Buffer
A unity-gain circuit that presents a high input impedance to the pickup and a low output impedance to the rest of the chain.
Its whole value is impedance conversion. A passive pickup with a high impedance output loses high frequencies into cable capacitance, and the loss grows with every metre of wire and every pedal added. A buffer stops that happening, keeping the top end and the feel of the signal intact through a long chain, which is why almost every tuner pedal and many overdrives include one whether the player knows it or not.
Example: plugging straight into an amp with a three-metre cable and then through ten metres of the same cable makes an audible difference that a buffer removes.
See also
Related
- PageTrue bypass
- PageActive pickup
- PageAlnico
- PageBlade pickup
- PageBlend control
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley
- PageAd-Rock