the board and turn it off, like my tuner. Will it do any damage whatsoever to my pedals having them activated when giving them power? (I have no valve pedals) Or should you keep them switched off before plugging in the mains? And I know a lot of you would just say "just turn it on and off with the switch" but having to do that every time I plug in is a bit annoying and I feel like that would wear out my switch way faster than my other pedals. Thanks!
 
#6
Killing Floor said:
If you use an isolated power supply or any decent power supply you may be better off. I wouldn’t sweat it either way. Speaking as a guy with a bottle opener on my pedal board.
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Haha, I used to be the same way :roflmao:, Im only now just getting a proper pedalboard (finally)
Yeah, I use a Truetone Onespot powersupply! its a great little box! When you say "you may better be off." I assume you mean I may better be off with my pedals off and then turing them on and off again for setup and teardown?
 
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#10
Pi_Husky said:
Haha, I used to be the same way :roflmao:, Im only now just getting a proper pedalboard (finally)
Yeah, I use a Truetone Onespot powersupply! its a great little box! When you say "you may better be off." I assume you mean I may better be off with my pedals off and then turing them on and off again for setup and teardown?
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I don’t abuse the pedals on my board but I definitely use them. I have a ton of pedals that I collect and mess with for fun but the few that are stuck to my board are living. I try to be careful to connect things properly and use good cables but I never worry about power-on cycles. I suppose there can be a surge but I’ve never worried about plugging in. Nothing lasts forever so if I ever smoked something I have it coming and I can live with that.
I plug my board into a decent-ish surge protected strip but I’m not naive about suppression. Stuff can break. That’s why they use that delicious smelling blue smoke.
 
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#13
Killing Floor said:
I don’t abuse the pedals on my board but I definitely use them. I have a ton of pedals that I collect and mess with for fun but the few that are stuck to my board are living. I try to be careful to connect thing properly and use good cables but I never worry about power-on cycles. I suppose there can be a surge but I’ve never worried about plugging in. Nothing lasts forever so if I ever smoked something I have it coming and I can live with that.
I plug my board into a decent-ish surge protected strip but I’m not naive about suppression. Stuff can break. That’s why they use that delicious smelling blue smoke.
Click to expand...
Blue smoke it like the RED MIST for race car drivers , crap is blowin up !
 
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#16
Pi_Husky said:
Will it do any damage whatsoever to my pedals having them activated when giving them power? (I have no valve pedals) Or should you keep them switched off before plugging in the mains?
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Most(all?) pedals only switch the signal going to the output with the footswitch either mechanically or electrically. If power is connected to the power input, or a battery is in it and a plug is in the input then the power is always on to the electronics in the pedal.
The red led only tells you how the output is switched, not if the pedal is "on" in terms of power.
So there really is no way to not have them on when applying power.
 
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