Question Pedal Junkies : Pedal bypass boxes / options

[spkirby]

My collection of analogue pedals has grown over the years and now I have a large (but fun) pedalboard with exclusively true bypass pedals.

Even with true bypass though there is still some tone degredation with all pedals off due to the length of the signal path the guitar has to go through.

Can anyone recommend some good options for bypassing the pedals when I'm not using any or having some sort of pedal loops to bring in a pedal(s) into the chain at will but keeping the signal length to a minimum? Enlighten me with your knowledge of products!

Thanks

 

[Purple ASS]

Steve

You may find this an interesting read, Quoted from Pete Cornish website:


"Hey Pete, do you use True Bypass?"

Look out there's a lecture coming:

The "true bypass" function, which is promoted by some, can create dreadful problems with a system that uses many pedals. Take for instance a 15 ft guitar cable linked to ten pedals, each linked by a 2 ft cable, and then onto the amp by a 30 ft cable. If all pedals have "true bypass", and are off, then the total cable length hanging on the guitar output will be 63 ft. This will cause a huge loss of tone and signal level particularly if the guitar is a vintage type with low output and high impedance. The amp volume is then turned up and the treble control increased to compensate for the losses. The inherent background noise now increases by the amount of the gain and treble increase and is usually, in my experience, too bad for serious work. If one of the pedals is now switched on, then it's (hopefully) high input impedance (and usually low output impedance) will buffer all the output cables from the guitar and the signal level will rise due to the removal of some of the load on the pickups (i.e.: 17 ft instead of 63 ft of cable). The treble will rise and the tone and volume will not be as before. If that pedal was say a chorus or delay, devices which are usually unity gain, then your overall signal level and tone will vary each time an effect is added...not a very good idea.

Some pedals have an input impedance which is far from high in real terms; the input impedance of the vast majority of amps is 1 Megohm (one million ohms) and in my experience there are few effects pedals that have the same input impedance. A load on the guitar of less than 1 Megohm will reduce the volume and high frequency content of the pickup signal thus giving rise to complaints that "this pedal looses tone/volume" etc. Many effects I have tested have an input impedance of less than 100 Kilohms (ie: only one tenth of the amp input impedance) and cause serious signal losses in the effects chain.

My system, which I devised in the early 70's, is to feed the guitar into a fixed high impedance load, which is identical to the amp input, and then distribute the signal to the various effects and amps by low impedance buffered feeds. This gives a constant signal level and tonal characteristics, which do not change at all when effects are added. The proof that this works are in the recordings of our clients: Roxy Music; The Police; Queen; Pink Floyd; Bryan Adams; Lou Reed; Dire Straits; Paul McCartney; Sting; Jimmy Page; Judas Priest; Black Sabbath....

So the answer to your question re "true bypass" is no, I do not use this system in my Effects Boards/Racks as it can seriously degrade your sound. All my current effects pedals (excluding Vintage Series) which are derived from our large systems have, as the main input stage, a fiendishly clever pre amp that has the same characteristics as the input of a tube amp (1 Megohm/20pF), a highly efficient filter to eliminate the possibility of radio breakthrough and a low output impedance so that any following pedals/ cables etc. will not impose a load on the guitar signal. This pre amp is fitted to all our large stage systems and has always met with huge approval; not only from the guitarist but also the PA operator who is so happy to have constant level and tone presented to his mixing board. I go further with large systems and provide several inputs, each with the isolating pre amp and a gain compensation pre amp so that many different guitars can be level matched into the system. In addition a 20 segment PPM type display provides visual indication of signal level in our Effects Boards and Rack Systems.

©Pete Cornish 2003

 

[spkirby]

Thanks Kev, yeah I know the drawbacks of true bypass (and low quality buffered!). Just wondering about what switches or pedals there are on the market that I can use to short cut the lead length...

 

[Roubster]

I just watched an interview with Andy Timmons who seems to be obsessed with true bypass pedals. He did have a couple that were not on his board, and he ran those through a Radial Loopbone. Basically when disengaged those non-true bypass pedals would not be in the chain. I'm thinking you can do this with the other pedals as well so that you don't have such a long chain as described above.

 

[beej]

There are quite a few good solutions on the market for controlling multiple pedals. The Voodoo Lab
system is pretty neat, there are plenty of others. (Not to mention making your own loop strips, though that's less programmable.)

Or, as mentioned, get a good buffer. There are lots out there that sound decent. On my main board I have an Axess BS-2, on my little board I have a Psionic Audio pedal with a killer buffer. Both do a great job.

 

[kimonostereo]

You can also build your own for free (i did this. very easy project):
Beavis Audio Research

Alternately you can pay to buy a kit like this:
tblooper

If you make one, get the smallest enclosure you can to save space on your pedal board!

 

[LegGodt]

I use a G Lab M4L on my pedal board

I use a Rocktron PatchMate Loop 8 in my rack.

 

[fbecir]

The Octaswitch can be a solution :
Octa

I never used it, but Carl Martin products are generally good (I own two pedals : an Hot Drive & Boost and a Heavy Drive).
You can find the Octaswitch on the Thomann site :
CARL MARTIN OCTA-SWITCH - Cyberstore International Français

 

[peterd79]

whats kind of funny- is i've bounced back and fourth between single pedals and complete units... i'm now at the point where i'm just going my guitar to my amp and maybe a dirt pedal in the chain... and i'm done

 

[banjoplayer]

I use this little looper: Z.CAT HANDMADE PEDALS

The guy who builds them is in Lithuania and sells them directly or via ebay, where you can get the stuff cheaper. I have two other pedals from him and the quality is fine.

So with the looper it´s directly into the amp or if I want to use an effect, I switch the loop on and have all my effects in the chain (not only the used one). but this works fine for me as I don´t have many and don´t use them that much

 

[lenny]

Buffer!...I have a truebypass booteek board as well...and my Antelope Morning dew EQ has a Buffer(hi end) Built into it...No degredation what so ever....AND its always good to have at least 1 buffered pedal to give your signal a boot in the arse!

 

[peterd79]

not to derail this too much...

Lenny-

do you run your reverb in front of your amp or do you run that through an effects loop? Just curious...

 

[Colin]

I use and sell the Voodoo Labs gear and it's great. The GSX switcher with ground control pro gives me total control over the switching and you only have the pedals you want one when you need them.

 

[spkirby]

Lenny, you have the coolest board I've seen! Please list your effect chain as I'd be interested to know the order you have those pedals in AND what half of them are as I dont recognise a fair few!

Thanks

 

[S. Humley]

Loop-Master makes a bunch of different looper boxes in different configurations. They are reasonably priced and tough as h#!!. I have used the double looper and his A-B-C switcher and love them both.

 

[chemical69]

Loop-Master makes a bunch of different looper boxes in different configurations. They are reasonably priced and tough as h#!!. I have used the double looper and his A-B-C switcher and love them both.

+1 for Loop-master. His stuff is excellent. I highly recommend it.

 

[ScoobySteve]

Depends on how much you wanna drop on a switcher. I know a lot
Of people who usethe VoodooLabs switching and ground
Control with great success. Now that I have my ElevenRack I'm starting my rig over and going more towards a chain of 2 or 3 tone "channels" by using A B switching with a master A B ala Eric Johnson.

You can drop huge money on Lehle products or as little on DIY that a lot of tone purists swear by.

 

[beej]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think you could select things on the fly with the Loop Master stuff. With some of the other products (like the Voodoo Labs gear) you can assign different pedals to different patches and have random access as well, rather than just "pedals in loop 1" or "pedals in loop 2", etc.

 

[lenny]

not to derail this too much...

Lenny-

do you run your reverb in front of your amp or do you run that through an effects loop? Just curious...

Straight in the front bro...I dont use a loop