Case Against ‘ture bypass’
I like to ask you: "Hey, do you use True Bypass?"
Look out! There's a lecture coming:
The "true bypass" function, which is promoted by some manufacturers, can create massive problems with a system that uses many guitar pedals. Take a 15 ft guitar cable linked to ten pedals for instance, each linked by a 2 ft cable, and onto the amp by a 30 ft cable. If all those pedals have "true bypass", when they are off, the total cable length hanging on the guitar output will be 63 ft. what’s more, This will cause a huge loss of tone and signal level particularly as the guitar is a vintage type with low output and high impedance. The amp’s volume is then turned up and the treble control increase to compensate for the losses. This inherent background noise increases by the amount of the gain and treble increase, usually in my experience, this is too bad for serious work. If one of the pedals is now switched on, then it's a high input impedance, (and this happen usually is a low output impedance) will buffer all the output cables, which are from the guitar and the signal level, will rise due to the removal of some of the load on the pickups. (i.e.: like the 17 ft instead of 63 ft of cable). The treble will rise and the tone and volume will not be what it used to be. If the pedals were say chorus or delay pedals, devices which are usually unity gain, then your overall signal level and tone will vary each time when the effects are added, should not be a very good idea.
Some pedals have an input impedance which is far from high in real terms; this input impedance of the vast majority of amps is one Megohm (one million ohms). In my experience, there are few effects pedals have the same input impedances. A load on the guitar of less than 1 Megohm will reduce the volume and the high frequency content of the pickup signal, thus it is giving rise to complaints that "this pedal looses tone/volume" etc. Of those many effects that I have tested, they have an input impedance of less than 100 Kilohms (only one tenth of the amp input impedance) are causing serious signal losses in the effects chain.
I devised my system in the early 70's, feeding the guitar into a fixed high impedance load, identical to the amp input, distributing the signal to the various effects and amps by low impedance buffered feeds. It gives a constant signal level and tonal characteristics, and never change at all when effects are added. The proof of this works are in the recordings of our clients: Roxy Music; The Police; Queen; Pink Floyd; Bryan Adams; Lou Reed; Dire Straits; Paul McCartney; Sting; Jimmy Page; Judas Priest; Black Sabbath etc..
So the answer to your question about "true bypass" is “no”, I don’t use this system in my Effects Boards/Racks as it can seriously degrade my sound. As all my current effects pedals (all the delay pedals, modulation pedals, compressor pedals etc., but excluding Vintage Series) which are derived from our large systems have, as the main input stage, a fiendishly clever pre amp has the same characteristics as the input of a tube amp (1 Megohm/20pF), a highly efficient filter to eliminate the possibility of radio breakthrough and a low output impedance so that any following pedals/cables etc.. All of which will not impose a load on the guitar signal. This pre amp is fitted to all our large stage systems and has always met with huge approval; not only from the guitarist but also the PA operator is so happy to have constant level and tone presented to his mixing board. When I go further with large systems and provide several inputs, each with the isolating pre amp and a gain compensation pre amp, and many different guitars can be level matched into the system. In addition of a 20 segment PPM type display provides visual indication of signal level in our Effects Boards and Rack Systems.
Look out! There's a lecture coming:
The "true bypass" function, which is promoted by some manufacturers, can create massive problems with a system that uses many guitar pedals. Take a 15 ft guitar cable linked to ten pedals for instance, each linked by a 2 ft cable, and onto the amp by a 30 ft cable. If all those pedals have "true bypass", when they are off, the total cable length hanging on the guitar output will be 63 ft. what’s more, This will cause a huge loss of tone and signal level particularly as the guitar is a vintage type with low output and high impedance. The amp’s volume is then turned up and the treble control increase to compensate for the losses. This inherent background noise increases by the amount of the gain and treble increase, usually in my experience, this is too bad for serious work. If one of the pedals is now switched on, then it's a high input impedance, (and this happen usually is a low output impedance) will buffer all the output cables, which are from the guitar and the signal level, will rise due to the removal of some of the load on the pickups. (i.e.: like the 17 ft instead of 63 ft of cable). The treble will rise and the tone and volume will not be what it used to be. If the pedals were say chorus or delay pedals, devices which are usually unity gain, then your overall signal level and tone will vary each time when the effects are added, should not be a very good idea.
Some pedals have an input impedance which is far from high in real terms; this input impedance of the vast majority of amps is one Megohm (one million ohms). In my experience, there are few effects pedals have the same input impedances. A load on the guitar of less than 1 Megohm will reduce the volume and the high frequency content of the pickup signal, thus it is giving rise to complaints that "this pedal looses tone/volume" etc. Of those many effects that I have tested, they have an input impedance of less than 100 Kilohms (only one tenth of the amp input impedance) are causing serious signal losses in the effects chain.
I devised my system in the early 70's, feeding the guitar into a fixed high impedance load, identical to the amp input, distributing the signal to the various effects and amps by low impedance buffered feeds. It gives a constant signal level and tonal characteristics, and never change at all when effects are added. The proof of this works are in the recordings of our clients: Roxy Music; The Police; Queen; Pink Floyd; Bryan Adams; Lou Reed; Dire Straits; Paul McCartney; Sting; Jimmy Page; Judas Priest; Black Sabbath etc..
So the answer to your question about "true bypass" is “no”, I don’t use this system in my Effects Boards/Racks as it can seriously degrade my sound. As all my current effects pedals (all the delay pedals, modulation pedals, compressor pedals etc., but excluding Vintage Series) which are derived from our large systems have, as the main input stage, a fiendishly clever pre amp has the same characteristics as the input of a tube amp (1 Megohm/20pF), a highly efficient filter to eliminate the possibility of radio breakthrough and a low output impedance so that any following pedals/cables etc.. All of which will not impose a load on the guitar signal. This pre amp is fitted to all our large stage systems and has always met with huge approval; not only from the guitarist but also the PA operator is so happy to have constant level and tone presented to his mixing board. When I go further with large systems and provide several inputs, each with the isolating pre amp and a gain compensation pre amp, and many different guitars can be level matched into the system. In addition of a 20 segment PPM type display provides visual indication of signal level in our Effects Boards and Rack Systems.