Just ordered an LS Effects Tone Messiah Buffer.

[cookedbutok]

Well, I drank the buffer kool-aid and finally ordered a buffer. I was gonna order a T1M or JHS little black box, but this one by LS Effects seemed interesting and I haven't seen much TGP talk about LS Effects, so I thought i'd be a TGP guinea pig.

Here's the link: http://www.lseffects.com/--tone-messiah.html

Looked cool and it seems to be well made at a good price. Anyone else have one?

 

[mmolteratx]

I disagree with a couple things in that page but I guess all that matters is that JFETs do sound nice. Certainly not transparent things though. Good op amps are certainly not cheap though, especially in relation to JFETs. You can get JFETs for less than 10 cents a piece all day long in small quantities. Even a cheap 4558 is several times that. Something like an AD712, OP275, OPA2604 is $4-5 a piece in small quantities.

 

[cookedbutok]

I disagree with a couple things in that page but I guess all that matters is that JFETs do sound nice. Certainly not transparent things though. Good op amps are certainly not cheap though, especially in relation to JFETs. You can get JFETs for less than 10 cents a piece all day long in small quantities. Even a cheap 4558 is several times that. Something like an AD712, OP275, OPA2604 is $4-5 a piece in small quantities.

Yeah, most of the technical jargon is lost on me, I was just going on the fact that I've heard good things about JFET buffers and that it's hand-wired, etc. His description I guess I would chalk up to a builder trying to make his build sound better than the rest of the market, i think everyone does that to an extent.

 

[cookedbutok]

Well, I just got it and plugged it up.

Solid build, enclosure is kinda cool, a little different than your average small pedal enclosure.

All I have to say about the effect on my tone is....holy crap, what have I been doing? I didn't realize how much clarity and bite I was missing until I A/B'ed it with vs. without. It brings me that clarity and high end that I've been missing and trying to EQ in my amp, little did I realize that a simple buffer could be the answer to my problems.

I don't honestly know if "just any buffer" would have done the trick, but this buffer is going to be on my board for the foreseeable future. Definitely worth the $60 bucks, I highly recommend the Tone Messiah.

 

[chervokas]

I disagree with a couple things in that page but I guess all that matters is that JFETs do sound nice. Certainly not transparent things though. Good op amps are certainly not cheap though, especially in relation to JFETs. You can get JFETs for less than 10 cents a piece all day long in small quantities. Even a cheap 4558 is several times that. Something like an AD712, OP275, OPA2604 is $4-5 a piece in small quantities.

Yeah, no reason to demonize op amps. In fact, I quite like op amp buffers. I do wish the manufacturer would publish the relevant specs when it comes to a pedal chain buffer, namely input and output impedances.