JHS PedalsJHS Little Black Buffer Guitar Signal Buffer

I have not reviewed anything in the past, but with the complete night and day difference I experienced here, I was moved. I can't believe I went out in public without a buffer before. I have not used another, but this one certainly worked. I messed around with it in a few places in the chain (it's really small, and can fit wherever without too much shifting around). When I got in that sweet spot after my two weirdo distortions and before my three weirdo everything else, everything just worked/sounded better, stronger, cleaner. On/off pops disappeared, which is something I did not expect. When all effects are off, sounds exactly like straight to the amp. I took it back out of the chain and was embarrassed at what I had been dishing out previously.

So I'll start by saying, many years ago, I owned an Ibanez GAX30. It was my second guitar and is the guitar that made me fall in love with Ibanez guitars and basses. I stupidly sold it, and although it was rereleased I always kept an eye out for one that was from the original run in the same color as the one I had. I finally found one, bought it and was so excited to play it in my home studio. If you were to stretch out the entire signal chain from the first pedal to my audio interface it would be about 60ft, and no matter what I did i couldnt get the pickups to sound anything but lifeless in my "new" GAX30. I purchased this JHS Buffer a little skeptical that it could work as well as the research said it would, but upon plugging it in, it was like I was running the guitar directly into the interface. It took the neck pickup from so muddy that it was basically a wall of noise at times to so articulate I could hear my pick on the strings and could even gently finger the strings and I could hear every detail no matter what combination of effects I used. and for reference, my audio interface was set to pure input for the mix running out into Tascam TH200X headphones with no processing taking place other than with my pedals in the signal chain.

I bought a cheap 35$ buffer from amazon and noticed AM radio stations, tons of extra noise. I tried isolated power removed everything else out of the chain and still issues. I broke down and bought the JHS buffer. Super super clean signal. No noise. The cleans are now clear and the tone sounds more present. I'm running over 40 feet of cable and this makes it sound like I'm plugged straight into the head. Buy this pedal don't get the cheap ones!

I recently put together a small pedal board that has 7 true bypass pedals on it. Combine those pedals with about 32 feet of cable from guitar to pedal board, the small patch cables, and then to the amp...and you get loss of top end, and loss of body, a.k.a. "tone suck". I was especially having issues when I combined my OCD overdrive pedal with my little Ibanez mini chorus pedal. Most of the other pedals seemed to play nice together...but I was getting weird results using these 2 pedals together. After doing some research online, it seemed like a buffer pedal is what I needed. I bought this JHS Little Black Buffer because it's small and because all of the jacks (input, output and power) are all on the same side of the box. I needed to have it that way due to the tight space issues on my board. So glad I got this pedal. It brings back the life to my tone, my top end is back, body is back, no issues at all stacking any pedals together. Works great! Taking 1 star off due to the nuclear powered yellow "on" light. Why so bright man? I'll have to put something over it to cover it up. Somewhat blinding.

Little black buffer is great. Gives me a clean signal goin into my board and have a SansAmp for my bass. Thing is a little work horse. Would definitely recommend getting one if you’re looking to clean up the noice on your board.

Let me start by saying I love my pedals. I thought if you run as many pedals in series as I do (sixteen not including this guy, mostly true bypass) that tone degradation was just something I needed to accept unless I saved my money for one of those pedal boards that allow you to remove certain pedals from the series when bypassed. That is until I took the plunge and bought this buffer and placed it first in my signal chain straight from the guitar. It's like a blanket was removed from my tone. It's very much like I'm plugged straight into the amp and yet I'm still able to use my effects but in higher fidelity. If I had known this would breathe new life in to my tone to the degree it has, I would've gotten this buffer pedal years ago. It basically converts your guitar signal from a high impedance one (which causes significant tone loss when using long cables, patch cables, and pedals) to a low impedance one and injecting much needed life back into the signal. I highly recommend watching Pete Thorn's YouTube video on capacitance and the use of a buffer in your chain to overcome tone loss when using long cables and several pedals; he's incredibly knowledgeable in addition to being a great musician and guitar player). His video sold me on the need for a buffer, and boy was he right. While this is a bit pricy, JHS pedals are of exceptional quality and, in my opinion, are top of the line. If you use several guitar pedals in series (whether they're true bypass, hardwire bypass, true hardwire bypass, buffered bypass) and want to preserve the purity of your tone, this is essential.

The "little black buffer" turned out to be the "little black piece of garbage." Failed after 5 months, it started to generate a loud hiss. Pedal board started making loud hiss. Going through prices of elimination, etc... turned out to be the stinking buffer. I continue to be rather unimpressed with JHS pedals. I own 4, wish I owned zero. I won't own a 5th.

I was getting too many true bypass pedals on my pedal board so the sound became muffled. I bought 2 Little Black Buffers, added one at the beginning and one at the end of my pedal chain and now my tone is back to what it should be. Great little buffers. Also, they're small enough that I could put them under my pedalboard, so it doesn't take another pedal spot.

Cleaned up my 🎸 tone

Lost High frequencies now more present ... Noticed that my Dunlop Cry baby wah wah had more High range and is now more balanced between High & low frequency response ... It may not make a difference on all pedalboards ... all depends on the specifics on the board ...

Funciona como lo esperaba, muy bueno, yo lo recomiendo

Sending back because not what we needed