Battery killswitches

[Baltar]

So I modded my MKII/Marshall Supafuzz a few weeks back with a 1K resistor instead of a 470K.  Now it eats batteries.  I use the 1 Spot and tried the 9V battery snap convertor and it didn't work, tried installing an AC 9V recep, that didn't work.  So I just dropped a batt killswitch like my Screaming Tree has and it works nicely.
Anyone else run into this?

[Hemisaurus]

Do you mean the 470 ohm resistor? Between the coupling cap, and the resevoir cap on the third transistor? It shouldn't have a drastic effect on battery life, is something shorting?

[Baltar]

Yeah the 470 resistor, I was using an old battery so maybe it was just it's time to go.  It's not shorting out, it was just one battery.  It was an easy mod and looks pretty cool besides.  Just wondering if this was something I had to do 'cause it's made specifically to specs.  I noticed Analogman's SunLion pedal only can be run DC too.

[spookstrickland]

I like battery Kill switches that way you can leave your fx plugged in and then just switch them off and not worry about the battery going dead. 

[Baltar]

Exactly!  The pedal is made by Dentone, I found him on ebay.  The pedal is killer after the mods I did, but the owner wasn't too helpful when I emailed him.  I asked him if there was a way to mod it and make it louder because it wasn't reaching unity gain, he said that all his pedals reach unity gain and have a db boost.  Hurray for DIY and the internet, otherwise it would have been just an OK MKII clone.

[Hemisaurus]

Subbing in the 1K resistor should slightly reduce the current if anything, resulting in a slight increase in battery life. How close was the resistor to the transistors? Could be you thermally damaged one of the transistors and it's leaking current. Germaniums are a bit more fragile than silicon. If you are soldering on a junction with the tranistor, put a hemostat, or some locking pliers on the appropriate leg to shunt heat away.

[Baltar]

Naw, the swap was clean.  It was just a half-used 9volt, we'll see how long the new Duracell lasts and I'll report back.  Thanks for the info.