Home › Forums › Help/Technical Questions › True Bypass or Buffered bypass….

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  • March 9, 2009 at 9:01 pm #77869
    JJones74
    Member

    Hello all.
    I’m about to purchase the Metal Muff w/top boost, Stereo Electric Mistress (XO), the Micro Q-tron, and the fulltone OCD..
    My question is this:

    Are the MMw/TB, SEM, Micro-Q, and Little Big Muff Pi true bypass, or buffered..

    Also..
    Any suggestions on pedal order once I get the new pedals along with the current pedals..
    Here’s what I currently have:
    Boss TU-2 (not in the chain)
    Boss BD-2
    EHX Little Big Muff Pi

    Thanks in advance..

    March 9, 2009 at 9:59 pm #94312
    Ned Flanders
    Moderator

    LBM is TB
    the metal muff is buffered.

    March 10, 2009 at 3:16 am #94338
    JJones74
    Member
    Quote:
    LBM is TB
    the metal muff is buffered.

    Thanks..
    any ideas about the SEM or the Micro-Qtron?

    Wait a minute.. I just found this little tidbit of info in another forum..
    Is this true?

    http://soft.com.sg/forum/gear-bass/93802-ehx-stereo-electric-mistress-bypass-problem.html

    If so, please let me know..

    :thumb:

    March 10, 2009 at 5:41 am #94339
    John J
    Member

    The SEM is buffered, I believe. It has to do with having both LED status and true stereo output. However, EHX has fabulous buffered bypass – I ran a bypass test (put the disengaged pedal in a true bypass loop and bring the bypassed effect in and out of your signal chain) with a few of my pedals just to see if I noticed any tone loss and the only one which altered the tone at all was my big box Micro Synth. I didn’t test the SEM on account of I don’t own one, but I tested the Hazarai delay which is ALSO a true stereo XO-series pedal with buffered bypass and it didn’t hurt my tone at all. I can’t imagine the SEM being any different.

    I wouldn’t have the Blues Driver and the OCD on the same board, nor would I have the LBM and the Metal Muff. With that collection, I would likely run: TU2-Qtron-SEM-OCD-MetalMuff or TU2-QTron-SEM-MetalMuff-OCD (depending on how the Metal muff and OCD interact).

    I would run them ALL like this if you are going to use the SEM primarily as a chorus and/or if you’re running a stereo rig: TU2-QTron-BD2-LittleBigMuff-OCD-MetalMuff-SEM

    and like this if you’re mostly looking for a flanger: TU2-QTron-BD2-LittleBigMuff-SEM-OCD-MetalMuff.

    March 10, 2009 at 6:50 am #94340
    JJones74
    Member
    Quote:
    The SEM is buffered, I believe. It has to do with having both LED status and true stereo output. However, EHX has fabulous buffered bypass – I ran a bypass test (put the disengaged pedal in a true bypass loop and bring the bypassed effect in and out of your signal chain) with a few of my pedals just to see if I noticed any tone loss and the only one which altered the tone at all was my big box Micro Synth. I didn’t test the SEM on account of I don’t own one, but I tested the Hazarai delay which is ALSO a true stereo XO-series pedal with buffered bypass and it didn’t hurt my tone at all. I can’t imagine the SEM being any different.

    I wouldn’t have the Blues Driver and the OCD on the same board, nor would I have the LBM and the Metal Muff. With that collection, I would likely run: TU2-Qtron-SEM-OCD-MetalMuff or TU2-QTron-SEM-MetalMuff-OCD (depending on how the Metal muff and OCD interact).

    I would run them ALL like this if you are going to use the SEM primarily as a chorus and/or if you’re running a stereo rig: TU2-QTron-BD2-LittleBigMuff-OCD-MetalMuff-SEM

    and like this if you’re mostly looking for a flanger: TU2-QTron-BD2-LittleBigMuff-SEM-OCD-MetalMuff.

    Just a quick question..
    Why wouldn’t you run the OCD and BD-2 on the same board? Just curious..
    same question goes for the LBM and the Metal Muff..
    Pardon my ignorance, I would just like to know..

    Thanks again..

    March 10, 2009 at 7:27 am #94341
    julian
    Moderator

    The buffers in new EH pedals are so good that I wouldn’t worry about whether they are TB or buffered. I have both buffered and TB EH pedals and I can’t tell the difference! My bypass sounds great!

    March 10, 2009 at 3:33 pm #94347
    JJones74
    Member

    Hmmm.. still curious about why I shouldn’t have the LBM on the same board as the Metal muff.. And why I shouldn’t have the OCD and Boss BD-2 on the same board.. I wouldn’t have them “ON” at the same time because even though they sound “somewhat” similar (at certain settings), they’re still very different.. I’m referring to the BD-2/OCD in that statement.. Of course the metal muff and LBM are very different beasts all together.. NO need for them to be on at the same time anyways.. LOL.. Once again, just curious..

    Thanks

    March 10, 2009 at 4:02 pm #94352
    julian
    Moderator

    It’s not that you shouldn’t, but just that he wouldn’t. He’s just a minimalist. One low gain, one high gain type guy.

    Now me? I have one overdrive and three big muffs. So to each their own.

    March 10, 2009 at 9:07 pm #94372
    Ned Flanders
    Moderator

    I have 8 big muffs, a metal muff, DS1, sansamp, woolly mammoth and I have no bypass problems with any of them.
    Just make sure the buffered pedal as after the big muff and other fuzz, it sounds right like this but it sounds strange the other way around.
    Experiment if your unsure.

    March 11, 2009 at 2:25 am #94387
    JJones74
    Member
    Quote:
    I have 8 big muffs, a metal muff, DS1, sansamp, woolly mammoth and I have no bypass problems with any of them.
    Just make sure the buffered pedal as after the big muff and other fuzz, it sounds right like this but it sounds strange the other way around.
    Experiment if your unsure.

    Yeah I’m kinda going with this line-up right now..
    (1) distortion (metal Muff)
    (2) overdrives (BD-2 and OCD)
    (1) LBM (might add the BMPw/TW later)
    (1) Chorus/Flange (either SEM or Fulltone’s CFV-2, coming in may2009)
    (1) Tremolo (Fulltone’s Supa-Trem)
    (1) Envelope Filter (Micro Q-tron or Q-tron Plus)
    (1) Wah Pedal

    Not necessarily in that order though..
    I just want to have a solid line-up with a bunch of options and sounds available for me to tweek..
    And by the way, i’m running all planet waves cables.. From guitar to pedals, thru all pedals, and out to the amp..
    I was using Procos and I was picking up lotsa noise. The PW’s has eliminated this problem!!

    Thanks all..

    March 11, 2009 at 7:19 am #94390
    John J
    Member

    Yeah, there’s no reason NOT to have them both on the same board. I just wouldn’t want to have to go from one to the other all the time, I prefer a board made of drastically different sounds that I can use together rather than having different flavors of the same sound that I can go between.

    Personal preference, I should have clarified that in the post.

    March 11, 2009 at 2:30 pm #94399
    JJones74
    Member
    Quote:
    Yeah, there’s no reason NOT to have them both on the same board. I just wouldn’t want to have to go from one to the other all the time, I prefer a board made of drastically different sounds that I can use together rather than having different flavors of the same sound that I can go between.

    Personal preference, I should have clarified that in the post.

    No problem JohnJ..
    Thanks for your input.. :metal:

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