Effects Pedal True Bypass - Myths, Facts and Recommendations

Few subjects amongst guitar pedal aficionados arouse more strong opinions than the subject of true bypass and whether it is necessary. First of all, if you're a beginner to the debate, you should have some awareness of what bypassing is and why the debate matters.

All effects pedals can be turned off by stepping on them. After all, that's why they're called stomp boxes. Well, when you turn a pedal off, in theory, you should be hearing what the guitar signal sounds like without the effects pedal coloring your sound. It's off, so it shouldn't have an effect, right? There are essentially two main ways to bypass the effects pedal. You can use what's called a buffered bypass in which an electronic buffer ensures that your signal is well preserved as it passes through long cable runs or several effects pedals. When you run a guitar signal through long cable runs (including the little 6" cables you use to connect your effects together), you tend to lose high end frequencies. Buffered effects pedals help eliminate this problem.

The other method of bypassing effects pedals uses what's called "True Bypass" switching, and that's where the debate begins. With true bypass, in the bypass mode, the guitar signal goes directly from the pedal's input jack through the switch to the output jack with no connection to the effect circuitry in the pedal itself. In essence, it is a straight line through the effect and does not lesson the signal because only the jacks, wires and switches are inline with the guitar signal.

In theory, both systems sound good. Assuming a pedal's buffering system is high quality, it should eliminate the high end tone loss associated with long cable runs. Similarly, a true bypass pedal should be just as if the pedal wasn't there to begin with. The problem, however, is that not all buffer systems are created equal. Some are notorious for "sucking" your tone. Likewise, a pedalboard with a dozen true bypass pedals may suffer from high end loss due to the extra cable your guitar signal travels through.

Personally, I use both true bypass and buffered pedals and have no problems whatsoever. Of course, my pedals are all high quality. I honestly think too many guitarists obsess over "true bypass" systems and fail to let their ears be the judge. People have used Boss pedals for years without complaining about their buffer systems (because the Boss system is very high quality). Visual Sound also has a high quality buffering system that leaves little room for complaint, and they're not "true bypass." If you're using only a handful of pedals (1-3), then good true bypass pedals have a lot going for them. Once you get a larger board, though, tone loss will ensue, and you'll find yourself looking for a good buffering system.

Another option is to use a True Bypass "Looper," which allows you to place your pedals in groups and bypass them when you're not using them. If you've got the space, I recommend this option highly.

In the end, though, my advice is as follows:

1.) Try to have a high quality buffering pedal (Boss, Visual Sound) at the beginning of your signal chain, especially if you're using a bunch of true bypass pedals.

2.) Use high quality cables. If you buy a 12 pack of 6" pedal connectors for $1.99, don't be surprised if they sound awful.

3.) Don't use more pedals than you really need. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love effects pedals. They're like Matchbox cars for adults! However, don't have any more on your board than you really need for your gigs. Just because some superstar has 23 effects pedals on his custom-built pedalboard doesn't mean you need them. Keep it as simple as you need, and you'll be happier. I own more pedals than I can count, but I probably only use 5-6 on an average gig.

4.) Let your ears be the judge, and don't obsess about trends.

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