I have stuff. I have wires. I hook my wires to my stuff. The stuff lights up. My guitar makes noise. I like noise. Usually. I hook my guitar to my stuff with my wires. I make noise through my lit up stuff. It makes me happy.
Simple bit of advice: get a BOSS tuner. It has buffered bypass. Go one step further, get the BOSS looper/reverb/delay and boom you have a buffer at the beginning and end of your chain.
That would only give a buffered signal to the next pedal over soon as you turned a compressor or drive the rest of the board wouldn’t be buffered. You want the pickups to think it’s getting the same input impedance as an amplifier. Buffer interface is a better option something with a 1mg ohm input and a output
dude. you just completely saved my biscuits. i must have been crook the day "no buffer before fuzz" got taught at school. unbelievable difference to my fuzz face . thanks man
To all the people asking "where should I put my buffer?", stop typing and start switching your boxes around, then use whatever arrangement sounds best to you. Then ask your friends, just in case your opinion sucks.
I use a small board of RAT - Boss EQ - Boss Chorus - Boss Reverb, so, this guy's honesty has led me to the decision that I don't need a buffer and can save some money
Honestly I don’t own any JHS pedals but I’m addicted to this station. This dude is awesome. Recently i got a Fulltone Deja vibe and Realize i should have bought a unicorn if for no other reason than that i want to support this dude and this channel ... so now i have to find a reason to buy something else just to support jhs !
I always use a buffer, even if I’m not using my pedalboard, I modded one of your buffered splitters so I have individual active volumes on each so when I’m playing at a gig I put my bass direct to the pa and to the bass amp.
One last comment. I am retired in Europe in a country with terrible grounding. I bought 2 very expensive Joe Bonamossa guitar cables. They made an incredible difference in the signal and the noise!!
These videos are ALWAYS brilliant and one of the best things for me is the way you constantly talk about how good Boss pedals, MXR too, Danelectro, etc and really hammer home that you don't have to buy boutique stuff all the time and it's OK to get cheaper gear because there are some real gems out there. I did a lot of work on my board last year and ended up putting a few buffers in at various points to balance it all out - the TC Electronic Polytune 3 has a built-in buffer so I was able to get rid of my separate Bonafide Buffer then in my FX loop I have an MXR Stereo Chorus, Carbon Copy Deluxe and M300 Reverb which are all buffered. You really can hear the difference between that and the old all true bypass board that I used to use especially when connecting with two 20ft cables in the front end and two 10ft cables into the loop.
What's ironic is that everyone complained about boss pedals being not tru bypass. So they modded all their boss pedals to be tru bypass, then went out and bought buffers for the pedal boards... Musicians eh
Boss buffers are great but you don’t necessarily want every pedal to be a buffer as this can also cause tone loss. If boss would just include an option to switch between buffered and true bypass mode that would be ideal but otherwise you do sometimes need to do true bypass mods on boss/ibanez pedals when you don’t want a buffer at that point in your chain and then need to buy additional buffers to ‘sandwich’ your board with buffers.
This is the best channel.... why have I only just found this?? I am telling all the guitar playing kids I teach about it and now we all nerd out at break and lunch about different pedals and our dream shopping lists.... awesome vids, great work!!
I have my RC-30 looper at the end of my board. I'm glad I do now after watching this vid. Got about 6 true bypass pedals in front of it (including two JHS...Whitey Tighty, Crayon) so I hope it being at the end of my signal chain cleans any loss up good and proper. BTW, just some feedback on your channel. Your unbiased channel which features more product placement for your competitors, rather than your own product, has driven me to your products. You do a great job educating and showing love to all pedals, which in turn leads me to trust your products and designs. If a guy loved hamburgers as much as you love pedals, I'm sure he makes the best hamburgers kind of logic. The Crayon is ridiculous by the way. Just ridiculous. The Whitey Tighty with a clean boost are my always on pedals, going into an AC30. The compressor really makes a huge difference. You and your team do a great job. Don't know what my next JHS purchase is going to be. Still mulling that around. Cheers.
Josh, if you're ever super busy and you feel you don't have the time for a new episode, just do a quick Record Time :D It's my favourite part of the videos, you've already showed me so many amazing artists I had no idea even existed!
What is the benefit of the 'sandwich' approach to buffers? The way I understand it, putting a buffer between your first cable coming out of your guitar (cable 1) and the rest of your cables (cables 2, 3, 4, ...) essentially eliminates the 'darkening'/'tone suck' effect. I.e., the capacitance that would have built up from stringing pedals together using cables 2, 3, 4, ... is eliminated when you put a buffer in between them and cable 1. Based on this understanding, it would seem that putting a buffer at the end of the chain is redundant. All of the capacitance that would have built up form cables 2, 3, 4, ... is neutralized by putting a buffer between them and cable 1, therefore, your high-end should be retained. Why would I need to put another buffer at the end of the chain? What kind of effect would I likely hear as a result of utilizing the 'sandwich' approach? It seems to me like that is just wasted space. Not criticizing, just looking for an explanation. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Sure, it all depends on the size of the board. If you like your sounds with just one, then that is great! Try the test I mentioned in the VLOG and see what you hear.
The goal with the buffers is to decrease/eliminate the high end loss that occurs because of the length of the signal chain and the cabling involved AND to provide the proper impedance load to your guitar pickups and the amp. A buffer at the beginning of the signal chain and one at the very end is ideal.
I had the JHS little black buffer on my mini pedal board a few years ago and it worked best at the front of the board. But then I got a TC Elec poly tune 3 tuner for that mini pedal board so I didn’t need the jhs buffer anymore. But for my main rock band (one gig per week) bigger pedal board w about 13 pedals on it, I didn’t have a buffer at the end of my board. Most but not all pedals are true bypass on that board so just the other day I thought I’d A/B the sound of my board as is - with no buffer at the end, vs the tone w the jhs buffer at the very end of the board. Note that I already have a buffer at beginning of the big board via a tc elec polytune 3 tuner. The results were very unexpected. Without the buffer the sound was weak and lifeless compared to the sound w the jhs buffer at the very end of my chain. Wow. More volume. More life. More top end. Sounded like I was plugged straight into the amp. I’m sold. I mounted the little black buffer underneath my pedal train Novo board last in the chain. What a difference. Had no idea I was missing what I was missing. Big fan of that little buffer!
Great call on Hiss, Josh! They're incredible. If you like Heart Like A Levee, Hallelujah Anyhow picks up right where it left off--beautiful songs guaranteed to brighten your day. As MC Taylor, the frontman for HGM, put it: "I see the dark clouds. I was designed to see them. They’re the same clouds of fear and destruction that have darkened the world since Revelations, just different actors. But this music is for hope. That’s the only thing I want to say about it. Love is the only way out. I’ve never been afraid of the darkness; it’s just a different kind of light. And if some days that belief comes harder than others, hallelujah anyhow." Thanks for another great video! Keep 'em coming!
I'm studying for my ECE board exam, and I got curious with the purpose of a buffer (cause I got it wrong in a practice test). As a guitarist, I really appreciate being able to relate my course to my passion. This was a really helpful video! Awesome analogy too with the water hose. Thanks!
Thank you! Wonderful explanation, Josh. I’m not building my first pedalboard, but I am definitely tidying it up and making it look more professional, You just reaffirmed my train of thought which was putting the Boss tuner in the very first spot after my junction box rather than using the out on my volume pedal, but also using my boss EQ as the very last pedal on my board, that way, I have a buffer in the first and last spot rather then buying a buffered junction box.
Your water’s example at the beggining was the most graphicalstronomically incredible explanation all over UA-cam. Buffers pedals are happy now! Cheers from Chile!
JHS Pedals - I am new to your channel (subbed about a week ago) and have been enjoying going through your past vids. Thank you for another down to earth explanation of a very common question. Being a *BIG* believer in self-education (including music, psychology, and computer programming/hardware among other subjects that interest me), I appreciate your plain language approach to whatever info you are sharing with your viewers. It is always a pleasant surprise to meet a smart yet humble guy that doesn't talk down to someone who has come to him for advice. Kudos on a great channel and I look forward to checking out some of your pedals.
Interesting takes on Buffers and surprisingly some very different ones than Mason from Vertex Effects has. He says that Boss Buffers are not good and you shouldnt use them as main buffers and instead get a standalone one.
Buffered pedals are headache and true bypass pedals are headache too. It's always different tone than plugging directly into amp. But we need pedals. At least me on gigs. Life shouldn't be this much cruel.
Back when I was a teenager was the first time I heard Relient K. I’ve been a little complacent lately and needed to hear “Be My Escape” again. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember why the song was called or who it was by. I immediately knew and started singing it like it hadn’t been 13 years since I’d heard that song. Thank you!
I remember the first time I used a buffer it amazed me at how much it cleared up my tone. It was everything I felt was missing from my sound. It’s like lifting a blanket off of your speaker cab to let the sound breathe.
Yes, I've heard him mention a few times that Boss' buffers aren't great, especially compared to something from Strymon (paraphrasing). Here Josh says there's no such thing as a bad buffer. Controversy afoot. :)
You mentioned that Boss has a really good buffer. Is there any situation where that isn't the case or they don't perform well? For example, I run 2-6 pedals at any time. The first time I bought a boss pedal, I loved the sound of it, but when it was off my clean sound had this strange character to the midrange that wasn't there before. So while I was losing some signal with all true-bypass pedals, when comparing the clean sound of my amp to the buffer going through several different pedals of which I swapped around as well as changed the number of them in the chain, I was still getting something that wasn't there before. I've had this experience with every buffered pedal I've tried (though more noticeably with Boss) so I'd like to know why this is happening? I loved my Bluesdriver but I couldn't get on with the clean tone when it was in the signal.
How right you are! I just bought my first JHS pedal...The Pollinator!!!! AMAZING!!!! But, definitely put my Boss Tu-2 After. Also have found that riding the volume now yields a truly amazing clean tone. So much so, that I feel like I’m never turning to my compressor “clean” tone anymore? P.S. thank you for all your blogs, and insights. I’m finally down with the Fuzz. A whole new world has opened up! Getting a multitude of sounds from one pedal.
My friend's just wrapping up building me a new board; making my own patch cables, reconsidering pedal order, the whole 9. Can't wait to tone search even more! Could have used that VCR you gave away a few weeks ago though... ;)
I just had a lightbulb moment. A buffer "buffs" the signal. I'm a software developer and a buffer is a temporary space to hold data, or space buffer. I was wondering what the hell that had to do with a guitar signal and why you would ever want to do it. Isn't that what delay is for? SMH...
a buffer in effect pedals is just an amp with unity gain, changing the impedance of the signal because e guitars have a very high impedance, which is not good to drive long cables and to enter effect section
What about buffering signal chains from pedal board straight into a DAW or Preamp/Pod setup? Buffered signal when dealing with digital elements/environments I suppose would be the better topic.
Great videos, thanks. :) One request : when your video contains a "Record Time" section, could you include the name of the band and album in the description?
Denis Diaz Heart Like a Levee by Hiss Golden Messenger. What a wonderful record! He’s got a more recent one called Hallelujah Anyhow that’s just as good.
I use the Pete Cornish recommended method: One high-quality buffer and everything else in true bypass loop switcher. Where you place that buffer depends on a few things, eg: germanium fuzzes, treble boosters.
I use the exact same method. Do you have two buffer, one at the beginning & another at the end of your chain? I only use a Cornish Ld-1 at the beginning, as my pedalboard isn't so huge. Do you think that it's necessary to have one at the outpout too?
The amplifier can only amplify what it receives. If signal is lost(e.g. the high frequencies get reduced) between the guitar and the amp, the amplifier can't magically renew the signal. Buffers help prevent signal loss; they don't cure it. I hope that helps. Cheers, Alan Tomlinson
@@diegorhoenisch62 I thiiiiiiink you’re missing the point. A. You could put a buffer in front of the amp jack and it could conceivably do the exact same thing as putting a buffer on the backside of an amp jack. I completely understand that the amplifier is only amplifying what comes through the jack, but that shouldn’t negate the ability to put a buffer in-line between the input jack and the rest of the amplifier. If the purpose of a buffer is to improve the signal and reduce loss, including it at the very tail end of your chain seems like it would be accomplishing exactly what it is supposed to do at a very logical spot. B. If what Josh (and most) say is true, and there is signal loss at the end of a 15 or 20 foot cable instrument cable, why don’t we see more buffers at the tail end of “out” signal chain? I can’t think of a single time I’ve seen a buffer sitting on top of an amp, or in-line with the amp jack. You’re talking to a guy who has two buffer pedals inside his pedal board, so I’m not like I’m anti-buffer, but some of the hot sports opinions on buffers seem to contradict each other IMO.
Way to sell! I tried your test not thinking that I would hear much difference, as I don't have a very large board, but what I heard was an amazing difference from the pedal board to going straight into my amp. I'm getting your buffer today. Thanks
I absolutely love this VLOG series. Just switched my Source Audio Ventris reverb at the end of my chain to a buffered bypass (per your suggestion) and it fixed so much so easily. Thanks for doing this!
Not problematic. I'm just not sure why you'd EQ your guitar tone before it gets to the fuzz, as you'll have less diversity. You're better off EQing the tone after, and if you keep the Boss EQ at the end of your chain to EQ everything, you're getting a buffer there.
Hello, I have a JHS Buffered Splitter and I would like to know what the input and output impedance are. I have checked the entire website, the manual, and the entire web, but there are no references. Thank you.
I have a boss tu-3 at the front of my board, and a hall of fame 2 with the buffer at the end of my board. But i dont use 5 pedal total. So I sandwhiched a small board. I assume that give me more power right?
If BOSS Tuners have a buffer… and my BOSS Tuner is first… should I move the tuner after my fuzz pedals? And by Fuzz, do you also include distortion and drives in that category? Thanks! 🤘🏻
try both! some fuzz circuits sound different with a buffer before them, some don't. Distortion and overdrive pedals typically aren't effected by a buffer in the same way fuzzes are. Fuzz-face style circuits are notorious for sounding different with a buffer before them.
It is related with Impedance Inputs and Outputs. Fuzz (vintage ones), pedals normally tend do gave low Impedance input signal and high impedance output signal related to the germanium capacitors. So I t will need a buffer right next (after) it. Boss fuzzes are the opposite, they have High Impedance inputs and low impedance outputs, so you can maintain the tuner first on you pedal chain
Yesss. Love the DRV. Fantastic video and very informative. Didn’t know to put my buffer after my fuzz (which it already was). Happy coincidence I suppose.
Thanks Josh, very interesting. Prompted me to do some rig testing. Although it led me back to where I started, my understanding has increased for future reference and it means I don't have to wonder about buying a buffer (for now). If it helps anyone else, here are my findings: The board is 18ft from my Marshall amp & consists of 6 true bypass pedals & a Boss DD7. The guitar straight to amp compared to thru the 6 t/b pedals in front of the amp reveals a bit of volume loss (10%, maybe) but, happily, the tone shape/character is retained with only a tiny loss on the very low & high ends. I put the DD7 on the end of the chain to see what happened and found that it took a little bit from the low end: not in bad way/deal breaker, per se, but the I preferred the actual delay effect when it was in the fx loop. With the DD7 back in it's original place (and the signal passing thru 36ft of extra cable) I compared the tone with the fx loop on/off and found that having it on boosts the low end slightly. So the net effect of 7 pedals and a bunch of cable is a slight loss of treble, which, given that I set amp with the bass at 10 and the treble at zero, is something I can live with!
Seems like a nice guy with wise words and parting thoughts. No dogma about gear and stuff, and gives props to other manufacturers.
I want to pet your horse tail
Can you just reissue the Sovtek, since you are hoarding them all.
I had a Mig-100 it was great. Reissue the Mig-100 with hybrid solid state/tube technology.
This!!! Especially the Mig 60
This
🤣😂🤣
This made me spit out my drink. And made me realize we watch waaaaay too much Josh in his white dungeon
I have stuff.
I have wires.
I hook my wires to my stuff.
The stuff lights up.
My guitar makes noise.
I like noise.
Usually.
I hook my guitar to my stuff with my wires.
I make noise through my lit up stuff.
It makes me happy.
Simple bit of advice: get a BOSS tuner. It has buffered bypass. Go one step further, get the BOSS looper/reverb/delay and boom you have a buffer at the beginning and end of your chain.
TC electronic HOF2 has a buffer mode as well if that helps
That would only give a buffered signal to the next pedal over soon as you turned a compressor or drive the rest of the board wouldn’t be buffered. You want the pickups to think it’s getting the same input impedance as an amplifier. Buffer interface is a better option something with a 1mg ohm input and a output
Jhs pedal is 44 bucks tho
Two of these Little Black Buffers are way cheaper than a BOSS tuner and looper pedal...WAY cheaper.
The price of that water hose went up to $1000 on reverb after this video
dude. you just completely saved my biscuits. i must have been crook the day "no buffer before fuzz" got taught at school. unbelievable difference to my fuzz face . thanks man
To all the people asking "where should I put my buffer?", stop typing and start switching your boxes around, then use whatever arrangement sounds best to you. Then ask your friends, just in case your opinion sucks.
I use a small board of RAT - Boss EQ - Boss Chorus - Boss Reverb, so, this guy's honesty has led me to the decision that I don't need a buffer and can save some money
You're literally improving the world by doing vids like this
Josh, I had the utmost respect for you as both a pedal manufacturer and entertainer.
Then I saw those New Balance shoes.
morphine0000 😂😆😝
0:23 Nice full stop at that stop sign there. ;) Thanks for what you all do!
Honestly I don’t own any JHS pedals but I’m addicted to this station. This dude is awesome. Recently i got a Fulltone Deja vibe and Realize i should have bought a unicorn if for no other reason than that i want to support this dude and this channel ... so now i have to find a reason to buy something else just to support jhs !
Thanks!
I always click on a JHS video, if just to hear the intro music :) sounds like a warm blanket.
Very cool, very honest, and respectful towards other pedal companies...
A class act. I still will get one of his pedals out of respect for all his work and videos ( and he makes some damn tempting boxes)
I always use a buffer, even if I’m not using my pedalboard, I modded one of your buffered splitters so I have individual active volumes on each so when I’m playing at a gig I put my bass direct to the pa and to the bass amp.
One last comment. I am retired in Europe in a country with terrible grounding. I bought 2 very expensive Joe Bonamossa guitar cables. They made an incredible difference in the signal and the noise!!
This is by far the best video I've watched explaining a buffer. I've watched many I can't lie :) Thank you!
These videos are ALWAYS brilliant and one of the best things for me is the way you constantly talk about how good Boss pedals, MXR too, Danelectro, etc and really hammer home that you don't have to buy boutique stuff all the time and it's OK to get cheaper gear because there are some real gems out there.
I did a lot of work on my board last year and ended up putting a few buffers in at various points to balance it all out - the TC Electronic Polytune 3 has a built-in buffer so I was able to get rid of my separate Bonafide Buffer then in my FX loop I have an MXR Stereo Chorus, Carbon Copy Deluxe and M300 Reverb which are all buffered. You really can hear the difference between that and the old all true bypass board that I used to use especially when connecting with two 20ft cables in the front end and two 10ft cables into the loop.
What's ironic is that everyone complained about boss pedals being not tru bypass. So they modded all their boss pedals to be tru bypass, then went out and bought buffers for the pedal boards... Musicians eh
Guitarists**
Boss buffers are great but you don’t necessarily want every pedal to be a buffer as this can also cause tone loss. If boss would just include an option to switch between buffered and true bypass mode that would be ideal but otherwise you do sometimes need to do true bypass mods on boss/ibanez pedals when you don’t want a buffer at that point in your chain and then need to buy additional buffers to ‘sandwich’ your board with buffers.
Monsieur, with these informative videos, you are really spoiling us.
This was really helpful. Just rearranged my board putting my Fuzz before overdrive (and SD-1 acting as buffer) and it sounds way better! Thank you!
This is the best channel.... why have I only just found this?? I am telling all the guitar playing kids I teach about it and now we all nerd out at break and lunch about different pedals and our dream shopping lists.... awesome vids, great work!!
I have my RC-30 looper at the end of my board. I'm glad I do now after watching this vid. Got about 6 true bypass pedals in front of it (including two JHS...Whitey Tighty, Crayon) so I hope it being at the end of my signal chain cleans any loss up good and proper. BTW, just some feedback on your channel. Your unbiased channel which features more product placement for your competitors, rather than your own product, has driven me to your products. You do a great job educating and showing love to all pedals, which in turn leads me to trust your products and designs. If a guy loved hamburgers as much as you love pedals, I'm sure he makes the best hamburgers kind of logic.
The Crayon is ridiculous by the way. Just ridiculous. The Whitey Tighty with a clean boost are my always on pedals, going into an AC30. The compressor really makes a huge difference. You and your team do a great job.
Don't know what my next JHS purchase is going to be. Still mulling that around. Cheers.
That analogy just blew my mind. Ive always known kind of what buffers are for but that analogy just brought it home for me.
I don't know what to say but i am just glad i found your channel. And i don't even have a pedal...yet
I was just asking myself this morning if I need a buffer. Impeccable timing. Thank you!
I knew....
👁👁👁
I finally realized your theme reminds me of the "Portlandia" theme... nice theme.
Love the little pep talk at the end. Keep it light and have fun.
So a buffer is basically a redstone repeater
Wait actually
Or just a repeater ;)
redstone repeater circuit clone
or just a normal repeater
Josh, if you're ever super busy and you feel you don't have the time for a new episode, just do a quick Record Time :D It's my favourite part of the videos, you've already showed me so many amazing artists I had no idea even existed!
What is the benefit of the 'sandwich' approach to buffers? The way I understand it, putting a buffer between your first cable coming out of your guitar (cable 1) and the rest of your cables (cables 2, 3, 4, ...) essentially eliminates the 'darkening'/'tone suck' effect. I.e., the capacitance that would have built up from stringing pedals together using cables 2, 3, 4, ... is eliminated when you put a buffer in between them and cable 1.
Based on this understanding, it would seem that putting a buffer at the end of the chain is redundant. All of the capacitance that would have built up form cables 2, 3, 4, ... is neutralized by putting a buffer between them and cable 1, therefore, your high-end should be retained. Why would I need to put another buffer at the end of the chain? What kind of effect would I likely hear as a result of utilizing the 'sandwich' approach? It seems to me like that is just wasted space.
Not criticizing, just looking for an explanation. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Sure, it all depends on the size of the board. If you like your sounds with just one, then that is great! Try the test I mentioned in the VLOG and see what you hear.
@@jhspedals With all respect, you completely avoided the question and dissmissed questioner's curiosity. It would be better to not respond at all.
The goal with the buffers is to decrease/eliminate the high end loss that occurs because of the length of the signal chain and the cabling involved AND to provide the proper impedance load to your guitar pickups and the amp. A buffer at the beginning of the signal chain and one at the very end is ideal.
hey, i just wanna say how much i enjoy these vlogs, always informative, entertaining and so relaxing.
Thanks for keeping em coming on a regular basis.
I had the JHS little black buffer on my mini pedal board a few years ago and it worked best at the front of the board. But then I got a TC Elec poly tune 3 tuner for that mini pedal board so I didn’t need the jhs buffer anymore.
But for my main rock band (one gig per week) bigger pedal board w about 13 pedals on it, I didn’t have a buffer at the end of my board. Most but not all pedals are true bypass on that board so just the other day I thought I’d A/B the sound of my board as is - with no buffer at the end, vs the tone w the jhs buffer at the very end of the board. Note that I already have a buffer at beginning of the big board via a tc elec polytune 3 tuner.
The results were very unexpected. Without the buffer the sound was weak and lifeless compared to the sound w the jhs buffer at the very end of my chain. Wow. More volume. More life. More top end. Sounded like I was plugged straight into the amp. I’m sold. I mounted the little black buffer underneath my pedal train Novo board last in the chain. What a difference. Had no idea I was missing what I was missing. Big fan of that little buffer!
Great call on Hiss, Josh! They're incredible. If you like Heart Like A Levee, Hallelujah Anyhow picks up right where it left off--beautiful songs guaranteed to brighten your day. As MC Taylor, the frontman for HGM, put it: "I see the dark clouds. I was designed to see them. They’re the same clouds of fear and destruction that have darkened the world since Revelations, just different actors. But this music is for hope. That’s the only thing I want to say about it. Love is the only way out. I’ve never been afraid of the darkness; it’s just a different kind of light. And if some days that belief comes harder than others, hallelujah anyhow."
Thanks for another great video! Keep 'em coming!
What an awesome example that hose bit was
These vlog videos are fantastic, I'm learning LOADS from them. Please keep them coming!
Your UA-cam channel is soo damn awesome! Soo much great info.
I'm glad you mentioned the coiled cord thing. I use it the same way, like a UHF filter.
I'm studying for my ECE board exam, and I got curious with the purpose of a buffer (cause I got it wrong in a practice test). As a guitarist, I really appreciate being able to relate my course to my passion. This was a really helpful video! Awesome analogy too with the water hose. Thanks!
Thank you! Wonderful explanation, Josh.
I’m not building my first pedalboard, but I am definitely tidying it up and making it look more professional,
You just reaffirmed my train of thought which was putting the Boss tuner in the very first spot after my junction box rather than using the out on my volume pedal, but also using my boss EQ as the very last pedal on my board, that way, I have a buffer in the first and last spot rather then buying a buffered junction box.
Your water’s example at the beggining was the most graphicalstronomically incredible explanation all over UA-cam. Buffers pedals are happy now! Cheers from Chile!
JHS Pedals - I am new to your channel (subbed about a week ago) and have been enjoying going through your past vids. Thank you for another down to earth explanation of a very common question. Being a *BIG* believer in self-education (including music, psychology, and computer programming/hardware among other subjects that interest me), I appreciate your plain language approach to whatever info you are sharing with your viewers. It is always a pleasant surprise to meet a smart yet humble guy that doesn't talk down to someone who has come to him for advice.
Kudos on a great channel and I look forward to checking out some of your pedals.
Interesting takes on Buffers and surprisingly some very different ones than Mason from Vertex Effects has. He says that Boss Buffers are not good and you shouldnt use them as main buffers and instead get a standalone one.
I've been wanting this video for a long time and I didn't even know it. I love the garden hose analogy.
Buffered pedals are headache and true bypass pedals are headache too. It's always different tone than plugging directly into amp. But we need pedals. At least me on gigs. Life shouldn't be this much cruel.
I was one of the lucky devils that helped Matt prototype the DRV. Talk about an amazing pedal
💪💪💪
Not Russian egg 😂 Russian wooden doll called Matreshka 🙂we love your show here in Saint Petersburg man!
Back when I was a teenager was the first time I heard Relient K. I’ve been a little complacent lately and needed to hear “Be My Escape” again. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember why the song was called or who it was by. I immediately knew and started singing it like it hadn’t been 13 years since I’d heard that song. Thank you!
Coily cables are awesome. Just ask Brian May and Gearmanndude.
That water hose analogy is so good! thanks for this videos Josh!
Did you open the pedal? because maybe there is another pedal inside that pedal.
Very cool! Probably gonna pick up a little black buffer at some point now. Thanks Josh!
Albert Collins had a 100 foot cable so he could order pizza or mingle with the crowd! He is the Ice Man! Treble Master!
I remember the first time I used a buffer it amazed me at how much it cleared up my tone. It was everything I felt was missing from my sound. It’s like lifting a blanket off of your speaker cab to let the sound breathe.
You might want to check your water pressure.
Nice to have it confirmed that the 4 Boss pedals currently on my board are helping cuddle my signal along. Reassuring.
Skateboarders figured out a long time ago that stickers are some of the best advertising.
Best explanation - and demonstration of - Buffers ever!!!!!
I’d like to propose a buffer debate between you and Mason at Vertex
Ah yes the rip off BBE Wah guy. I wonder if his buffers are stolen Boss buffer designs 😂
Yes, I've heard him mention a few times that Boss' buffers aren't great, especially compared to something from Strymon (paraphrasing). Here Josh says there's no such thing as a bad buffer. Controversy afoot. :)
Relient K was a huge part of my childhood. Cool to find out he makes guitar pedals. Hist guitar work was really influential to me
You mentioned that Boss has a really good buffer. Is there any situation where that isn't the case or they don't perform well?
For example, I run 2-6 pedals at any time. The first time I bought a boss pedal, I loved the sound of it, but when it was off my clean sound had this strange character to the midrange that wasn't there before. So while I was losing some signal with all true-bypass pedals, when comparing the clean sound of my amp to the buffer going through several different pedals of which I swapped around as well as changed the number of them in the chain, I was still getting something that wasn't there before. I've had this experience with every buffered pedal I've tried (though more noticeably with Boss) so I'd like to know why this is happening? I loved my Bluesdriver but I couldn't get on with the clean tone when it was in the signal.
Very well explained Josh! I just remembered this is exactly how my physics teacher explained the flow of current and resistance back in school.
Hint to pedal makers. Forget the stickers, bags, notepads, jems and golden eggs and then lower the price 5 bucks. Kthx.
How right you are! I just bought my first JHS pedal...The Pollinator!!!! AMAZING!!!! But, definitely put my Boss Tu-2 After. Also have found that riding the volume now yields a truly amazing clean tone. So much so, that I feel like I’m never turning to my compressor “clean” tone anymore? P.S. thank you for all your blogs, and insights. I’m finally down with the Fuzz. A whole new world has opened up! Getting a multitude of sounds from one pedal.
my chain starts with a TU3 and ends with a BD2 going into the amp, in theory I should not need an extra buffer, right?
Correct
The best explanation of a buffer I've ever seen/heard.
Great episode Josh. I
Its not a Russian egg)) its a doll, called матрёшка. Like matryoshka))
Thanks for putting such great, practical messages at the end of your videos. Sometimes I lose sight of what really matters: plugging in and jamming!
0:45 nice low key he has the box moment
Funny enough in the water/wastewater field we sometimes use circuit terminology to describe how we handle flow. That analogy is really cool.
So, are buffer pedals and boost pedals the same?
My friend's just wrapping up building me a new board; making my own patch cables, reconsidering pedal order, the whole 9. Can't wait to tone search even more! Could have used that VCR you gave away a few weeks ago though... ;)
So if all BOSS pedals have good buffers, does that mean that the Behringer models who are made to copy them also have buffers?
I am also curious.
I’m a beginning guitar player and this video really helped me. The buffer analogy is genius! Great job !
I just had a lightbulb moment. A buffer "buffs" the signal. I'm a software developer and a buffer is a temporary space to hold data, or space buffer. I was wondering what the hell that had to do with a guitar signal and why you would ever want to do it. Isn't that what delay is for? SMH...
a buffer in effect pedals is just an amp with unity gain, changing the impedance of the signal because e guitars have a very high impedance, which is not good to drive long cables and to enter effect section
“It might sound like you changed guitar strings.” 💡 🤯Brilliantly explained.
What about buffering signal chains from pedal board straight into a DAW or Preamp/Pod setup? Buffered signal when dealing with digital elements/environments I suppose would be the better topic.
1981 pedals got the box candy thing goin on.. Very professional!
I only use the pedals I need for what I'm playing. I hate signal loss!
Great videos, thanks. :)
One request : when your video contains a "Record Time" section, could you include the name of the band and album in the description?
Denis Diaz Heart Like a Levee by Hiss Golden Messenger. What a wonderful record! He’s got a more recent one called Hallelujah Anyhow that’s just as good.
Thanks, I appreciate it. :)
The reason for my request is that, on some videos, it's hard to tell what record is recommended.
I use the Pete Cornish recommended method:
One high-quality buffer and everything else in true bypass loop switcher.
Where you place that buffer depends on a few things, eg: germanium fuzzes, treble boosters.
I use the exact same method. Do you have two buffer, one at the beginning & another at the end of your chain?
I only use a Cornish Ld-1 at the beginning, as my pedalboard isn't so huge. Do you think that it's necessary to have one at the outpout too?
So everything is okay if I use a Boss Tuner and a Flint?
My first and last as well lol
I am a fan of Relient K and I recognised that drive sound as soon as you started playing.
I’m sure somebody has to have asked this, but why aren’t amp makers building a buffer into the input jack? Or are they? 🤔
The amplifier can only amplify what it receives. If signal is lost(e.g. the high frequencies get reduced) between the guitar and the amp, the amplifier can't magically renew the signal. Buffers help prevent signal loss; they don't cure it.
I hope that helps.
Cheers,
Alan Tomlinson
@@diegorhoenisch62
I thiiiiiiink you’re missing the point.
A. You could put a buffer in front of the amp jack and it could conceivably do the exact same thing as putting a buffer on the backside of an amp jack. I completely understand that the amplifier is only amplifying what comes through the jack, but that shouldn’t negate the ability to put a buffer in-line between the input jack and the rest of the amplifier. If the purpose of a buffer is to improve the signal and reduce loss, including it at the very tail end of your chain seems like it would be accomplishing exactly what it is supposed to do at a very logical spot.
B. If what Josh (and most) say is true, and there is signal loss at the end of a 15 or 20 foot cable instrument cable, why don’t we see more buffers at the tail end of “out” signal chain? I can’t think of a single time I’ve seen a buffer sitting on top of an amp, or in-line with the amp jack.
You’re talking to a guy who has two buffer pedals inside his pedal board, so I’m not like I’m anti-buffer, but some of the hot sports opinions on buffers seem to contradict each other IMO.
Way to sell! I tried your test not thinking that I would hear much difference, as I don't have a very large board, but what I heard was an amazing difference from the pedal board to going straight into my amp. I'm getting your buffer today. Thanks
just starting the vid on my side ^^
Like a redstone repeater in Minecraft!
Thank you. I needed this video severely. This resolved weeks of confusion.
does a boss tuning pedal count as a buffer? if so, should it be after my fuzz pedal? Thanks
I absolutely love this VLOG series. Just switched my Source Audio Ventris reverb at the end of my chain to a buffered bypass (per your suggestion) and it fixed so much so easily. Thanks for doing this!
So if all Bosses have a buffer, and I’m running a GE-7 before a fuzz, is that problematic?
Not problematic. I'm just not sure why you'd EQ your guitar tone before it gets to the fuzz, as you'll have less diversity. You're better off EQing the tone after, and if you keep the Boss EQ at the end of your chain to EQ everything, you're getting a buffer there.
Another great video!
Yesterday I modded my first pedal! I did the Keeley Ultra Seeing Eye mod to a Ds-1, I had a blast and learned a ton!
Nice!!!
Hello, I have a JHS Buffered Splitter and I would like to know what the input and output impedance are. I have checked the entire website, the manual, and the entire web, but there are no references. Thank you.
You could ask the same question under a current video, then they might read and answer it!
i think I've just learned more on this 9 min video than in the 6 hs at high school today. I actually love your records recommendations btw
I bought 2 JHS pedals this week. I'm not making any points, just bragging.
you still get the points
That water faucet example, reminds me of my bladder & prostate! 💧😉🙄
what
I have a boss tu-3 at the front of my board, and a hall of fame 2 with the buffer at the end of my board. But i dont use 5 pedal total. So I sandwhiched a small board. I assume that give me more power right?
More peace of mind I guess.
Boss pedals rock. It is good idea to keep one or two on every boards. They are colorful, well built and affordable.
If BOSS Tuners have a buffer… and my BOSS Tuner is first… should I move the tuner after my fuzz pedals? And by Fuzz, do you also include distortion and drives in that category? Thanks! 🤘🏻
try both! some fuzz circuits sound different with a buffer before them, some don't. Distortion and overdrive pedals typically aren't effected by a buffer in the same way fuzzes are. Fuzz-face style circuits are notorious for sounding different with a buffer before them.
@@untitleduser666 Thanks for the reply!
It is related with Impedance Inputs and Outputs. Fuzz (vintage ones), pedals normally tend do gave low Impedance input signal and high impedance output signal related to the germanium capacitors. So I t will need a buffer right next (after) it. Boss fuzzes are the opposite, they have High Impedance inputs and low impedance outputs, so you can maintain the tuner first on you pedal chain
Yesss. Love the DRV. Fantastic video and very informative. Didn’t know to put my buffer after my fuzz (which it already was). Happy coincidence I suppose.
stop making me buy more pedals!!!!! please:(
Thanks Josh, very interesting. Prompted me to do some rig testing. Although it led me back to where I started, my understanding has increased for future reference and it means I don't have to wonder about buying a buffer (for now). If it helps anyone else, here are my findings:
The board is 18ft from my Marshall amp & consists of 6 true bypass pedals & a Boss DD7. The guitar straight to amp compared to thru the 6 t/b pedals in front of the amp reveals a bit of volume loss (10%, maybe) but, happily, the tone shape/character is retained with only a tiny loss on the very low & high ends. I put the DD7 on the end of the chain to see what happened and found that it took a little bit from the low end: not in bad way/deal breaker, per se, but the I preferred the actual delay effect when it was in the fx loop.
With the DD7 back in it's original place (and the signal passing thru 36ft of extra cable) I compared the tone with the fx loop on/off and found that having it on boosts the low end slightly. So the net effect of 7 pedals and a bunch of cable is a slight loss of treble, which, given that I set amp with the bass at 10 and the treble at zero, is something I can live with!