Newbie Question...may have been covered?

[MasterShake]

Hey everyone I just discovered this site and I must say it is a great one and I am sorry I didn't know about it sooner.

My question may not belong here and if it doesn't any help that you could give would be great.  

I have for the last few years running a custom made rack switcher with buffered loops for pedals and now putting together a pedal board to scale down my setup and have been hearing a lot about buffers and would like to know exactly where to place it/them in the set up.  What I would be running is a Fulltone boost pedal, MXR Reissue Phase 90, and Boss CE-2 Chorus all in a three loop true bypass box with a wah before the box.  The real question I have is would the buffer work better at the front of the chain, after, both...?

Thanks
John

[the_badcliff]

If you've been reading about buffers, you probably know that they are designed to have a high input impedance and a low output impedance, which is good for a variety of reasons that have been discussed at length on here.

Most importantly is that they prevent the signal from being "loaded down" and having tone sucking occur.  This is a result of non-true bypass pedals, long cable runs, and the ratio of the output impedance of the signal to the input impedance of the amp.

I'm no expert, but I think a good starting point would be to have a buffer at the front of your signal chain.  Preferably you would make the cable run between guitar and buffer be as short as possible, and I'm sure some people have installed a buffer directly into their guitar (not me though).

You probably wouldn't need a buffer after the effects chain.  Matter of fact, you can consider the Fulltone boost to be performing the same function as a buffer with regard to impedance, however with added boost and some coloration.

SOME pedals, I believe, don't work as well with a buffered signal, and you would probably want to do some experimentation to figure this out.  I think I've heard a fuzz face is not as touch responsive with a buffered signal, and I can't remember what the interaction is like with a wah pedal, but I'm sure that would depend on your tastes and whether you like the sound or not.

Hope this helps.  I actually don't use buffers at all, I use a variety of boosters, overdrives, etc.  and am more concerned with getting a sound which I think is cool than having a buffer or boost be completely transparent.

Good luck, and welcome to the forums.

[MasterShake]

Thanks for the reply.

The reason I was ask is because I have read, and understand, that even if a pedal is true bypass that once engaged the output impedance is changed.  This is why I was curious if putting a buffer at the end of the chain would help?  This way the amp sees what it wants to at it's input.

Also I know this may not matter once everything is connected and the sound of the rig will be most important not that everything match up.  I also ask because I would like to have a better understanding of how things work and get into building some pedals.

Thanks again
John