The gig-fx bypass does not brighten the signal or change it in any way. It helps preserve highs through the cable so it sounds brighter. That is because the output impedance of the pedal matches the input impedance of the amp so reduces losses owing to capacitance. A true bypass will of course add nothing or take anything away so intuitively should sound better, but unfortunately a true bypass allows an impedance mismatch between guitar pickup and amp which allows cable losses to propagate.
I agree all you need is one buffer at the beginning of your pedal chain and your signal will be preserved. The point of this demo was to dispel the myth that a well-designed buffered bypass will degrade the signal. Even ten of them in a row will not. That is the point. I am not recommending you have ten buffered pedals. Ideally one buffered pedal up front and the rest can be mix and match according to need..
A bunch of crap. how long is the signal cable from the pedals to the amp? its the cable thats degrading the signal, not the true bypass. TB doesn't effect the signal at all just lets it pass on through. The buffered pedals will keep the signal to an extent, but you wouldn't want to have an entire chain of them. The same goes for TB. Having ONE buffered pedal at the input of your pedalboard will help your signal drive all the TB pedals.
that is because of the total lenght the signal is going trough. it going trough 10 pedal with 10 patch cabels. thats way longer than going straigt in the amp
Agree with some of the other comments: test should have included a reference sound direct to the amp - NOT going through any bypass at all. Perhaps the true bypass tone is "correct" while the buffered signal may be adding highs to the sound. I guess we'll never know...
Thats exactly the whole point. Comparing 10 patch cables with 10 gig-fx bypasses to one straight-through true-bypass connection. You would expect the 10 cables and 10 bypasses to be vastly inferior to the true bypass, but it isn't. It is actually just a tad brighter meaning there are less higher frequency losses.
ya know, the great thing about foot pedals is that you can press them with your foot, wait for it... at the same time as playing guitar! far out, right?!
The only reason why true bypass got a "superior" reputation is when it is added as a mod to an older effect it removes the load that the effects input transistor imposed .You see older whas , fuzzes, etc leave the input to the effect connected loading the signal with an impedance of about one tenth or lower of what a tube amp's input is . In modern replicas of vintage effects adding true bypass is fine but can produce a switching thump. Gee I wonder why active direct boxes are preferred now.
To me the one case where buffering really matters is if there's a Fuzz Face involved. A FF really loses its magic if there's a buffered pedal between it and your guitar. It gets way too saturated and more importantly it loses that radical clean-up ability that makes FFs so cool. This leaves you with two choices: either you put the FF first in the chain, or you make sure you use only true bypass pedals in front of it so you can turn them off, making the FF *effectively* first in the chain.
@1Doz I'd agree because the classic Fuzz face sound relies partly on interacting with & loading the guitar . You definitely want a buffered bypass unit directly after FF with a short cable. That true bypass or buffered is nearly irrelevant .
for a true test, we need to also hear the signal going straight into the amp with no pedals. this test only shows that gigfx is brighter than true bypass....but which is closer to straight into the amp?
People, if you have LOTS of true bypass pedals, it will alter your tone no matter how short your cables are because your signal has to travel a larger distance. A buffer can be useful because it preserves the harmonics of your signal at the start of the chain.
So the demo shows this: Adding a loop of 10 gig-fx wahs results in a brighter signal -- that's not PRESERVING anything, that's ALTERING the signal. Your demo proves that. In fact, the demo completely contradicts your description of it. And it's not relevant to the true-bypass problem -- or as you call it, "myth." This is an ad for gig-fx pedals, and shows -- quite nicely -- that a gig-fx wahs brighten your signal in bypass...ok...pretty nice. But it doesn't debunk anything.
@jah60025 You are quite mistaken . Good buffers do not brighten but merely suppress the effects of the next cables in line . It IS preserving the sound of that first cable from the guitar plugged directly into the amp . If you plug a 12 ft cable from a guitar to your amp & you like that sound but would like to add an effect & keep your same direct sound a buffered bypass is the best . True bypass gives the sound of a very long cable because your guitar is interacting with 2 cables or more .
@Geepsterr What's funny is that you say, in your very claims, something that is demonstrably false. A buffer is a circuit that affects the signal -- you talk about it like it's magic that protects the signal from anything affecting it...but by passing it THROUGH a circuit. Schroedinger's cat. Fact is, at best, you're SIMULATING a guitar connected directly to the preamp (pickup to preamp) -- which isn't anything real anyway. Your fake tone is great -- but doesn't make true bypass a myth.
@jah60025 I claimed nothing but to restate known electronic principles. It is not just theory. Buffers do not "affect" the signal negligibly & I didn't suggest otherwise. Buffers drastically reduce the effects of cable capacitance and other loads downstream like old < 100k ohm input fuzzes & wha's. That said one buffered unit up front followed by all true bypass units may be ideal. A buffer IS a preamp with no gain. Any preamp introduces measurable noise & distortion .
True bypass or buffer. You go the way you like, thats my opinion. I dont imagine true bypass will ruin your sound. I dont see the big deal really. I think a bigger deal is the cabling you use as much as anything else.
Wrong. It is the cable that alters the sound. A good buffer will reduce cable effects. Fact. There is no end of data and evidence to support this. Dont believe the true bypass hype.
lame, so in your theory, since the buffered pedals alters your sound, they must be better than a pedal that doesnt color your sound at all. preserve your signal?, nah its degrading it...
But it's the true bypass pedals that allow your sound to be altered by the cable capacitance. A good buffer is transparent AND protects the signal from cable capacitance. So the buffered signal is only altered in the sense that it retains high frequencies that would otherwise have been lost.
But this is all kind of academic since the effect is so subtle. It's probably equal to turning the treble knob on your amp one number at most.
Yes, but it is a well designed buffer that has an open frequency response 30Hz->20kHz and it preserves high frequencies and harmonics through cables much better than a true bypass will.
Acutally it is a longer cable through all the effects, so it should be worse, but it is not. Resistance (impedance) is only one part of it. The larger part is capacitance which bleeds off the highs. The demo does not lie. The bypass circuit of gig-fx pedals, even with ten pedals in series, does not degrade the signal whereas true bypass allows highs and upper harmonics to be bled off because of impedance mismatch. A good buffer reduces loss of highs. Check the physics, it is correct.
Umm, you added about 15 feet of cable throught he pedals. Thats why it is duller. A true bipass is hard wired through the pedal, so the only difference is the natural resistance from the length of cord. true bipass is a true bipass
The gig-fx bypass does not brighten the signal or change it in any way. It helps preserve highs through the cable so it sounds brighter. That is because the output impedance of the pedal matches the input impedance of the amp so reduces losses owing to capacitance. A true bypass will of course add nothing or take anything away so intuitively should sound better, but unfortunately a true bypass allows an impedance mismatch between guitar pickup and amp which allows cable losses to propagate.
jpurchon 1 week ago
/methinks somebody is selling snake-oil
(or needs a basic physics lesson)
ROL
HairyFloyd 1 week ago
I agree all you need is one buffer at the beginning of your pedal chain and your signal will be preserved. The point of this demo was to dispel the myth that a well-designed buffered bypass will degrade the signal. Even ten of them in a row will not. That is the point. I am not recommending you have ten buffered pedals. Ideally one buffered pedal up front and the rest can be mix and match according to need..
jpurchon 1 month ago
A bunch of crap. how long is the signal cable from the pedals to the amp? its the cable thats degrading the signal, not the true bypass. TB doesn't effect the signal at all just lets it pass on through. The buffered pedals will keep the signal to an extent, but you wouldn't want to have an entire chain of them. The same goes for TB. Having ONE buffered pedal at the input of your pedalboard will help your signal drive all the TB pedals.
dsarmbrust 1 month ago
that is because of the total lenght the signal is going trough. it going trough 10 pedal with 10 patch cabels. thats way longer than going straigt in the amp
TheGuitarbuilder1 1 month ago
Agree with some of the other comments: test should have included a reference sound direct to the amp - NOT going through any bypass at all. Perhaps the true bypass tone is "correct" while the buffered signal may be adding highs to the sound. I guess we'll never know...
djtrouserfunk 1 month ago
Thats exactly the whole point. Comparing 10 patch cables with 10 gig-fx bypasses to one straight-through true-bypass connection. You would expect the 10 cables and 10 bypasses to be vastly inferior to the true bypass, but it isn't. It is actually just a tad brighter meaning there are less higher frequency losses.
jpurchon 2 months ago
WOW what a dumb test, man are you for real?? look how many cables, plugs and else and your comparing it to a direct cable...man get real.
nicolasrivera 2 months ago
ya know, the great thing about foot pedals is that you can press them with your foot, wait for it... at the same time as playing guitar! far out, right?!
countrydoctor 3 months ago
The only reason why true bypass got a "superior" reputation is when it is added as a mod to an older effect it removes the load that the effects input transistor imposed .You see older whas , fuzzes, etc leave the input to the effect connected loading the signal with an impedance of about one tenth or lower of what a tube amp's input is . In modern replicas of vintage effects adding true bypass is fine but can produce a switching thump. Gee I wonder why active direct boxes are preferred now.
Geepsterr 3 months ago 2
To me the one case where buffering really matters is if there's a Fuzz Face involved. A FF really loses its magic if there's a buffered pedal between it and your guitar. It gets way too saturated and more importantly it loses that radical clean-up ability that makes FFs so cool. This leaves you with two choices: either you put the FF first in the chain, or you make sure you use only true bypass pedals in front of it so you can turn them off, making the FF *effectively* first in the chain.
1Doz 3 months ago
@1Doz I'd agree because the classic Fuzz face sound relies partly on interacting with & loading the guitar . You definitely want a buffered bypass unit directly after FF with a short cable. That true bypass or buffered is nearly irrelevant .
Geepsterr 3 months ago
for a true test, we need to also hear the signal going straight into the amp with no pedals. this test only shows that gigfx is brighter than true bypass....but which is closer to straight into the amp?
LucifersTrip 3 months ago
People, if you have LOTS of true bypass pedals, it will alter your tone no matter how short your cables are because your signal has to travel a larger distance. A buffer can be useful because it preserves the harmonics of your signal at the start of the chain.
777jordan 3 months ago
@777jordan
Absolutely right!
It's very hard to change wrong beliefs...this is one of the reasons why human race evolving so slowly :-)
Angelo1731E 3 months ago 2
If a pedal is not true bypass, i dont buy it..
Ghop7577 3 months ago
So the demo shows this: Adding a loop of 10 gig-fx wahs results in a brighter signal -- that's not PRESERVING anything, that's ALTERING the signal. Your demo proves that. In fact, the demo completely contradicts your description of it. And it's not relevant to the true-bypass problem -- or as you call it, "myth." This is an ad for gig-fx pedals, and shows -- quite nicely -- that a gig-fx wahs brighten your signal in bypass...ok...pretty nice. But it doesn't debunk anything.
jah60025 4 months ago 10
@jah60025 You are quite mistaken . Good buffers do not brighten but merely suppress the effects of the next cables in line . It IS preserving the sound of that first cable from the guitar plugged directly into the amp . If you plug a 12 ft cable from a guitar to your amp & you like that sound but would like to add an effect & keep your same direct sound a buffered bypass is the best . True bypass gives the sound of a very long cable because your guitar is interacting with 2 cables or more .
Geepsterr 3 months ago
@Geepsterr What's funny is that you say, in your very claims, something that is demonstrably false. A buffer is a circuit that affects the signal -- you talk about it like it's magic that protects the signal from anything affecting it...but by passing it THROUGH a circuit. Schroedinger's cat. Fact is, at best, you're SIMULATING a guitar connected directly to the preamp (pickup to preamp) -- which isn't anything real anyway. Your fake tone is great -- but doesn't make true bypass a myth.
jah60025 3 months ago
@jah60025 I claimed nothing but to restate known electronic principles. It is not just theory. Buffers do not "affect" the signal negligibly & I didn't suggest otherwise. Buffers drastically reduce the effects of cable capacitance and other loads downstream like old < 100k ohm input fuzzes & wha's. That said one buffered unit up front followed by all true bypass units may be ideal. A buffer IS a preamp with no gain. Any preamp introduces measurable noise & distortion .
Geepsterr 3 months ago
True bypass or buffer. You go the way you like, thats my opinion. I dont imagine true bypass will ruin your sound. I dont see the big deal really. I think a bigger deal is the cabling you use as much as anything else.
tyrantsbane6 4 months ago
Wrong. It is the cable that alters the sound. A good buffer will reduce cable effects. Fact. There is no end of data and evidence to support this. Dont believe the true bypass hype.
jpurchon 4 months ago
lame, so in your theory, since the buffered pedals alters your sound, they must be better than a pedal that doesnt color your sound at all. preserve your signal?, nah its degrading it...
therepairgod 4 months ago
@therepairgod
But it's the true bypass pedals that allow your sound to be altered by the cable capacitance. A good buffer is transparent AND protects the signal from cable capacitance. So the buffered signal is only altered in the sense that it retains high frequencies that would otherwise have been lost.
But this is all kind of academic since the effect is so subtle. It's probably equal to turning the treble knob on your amp one number at most.
1Doz 3 months ago
Yes, but it is a well designed buffer that has an open frequency response 30Hz->20kHz and it preserves high frequencies and harmonics through cables much better than a true bypass will.
jpurchon 4 months ago
So the gig-fx is not "true bypass" but has a buffer circuit?
RCbeastly 4 months ago
Acutally it is a longer cable through all the effects, so it should be worse, but it is not. Resistance (impedance) is only one part of it. The larger part is capacitance which bleeds off the highs. The demo does not lie. The bypass circuit of gig-fx pedals, even with ten pedals in series, does not degrade the signal whereas true bypass allows highs and upper harmonics to be bled off because of impedance mismatch. A good buffer reduces loss of highs. Check the physics, it is correct.
jpurchon 4 months ago
Umm, you added about 15 feet of cable throught he pedals. Thats why it is duller. A true bipass is hard wired through the pedal, so the only difference is the natural resistance from the length of cord. true bipass is a true bipass
2011dtish21 4 months ago
Check out the full true bypass v buffered bypass report at the gig-fx website.
GigFXPedals 11 months ago
This is dumb.
ZachDRUMMOND 11 months ago 9
Very Cool.
phlips01 1 year ago