Are my pedals safe? (help)

[BassBrass]

I recently had to replace a wall switch from 1938 made of bakelite (what old phones and costume jewelry were made of). My amp and effects board are on the same power strip and one switch turns them all on. I expect a fault in 70 years. But you can't be too safe. Or can you?

 

[jdh3000]

The only real danger is mismatching voltage or going over mA ratings. If daisy chaining, always do the math.

If running high draw digital pedals with the same power source as other pedals isn’t dangerous within the allowed mA rating, but you’ll most likely get noise. An isolated power supply will fix this. All analog pedals are typically low draw and easy to daisy chain.

Always power of the amp first, which is good practice for anything that’s powering speakers.

 

[Sushi Box FX]

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.

This is the answer I was looking for, exactly this.

It's a common misconception that the footswitch on a pedal turns it on or off. This is not true. The circuit is powered up as soon as you plug it in, the footswitch only interrupts the audio, not the power.

 

[Deleted member 389437]

This is the answer I was looking for, exactly this.

It's a common misconception that the footswitch on a pedal turns it on or off. This is not true. The circuit is powered up as soon as you plug it in, the footswitch only interrupts the audio, not the power.

Okay! Thank you guys so much!

 

[swarfrat]

I don't like leaving things that make some heat on, but it's a pitb to turn them off right now. (Power strips behind gear. Etc..)

The power usage isn't that much on the bill, but I had some Alesis monitors that died because they put a low spec electrolytic cap next to a hot kick starter resistor in the power supply. Eventually they all cook to death. I know this was a one off thing but... I don't expect any of the other budget grade crap we have is designed with things like this in mind. Or indeed much of the expensive crap for that matter. MI gear is definitely a field where the price isn't a reliable indicator of the level of engineering that went into it.