Acoustic Electric Guitar Impedance and Buffered Pedals?

[stratmansblues]

Can someone explain why I'm hearing a difference when using my Maton Acoustic Electric guitar straight into a DI into the board vs into a Boss RC-1 Looper with Buffered Bypass into DI into the board?

Seems like the tone becomes constricted and low end disappears. Remove the pedal from the equation and tone is full again.

I usually use a passive Whirlwind IMP DI into my Mackie Pro FX 12 mixer. I tried a Stagebug active yesterday and the tone was even worse, so I switched back to the Whirlwind.

[lkingston]

Originally Posted by stratmansblues

Can someone explain why I'm hearing a difference when using my Maton Acoustic Electric guitar straight into a DI into the board vs into a Boss RC-1 Looper with Buffered Bypass into DI into the board?



Seems like the tone becomes constricted and low end disappears. Remove the pedal from the equation and tone is full again.



I usually use a passive Whirlwind IMP DI into my Mackie Pro FX 12 mixer. I tried a Stagebug active yesterday and the tone was even worse, so I switched back to the Whirlwind.

I started a thread about this phenomenon (with other makes of guitars) and there wasn't much chiming in. I absolutely hate the sound of the Boss buffers with my Schertler AG6/S-Mic pickup, buy don't mind it at all with my Godin Multiac. My complaint with the Schertler pickup is the same as yours with the Maton:it sucks out all the beautiful low end. I use a lot of drop-D and that makes it even worse.

[DoryDavis]

Interested as well. I hope some comments are added by these knowledgeable people on the board....

[Rudy4]

Roland has a very good article "The truth about true bypass and buffered guitar pedals" that some may find interesting:

http://www.roland.co.uk/blog/the-tru...guitar-pedals/

[lkingston]

Great link!

The buffered output is substantially lower impedance than the output of the guitar, even when it is an active pickup.

Depending upon the guitar, the added circuitry can improve or detract from the sound.

I do a lot of open mics, and the quality of the PA system setups varies widely. One common scenario is where there is no direct box and the guitar is plugged directly into a mixer line input.

With my Godin Doyle Dykes signature Multiac, this creates enough of an impedance mismatch that it sucks the low end off of the instrument and the sound of the guitar is weak and tinny. In this case, a Boss buffer restores the missing frequencies and improves the sound greatly. I keep a Boss reverb pedal in my Multiac case just for these instances (where there is no proper DI). Sometimes I also add a little reverb, but I use it mainly for the buffer. I leave it in the case if I see a DI.

With my Schertler pickup on my Martin, the Boss buffer sucks the life out of the guitar and the guitar sounds better plugged straight into a mixer line input, even with no DI.

Not all buffers are created equal. For instance, the buffer on my Tech21 Q\Strip pedal in bypass is completely transparent and sounds consistent on all my guitars. It corrects the sound of an impedance mismatch without any added coloration.

[stratmansblues]

So it sounds like I might have to look into another looper, preferably True Bypass?