Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

Personally, I don't think you're running nearly enough cable or pedals to have to worry about a buffer. The main question in my mind is: Do you like your tone as it is now? If it ain't broke, don't fix it ...

 

[mwalluk]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

Personally, I don't think you're running nearly enough cable or pedals to have to worry about a buffer. The main question in my mind is: Do you like your tone as it is now? If it ain't broke, don't fix it ...

6 pedals the signal has to go through is a decent bit. PLus I may add a few more down the line.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

Then why not cross that bridge when you get to it? 6 pedals is not much at all if you have 'em on a board; at most, that's what? 30" of additional wire? It's your money, but I really don't think you need one unless you are unhappy with the sound.

In any event, happy hunting and I look forward to reading about the results!

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

Personally, I don't think you're running nearly enough cable or pedals to have to worry about a buffer. The main question in my mind is: Do you like your tone as it is now? If it ain't broke, don't fix it ...

FWIW, I agree with this but the OP seems set on a buffer so I'll just offer info for that.

 

[mwalluk]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

FWIW, I agree with this but the OP seems set on a buffer so I'll just offer info for that.

I want more out of my tone.

SOme of the pedals I used were big tone sucks.

Also, hopefully adding the buffer will also clear up a lot of unwanted noise, hum, etc.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

I want more out of my tone.

SOme of the pedals I used were big tone sucks.

Also, hopefully adding the buffer will also clear up a lot of unwanted noise, hum, etc.

No offence but it sounds like you read an ad for a buffer and decided you need one...

Aside from a volume pedal and a Boss Tuner you have a few true bypass pedals and nothing else, not nearly what in my mind would get you to the point of needing a buffer.

While we're at it a buffer won't do much for hum and buzz...

Not trying to tell you what to do with your money, just telling you what I think based on the info I have.

 

[mwalluk]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

No offence but it sounds like you read an ad for a buffer and decided you need one...

Aside from a volume pedal and a Boss Tuner you have a few true bypass pedals and nothing else, not nearly what in my mind would get you to the point of needing a buffer.

While we're at it a buffer won't do much for hum and buzz...

Not trying to tell you what to do with your money, just telling you what I think based on the info I have.

This one will help with the hum and buzz considering that it's also an isolated power supply. I'm using a onespot as of now.

Also, the other reasons for wanting one are I plan on going back to wireless. The two units I used to have a Shure (forgot the model) and a Line 6 G30 each experienced a noticeable tone/volume drop.

The other is that I use a VHT Deliverance which is an extremely dark amp. My hopes is this will add a lil sparkle, chime and sizzle to it.

I watched a pretty good demo of it where the guy played through a Hiwatt and actually plugged the buffer directly into the amp (no pedals, dont know if that is good or bad) but it added a certain brightness to the amp.

In terms of amount of pedals, I'm torn because I hear from both sides of the fence that if you run that many you NEED a buffer and then from some you don't.

Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate your input.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

My understanding is (and this is from the pedal roundtable a the NY Amp Show last year): lots of true bypass pedals thin your tone out/make it overly bright. Adding a buffer helps that problem. I don't think a buffer is supposed to brighten your tone, but make it less bright.

I'm wondering if the brightness, as well as the hum and buzz, are not symptomatic of a valve problem, not effect related? Not being there first hand, I don't know, and I am assuming you don't have the hum/buzz when you are going straight into the amp.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

There could be a million things going on here...

Again, not trying to talk you out of a buffer, it's your rig but in an effort to help you make the most of your money and your rig...

What kind of cables are you using???

Nothing drives me more nuts than seeing a guy complaining about signal issues, talking about active buffers, which pedal is true bypass, whats causing the "tone suck" and I see him using the cheapest of junk patch cables...

So, what are you using for pedal connectors???

 

[mwalluk]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

My understanding is (and this is from the pedal roundtable a the NY Amp Show last year): lots of true bypass pedals thin your tone out/make it overly bright. Adding a buffer helps that problem. I don't think a buffer is supposed to brighten your tone, but make it less bright.

I'm wondering if the brightness, as well as the hum and buzz, are not symptomatic of a valve problem, not effect related? Not being there first hand, I don't know, and I am assuming you don't have the hum/buzz when you are going straight into the amp.

I recently retube the amp.

Going straight in there's some hum/hiss (it's a higain amp, so that's expected), even more with the "more" switch engaged, however going through my pedal board both modes become outrageous.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

There could be a million things going on here...

Duff cables could also be the issue. That was going to be my next guess! (I swear lol)

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

I have heard if you use a tuner with a buffer it helps...ever try that?

I haven't tried that, but in theory it would probably help.

No offence but it sounds like you read an ad for a buffer and decided you need one...

Aside from a volume pedal and a Boss Tuner you have a few true bypass pedals and nothing else, not nearly what in my mind would get you to the point of needing a buffer.

While we're at it a buffer won't do much for hum and buzz...

Not trying to tell you what to do with your money, just telling you what I think based on the info I have.

Agree with all of the above.

This one will help with the hum and buzz considering that it's also an isolated power supply. I'm using a onespot as of now.

A PP2+ would do exactly that and more, plus it costs less than that Valvulator.

Also, the other reasons for wanting one are I plan on going back to wireless. The two units I used to have a Shure (forgot the model) and a Line 6 G30 each experienced a noticeable tone/volume drop.

Well, the wireless receiver in both of those units is already buffered, so ...

The other is that I use a VHT Deliverance which is an extremely dark amp. My hopes is this will add a lil sparkle, chime and sizzle to it.

I really don't think a buffer will do what you hope it will here. A buffer will add more detail on the highs, but it can't make a dark amp brighter. Best you can do, aside from getting a different amp, is a speaker swap.

I watched a pretty good demo of it where the guy played through a Hiwatt and actually plugged the buffer directly into the amp (no pedals, dont know if that is good or bad) but it added a certain brightness to the amp.

In terms of amount of pedals, I'm torn because I hear from both sides of the fence that if you run that many you NEED a buffer and then from some you don't.

Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate your input.

My personal opinion is that you don't need a buffer, least of all the most expensive buffer available. A buffer will likely offer some benefit, but I highly doubt it will fix all the problems you have.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

Alright...you need to step back from this and first get your rig straight before spending more money and adding more stuff...

A buffer will not fix hum and buzz...it will not add top end sparkle to a dark amp and it will not fix volume drop from a wireless.

You have several issues going on and each time you add a piece of gear w/o fixing the existing issues you already have you are simply magnifying these issues and causing more at the same time.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

Let's try a quick reboot...

What is your FULL rig...guitars, amps, cabs, pedal, cables, power supplies, etc...all of it...

What are you using from A to Z??

 

[mwalluk]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

There could be a million things going on here...

Again, not trying to talk you out of a buffer, it's your rig but in an effort to help you make the most of your money and your rig...

What kind of cables are you using???

Nothing drives me more nuts than seeing a guy complaining about signal issues, talking about active buffers, which pedal is true bypass, whats causing the "tone suck" and I see him using the cheapest of junk patch cables...

So, what are you using for pedal connectors???

I use a couple from live wire to planet waves. Not extremely cheap at $10 a pop but no $35-50 monster cables either

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

I use a couple from live wire to planet waves. Not extremely cheap at $10 a pop but no $35-50 monster cables either

Big mistake here too...the dollar amount has NOTHING to do with the quality...

 

[crguti]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

definitively I would put a buffer here

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

definitively I would put a buffer here

I wouldn't ... each of those pedals is already buffered.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

What are you trying to get out of your rig that you aren't getting now?

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Does a Buffer go infront of pedal board or behind?

This one will help with the hum and buzz considering that it's also an isolated power supply. I'm using a onespot as of now.

Also, the other reasons for wanting one are I plan on going back to wireless. The two units I used to have a Shure (forgot the model) and a Line 6 G30 each experienced a noticeable tone/volume drop.

The other is that I use a VHT Deliverance which is an extremely dark amp. My hopes is this will add a lil sparkle, chime and sizzle to it.

I watched a pretty good demo of it where the guy played through a Hiwatt and actually plugged the buffer directly into the amp (no pedals, dont know if that is good or bad) but it added a certain brightness to the amp.

In terms of amount of pedals, I'm torn because I hear from both sides of the fence that if you run that many you NEED a buffer and then from some you don't.

Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate your input.

If you're using a One Spot thats your first order of business...GET RID OF THE ONE SPOT AND GET A GOOD POWER SUPPLY.

You should NEVER use something like a buffer to change the tone of an amp...if you can't get the amp to sound the way you want it to sound then think about something like an EQ or something like a different amp.

Buffers shouldn't be used to address volume drop from a wireless...low quality wireless units can have a volume drop but the way to fix that is to use a high quality wireless and hook it up correctly...a buffer for this is a bandaid over a bullet hole.

Don't decide you need a buffer when you get to some mythical number of pedals...decide you need a buffer when whatever your running in your signal chain degrades your signal to the point that you need to remedy it...

If you're interested in some one on one help feel free to drop me a PM and I'd be glad to help you.