okay, here ya go:
What a buffered pedal does IMHO is to compensate for line loss.
It's as simple as that. Many of us have learned (the hard way) to keep cable runs short.
Many have NOT!. So for those poor schmoes, the buffered pedal saves their bacon.
If a guy has a guitar with a twenty foot (6m) cable, and he plugs it into a paddle board with who
knows how many miles of wires, and then he plugs that paddle board into a line or two running
to his stage amp and the mixing board, there's a lot of cable between his pick attack and the main
speakers voice coils.
But if the first pedal in his signal chain is a Boss TU-3 tuner, his signal is buffered from there and he
suffers no line loss. (or very little) AFAIK, all Boss pedals are buffered. It's a really good idea.
If not, then he may kick one of his "true bypass" pedals for a desired effect and get one thing,
and then kick it again and get true bypass, which means line loss from all those miles of wires.
The concept of true bypass is to keep from "coloring" the signal, but if you have lots of cable of
different brands and different levels of capacitance... then yer true bypass simply translates into
a lot of line loss. This translates into loss of treble.
And maybe modern technology has solved this problem (line loss) in a transparent way such that
persnickety guitarists can't tell if their signal is buffered or not any more. That's my guess. My guess
is that this is an antique issue that comes up now and then, and starts fights. Line loss and the Quest
for MORE Treble seem like 20th century issues to me... based on loss of high frequencies due to cheap
cables with high capacitance, long cable runs, and primitive tube amps that people worship now. *shrugs.
One place to use a buffered pedal is in front of a bunch of 'true bypass" boutique (read that expensive)
effects. Hence the suggestion of the Boss tuner. Another place to use a buffered pedal is in front to
a bunch of cheapo skunk brand mystery f/x that you know nothing about, except they were cheap and
you lusted for their cool colors and graphix... *grins
The buffered signal makes it through. Someone who keeps his cable runs short and has perfect pitch
and can tune his guitar perfectly under the harshest conditions doesn't need a buffered pedal or a tuner
that removes his signal from the mix while tuning, and/or buffers his signal to make up for poor choices
(read that cheap) of cables.
Anyway, that's the way I understand it. You told us not to post links to anything but I'm going to defy
you and do it anyway. You could click on this link and read the article, OR NOT! ...as you wish.
Why and When to Use a Guitar Buffer Pedal and why do I care for guitar effects pedals?
Or: you could simply google "Line Loss + guitar effects" and find a lot more articles and opinions
OR: you could simply wait for others on this excellent forum to voice their opinions. Your call...
