True Bypass Mod for Aguilar Agro Pedal???

blastjv · #1 10-07-2010, 08:28 AM

I'm sure a lot of people will think I'm an idiot for asking because people seem to really love the bypass on the Agro pedal, but I really do notice a significant (to me) difference with it in my signal path. It takes a chunk of the 'life' out of my sound.

I am NOT a blind true bypass snob, and have used some other pedals that were not true bypass which sounded great. I also understand and appreciate the advantages of buffered signals, and in my case, the first pedal in my chain is an Xotic Bass BB which will be always on, so the signal will be buffered through the rest of my pedals anyway.

I'm really starting to think that the difference in opinions on what bypasses are 'good' or 'bad' really just comes down to which frequencies each individual player expects to hear in their sound and whether that particular buffer messes with those specific frequencies. In this case the Agro does something to the frequencies I'm expecting out of MY sound.

Of course I'm reluctant to mess with a pedal like this that is not exactly cheap, and I've considered just getting a TB loop just for the Agro, but I think I'd rather just mod it and be done with it and not clutter up my board with a loop. You might suggest that I just find another pedal that doesn't mess with my sound in bypass, but for my 'extreme' overdrive tone the Agro is THE ONE, and I am not willing to give up on it!!!

Anyone open one up yet? Does it look like a fairly easy job? Am I a fool???

Thanks,

-John

Darkglass · #2 10-07-2010, 09:24 AM

Does it loose Hi end when bypassed? This would be a bit wierd, specially if the bypass signal is buffered, and even more if it's following a Booster always engaged. also, what was the differnece you noticed versus other buffer bypass systems?

I may be able to help out, but need a bit more data since I have never tried the Agro

.

Best Regards

Doug.

Mingus Addict · #3 10-07-2010, 09:29 AM

Funny thing is, I always thought the Agro was essentially true bypass but just used a relay for switching rather than a mechanical switch. Now I'm curious.

blastjv · #4 10-07-2010, 09:42 AM

Hmmm, now that you mention it, I only recently added the BB back into my rig and have not tried the BB through the bypassed Agro. I kept the agro out of the chain when I tried the BB in order to not have that variable while I was testing out the BB.

Maybe this is a non-issue. That would be a relief.

-John

Mingus Addict · #5 10-07-2010, 11:03 AM

So you're saying maybe you were just missing out on having the BB act as a buffer? Ha, that would make a lot of sense actually.

blastjv · #6 10-07-2010, 11:08 AM

Yeah, I think that might be it. I didn't notice any problem when I had a different rig WITH the BB but with my new rig withOUT the BB I noticed a loss of 'life' (probably just highs lost to cable capacitance).

This is good news, I think...

I'll need to get down to the rehearsal spot to experiment...

-JV

Darkglass · #7 10-07-2010, 12:15 PM

Is you bass passive or active? If it's active, the bass' preamp adapt the impedances, and therefore no treble should be lost to parasit capacitances in the cable.

blastjv · #8 10-07-2010, 12:26 PM

Passive.

-JV

Darkglass · #9 10-07-2010, 12:30 PM

Have you tried placing a buffered bypass pedal (Boss, Visual Sound, Tech21) first in the chain? If this would help, then the problem is msot likely parasitic capacitance in the cables.

blastjv · #10 10-07-2010, 12:33 PM

That's what I'll have when I try using the BB (on) as the first pedal in my chain. I'll report back later...

-John

blastjv · #11 10-18-2010, 08:28 AM

I emailed Aguilar and this is the response I got from Marco:

"The AGRO does have a mechanical switch and is not "true bypass" but hardwire bypass. This allows the pedal to be more quiet when switching than true bypass and still allows signal to pass if your battery dies.

One of the most important factors is the design of the pedal rather than the switch and we feel that the pedal has high enough impedance that you will not experience the dreaded "tone suck"!"

I wasn't really able to A/B it at practice this past week. I tried it quickly, and thought I heard a difference, but needed to practice and not screw with pedals so I just took it out of my chain so we could rehearse. I'll update as I learn...

-JV