freestompboxes.org

Hi,

*** n00b question warning ***

I wonder why it is needed for most effects to drain the battery while the effect is OFF? Especially for true-bypass effects.
It would seem very easy to me to make the switch break the circuit so the battery is not drained while the effect is OFF.
I'm guessing the reason why this is not done is because there would be audible pops when powering the circuit, or a delay before the circuit is fully powered and working? All of this does not really seem unsurmountable though for the naive noob ...

Anyone care to explain why this is?

Most pedals have some path to ground even when they are switched off, whether it is through a bias splitter or a transistor or something else. It would take quite a bit of switching in some pedals to lift every connection, and even then it would most certainly pop unless you bridged every broken connection with a high value leak resistor. Seems like a lot of work to reduce a little current drain on the battery.

many pedals pop or squeal for a short time when power is lost or enabled.

if you notice at the bottom of this schem, it says to wait thirty seconds for the capacitors to charge. especially if the effect hasn't been powered in a long time.

+1

The LFO in the Danelectro vibe is disconnected from power in bypass, and the pedal is pretty useless as a result with a good 2/3 second delay after pressing the footswitch before you get the vibe effect kicking in.