How Long Are Your Cables?

What’s the difference between True Bypass and Buffered Effects Pedals?

This article is intended to clarify a topic that is often surrounded by misinformation. Our intention is to present the facts and help the reader make informed decisions about using buffered and true bypass pedals, and to achieve the best tone.      

Tone matters. To guitar players, it’s that simple. Tone is the Holy Grail, the ultimate quest. But how do you get great tone? With so much guitar gear available, and with so much conflicting information out there, we’d like to clear up some of the confusion about the guitar signal path, stompbox pedals (both true-bypass and buffered), and other things that affect tone.

To get the best tone out of your rig, it’s important to understand the following principles and make decisions about cables and pedals based on them. More