Do Units in Bypassed Loops Affect the Pedalboard's Sound?

[Pedalboard Builder]

Hi Ron and everyone

One of my customers asked me this question, but I didn’t quite understand it — so I’m sharing it here.

Has anyone experienced something like this?


One of my customers set up a REVV Drive in loop 7 of their PBC6X. According to them, when the board was initially delivered, loop 2 — where the Jan Ray is placed — produced normal volume levels, even with loop 7 turned off.


However, after replacing the REVV with a Soldano Drive in loop 7 (still bypassed), the volume of the Jan Ray in loop 2 dropped noticeably. The customer says nothing else in the configuration changed — loop 7 was and remains turned off during these tests.


They reported that when they swapped the Soldano back to the REVV, the Jan Ray’s volume returned to normal — again, with loop 7 still bypassed.


I haven’t had a chance to examine the board since it was delivered, and this behavior doesn’t make much sense to me.
Has anyone else encountered a situation like this where a unit in a bypassed loop affects the sound of another loop?

 

[Kamil Rustam]

I’ve had something similar happen and it wasn’t related to the PBC but some impedance issue with the connected device

 

[Pedalboard Builder]

I’ve had something similar happen and it wasn’t related to the PBC but some impedance issue with the connected device

I'm really curious — how can a bypassed loop that isn't part of the signal path still affect the signal due to impedance?

 

[Kamil Rustam]

Hmmm you might be right maybe it was not bypassed … sorry I don’t remember all the details … I’m sure Ron will have an explanation to your problem

 

[rjmmusic]

That seems pretty unlikely... if a loop is bypassed, the pedal in it shouldn't have any effect. Is he, by any chance, turning off the pedal manually instead of bypassing the loop? If that's the case, the cables are still in the circuit and some of the pedal could be as well.