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zestystrat
Silver Member
USA
283 Posts |
 Posted - 01/04/2007 : 23:01:23
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Stupid naming conventions aside, does anyone know if the H&K Rotosphere is true bypass? I have both versions but right now the mk2 is the one I'm am wondering about.
It says real bypass on their website but who the h3ll knows what that means...
Thx |
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Basstyra
Gold Member
France
523 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 11:59:14
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Brands invent all kinds of stupid names to define their bypasses.
My opinion is to tell them to f*ck themselves, to use your ear to decide if their bypass is "good" or "bad". If bad, you can try to modify it if you know how th handle a soldering iron. If you don't, learn ! It's really usefull to know how to tweak a pedal. You'll save yourself lots of headaches.
NB : the f*ck part can be omited. 
NB2 : generally, if a pedal is true bypass, brands really don't hesitate to spread it widly... |
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zestystrat
Silver Member
USA
283 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 17:38:20
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Yup it's a stupid naming convention assuming that it is "True Bypass".
I sent an e-mail to them and we'll see if I get something other then a form response.
Either way, until something better and smaller comes around, it�s not coming off my pedal board. After I ditched my Vox reissue wha and went with the Buddha wha my board has either true bypass pedals or boss so I�m felling good about the loss of tone due to the chain.
On a side note, I do have to say that I have had a really great experience with H&K and the Rotosphere � probably not as good as they would have liked tho.
I bought a Rotosphere 1 off ebay a number of years ago for $200, a good price for a $400 pedal. It worked well for a while but it went down a few times and I had to send it back to be repaired. I bought it used so I didn�t have any receipts or anything but they took it back and fixed it for free every time I sent it in.
Then one time when it went down, my usual contact was gone and it turned out that they had been bought by Pearl. So I had to deal with them about the repairs. I was bummed because I still didn�t have the receipt so I was anticipating a problem.
It was more difficult to deal with Pearl and I was planning on paying for the repairs but eventually they took it and I waited.
After a few weeks with no word about the repairs or a request for payment I started to get a little annoyed - especially after I sent a number of e-mails with no response. After I did get in touch with someone, I learned that they hadn�t had a chance to look at it.
I was pissed since I had a recording session coming up with my band and I wanted to use it. I leaned on them a little more and low and behold one day in the mail a received a brand new Rotosphere MKII. I was shocked but happy since I was starting to worry a bit since the old one was going to the shop more then I would have liked.
So I�m loving the new Rotosphere, new features, etc. 1 or 2 months later, I get my old one back fully repaired at no charge. No info other then the unit was repaired. So I now use the MKII full time (with no issues) and use the Rotosphere 1 as a back up.
So long story short, I got 2 Rotospheres for $200 on Ebay.
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Edited by - zestystrat on 01/10/2007 21:41:43 |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 22:14:43
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i have to say bro...i know it must of been frustrating with the lack of communication from h&k(pearl) but thats some customer support..giving you a brand new pedal and then repairing the old one and giving it back to you as well...especially as they are a expensive piece of kit....or do you think they sent the old one back by mistake...???? either way happy days for zestystrat ....but i'm sure your aware boss pedals are buffered and not true bypass...pete cornish buffers all his pedals for gilmour etc....or recommends using one or two in a pedal chain with all true bypass pedals to help prevent signal loss.... |
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zestystrat
Silver Member
USA
283 Posts |
Posted - 01/08/2007 : 18:47:57
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Had to be a mistake, no way any company does that on purpose. They seemed to be very disorganized. Now if I only had some problems with a few other H&K products
I know that the boss stuff isn't true bypass, but for the most part it hasn't effected my tone. In addition to my other gear I am using 4 Boss pedals: TU-2, a modded SD-1, a modded DS-1 & DD-2 |
Edited by - zestystrat on 01/08/2007 18:55:27 |
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eeone
Bronze Member
Yugoslavia
121 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2007 : 22:22:41
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I guess you can check whether a pedal has a true bypass by taking out the battery. If there is a signal when the effect is turned off the pedal has a true bypass. Otherwise it doesn't.
And to avoid misunderstandings caused by stupid naming conventions by true bypass I mean that when the effect is switched off signal goes directly from input to output, meeting no electronic components (except wire, of course).  |
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stinkfoot
Silver Member
Sweden
181 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2007 : 02:00:19
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quote:
Originally posted by eeone
I guess you can check whether a pedal has a true bypass by taking out the battery. If there is a signal when the effect is turned off the pedal has a true bypass. Otherwise it doesn't.
Sadly, this is not true (no pun intended  ). Taking the battery out will show you if there are any active circuits (buffer stages etc) in the direct signal path or not - but it will not tell you if the circuit is true bypass or not. To figure that out, you will have to open the pedal up and trace the circuit, to see what's connected to what.
Many pedals that still pass signal when powerless are not true bypass (Dunlop, MXR, Marshall, pre-2002 Electro-Harmonix etc), as their circuits are permanently connected ("hard-wired" as Dunlop/MXR call it) to the input jack. The switch opens up a direct path from input jack to output jack, but the circuit is still connected at the input end, loading down the signal.
True bypass means that the circuit is completely/physically disconnected at both ends in bypass mode, leaving only a connection straight from input to output jack. Many descriptions left by effects manufacturers will sound similar to this, but fails to mention the fact that the circuit is still connected "piggy-back style" to the input jack.
/Andreas |
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stinkfoot
Silver Member
Sweden
181 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2007 : 02:05:46
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quote:
Originally posted by zestystrat
Stupid naming conventions aside, does anyone know if the H&K Rotosphere is true bypass? I have both versions but right now the mk2 is the one I'm am wondering about.
It says real bypass on their website but who the h3ll knows what that means...
Thx
In my experience, if the manufacturer says anything other than "true bypass", it isn't... I've seen "pure bypass", "passive bypass", "true hard bypass", "hard bypass", "true hardwire bypass", "hardwire bypass", "hardware bypass" etc, and so far all of them have struck out. I'd assume the Rotosphere isn't true bypass, thus. Does it matter? Only if you hear a difference in tone, and if it's enough to bother you. If you don't hear it (with many of these nearly-but-still-not-true bypass systems, a buffered/Boss-type pedal in front of them will help greatly), don't worry. 
/Andreas |
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eeone
Bronze Member
Yugoslavia
121 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2007 : 02:15:07
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quote:
Originally posted by stinkfoot
Sadly, this is not true (no pun intended ). Taking the battery out will show you if there are any active circuits (buffer stages etc) in the direct signal path or not - but it will not tell you if the circuit is true bypass or not. To figure that out, you will have to open the pedal up and trace the circuit, to see what's connected to what.
Many pedals that still pass signal when powerless are not true bypass (Dunlop, MXR, Marshall, pre-2002 Electro-Harmonix etc), as their circuits are permanently connected ("hard-wired" as Dunlop/MXR call it) to the input jack. The switch opens up a direct path from input jack to output jack, but the circuit is still connected at the input end, loading down the signal.
True bypass means that the circuit is completely/physically disconnected at both ends in bypass mode, leaving only a connection straight from input to output jack. Many descriptions left by effects manufacturers will sound similar to this, but fails to mention the fact that the circuit is still connected "piggy-back style" to the input jack.
/Andreas
Good. Glad we sorted this one out. |
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zestystrat
Silver Member
USA
283 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2007 : 19:40:13
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No word form Pearl/H&K 
...but when chatting online with zzounds.com they said that yes it is true bypass.
I'd feel better hearing it from H&K tho.... |
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Rotosphere: does real bypass=true bypass?
