What Does A Buffer Do For Your Guitar?

Do I need a Buffer? Where Do I put a Buffer? What does a buffer even do?
Buffers can be kinda mysterious and my goal with this episode is to help clear up any confusion around the subject.

Check out the gear in this and past episodes here:

Gear in this video:
2:06 1981 Inventions DRV Overdrive
5:33 JHS Little Black Buffer
5:41 JHS Buffered Splitter
5:56 JHS Ernie Ball 6180 VP Jr Mono Volume Pedal w/ "Active/No Loss" Mod
6:11 Boss RV-6 Reverb

Record Time:
Hiss Golden Messenger - Heart Like a Levee

Josh’s record player is by U-Turn Audio:

#jhs #thejhsshow #bufferpedals

[braddietzmusic]

Seems like a nice guy with wise words and parting thoughts. No dogma about gear and stuff, and gives props to other manufacturers.

[JeremyEWiss]

Can you just reissue the Sovtek, since you are hoarding them all.

[simonoosterman]

dude. you just completely saved my biscuits. i must have been crook the day "no buffer before fuzz" got taught at school. unbelievable difference to my fuzz face . thanks man

[Petanifer]

Simple bit of advice: get a BOSS tuner. It has buffered bypass. Go one step further, get the BOSS looper/reverb/delay and boom you have a buffer at the beginning and end of your chain.

[poorstudioguy]

0:23 Nice full stop at that stop sign there. ;) Thanks for what you all do!

[TubeYouScreen]

You're literally improving the world by doing vids like this

[sporkfindus]

I use a small board of RAT - Boss EQ - Boss Chorus - Boss Reverb, so, this guy's honesty has led me to the decision that I don't need a buffer and can save some money

[StuartBridson]

These videos are ALWAYS brilliant and one of the best things for me is the way you constantly talk about how good Boss pedals, MXR too, Danelectro, etc and really hammer home that you don't have to buy boutique stuff all the time and it's OK to get cheaper gear because there are some real gems out there.

I did a lot of work on my board last year and ended up putting a few buffers in at various points to balance it all out - the TC Electronic Polytune 3 has a built-in buffer so I was able to get rid of my separate Bonafide Buffer then in my FX loop I have an MXR Stereo Chorus, Carbon Copy Deluxe and M300 Reverb which are all buffered. You really can hear the difference between that and the old all true bypass board that I used to use especially when connecting with two 20ft cables in the front end and two 10ft cables into the loop.

[MrMarkmegaro]

Honestly I don’t own any JHS pedals but I’m addicted to this station. This dude is awesome. Recently i got a Fulltone Deja vibe and Realize i should have bought a unicorn if for no other reason than that i want to support this dude and this channel ... so now i have to find a reason to buy something else just to support jhs !

[shadmanhossain]

Very well explained Josh! I just remembered this is exactly how my physics teacher explained the flow of current and resistance back in school.

[IPushHard]

I have stuff.
I have wires.
I hook my wires to my stuff.
The stuff lights up.
My guitar makes noise.
I like noise.
Usually.
I hook my guitar to my stuff with my wires.
I make noise through my lit up stuff.
It makes me happy.

[tangentz]

One last comment. I am retired in Europe in a country with terrible grounding. I bought 2 very expensive Joe Bonamossa guitar cables. They made an incredible difference in the signal and the noise!!

[leftymadrid]

Very cool, very honest, and respectful towards other pedal companies...

[Brightred]

This is the best channel.... why have I only just found this?? I am telling all the guitar playing kids I teach about it and now we all nerd out at break and lunch about different pedals and our dream shopping lists.... awesome vids, great work!!

[kilroy]

To all the people asking "where should I put my buffer?", stop typing and start switching your boxes around, then use whatever arrangement sounds best to you. Then ask your friends, just in case your opinion sucks.

[BarryCazan]

Great call on Hiss, Josh! They're incredible. If you like Heart Like A Levee, Hallelujah Anyhow picks up right where it left off--beautiful songs guaranteed to brighten your day. As MC Taylor, the frontman for HGM, put it: "I see the dark clouds. I was designed to see them. They’re the same clouds of fear and destruction that have darkened the world since Revelations, just different actors. But this music is for hope. That’s the only thing I want to say about it. Love is the only way out. I’ve never been afraid of the darkness; it’s just a different kind of light. And if some days that belief comes harder than others, hallelujah anyhow."

Thanks for another great video! Keep 'em coming!

[timfowlie]

I always use a buffer, even if I’m not using my pedalboard, I modded one of your buffered splitters so I have individual active volumes on each so when I’m playing at a gig I put my bass direct to the pa and to the bass amp.

[Roger-iliw]

The price of that water hose went up to $1000 on reverb after this video

[meesterdinglefritz]

I always click on a JHS video, if just to hear the intro music :) sounds like a warm blanket.

[outofthemappodcast]

I was just asking myself this morning if I need a buffer. Impeccable timing. Thank you!