Buffers - to use or not to use, that is the question!

I run a vht valvulator buffer with my pedals and in my opinion,i get a better tone with the valvulator.
I dont have my jbff on this board so cant say how it sounds with buffer....
Maby i should try it and see what happens

Buffer makes all the difference in the world, depending on your pedalboard length (signal chain length), and whether the pedals on the board are true bypass, buffered, or badly buffered (top end loss from things like wahs, danelectro effects, etc).

My experience has been that since getting my buffer, I no longer have to worry about any of that. I can go up to about 10 pedals w/o signal loss, and it no longer matters if they are TB, buffered, or whatever. Now- alot of people experience TOO MUCH high end when using a buffer, especially with a shorter signal chain. It's for this reason the buffer I use and recommend is the Radial Power Booster/Buffer (I don't even use the clean boost), because it's an ADJUSTABLE buffer...   you can adjust the high end to your liking, meaning you can either dial it in to sound like your guitar plugged staright into the amp, or you can dial it in for a bit of high end loss if you prefer (altho I don't know why you would, that defeats the purpose of the buffer.)

I, like JB, am not a fan of high end much. However, I take care of it at the amp.... I don't want my pedalboard removing high end for me. I like the signal coming out of my pedalboard to be the same as the signal as if I were plugged straight into the amp. The adjustable Radial allows me to do this no matter what pedals I have on my board.

Also- most fuzzes and wahs do NOT like being put after the buffer. The fuzzes get thin & harsh.  I DO have my wah AFTER my buffer... but WAY after... I like it very near the end of my signal chain, just personal preference, and the buffer doesn't mess with it that far down the line.

The only way I could ever imagine NOT having a buffer is if I turned into a 3-4 pedal guy... not sure that's ever gonna' happen...

Good info guys - keep it coming.  I had the choice of a foot switchable buffer unit, but decided against - why should I need to switch the thing in and out - it needs to do a job or not bother atall, right?!

So assuming I add in the buffer, my pedal chain will be - guitar > wah > JBFF > buffer > TubeS > Fulldrive 2 > buffered ABY splitter > amps.  My guitar cable is about 10' of Klotz/Nuetrik and the cable loom run from pedalboard to amps is at most 20'.  Is it REALLY worth adding another buffer in the chain for just two pedals and the cable?

I have a TU-2, a DD-3 echo, RV-5 and a Rotosphere going through the FX loop on the Marshall DCL100, so should there be a need to buffer those pedals?  I understand Boss pedals have a simple type of on-board buffering for example.  And maybe the Marshall has a buffer of sorts on the loop?  (It has a loop boost switch on the amp, but I find that too noisy).

I'm not a big fan of buffers for my rig, mostly because I rely heavily on a Fuzzface for a few of my tones. Also the idea of adding something to get your tone back seems a little counter productive to me? I use George Ls which have a super low impedance, great for maintaining the highs and your original tone. A lot of guys feel that the George Ls are "bright" sounding but from what I gather a cable cannot add anything to your tone, just take away. A lot of guys have gotten use to the mellowing effect and tone loss of other cables IMO. My rig is a lot livelier with the George Ls! No need for buffers...

Yep, that was my take on it too.  My buffer arrived today actually, but I'm also wiring a new loom so when I've finished that I'll be testing the whole rig - with and without the buffer in place - and I'll report back on the difference it makes.  If I get time I might even put up a UTube clip perhaps.

Hey mrwarensemble - did you ever get to try out the buffer with your JBFF?

Very interesting experience. We need be careful when we also use a buffer AFTER pedals like fuzzface and B.K. Butler Tube driver.

Coolaxeman, you discovered that your internal tubescreamer buffer is a more fuzzface' friendly buffer than you specific Buffer unit (if you are talking about a traditional tubescreamer, it's a buffered pedal).

I use a MXR Classic 108 Fuzz (silicon fuzzface BC108 based). It has the option to on-off a buffer at INPUT of pedal. But the OUTPUT is not really buffered or has any "impedance isolation". So it combines with first buffer that it "see". It sound great (similar to normal) when it "see" my DOD fx70 flanger. But when it see my DOD fx96 analog delay it really sound bad, muddy.

My tube driver is a bit different. It's before my buffered flanger and it has an interactive output like a fuzzface, but not similar. If I put a FX22 vibrothang after it, it really sound bad (but sound like with NO buffer). But when I use my flanger after it, it sounds BETTER than with no buffer. Pedal got a so sweet characteristic, became another.

At this moment I have only 2 buffered pedals in my pedalboard. The first pedal in chain (DOD fx22 volume/wah - I use it like a volume pedal) and the DOD fx Flanger (one of lasts). The others are true-bypass and have no buffer interactive problems.

(my chain: guitar -> DOD Fx22Volume -> MXR classic fuzz 108-> RC booster made by myself -> BK Butler Tube Driver -> Pharaoh Fuzz (it's an amazing Muff) -> Germaniun 4 Big muff -> DOD fx70 flanger -> TC Electronic Alter Ego -> Polytune -> AMP). I know that a tuner at the end is against the rules LOL but it's working perfect so.

[Sorry by my bad english]