Core tone affected by single pedal

BintyTwanger77

This is just a general enquiry, because I understand this is a common problem with long pedal chains. However, I’ve noticed that even if I have just one pedal between guitar and amp, there is a loss in tone.

All the pedals I have are True Bypass, and I know a chain of several TB effects can result in a loss of the high end, but when I tried, to give one example, just the Chase Bliss Brothers on its own, I had the same result.

I’ve had good results combatting this with a SHO, which I believe deals with a loss of capacitance (if I’m wrong on any technical point, I am a bit of Luddite), but it seems strange to have to use one to compensate for one pedal.

I can hear the difference fairly clearly between a single TB effect and plugging straight into the amp. Is this a thing, or are my ears playing tricks on me?

Danny1969

It's not such much the pedal but the extra cable length when using a pedal that causes the loss of treble .... in TB mode the switch connects the in jack to the out jack via about 3" of cable so it's not the pedal but the lead into the pedal and the lead from pedal to amp

BintyTwanger77

Danny1969 said:

It's not such much the pedal but the extra cable length when using a pedal that causes the loss of treble .... in TB mode the switch connects the in jack to the out jack via about 3" of cable so it's not the pedal but the lead into the pedal and the lead from pedal to amp

That makes sense. Is that why it’s a good idea to have at least one pedal with a buffer, and if you only use one pedal to make it a buffered one (e.g. a Klon klone)?

mistercharlie

I have a PureTone buffer first in line, and I use as short a cable as possible to get there from the guitar. 3-meters usually. It actually sounds better than straight-in. Also, good cables. The difference between a Van Damme, and some old Klotz cable I have is super obvious. 

Lebarque

BintyTwanger77 said:

Danny1969 said:

It's not such much the pedal but the extra cable length when using a pedal that causes the loss of treble .... in TB mode the switch connects the in jack to the out jack via about 3" of cable so it's not the pedal but the lead into the pedal and the lead from pedal to amp

That makes sense. Is that why it’s a good idea to have at least one pedal with a buffer, and if you only use one pedal to make it a buffered one (e.g. a Klon klone)?

Yep, spot on, mate.

ICBM

Danny1969 said:

It's not such much the pedal but the extra cable length when using a pedal that causes the loss of treble .... in TB mode the switch connects the in jack to the out jack via about 3" of cable so it's not the pedal but the lead into the pedal and the lead from pedal to amp

Exactly. It's the second cable that makes the difference. It's particularly noticeable if the pedal-amp cable is longer than the guitar-pedal one, because then the cable capacitance is more than doubled when the pedal is off and the guitar is connected to the amp via the combined length, so the bypass sound will be much duller.

There will also be a small amount of extra capacitance in the pedal itself, from the jacks and switch, but it will be minimal and probably not noticeable with just one pedal.

But when you have a lot of true bypass pedals connected together, the capacitance of *everything* - cables, plugs (some types of these also can have a surprisingly high capacitance), jacks, switches - is all added up and can be really quite substantial.