Help! My pedalboard is sucking my tone

[Reg18]

So I have noticing recently how much different my tone is when I go straight into my amp compared to through my pedal board.
It sounds kind of dull and lifeless when going through the board , even when no pedals are on.
I tried to isolate which pedal if any where causing it, my Ernie Ball volume is defiantly effecting things a little bit.
I have all my drives and fuzz going through a bypass looper, and even just going from my amp to the bypass looper to my guitar (no pedals on, so technically they are out of the loop) it still sounds dull compared to going straight into the amp with the guitar.

Any thoughts? Is this a cable issue? Or perhaps I need a buffer last in the chain?

Help!

[Hot_Grits]

A buffer last in chain is a good idea, but a buffer first in chain is what you really want to try. That way you don't get the high end loss of all the cables ands switches of your board. Putting one on the end will help your signal stay strong from that point but it won't fix anything as the loss is occurring upstream.

I had similar problems until I bought a JHS mini buffer and made it the input spot on my board. In my case tucked under the top right corner of my PT.

Only downside with buffer first is germanium fuzzes don't like it. I changed to a silicon fuzz I liked (scarab deluxe). Some people can't live with this so the best compromise for that is living with a little tone suck and having your buffer just after your fuzz and wah.

[sizzlingbadger]

+1

also don't discount using good quality (low capacitance) cables and connectors.

[harveysj]

Yea a buffer at the start worked for me, well a boss tuner with buffer

[jeremyb]

Buffer at beginning and high quality cables, after doing that with my board I suddenly gained a whole ton of treble that was lost!! I have a JHS modded EB VP Jr, and also Lava Soldered Cables, and would recommend both very highly!

The thing with a volume pedal with a tuner out on it is you're splitting your signal down two paths, so its losing some of its strength, the JHS mod adds a dual buffer so theres no loss down the chain or to the tuner

[Reg18]

Buffer at beginning and high quality cables, after doing that with my board I suddenly gained a whole ton of treble that was lost!! I have a JHS modded EB VP Jr, and also Lava Soldered Cables, and would recommend both very highly!

The thing with a volume pedal with a tuner out on it is you're splitting your signal down two paths, so its losing some of its strength, the JHS mod adds a dual buffer so theres no loss down the chain or to the tuner

I think I have figured out what is the problem. I own a EP booster clone which is normally always on first in line, this broke a few weeks ago and it seems that this must have been acting as a buffer to my signal first inline.
So although modding my VP Jr to have a buffer would be good (i don't use the tuner out), I think just having a buffer first in line would mean It wouldn't matter?
So I really need to get my EP booster fixed and back on my board.

Although it does concern me that going straight from my guitar to my bypass looper to my amp (without any pedals on) does make the sound duller, maybe this means my cables do need an upgrade anyway.

[jeremyb]

Yep, the buffer first would negate you needing it I just killed two birds with one stone when I wanted a volume pedal

What cables are you using now?

[Reg18]

Yep, the buffer first would negate you needing it I just killed two birds with one stone when I wanted a volume pedal

What cables are you using now?

Using EWI for guitar leads, and the cheap molded patch cables for the board.

[jeremyb]

Yep, the buffer first would negate you needing it I just killed two birds with one stone when I wanted a volume pedal

What cables are you using now?

Using EWI for guitar leads, and the cheap molded patch cables for the board.

The EWI leads are pretty good I've found, but the cheap molded cables have to go, made a big difference with my board going to lava, tis painful spending that kinda money on just cables, but would not regret it at all!

[Scooter13]

Yep, the buffer first would negate you needing it I just killed two birds with one stone when I wanted a volume pedal

What cables are you using now?

Using EWI for guitar leads, and the cheap molded patch cables for the board.

The EWI leads are pretty good I've found, but the cheap molded cables have to go, made a big difference with my board going to lava, tis painful spending that kinda money on just cables, but would not regret it at all!

Lava cables are great, but his patch cables have nothing to do with his tone suck with a bypass blooper.

[jeremyb]

Lava cables are great, but his patch cables have nothing to do with his tone suck with a bypass blooper.

Yeah nah, crap quality cables have a higher capacitance, which robs treble from your toan, just like the tone control on your guitar

[Eruera]

But if his pedals are in a TB looper then said patch cables are not part of the circuit, yet he still has toan sukk. This suggests it's the looper and/or instrument cables.

[AmpShop]

Although it does concern me that going straight from my guitar to my bypass looper to my amp (without any pedals on) does make the sound duller, maybe this means my cables do need an upgrade anyway.

If you're comparing plugging your guitar straight into the amp with one cable, compared to running through the TB looper, you've got to factor in the extra length of cable - shorter cable runs will always sound brighter, clearer, less lossy.

If you're looking to upgrade from your EWI cables and you want something with very little signal loss, I can highly recommend the Lava ELC cables.

[Scooter13]

But if his pedals are in a TB looper then said patch cables are not part of the circuit, yet he still has toan sukk. This suggests it's the looper and/or instrument cables.

This is what I meant JB. Upgrading his patch cables isn't going to fix the issue at hand.

[jeremyb]

But if his pedals are in a TB looper then said patch cables are not part of the circuit, yet he still has toan sukk. This suggests it's the looper and/or instrument cables.

This is what I meant JB. Upgrading his patch cables isn't going to fix the issue at hand.

My apologies, didn't think of that, durrr mong durrr!