Are MXR pedals true bypass?

[jeremylangford]

I have been thinking about getting a Boss GE-7 Equalizer pedal but now I am wondering if the MXR M-108 Equalizer pedal would be a better choice. I know that the Boss is not true bypass and I don't think that the MXR is either. But it kind of looks like it is. Does anyone know for sure?

[andy]

It depends! The classic MXR bypass is called 'actual' bypass or 'direct' bypass or something- it routes the signal to both the effect and straight through, I believe, so whilst the bypassed signal does not run through the effect, the signal from the guitar is running to more than one place at a time. Bear in mind that is just from memeory of looking it up a while back, but it is roughly the idea- bottom line is that many MXRs are not true bypass, and ones like the Phase 90 are quite notorious for sucking tone.

Some of the newer pedals are claimed to be true bypass such as the Distortion III and Carbon Copy, but I'm not sure about the black line of pedals. I think the best way to check is to look at the website- if it says that the pedal is True Bypass (the accepted term for a full hard-wired bypass from input jack to output jack) then assume that it is. If is is any other description (actual/direct/hard/etc.) you can assume that it will be unbuffered, but not a full bypass of the whole signal from jack to jack.

[blueswaite]

Don't know but have heard alot of good about the MXR plus you get a few more bands.
Good Luck