software

Hi,

So I figured how to make a pedalboard. All that was left to do was mod some of my pedals for true bypass switching. And guess what, my prized little buggers such as the Guyatone Vintage Tremolo and Wah Rocker are too small to fit the DPDT switch necessary for true bypass switching in them. Oh well.

What do I do?
1. Disembowel the pedals and have the innards integrated in a single compact quot;multipedalquot;? That was my first idea because I saw a thing like this that a respected pedal modder here made for someone. The guy did a pretty clean job, and I believe it was quite pricey. The advantages are obvious - you get the controls you are used to, the effects are hardwired for true bypass and power supply - all you have to do is plug in the power cord and the guitar/amp cords.

2. Or do I stop fussing about with pedals and just learn to play the guitar and amp, like I did in the good old days when I was a poor student? That would be a shame given some pretty cool effects that I have. The advantage is obvious though - less stuff to worry about when gigging: the more stuff you have the more things can go wrong.

3. Or get a multi-fx processor and, God forbid, learn to use it? I believe good-sounding processors are pricey beyond what I'm willing to pay.

Nos 1 and 3 require more investments, and No 2 means leaving previous investments unused in the drawer. I feel No 1 would be the best way to go. I have pretty much figured what pedals to use and which ones not to use. I have honed their order over the years and I'm set on that.

Anyone care to comment?

BTW this past Sunday I played a gig on a rented Marshall DSL 401 combo that lacked the channel-switching footswitch. I said, what the heck, turned up the clean channel gain and used my guitar's volume knob to go from dirty to clean. And it was not very good. Maybe the guitar didn't go down well with the amp, and maybe I just forgot how to play a Strat through a Marshall. Once again this reminded me that using pedals (such as overdrive) is not cheating - if you sound good, it's all that matters, and some of my solos that afternoon sounded plain miserable because at the volume we played I didn't get the sustain.

You don't need to modify each and every single one of your pedals to true bypass, you just need a True Bypass Switch Box.


Originally Posted by Old GhostYou don't need to modify each and every single one of your pedals to true bypass, you just need a True Bypass Switch Box.

Yes, or a looper, but that means more stuff... maybe it is the way to go though. Thanks for the idea, I've seen those loopers before but didn't think of them now.

yeah just get a loooper i just ordered a custom one for my huge pedal setup. i got 3 buttons...loop 1 button (pedals in line with guitar in front of amp), loop 2 button (pedals through FX loop of amp) and full bypass button which skips the pedals and goes right to the amp. that's the easy way to do it IMO.

-Mike

How many pedals are you running? If it's more than 3 or 4 then you don't want them ALL to be true bypass, you want a few buffers in there. True bypass isn't perfect, it can do undesireable things to your tone just as a non-TB unit can.

You can always accept the pedals as they are, and not worry about true-bypassing them (overrated anyway), or sell them and buy pedals that sound like you want them to, stock, so you don't have to disembowel every pedal you buy. Also, multi effects can sound awesome with the willingness to program them, and they are not as expensive as boutique analog pedals.

1
I wouldn't worry about switching everything to true bypass unless you are noticing a lot of degredation of sound when you're playing clean . . . I run all six of my pedals (none of which have true bypass) all the time, and the difference between straight to the amp and through all the pedals is negligible.

Good advise already.... here's my input.

1. Sell the pedals, and buy high end versions of the most used ones you know you'll need

2. Layout the best of your FX on your board and if there's any signal loss, just make up for it by EQ'ing your amp gainier and brighter.

3. What I did is make my primary FX like OD's and wah highend boutiques with true bypass, then put my 'coloring' effects on one loop of my dual loop box. 1 loop turns on my Line 6's, and the other loop mutes my signal straight to my tuner, with no return cable.Thank you guys for putting it into perspective.

Well I plan on running about six pedals in front of the amp, like this: Zoom Ultra Fuzz to Guyatone Trem to Guyatone Wah Rocker to Dano Phaser to an OD 808 to a Marshall Jackhammer. I don't want to go into details on why I put the boxes in this order, but I've tried a lot of combinations and this is the best one for me. The Zoom claims mechanical true bypass, but when there is no battery or power input and the box is off, the signal does not go through it, so I believe it's not true bypass. The Guyatones and the Dano are not true bypass but I love them anyway. The OD808 is a local quot;boutiquequot; true bypass Tube Screamer clone and the Jackhammer is true bypass too. There is noticeable tone degradation, but it's not a huge problem - it's offset with the tonal choices I have.

Then I've got three pedals in the loop: Marshall Supervibe Chorus, Marshall Bluesbreaker 2 for clean volume boost, and Boss DM-3 Delay. From what I tried, the Marshall pedals do not mess with my tone when in the loop, but I have yet to try the DM-3 in the loop.

Anyway, thanks for the food for thought. I gotta do some work now but I'll come back.
Thanks
Tony

One more thought: I know (have heard and read) that true bypass is not the end-all, but don't know why exactly. What sort of problems can it cause?

Obviously, when running multiple boxes, you want to reduce tone loss to a minimum. You wrestle the cables' impedance and the transfer resistance (is that the correct term? I mean the resistance in mechanical contacts of plugs and jacks). True bypass helps by routing the signal outside the boxes' circuits when the boxes are off. So what wrong can true bypass do here?

Thanks
Tony

Good website with a lot of information on different bypasses and the effect they have on sound here. From what I understand, the marshall pedals are NOT true bypass (although they don't affect the sound much at all when off)

Thanks a lot, Steve, that page is VERY HELPFUL. Losts of answers, and some to questions I never thought of.

Really, thank you bro. That site will take me some time to explore in-depth!

Tony