The Anasounds Bumper is a compact buffer pedal from the French maker Anasounds, which the company describes as an "adaptative resonance buffer" and a "buffer and pickup garnish"1. Like any buffer, its job is to keep a guitar's signal strong through a chain of cables, jacks and switching, where the signal can otherwise lose clarity. What sets the Bumper apart is a single three-position switch that lets the player choose how the pickup's resonance is restored, rather than leaving it fixed.
What the Bumper does
Anasounds lists the Bumper's purpose as canceling line losses, naming jacks, patch cables and true bypass switching among the culprits1. True bypass, the switching used on many pedals, removes a pedal from the signal path entirely but leaves every cable and jack in it, and long runs of cable can dull a guitar's high end. A buffer placed early in the chain drives that chain instead, keeping the signal clear.
The Bumper's own true bypass article is where the maker makes that case in detail, and it is also where the listed price of 119,00 € appears2.
The three-position resonance switch
The Bumper's only control is one switch with three positions, which Anasounds describes as setting the pickup resonance1:
| Position | What the maker says it does |
|---|---|
| Middle | Recovers the totality of the clean sound |
| High | An intermediate resonance, moved to the middle-treble |
| Low | Maximum resonance in the bass-medium, called "the brown sound" |
The low position is the one the maker singles out by name: "We call it \"the brown sound\". Really sweet and appreciable."1 In practice, that gives a player three tonal characters from the same buffer: a flat recovery, a brighter tilt, or a warmer, bass-leaning one.
Placement and size
Anasounds advises placing the Bumper directly after the guitar, before the rest of the chain, "to keep your sound clear and clean"1. The pedal is deliberately tiny, described as 2 square inches, so it can sit at the front of a board without taking meaningful space1. It belongs to the wider family of buffer pedals, which range from simple always-on units to buffers built into tuners, splitters and junction boxes.
The Bumper is a boutique, handmade product from a small French maker, so availability differs from mass-produced buffers. Anasounds publishes a manual for the pedal as a PDF on its product page1.
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Questions
Where should the Anasounds Bumper go in a pedal chain?
Anasounds advises placing the Bumper directly after your guitar, before anything else on the board. The idea is to restore the strength of the guitar's signal at the very start of the chain, so that losses from jacks, patch cables and true bypass switching further along do not dull the tone. Because it is only about 2 square inches, it is meant to fit at the front of a pedalboard without taking up much room.
What is the brown sound on the Anasounds Bumper?
The brown sound is the name Anasounds gives to the low position of the Bumper's three-position resonance switch. In that position the pedal applies its maximum resonance in the bass and medium range. The maker describes it as a really sweet and appreciable low setting, so it is the choice for players who want the buffer to add warmth and body rather than a flat, neutral recovery.
Where is the Anasounds Bumper made?
The Bumper is made in France. Anasounds states that all of its pedals are handmade in France with care, so the Bumper is a boutique build rather than a mass-produced unit.
What does an adaptive resonance buffer do?
Anasounds calls the Bumper an adaptative resonance buffer. A buffer keeps a guitar's signal strong over long cable runs and pedal chains. The adaptive part is the three-position switch, which lets you set how the pickup's resonance is recovered: a full clean recovery, an intermediate resonance moved toward the middle and treble, or maximum resonance in the bass and medium range.
How big is the Anasounds Bumper?
Anasounds describes the Bumper as a really small pedal, about 2 square inches. That compact footprint is deliberate: the pedal is meant to sit directly in front of the guitar's signal, first in the chain, without crowding a pedalboard.
Sources (2)
- bumper | Anasounds, Anasounds, 2019-04-26
- the true bypass, is that really good?, Anasounds (anasounds.com), 2019-08-21