raising input impedance of a DS-1

[Mark Hammer]

Well-reasoned comments all round.

Roobin,
There is absolutely no reason why one could not have a super quiet simple buffer between the input jack and the stompswitch, so that you get the simplicity of wiring up a DPDT or 3PDT, the tactile feedback, the avoidance of switching-FET headroom and leakage problems, and all that other stuff.  Remember that, whether bypassed or not, the effect circuit is always on and powered up anyways, so why not have a little standard FET circuit as part of that "always on" aspect?  Alternatively, just make yourself a buffer in a box OR in the guitar or cable (see Don Tillman's site for ideas), and as long as there is ONE buffer always on and "defending" your cables against loading, you can feel free to use TB in 50 pedals in a row if you want.  Realize that the buffering isn't needed in every pedal, but commercial manufacturers always build it into every pedal because for all they know that might be the only pedal you have.

As for non-buffering being exploited, or exploitable, you are also 100% correct.  Indeed, one of the very reasons why Fender guitars have traditionally used lower value volume pots is precisely so that loading should work to one's advantage and shave off some of the problematic upper treble.  Personally, I like it (top end sheen) and prefer 500k and higher volume pots with single coil pickups, but some feel that makes the guitar sound "brittle" so they use lower vbalue pots to load them down.  Similarly, some guys like the Eric Johnsons of the world can use curly cords precisely because of the added cable capacitance and how it tames the treble so that some distortion pedals can sound warmer.  In his case, it is a question of using something external to the pedal so that the pedal doesn't need to be modded and compromised.  Of course, it doesn't NEED to be that way, and it represents merely one approach to keeping excessive high end under control.  There is, of course, nothing inherently problematic or "wrong" with 20ft cords to and from the pickups, but if there is no always-on buffering anywhere, and if your goal is to sound like Mark Knopfler or Robert Cray, you may find that in the absence of "help" those 20ft cables (and longer) are not your best allies.  As always, it's a question of what is right for the range of tones you're trying to achieve..

[Roobin]

I suppose it would be a bit more practical/versitile to use a buffer to retain the highs and then trim them off using and EQ - you could switch it on/off.

I was having a look at Joe Orman's Basic Buffers, and it looks like the FETs are a bit better than the NPNs (impedance wise), and ICs are a bit better than FETs (variable gain, set impedance, low output impedance) - however, it was noted that some say that the ICs sound more 'sterile' - is there any evidence to support this?

Kiss guy: Personally, I would recommend to the FET or the IC. However, is the DS-1 your first pedal or not?