Tone sucker inventory.

[Unrepresented]

I brought out my EHX Bass Micro Synth to practice last night and within the first song had pulled it out of the loop and gone back to just straightjacked goodness I typically run.

I had way too big a volume drop for my tastes, hard to tell if there was tone suck just because the volume drop was pretty severe and things sound different when they're quieter.

So, how much of the volume drop/tone suck was because of the two twenty foot of high quality cables (mogami, monster) and how much of it was the EHX? A little of both?

Am I going to have to pick up a looper in order to continue to experiement with it at practice? Or should I invest in some shorter cables first?

Help me true bypass gurus!

 

[JanusZarate]

So, how much of the volume drop/tone suck was because of the two twenty foot of high quality cables (mogami, monster) and how much of it was the EHX? A little of both?

You haven't read our BMS threads in the past, I see.

It's almost entirely the fault of the bypass system of the EHX BMS. It'll kill volume no matter how you adjust the gain trimpot on the back. Of course, once you've adjusted that trimpot to work best with your bass, the drop isn't too bad. But IMO, this is one of those times where you should seriously consider modding the pedal to be true bypass.

The cables have little to do with it (although they do impact your signal in a VERY minor, outright negligible way, IMHO).

The newer Bass Micro Synthesizers I've seen (including my own) already have a 3PDT switch inside, so it's only a matter of a little rewiring. We've had a few threads about the mod, so a little search should bring up some helpful instructions pretty quickly.

Why they didn't just make it true bypass from the start, we'll never know... they had all the hardware for it already installed!

 

[Unrepresented]

You haven't read our BMS threads in the past, I see.

It's almost entirely the fault of the bypass system of the EHX BMS. It'll kill volume no matter how you adjust the gain trimpot on the back. Of course, once you've adjusted that trimpot to work best with your bass, the drop isn't too bad. But IMO, this is one of those times where you should seriously consider modding the pedal to be true bypass.

The cables have little to do with it (although they do impact your signal in a VERY minor, outright negligible way, IMHO).

The newer Bass Micro Synthesizers I've seen (including my own) already have a 3PDT switch inside, so it's only a matter of a little rewiring. We've had a few threads about the mod, so a little search should bring up some helpful instructions pretty quickly.

Why they didn't just make it true bypass from the start, we'll never know... they had all the hardware for it already installed!

I have messed around with the gain pot a bit, but was under the impression that it was only for the effected sound, not the bypassed sound, which is my main issue. It's not an issue of volume drop when engaged, but overall volume decrease when in the loop.

No effects are worth killing my bypassed sound for, I'm sure that's blasphemy to some on here, but I'm an "effects are icing on the cake" type player.

I'll do a search for the true bypass mod on the BMS. That should decrease the bypassed volume issue and tone suck?

 

[JanusZarate]

Decrease? Dude, it's the perfect solution to eliminating it completely.

The gain trimpot affects the signal overall - bypassed or not. The true bypass mod prevents the gain trimpot from doing anything to the bypassed signal by removing the entire circuit from the bypassed signal path. You'll still need to adjust the gain trimpot for the effect volume, of course.

Also... without the mod, turning the "Guitar" slider up all the way (10) is more than unity gain, no matter how you set it up. 7.5 or 8 is an approximate setting for unity. With the mod, I'm not sure - I have yet to perform that mod on my BMS, as I don't have the tools or time at the moment.

 

[Sir Edward V]

Tone-suck has always drive me nuts!!! I first really noticed it when I started using a Mu-Tron. Problem is, I love the Tron so much, I can't live without it! Well, I can, but...

I found a solution to my high-freq losses a long time ago. The VHT Valvulator. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
I know, I know, it looks like a big expensive gimmick. But I'm telling you, the thing works! It solved my multi-pedal problems and it solves long cable and ground loop issues.

I've A/B'd my board with & without the VHT and the results never stop surprising me. If you're really obsessive about playing dynamics (like me)- the VHT makes playing through my pedals feel like straight to the amp. I swear on all that is holy.

The next step to perfecting my set-up is a true bypass looper. I still can't decide how many loop "channels" I want, but again with the Valvulator, I don't have to sweat all the extra switches & cable.

Consequently, here's a link I found here on good ol' TB that adresses a lot of the stuff in this thread: http://www.stinkfoot.se/andreas/diy/diyhome.htm

if it really works that well I may consider buying it...

while I love pedals, it is hard to get around the whole tone suck thing, my tone is never better than when bass => amp

 

[pickles]

My true bypass looper with buffered/blended loops completely eliminated my tone suck when bypassed AND reduced it greatly when the effects are in (I assume due to the buffers). I really wouldn't bother with anything else.

 

[FreaqyFrequency]

My Korg AX3000B has a very noticeable tone suck.