Sun Face and the Virtual Battery

[acwild]

I don't have much room on my board to plug and unplug a pedal and I didn't want to deal with batteries. When I ordered my Sun Face, I figured that the Virtual Battery would be a good solution. The only problem is that I didn't realize that I'd have to tell Mike that I wanted the Sun Face modded to accomodate the Virtual Battery.
As such, I cut a credit card to prop the case open so that the wire could stick out. Every time that I stepped on the pedal, I would always worry about cutting the wire by accident. Due to budgetary constraints, I can't send the pedal back to get it modded.
The Virtual Battery seems to fit snugly in the case. All it needs is a hole for a plug to fit in. While I cringed at the thought of making a hole in the case, it seemed like the best option.
To keep the battery snug, I used some foam and packed it in tight. I'm relieved to say that it worked out perfectly.

 

[Champ]

How does the virtual battery compare to the non-alkaline that Mike recommends for the sun Face? Does it change the tone?

 

[acwild]

How does the virtual battery compare to the non-alkaline that Mike recommends for the sun Face? Does it change the tone?

I honestly don't hear a difference but I'll also admit that I don't have the best ears either. Someone mentioned that it may be because I have mine dialed in more like an overdrive than a fuzz.

 

[Steven]

I´m runing my sunface from my pedal power II and I cant honestly hear any difference between the PPII and a cheap battery. Guess I´m not blessed with those golden ears.

 

[capnrock]

I can't weigh in on the pedal power vs a non-alkaline battery, but when I first got the pedal it had an energizer in it. I thought the pedal sounded great. No way a battery's going to make a huge tonal difference. Then I tried the recommended non-alkaline battery from a dollar store. Holy crap. And it lasted for MONTHS. Probably 6 months. And I don't have golden ears either...

 

[aziltz]

make sure that cable end won't fry things if it touches the enclosure on the inside of that hole!

 

[acwild]

make sure that cable end won't fry things if it touches the enclosure on the inside of that hole!

Thanks for the tip! Everything is sealed up pretty well but there's always something that I forget.

 

[Scrubs]

I've been wondering the same thing myself. Whether the virtual battery will be a good powering choice. I had in mind the sunface with power jack option to use the VB-DC. This would avoid having to trail a wire under the pedal baseplate. Anyone had any experience?

 

[Alter]

on the other hand, if you originally get the mod that shuts the battery off when the fuzz knob is all the way down, you don 't need to unplug anything and the battery lasts forever....

 

[acwild]

on the other hand, if you originally get the mod that shuts the battery off when the fuzz knob is all the way down, you don 't need to unplug anything and the battery lasts forever....

I thought about that but based on this quote from Analogman I balked.

"The optional on/off fuzz pot does not have quite as nice of a taper as the normal fuzz pot, a lot of fuzz happens in the last quarter turn on the knob."

Since I didn't have any experience with this pedal, I wasn't sure if that was going to be an issue or not. Knowing what I know now, I would have definitely opted for the on/off mod.

 

[analogmike]

Nice job!

We have done just that on a few pedals, with the hole in the side.

Have fun!