buffer circuits VS millenium bypass.

[mr_deadmaxxx]

which is better and why?

[R.G.]

A buffer circuit compares to the Millenium Bypass like tennis shoes compare to opera.

That is - they don't compare at all. They're fundamentally different. A buffer circuit just makes a signal stronger, able to drive more power. The Millenium Bypass is a way of indicating the state of a DPDT switch that eliminates the need for a 3PDT.

If you mean what's the difference in a buffer circuit and a true bypass, that still doesn't compute. A buffer circuit just makes the signal able to drive heavier loads. A bypass circuit switches between input signal and the effect. A buffer plus some other stuff may make true bypass unnecessary, and may exceed its performance. But the Millenium isn't germane to that discussion.

What was it you wanted to know?

[mr_deadmaxxx]

ive read your comments on other millenium bypass topics..

well, i just want to know which would be better if i were to choose between them on my pedals..

is the buffer circuit enough?

will millenium bypass do better?

[Hides-His-Eyes]

deadmax: you've misunderstood something.

I don't think you're talking about Buffers, but Buffered switching. Of which there are at least 3 kinds that are very widely used (CMOS switching, FET switching, physical switching).

If one way was 'better' than all others, there wouldn't be lots to choose from!

The millenium bypass is a way of getting LED indication on a true bypass pedal with an affordable, reliable DPDT footswitch, to save using an expensive, unreliable 3PDT (reliability is relative here)

Even more reliable still is some kind of electronic switching, but this requires a lot more circuitry that may not be worth it to you.

[mr_deadmaxxx]

well i have seen a schematic that uses only a NPN buffered switching and it also includes LED indication with only a DPDT switch..

i wonder if i'll use it or just use the millenium bypass..

some says buffered switching improves the pedal?

[R.G.]

well i have seen a schematic that uses only a NPN buffered switching and it also includes LED indication with only a DPDT switch..

i wonder if i'll use it or just use the millenium bypass..

some says buffered switching improves the pedal?

You're missing the point.

How the pedal is switched, whether with buffered bypass or true bypass, or even true bypass with an internal buffer, has almost nothing to do with whether or not there is an LED indicator. You have to get the signal bypass switching to do what you want it to do first, then worry about how the LED lights up or doesn't.

Buffered switching or not is a decision about how the signal switching works. Millenium bypass or not is a decision about how the LED lights up. They're different decisions.

[mr_deadmaxxx]

i just wonder how a buffered bypass can do more than a true bypass. anyways, can i make all my pedals with buffered switching?

[R.G.]

i just wonder how a buffered bypass can do more than a true bypass. anyways, can i make all my pedals with buffered switching?

True bypass is a scheme to *avoid* something - loading down a guitar signal. Buffered bypass does do more - it actively prevents any loading past the buffer.

Long cables will dull the treble from a guitar in true bypass schemes. Buffers will prevent this cable loading => if they're done correctly <=.

Yes, it is possible and perhaps desirable to do all your pedal with buffers. There is only one class of pedal where a (well done) buffer is a problem, and that is with the low impedance input Fuzz Face and its clones. Even then, there are ways around it.

[mr_deadmaxxx]

i only have one circuit for the buffer bypass and i plan to put them on the inputs of my cloned-pedals, all having the same buffer circuit..will it not suck the tone?

anyways, i have read about the millennium one and two, can i use a potentiometer (specifically a volume pot) to act as a pull-down resistor?