True bypass vs. buffered bypass

What's the actual difference? True bypass removes the circuit from the path entirely; buffered bypass buffers your signal while bypassed. That might make true bypass sound automatically better — but it isn't always. A couple of things to keep in mind: - The bypass type only matters when the effect is bypassed. When the effect is active, the signal is buffered either way — so for an "always on" effect like a reverb, the bypass type doesn't matter at all. - We generally recommend that the first and last effects in your chain be buffered-bypass or "always on." That gives you two things: - a constant input impedance at the front, for consistent tone as you switch other effects on and off, and - an uninterrupted output driver at the end, which minimizes true-bypass switch pops from slight ground-reference differences. The effects in between can be true bypass if you like. The more pedals you run, the more you may want them true-bypass to keep accumulated noise down. With only a few pedals, it matters much less.