Current Affairs: True vs Buffered Bypass
True bypass… buffers suck… tone suck… soft switch technology… Do any of those sound familiar?
The guitar industry sure loves its jargon. With this in mind, I embark on my journey to inform, educate and entertain. This post launches a series of helpful (I hope) explanations of some of the nonsense which comes with the pedal and guitar industry, starting with one that comes up all too often. It repeatedly leads to “healthy debates” on forums and groups with not much of an outcome.
True and buffered bypass relate to the way your pedals switch your clean signal from the effect or “bypass” it. In this article, I’m going to explain how each system works and some of their pros and cons.
True Bypass
True bypass refers to a mechanical switch that routes your guitar’s signal either through your pedal’s circuit from the input to the output jacks or by bypassing the effect. Often it uses a 3 pole, double throw footswitch (3PDT) which also switches the LED on at the same time. When it’s bypassed, it effectively works as an extension of your guitar lead.
This system of switching has been commonplace since the early days of effect pedals. These days it’s the way I (and most DIYers) tend to wire pedals, but also bigger companies such as Electro-Harmonix, MXR, Proco, etc. A lot of the marketing behind pedals with true bypass will claim it keeps the integrity of your tone. While this is true, if you run a bunch of true bypass pedals together you’re effectively adding to the length to your guitar lead. Depending on the condition and quality of said lead, this can cause problems.
A typical true bypass switching wiring diagram courtesy of Guitar FX Layouts
Advantages of true bypass:
It’s an effective, efficient way for you to switch your pedal.
It’s straightforward to repair.
Doesn’t mean your guitar’s signal passes through circuitry on its way to the amp.
Disadvantages of true bypass:
Prone to failure (this is one of the most common repairs I do)
Can cause impedance issues if you run too many true bypass pedals on your board.
Sometimes causes a “click” or “clunking” sound when you switch them.
Buffered Bypass
Let’s start with a bit of an explanation: a buffer is a basic audio circuit that often uses a transistor or opamp (operational amplifier) which converts the impedance of your guitar’s signal from high to low. As Jack Orman writes in Guitar Pedals Explained, “The buffer provides a light load for the guitar pickups while being able to drive long cables with little signal loss”[1]. Buffers are commonplace in guitar pedals, often to help the flow of the signal through the effect circuit.
Boss DS-1 Schematic courtesy of Electrosmash
Meanwhile, buffered bypass refers to the fact your guitar’s signal passes through an input and output buffer at either end of the pedal’s circuitry. Often, it then uses a series of jfets (Junction Field Effect Transistors) which activate when the pedal is switched. Its aim is to route the signal through the pedal – or not. There are exceptions to this, but the majority of pedals (particularly from the ‘80s and ‘90s) use this system, predominantly every Boss pedal, DOD, Ibanez. There’s loads of them! Even the infamous Klon Centaur had a buffered bypass. Around the time it was deemed cheaper to produce pedals with buffered bypass; due to it being cheaper to produce as there was less “off-board” wiring and it cut down production times.
Advantages of buffered bypass:
Helps drive your guitar signal over a long distance and big stages.
Means you can run a large pedalboard without losing any of the high-end of the guitar’s sound.
It has a soft click/silent switching.
Disadvantages of buffered bypass:
Certain pedals don’t like them (Fuzz Face style circuits in particular due to impedance issues).
Needs power (only an issue if you’re running off batteries).
Tone suck… (a lot of people complain about wah pedals causing this)
So, which one’s better?
In short, there’s no right or wrong way really, especially nowadays. The biggest advantage of having a buffered pedal in your signal chain is that as you use longer cables, your signal can start to degrade. It’s often not helped by having an array of true bypass pedals at your feet!
Meanwhile, a common complaint for true bypass is that pedals wired this way often click or pop when you switch them on. The likes of Earthquaker Devices have started to combat this with a relay programmed to switch the signal, keeping the pedal true bypass whilst also utilising a soft-click switch.
The best approach now seems to be having a mix on your board and finding what works best for you. Your array of true bypass pedals might sound great going the short distance between your guitar and amp in your house but once you play on a large stage, you’ll notice your guitar signal starts to sound a little flat. Thankfully most of us who run a tuner pedal at the start/end of our signal chain (I’ll leave that debate for another time) are able to combat that.
Hopefully, this has been both helpful and educational. If you have any questions, by all means drop me a line. Want to read further about this? check out the links below
