Power supply: auto turn on pedals?

Gear & Tools Talk 🔊 Amplification & Effects
1

Ok I am going to be a pain 1 more time . So I have my pedals connected to my power supply but when I turn on the power almost all the pedal also turn on. So then I have to go around and turn off all the pedals . I quest my question is this normal.https://youtu.be/9IfvBbj47jE?si=n4C2bIYAkgecVd-k

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2

why turn them off? on the flip side, if it really irks you that the pedals all turn on, you can just never turn off the power supply and turn on each pedal separately

3

I think he means that when the pedal is powered up, the effect is enabled.

I’ve no idea, but my expectation would be that, in most cases (some exceptions, like tuners), you would want pedals starting up with the pedal effect disabled.

Cheers,

Keith

4

In my experience most pedals don’t do this, however it certainly is a ‘feature’ of some Boss pedals.

5

I could be wrong but in my experience pedals remain in the state they were in; ON or OFF.

So if the power is turned on, the pedals should go into the state they were last before you turned off the power. If they were all on and you turned off the power, they will all light up. At least 99,8% of the mwould, I assume there are exceptions.

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6

I experience the exact same thing

  • boss dd200
  • boss sd1
  • electro harmonix mod11

Pedals with a true bypass will stay off or on. They have a physical on off button you can here ‘clunk’ in and out.

Buffered pedals have electronic switching and will ‘boost’ (buffer, though I can’t say I understand the theory of it) the signal when ‘off’ - anyway I guess the behaviour of said internal switching will be manufacturer specific.

A pain in the butt, however always one to see a silver lining, I use this behaviour to remind myself to ‘set’ my sound each and every time I want to play. Learn how to set each pedal for a particular sound and not just rely on preset configurations (if that makes sense).

Maybe there are ways to set default to off?

7

I am turning pedals off prior to turning power off then when turning on power to amp and pedals the pedals are on again. It doesn’t bother me but I don’t want my pedals to get damaged.

8

Hopefully won’t be damaging but can be a pain.

A quick google suggests we are stuck with them that way.

9

If they’re mechanical switches then it’s quite possible that could happen, they can retain the state when you turned the power supply off, that’s the case if they’re push,push switches, that is mechanically latched; if they’re electronically latching switches they should change to off when you power off. All electronic switches will turn off when they’re powered off unless they have been made with a battery backup to retain the final state.
Basically it’s all a matter of cost, inexpensive pedals are most likely to have a push/push switch so will stay on, and as the cost goes up it should follow my order.
You should ideally have the pedals turned on before the amp is powered up, then you can tell if they’re switched on. You can then switch them off before you turn the amp on to avoid any damage to the amp; if they’re left on and power them up with the amp on it will make a pretty loud pop which isn’t good for the speaker(s) and is actually quite a spike going into the amp’s circuitry.

10

Can you explain how that happens? What causes the damage and what gets damaged. Does the pedal need to be in a specific part of the chain?

11

Really? I would have thought the opposite.

If you turn your amp on first then (assuming the volume is up) if you then turn on your pedals, that’s likely to cause transient spikes in the output voltage from the pedals into the amp which will then be amplified. This, potentially, could damage the amp (although it’s actually fairly unlikely). The biggest issue is it will cause an audible “thump” from the speaker, which is quite unpleasant.

Equally, if you turn off the pedals before the amp, then you might get the same thing.

Cheers,

Keith

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12

I thought this was a interesting thread.
It could be good info for when purchasing a new pedal. That is, deciding buffered or true bypass. Or putting it another way. Deciding between a pedal that turns on when power is put to it vs a pedal that you turn on via the on/off switch on the pedal.
My personal preference is powered by the pedal switch. I want to control when they come on. Whether they got power to them or not.

I really never considered this too much. But for whatever reason, I gave my pedals their own power strip. Only the pedal power supply is plugged into this power strip. I control when the pedals get power.
fwiw, I didn’t like hearing the pedals power up, so I just got used to powering up the pedals (via the power strip) prior to turning on the amp.
I also for whatever reason ended up with mostly true bypass pedals. Mostly cheapo joyo. In defense of joyo true bypass. They do power up in whatever condition you leave them in when ya turn them off. I turn them all off prior to turning off the power strip. When powering them back up, they power up in the off condition.
When powering them up though, and the amp is on, they do make the amp go thump, you can hear that the pedals have been given power.

Will also say that I don’t always use pedals. The true by pass pedals must be off if I don’t want to power the pedals up via the power strip. If the pedals are on, but don’t have power to them, that is a break between the guitar and amp and it’s like unplugging the guitar from the amp. Another reason I turn all pedals off prior to power down of the pedals.

I think there is a time when buffered is desirable. Perhaps when you have signal loss do to long cable runs. Not sure I understand this totally.

Also, fwiw, my last pedal was a tuner pedal. I can control whether that pedal is buffered or true by pass. Right now I have it set to buffered. w/o power to it, it don’t work, pedal switch on or off, it makes no difference (that pedal is the break between the guitar and the amp). I don’t know if my cable run is too long, but it is kinda long. 30-40’ maybe with the cables I’m using. So thought I’d use it in buffered mode. Not sure if I hear signal loss or not. I don’t hear any difference really between buffered or true by pass so perhaps I could put that pedal back in true by pass w/o issue.
Since I want my tuner pedal always on I’ve got to power up the pedals regardless, so it don’t make any difference. Pedal power supply must be on or the tuner don’t work. If the tuner don’t work, nothing works. Tuner pedal is first in line too. Guitar plugs into the tuner pedal.

I will consider this Majik. When I turn off my pedals, amp on, I don’t hear the thump at the amp that I do when I power them up. I may not hear the pedals powering down, but likely will now turn my pedals off after I turn the amp off.

Another way to get away from this power spike is perhaps to use a a/b/y switch. Leaving the A or B in the not in use amp. That way all signal goes to the amp that is off. Then when your ready to play, switch the a/b/y pedal to the amp in use. I also use this idea.

Good, interesting thread Jeff.

13

All my Boss pedals turn ON when I plug in the power supply, except the tuner, which stays OFF. So, I have to stomp the Octave Pedal, Digital Delay, and Leslie Simulator to turn them OFF, then stomp the tuner to turn it ON. At least the looper doesn’t start playing on power-up LOL!

Murphy’s Law is in full-effect :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

14

Yes, you’re right I got it the wrong way around!

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15

Edited, I got it wrong!

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