What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

[BrianS.]

Right now the only buffered pedal I have is an Angry Fuzz, and obviously it can't be used at the end of the chain when I have my modulation effects on...sounds icky. But, the buffer seems good so that's what I'm using it for right now.

I don't really have a need for any new pedals of the buffered variety, so I've been thinking about purchasing or building a buffer. Well, maybe an EQ?

What do you use/like/recommend?

 

[ErikH]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

I built my own.

Either one of these two work great.

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/projects/15-boostersrouters/75-transistor-buffer-project

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/projects/15-boostersrouters/74-simple-ic-buffer

I've built both and prefer the IC version. It's on perfboard and I was able to get a layout that's smaller than a 9-volt battery.

 

[BrianS.]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

^Yeah, I like that! I've got a small board, so something tiny would be great. Thanks for the link!

 

[erksin]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

If you already have one, you don't need another at the back end of the chain.

 

[ErikH]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

If you already have one, you don't need another at the back end of the chain.

Not true. It depends on what is between the guitar cable going in to the board and the cable going out to the amp. The more that is there, the more there is a need for a good buffer. You have to take in to account the patch cables, the length of the circuitry of the pedals (the circuit trace can be VERY long if laid out in a straight line and granted, this comes in to play when the pedal is on), the 4 to 6-inches or so between input/output jack in TB pedals. It all adds up. So having 2 x 18 foot cables (one in to the board and one out) is not just 36 feet of cable in your signal chain, but can be closer to 50 or more depending on the size of the pedalboard. The longer the cable, the greater the chance of signal degradation. A good buffer at the beginning and end of the pedalboard can be a huge benefit.

 

[aleclee]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

Not true. It depends on what is between the guitar cable going in to the board and the cable going out to the amp.

Nope. If it's buffered, it doesn't matter what comes after. That's the point of buffering.

VHT Valvulator for me.

 

[BrianS.]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

If you already have one, you don't need another at the back end of the chain.

Sorry, bad explaining on my part...I am taking the Angry Fuzz off the board. I see that I made it sound like I want to keep it in there. It's a cool pedal that I will keep, but I just don't use it in a band situation. I've got a mini Fuzz Face I'm using right now, but I'm still searching for a fuzz that I really, really like...

Thanks, though, for clarifying the fact that a person only needs one buffer on their board!

 

[Ascension]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

If you already have one, you don't need another at the back end of the chain.

Not true!
I run my time effects (Delay Verb and Chorus) through my amps effect loop to get them in AFTER the gain stages and have a total of 30 feet of cable between the amp and the board ( 15 out and in) I need a buffer at the end of the chain on my board to get the high end and level back. Without it I have a volume and high end drop off when I plug the in board into the loop of my amps. It's worse on some amps than others because of how the level is set in the loop. On my Zinky in particular( was the same with my Zinky designed Fender Prosonics also) it sounds like you drop a blanket over the amp when you plug a long cable run into the loop and is unusable the way I run my other rigs without a buffer at the end of the chain.

 

[BrianS.]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

Just food for thought here:

What about a buffered EQ pedal?

Also, ErikH: I'm ordering the PCB and switch from GGG, but I'll still need the jacks, IC, etc...where did you buy that stuff? Just one of the big electronics suppliers, i.e., Mouser, Digikey, etc...?

 

[Ascension]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

Just food for thought here:

What about a buffered EQ pedal?

Also, ErikH: I'm ordering the PCB and switch from GGG, but I'll still need the jacks, IC, etc...where did you buy that stuff? Just one of the big electronics suppliers, i.e., Mouser, Digikey, etc...?

A buffered EQ would work with my set up to get my levels back up.

 

[ErikH]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

Nope. If it's buffered, it doesn't matter what comes after. That's the point of buffering.

VHT Valvulator for me.

That works as well, but the true point of most buffers in pedals is to make them play nice with others. The Boss pedals for example. They work great in 99% of the situations out there. There are some TB pedals out there that don't. Why? Impedance mismatch. That's the reasoning behind the buffer, to make sure there is high Z in, low Z out. Even in cases where the pedalboard has a mix of TB and buffered pedals, having an independent buffer at the beginning and end makes sure that the impedance going in and coming out remains constant.

 

[ErikH]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

Just food for thought here:

What about a buffered EQ pedal?

Also, ErikH: I'm ordering the PCB and switch from GGG, but I'll still need the jacks, IC, etc...where did you buy that stuff? Just one of the big electronics suppliers, i.e., Mouser, Digikey, etc...?

A buffered EQ would work too.

Yeah, any of those places would work.

 

[Ascension]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

I built my own.

Either one of these two work great.

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/projects/15-boostersrouters/75-transistor-buffer-project

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/projects/15-boostersrouters/74-simple-ic-buffer

I've built both and prefer the IC version. It's on perfboard and I was able to get a layout that's smaller than a 9-volt battery.

The top one appears to be pretty much this kit with just an added pot on the kit and the kit is sub $40.
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com...page=flypage.tpl&product_id=18&category_id=33

 

[erksin]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

Not true!
I run my time effects (Delay Verb and Chorus) through my amps effect loop to get them in AFTER the gain stages and have a total of 30 feet of cable between the amp and the board ( 15 out and in) I need a buffer at the end of the chain on my board to get the high end and level back. Without it I have a volume and high end drop off when I plug the in board into the loop of my amps. It's worse on some amps than others because of how the level is set in the loop. On my Zinky in particular( was the same with my Zinky designed Fender Prosonics also) it sounds like you drop a blanket over the amp when you plug a long cable run into the loop and is unusable the way I run my other rigs without a buffer at the end of the chain.

Wouldn't that be considered two separate chains of effects then? In that case of course you'd need a second one. But two buffers for one signal chain is redundant - unless you're running a massive board with a bunch of T/B pedals on it. I'm talking like a dozen at this point.

 

[erksin]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

Not true. It depends on what is between the guitar cable going in to the board and the cable going out to the amp. The more that is there, the more there is a need for a good buffer. You have to take in to account the patch cables, the length of the circuitry of the pedals (the circuit trace can be VERY long if laid out in a straight line and granted, this comes in to play when the pedal is on), the 4 to 6-inches or so between input/output jack in TB pedals. It all adds up. So having 2 x 18 foot cables (one in to the board and one out) is not just 36 feet of cable in your signal chain, but can be closer to 50 or more depending on the size of the pedalboard. The longer the cable, the greater the chance of signal degradation. A good buffer at the beginning and end of the pedalboard can be a huge benefit.

Kinda do this for a living dude...

 

[Ascension]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

Wouldn't that be considered two separate chains of effects then? In that case of course you'd need a second one. But two buffers for one signal chain is redundant - unless you're running a massive board with a bunch of T/B pedals on it. I'm talking like a dozen at this point.

Yes I run a Wah and Compressor through the front of the amp then any time effects through the loop. Reason is the time delays MUST be after the preamp and the crunch as to run a really wet Digital verb through distortion sounds REALLY ratty.
Being a P/W player getting that spacy swelling super wet verb/delay thing going is something I have to do if I want to get the gigs. My Jet City handles the long runs through the loop without any noticeable volume loss and mud. Here is an example.


However my Peavy Ultra and the Zinky don't! The Peavy is not so bad as long as I run high quality cables and the right pedals but the Zinky REALLY suffers if I run anything over say around 3 feet of cable length. Bruce anticipated that only a rack unit wiould be used in the loop when he designed both the Prosonic and the Velvet so it's ether run a buffer/boost or send it back to him for an effects loop mod.

 

[ErikH]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

The top one appears to be pretty much this kit with just an added pot on the kit and the kit is sub $40.
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com...page=flypage.tpl&product_id=18&category_id=33

That kit is the LPB1 booster. More parts and actually a booster, not a buffer. Can be run in "buffer" mode with the level down but the IC and Transistor buffers don't have a knob or that kind of boost.

Kinda do this for a living dude...

That's great. I've been doing this for a long time too. Pete Cornish certainly can't be wrong either. His systems have been used for decades and have a high Z input and low Z at the out for EVERY effect in the system. The high Z input is a preamp made to look like the front of a tube amp's input, very similar to a quality buffer at the front end.

Even on a small pedalboard, a buffer at the end is beneficial to keep the signal strong to the amp. If you're running just a few pedals, one buffer at the end is good enough. If you have a larger board (my idea of large is 6 or more), then one at the beginning and one at the end is ideal.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

Keeley Katana Boost, makes everything sound better!

 

[Ascension]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

That kit is the LPB1 booster. More parts and actually a booster, not a buffer. Can be run in "buffer" mode with the level down but the IC and Transistor buffers don't have a knob or that kind of boost.

Even on a small pedalboard, a buffer at the end is beneficial to keep the signal strong to the amp. If you're running just a few pedals, one buffer at the end is good enough. If you have a larger board (my idea of large is 6 or more), then one at the beginning and one at the end is ideal.

Understand the boost vs buffer but having the gain control in the loop of an amp that does not have a loop level control can be useful. Only question would be is how clean and transparent would it be at lower settings and used only as the buffer?
Could not agree more on the use of a buffer even on a small board if you are using a long cable run!

 

[LReese]

Re: What's your favorite pedal board buffer?

That kit is the LPB1 booster. More parts and actually a booster, not a buffer. Can be run in "buffer" mode with the level down but the IC and Transistor buffers don't have a knob or that kind of boost.



That's great. I've been doing this for a long time too. Pete Cornish certainly can't be wrong either. His systems have been used for decades and have a high Z input and low Z at the out for EVERY effect in the system. The high Z input is a preamp made to look like the front of a tube amp's input, very similar to a quality buffer at the front end.

Even on a small pedalboard, a buffer at the end is beneficial to keep the signal strong to the amp. If you're running just a few pedals, one buffer at the end is good enough. If you have a larger board (my idea of large is 6 or more), then one at the beginning and one at the end is ideal.

Kinda do this for a living dude...

From the consumer's perspective - goes to show you its a matter of opinion. Use your ears to determine whether you need one. My $.02

I need a couple of buffered aspirin.