Let the Power Fall
Back in the 60's and 70's when a lot of the circuits used in stompboxes were being designed they were designed around the crappy batteries that we all knew and loved back in the day. If you're an old guy like me you undoubtedly remember what it was like living with those batteries. They had an outer skin of cardboard and they leaked like crazy after a very short time. Pretty much every AM radio I had as a little kid was murdered by crappy batteries. I eventually built a crystal radio set and used that because it didn't need batteries and I was sick of acid pouring out of the back of my radios every time I opened them up to change the batteries.
Anyway, modern batteries are much better and deliver peak power for longer. And that makes some of the old circuits very unhappy. Particularly distortion and fuzz pedals, but also things like chorus pedals and phasers. Many of them like to see 7 volts or so. So people scramble around looking for generic Chinese batteries hoping they'll be as crappy as the real thing. Rumors were that Stevie Ray Vaughan used to carry around partially-depleted batteries to use in his Tube Screamers so they'd sound the way he liked them to sound.
BTW, don't ever use something like this with a modern microprocessor-based pedal. Your digital delay will not be happy and some of the magic smoke may even leak out of the case. As I'm sure you know, the magic smoke is what keeps these things functional. When it leaks out they stop working.
This is a simple "battery simulator" (or it will be when it's done) that allows a 9v DC power source to have its voltage rolled off and its resistance increased just like you'd find from a dying (or crappy) battery. You just place it between your wall wart and the effect pedal and there will be a potentiometer that will allow the voltage to be lowered. With the meter you can make a note of what power level sounds best to you with your chosen pedal for quick rough setups.
BTW, don't get me wrong...I did not invent this concept. A lot of people have been playing around with boxes like this for a while. This is just my crack at it. I'm following some well-worn tracks in the snow.
Anyway, I just glued the meter in place and clamped it down for the night. Tomorrow I'll give myself some new soldering scars.
Let the Power Fall
Back in the 60's and 70's when a lot of the circuits used in stompboxes were being designed they were designed around the crappy batteries that we all knew and loved back in the day. If you're an old guy like me you undoubtedly remember what it was like living with those batteries. They had an outer skin of cardboard and they leaked like crazy after a very short time. Pretty much every AM radio I had as a little kid was murdered by crappy batteries. I eventually built a crystal radio set and used that because it didn't need batteries and I was sick of acid pouring out of the back of my radios every time I opened them up to change the batteries.
Anyway, modern batteries are much better and deliver peak power for longer. And that makes some of the old circuits very unhappy. Particularly distortion and fuzz pedals, but also things like chorus pedals and phasers. Many of them like to see 7 volts or so. So people scramble around looking for generic Chinese batteries hoping they'll be as crappy as the real thing. Rumors were that Stevie Ray Vaughan used to carry around partially-depleted batteries to use in his Tube Screamers so they'd sound the way he liked them to sound.
BTW, don't ever use something like this with a modern microprocessor-based pedal. Your digital delay will not be happy and some of the magic smoke may even leak out of the case. As I'm sure you know, the magic smoke is what keeps these things functional. When it leaks out they stop working.
This is a simple "battery simulator" (or it will be when it's done) that allows a 9v DC power source to have its voltage rolled off and its resistance increased just like you'd find from a dying (or crappy) battery. You just place it between your wall wart and the effect pedal and there will be a potentiometer that will allow the voltage to be lowered. With the meter you can make a note of what power level sounds best to you with your chosen pedal for quick rough setups.
BTW, don't get me wrong...I did not invent this concept. A lot of people have been playing around with boxes like this for a while. This is just my crack at it. I'm following some well-worn tracks in the snow.
Anyway, I just glued the meter in place and clamped it down for the night. Tomorrow I'll give myself some new soldering scars.