The Basics of True Bypass

The easiest and simplest way to describe what true bypass means, is to say that if all the effects in your chain are true bypass, then when you have all of them off, the signal running from your guitar to your amp is not effected by any of the inner circuitry of the pedals.

That is to say, the tone produced when all true bypass pedals are switched off should be the same as it would be if your guitar was plugged directly into your amp. Of course, there are some technical aspects of true bypass that needs to be understood to get a true grasp of this technology and what it can do for you.

With the above information, it would seem that there would be no reason not to purchase only pedals with true bypass switches. But there are considerations to be made regarding true bypass and a couple of things guitarist should be aware of when building a pedal board.

The first thing you should be aware of when using true bypass is that you can still lose signal (volume) through your chain. If you have an extensive effects setup, and particularly if your pedals are a considerable distance from your guitar and/or amp, signal can be lost as it travels through the circuitry of the pedals and the length of guitar leads.

One way to overcome signal loss is to use a (send + return) loop / signal routing pedal. This is when you “loop” certain effects together in your chain, and use a true bypass routing pedal to not send your signal through only certain loops / pedals.

Using a loop / signal routing pedal is also a great way to segregate non true bypass pedals out of the signal chain, and bring them into the chain only when required for the actual effect. Another way to overcome signal loss is to add a boost effect to your chain.

One thing to keep in mind when considering true bypass effects pedals is that they are typically more expensive than pedals that are not true bypass. Also a non true bypass pedal’s circuitry may be constructed in a way that has minimal effect on the original signal. If you are just starting to get your hands dirty with guitar effect pedals, considering a non true bypass pedal can help reduce costs and allows you to try more pedals types. If you are an experienced professional player setting up a pedal board, true bypass should definitely be considered.