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I just built a Silver Pony. And while it seems to work fine and sounds great, it makes a loud pop through the amp whenever it is turned on and off. Is this to be expected, or is there a fix for this?

Unfortunately, this can happen with true bypass pedals. The amount of pop can vary a lot from rig to rig. A really bad pop is often a sign of some ground in issues...usually not associated with the pedal.

You can add a pull down resistor to try to reduce the pop. You'd do this by connecting a resistor between the #5 and #2 footswitch eyelets. Or converting to non-true bypass.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

Which resistor would do the trick? I have the same issue with a few pedals.


From the dusty corners of the Ottawa Valley

Keith - I gave that a try - I used a 220K resistor from pin 2 to 5, but I didn't really notice a difference. It's a pretty loud pop, so I'd be interested in converting it to non-true bypass. But I don't have a clue where to start. I've read about buffered bypass modules, but I'm not sure if they are applicable to my pedal.

If most true bypass pedals pop like this one, I really don't understand why people like them.

It's certainly not the case that "most true bypass pedals pop"--in fact, it's quite unusual in my experience. I've built well over 200 BYOC kits that are true bypass and have only encountered switch pop on a handful. True bypass pedals remain so popular because they avoid a variety of sonic problems that can occur when effect circuits are not isolated from the signal path when not in use. But the unfortunate truth is that when switch pop does occur, it can be very difficult to chase down & eliminate.

I'll defer to Keith/byoc to describe how best to convert your SP to non-true bypass.

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

1 Mohm resistors are commonly used for this purpose. But this is no guaranteed fix for the problem--sometimes works, sometimes doesn't.

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Do you think it would be worth my while to replace the input and output capacitors in case one of them is not quite up to the task? Seems to me that might be a good place to start. Adding resistors seems to have no effect.

If you have the time, the caps, and feel confident in your desoldering capabilities, it can't hurt to try. But just understand, you're taking a shot in the dark. You can poke around online and see that there are a lot of theories as to why foot switch pop occurs, but the truth is, no one has yet been able to truly identify the cause, nor come up with a solution.

I'd try this first: Take the pedal somewhere else and test it. Like to a friend's house on a completely different rig or if you have a rehearsal/studio space. Somewhere completely different, particularly with a different amp and totally different AC wiring in the walls. If it behaves the same, then you can start to assume (but still not be entirely certain) that the problem is in the pedal. Because, like I said early, in my experience, this problem has more to do with environmental variables.

If you still want to convert it to non-true bypass after that, then I'll explain how.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

I might add one thing to this excellent suggestion by Keith: Before taking the pedal elsewhere to test it, try (1) changing the power source to a 9V battery, and (2) test it with a signal chain of just guitar-->Silver Pony-->amp. That would eliminate your power supply and other effects in your signal chain as possible causes.

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Actually, trying it with a battery and isolating it with just the guitar and amp were the two things I tried first. My last build was the Spring Reverb pedal, and the noise problem I had with that ended up being the power supply. So I'm wary of those little buggers.

I did have the Silver Pony at the club rehearsing on Wednesday. It still popped, but it's usable. I realized that when I step on it during a song, I invariably hit it right on the down beat. So nobody would hear it anyway.