Anyone use a legit buffer pedal on their board?

[scottish]

i just stuck a TC Electronic Bona Fide buffer pedal on my board and holy crap the difference. Its super high imp in low out and its a night and day difference. Much clearer, much more treble coming through (perhaps almost too much if im honest). Im still tweaking things to really dial in the sound i want but it has brought a couple of pedals to new levels of life. Mine is coming right after my boss tuner since i wanted to NOT have the boss buffer driving my circuit.

Anyone else using something like this and have any thoughts on it?

 

[jeremy]

i know ascension is using one on his board and said it made a big difference

 

[ErikH]

I have a couple of IC buffers I made somewhere around here. Probably same place as the Rangermaster clones I did years ago. Anyway, yes, a good buffer does make a difference. I did use of them on my board when I had more stuff but since I'm running 2-3 pedals max anymore, I don't bother.

 

[GuitarStv]

Mine is coming right after my boss tuner since i wanted to NOT have the boss buffer driving my circuit.

I don't understand this. If the boss tuner is in place before the buffer then your signal is buffered through the boss pedal first. I wouldn't expect there to be much if any difference from adding a second buffer in place. What pedals are you running after the buffer?

 

[dave74]

I'd put the buffer at the end of your chain, both in the front and in the loop, unless your last pedal already is ultra-low impedance.
Just use any pedal with a 1meg always-on buffer at or near the front. It can be anywhere near the front to do it's job.

 

[scottish]

I don't understand this. If the boss tuner is in place before the buffer then your signal is buffered through the boss pedal first. I wouldn't expect there to be much if any difference from adding a second buffer in place. What pedals are you running after the buffer?

I dont really understand this stuff to be quite honest, but i remember reading somewhere that the boss always on buffer has its own funkiness so if it was just the tuner then you could "re-buffer" after it if you werent running anymore boss pedals in the chain. I got it for free so i figured why not. I have a bunch of other stuff coming after it. I dont play out but i do try to record here and there and i like to be able to just have everything there without having to unplug and move around etc. Anyways, I know putting it there made a massive difference to the sound so it has to be doing something the boss isnt.

 

[scottish]

I'd put the buffer at the end of your chain, both in the front and in the loop, unless your last pedal already is ultra-low impedance.
Just use any pedal with a 1meg always-on buffer at or near the front. It can be anywhere near the front to do it's job.

Last pedal is another TC Electronic and I believe all their pedals are ultra low-out.

 

[Chistopher]

Buffer's don't make sense to me either. If I'm not going on a short cable run to my amp, I'm going on a shorter cable run to a DI box. Since my NS-2 noise gate is always on, I never really need to buffer anything else.

 

[jeremy]

i dont care for the buffers on (some?) boss pedals, so i keep the tu3 out of the signal chain. i put the sd1 and oc2 in bypass loops for the same reason. the fulldrive3 buffer seems ok. i havent played around with a standalone buffer in a while, but i dont feel im lacking high end or clarity

 

[dave74]

Last pedal is another TC Electronic and I believe all their pedals are ultra low-out.

Many of them have good buffers built-in, but you do need to open up the back and switch them to always-on status. They are mostly set to true-bypass as stock.

 

[ErikH]

Boss’s buffers are sufficient in many cases. They are made to “play well with others”. And they do that well.

 

[Chistopher]

https://axesselectronics.com/products/unz1-un-buffer?variant=42956621217953

about to buy one of these so the pure tone of my guitar can get to the amp, untainted by the modern impedance of my effects pedals.

 

[Ascension]

I don't understand this. If the boss tuner is in place before the buffer then your signal is buffered through the boss pedal first. I wouldn't expect there to be much if any difference from adding a second buffer in place. What pedals are you running after the buffer?

I never considered a buffer until I started trying to use the loop on my little Zinly Blue Velvet. Bruce set the levels for rack effects, so a long cable run to and from a board really kills the high end on that amp. I picked up a buffer to try and offset that on that amp and was absolutely stunned in how much it helped the tone through the loops of all my amps. Made the amp sound like it did with nothing in the loop, and was a very noticeable difference. Still didn't fix the issue with my Blue Velvet, that will take a mod in that loop, so I just run any effects for that amp through the front. However, it really opened my eyes and ears to how much tone I was loosing in my other amps with a long cable run through the loops. It was quite literally like pulling a blanket off the amp running the buffer. Now I run a buffer on every board that will use a long cable run to and from the board to a loop. And that goes for running both buffered and true bypass pedals in the loop. It's not so noticeable running into the front of an amp, but sure is in the loop!!

 

[Ascension]

I'd put the buffer at the end of your chain, both in the front and in the loop, unless your last pedal already is ultra-low impedance.
Just use any pedal with a 1meg always-on buffer at or near the front. It can be anywhere near the front to do it's job.

I tried the buffer both ways and got better results in the front end on my board. I only run time based effects normally in my loop, and my normal set up is a 15 ft run to and from the loop to the board or 30 feet of cable total. With my set-up, running a dedicated buffer makes a very noticeable difference in my tone. Others with a different set-up may not get the same results. I have 2 boards that I run with amps that have loops and run buffers on both. I don't run a buffer with the Zinky and running all effects into the front of the amp.

 

[dave74]

It's very situational dependant and will depend on what other pedals you have in the chain. The main thing is having a buffer OR buffered pedal up front that loads the pickups as-if it were a standard amp's input, and then having at the end of the chains either a dedicated buffer OR a pedal that has a quality low impedance output buffer stage to limit loss through the cable.

 

[Chistopher]

The biggest thing you are going to get out of a buffer is it's going to hit your first pedal a lot more efficiently, the biggest difference at the end of your pedal board will be less high frequency loss from the cable and hitting your amp more efficiently.