To Buff or not to Buff

[GuitarToma]

I have a silly question.

How does one know whether or not to include a buffer in his chain? My board is completely true bypass, 14 pedals currently. Am I missing something?

[thedroid]

Originally Posted by GuitarToma

I have a silly question.

How does one know whether or not to include a buffer in his chain? My board is completely true bypass, 14 pedals currently. Am I missing something?

Listen to your sound with all the pedals bypassed. Then take the cord and plug straight into the amp. If you like the straight-in sound better, you're probably losing some high end with the long signal chain, and a buffer might help. You could also just adjust your amp EQ while running through the pedals, but the high-end range that gets lost with cables is usually above the range of the amp's EQ, unless you've got a "presence" knob.

Before you invest in a stand-alone buffer, try throwing one buffered pedal, like a TU2, into the chain and see if it helps.

[ford]

If you could use a boost pedal also.. pick up the MI Audio Boost N Buff...


When it is off the buffer is engaged.. when it is on.. well you get lots of great boost and can dial in the high end if needed.

I run 11 true bypass pedals and the boostNbuff made a difference.

rock

bford

[GuitarToma]

Cool - thanks guys. Perfect advice.

Here's my line-up for kicks:
Ernie Ball VPjr, (tuner out to a sonic st-200), Analogman Juicer, Keeley 4-knob comp, NOC3 Firefly, MI Audio Blues Pro, Catalinbread Hyperpak, Zendrive, Mosferatu, retro-sonic phaser, Keeley Katana, then effect looped from my amp: Empress Tremolo, Empress Superdelay, Analogman Bi-Chorus

[kludge]

Usually, a guitar through my favorite buffer (PE Germ) sounds better than even straight into the amp! But all you can do is try it and see.