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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink the myth of true bypass....

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davidphantomatic
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Joined: Oct 12, 2008
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San Antone, TX
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Link Posted on Apr 14 2009 01:36 PM

Evidence Audio does make some awesome cables, but for half the price you can do just as well with Mogami Gold cables.

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scotstandard
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Joined: Nov 09, 2008
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Davenport Iowa
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Link Posted on Apr 14 2009 03:29 PM

The only thing i can add to this is on the last record i used 8 amps and two reverb units to record with....at the same time, all with diffrent tones, some dirty with lots of verb and some cleaner, lots of diffrent colors to play with. Without my TU2 (boss tuner pedal) was kinda mushy and with it they all sparkled.

adding the buffer.

Fancy cables are just more expencive. It is true that gold is best conductor but think about what your plugging it into, are your amps and guitars loaded with gold 1/4 jacks?
shit to gold is still the same,
gold to gold is better,
but whatev just get a decent $25 or $20 dollar cable.
Just as good,
I work at a used music store and every time we get a monster cable in with something its allways broke.

just my $.02

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SURFmole
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Joined: Nov 22, 2007
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Portland, OR
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Link Posted on Apr 15 2009 06:26 AM

True bypass is "true bypass". No myth nothing more nothing less. In other words if the pedal is bypassed it's going to sound like running straight into the amp (but with a longer cable). The advantage to true bypass is that it doesn't suck tone or roll off treble.

Buffers are cool (sometimes) because you can run longer cable lengths or use shitty cables and still get decent tone without treble loss. They affect your tone though and DON'T SOUND LIKE RUNNING STRAIGHT INTO THE AMP WITH ONLY A CORD. Some people like the sound of a buffered signal and consider it an improvement. Some people don't...especially when it can cause strange interactions with fuzz pedals, wahs, and even amplifier inputs. Either way the tone changes for better or worse; they're not completely transparent sounding.

Before modding any vintage pedals I'd recommend building or buying a simple true bypass looper pedal. Put your pedals in the loop (wheter they are passive bypass or buffered) and you can switch them in and out at will without worrying about them sucking tone when you're not using them. If you have two, three, maybe even four pedals, true bypass is the "way to go" in my opinion. If you have more you might want to look at getting a buffer or using the buffer on one of your pedals. You might also need to get a switching box with transformers to break the ground loop hum caused by the spaghetti mess of cables.

As for the cables...I personally can absolutely 100% hear a huge difference in many instrument cables. Depending on what cable you use it can change your tone for better or worse. Now can the drunk in the third row at a crowded bar tell the difference? -Maybe not. Also, because a cable is "good" doesn't mean it's expensive or costs a bunch of money. I like GeorgeL's and it's about as cheap as you can get if you use Neutrik or Switchcraft plugs and solder them instead of using GeorgeL's solderless ends. I'd like to check out the Evidence Audio cables if they're not too expensive. I love GeorgeL's but it's not so ultimate for live performance due to it not being heavy or flexible enough...it gets wound up in knots and comes unplugged on stage.

scotstandard
Fancy cables are just more expencive. It is true that gold is best conductor but think about what your plugging it into, are your amps and guitars loaded with gold 1/4 jacks?
shit to gold is still the same,

Forgot to add...gold ISN'T the best conductor! It just doesn't corrode so gold connectors make good contacts. In other words gold jacks and plugs are a good thing regardless of what cabing you use (copper and silver are both more conductive than gold). Gold it the shit if you're talking about conductivity.

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Last edited: Apr 18, 2009 04:54:49

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casey
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Link Posted on Apr 15 2009 07:16 AM

Very interesting discussion. The only effect box I regularly use is a Yahama Magicstomp (recommended by Ivan I believe, for its great delay effects - thanks Ivan). It definitely alters the tone of my stratocaster when in the off mode, for the worse IMO. When playing out I have it set up so that there is an extra cable at my amp and I take a few seconds and use it straight into the amp when the effects are not needed. Songs are arranged to minimize the number of times changing will be necessary. The degradation of tone is fairly subtle but easy for me to hear.
Tried a "true bypass" box from Looper and found that it also degraded the signal relative to plugging straight in with one cord. Possible that the degradation was related more to having the extra length of a second cord in the signal path than the box itself, at some point I will have to experiment further. It sounds like true bypass pedals together with the sort of quality preamp used in the link posted by Lemurstrat would be the solution. Unfortunately the article didn't list details on the preamp.

Can the audience tell the difference? I don't think they are consciously aware of it but I believe they realize on some level it sounds better.

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