Problems Mixing True Bypass and Buffered Pedals?

[JohnnyGuitar]

Just something I heard or read somewhere... that buffered pedals should come before TB pedals or something like this...


Never noticed a difference with the TB pedals I had in my chains (don't use any nowadays). Sounds weird to me, but maybe I'm missing something?

[Aceman]

Re: Problems Mixing True Bypass and Buffered Pedals?

What?!?!?! You can't mix buffered and non-buffered pedals!!!!!!!!!! AT ALL!!!!!

Here is my thought: If you want true bypass, it's because you don't want the *percieved* tone suck. Why would you have ANY non-buffered, unless you have them on all the time?

It has no difference where you put them. The only deal is the True Bypass passes through more accurately (perhaps) what you send it. Doesn't matter if you pass tone suck to them before, after, or wherever.

Line them up how the EFFECTS sound best when they are on.

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Problems Mixing True Bypass and Buffered Pedals?

Most often it doesn't matter...sometimes a pedal might not want to get along with another pedal...example, a TS-9 (which is buffered) will mess with the tone of a Fuzz Face (which is true bypass) if you place it before the Fuzz Face...

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Problems Mixing True Bypass and Buffered Pedals?

The idea behind putting buffered effects towards the beginning of the chain is to eliminate as much tone suck as possible by boosting the signal as soon as possible. The theory is that the longer the run before you hit the buffer, the more and more the highs are going to roll off due to cable capacitance. Some folks swear by using a buffer first in line and then another one at the very end to boost the signal from the pedalboard to the amplifier. I've found only one is really necessary, myself.

An all true bypass pedal setup sucks. bad. You'll get the full effect of hearing treble roll off from the added cable capacitance of the entire chain. If your setup sounds too bassy with not enough gain or punch and you have all true bypass pedals, that could be your main problem.

Try a bunch of different setups and use your ears to guide you. With my rig, I like having a tube EQ buffer at the very first spot, but as TGWIF said, some pedals dislike the low impedance input more than others.

[Fikealox]

Re: Problems Mixing True Bypass and Buffered Pedals?

Another advantage of having a buffer at the start of your chain is that it will minimise tonal changes as you kick on your TB pedals. Sometimes, especially when first in your chain after high impedance pickups, a TB pedal will noticably brighten up your signal when you kick it on. Not always desirable!

Setting aside the peculiarities of fuzz circuits, it makes more sense, if you're trying to get the benefit of a buffer, to have it at the start of your chain. Most amps have a reasonably high input impedance anyway, so having a buffer right before its input is often redundant.

As the other guys said, though. There's no right or wrong way; just set it up how it sounds best to you. Experiment

[stevie_bees]

Re: Problems Mixing True Bypass and Buffered Pedals?

I don't know which of my pedals are buffered/true bypass! I just plug in and play, badly admittedly...

[James Rock]

Re: Problems Mixing True Bypass and Buffered Pedals?

I think my setup (if possible) would be all true bypass with a really good buffer in front and maybe at the end. True bypass is bad over long runs but bad buffers are bad no matter how short the chain is (Behringer buffers tend to suck and some active volume pedals have bad tone in my experience but good buffers are awesome!)

[ratherdashing]

Re: Problems Mixing True Bypass and Buffered Pedals?

Most often it doesn't matter...sometimes a pedal might not want to get along with another pedal...example, a TS-9 (which is buffered) will mess with the tone of a Fuzz Face (which is true bypass) if you place it before the Fuzz Face...

Yeah, fuzzes in general like to "see" an unbuffered guitar signal. In general, they are very, very simple circuits with no input buffer of their own, and they're designed with the assumption that a high impedance guitar signal is going to be coming in. Send in a low impedance buffered signal and you get unpredictable (i.e. crappy) results.

Most other pedals have input buffers of their own even if they are true bypass (true bypass just means the buffer isn't on when the pedal is off), so it doesn't matter.