Are you gigging regularly?

I used to use s Super Reverb, and I had it set up with an A/B switch and just plugged the A side to Normal and B side to Vibrato. Then, I set them up to be the same tone as close as I could (though they were naturally different given the same knob settings) and just turned one up louder.

That way, I had all my sounds "rhythm" volume and "lead" volume just by flipping the switch.

Since one channel (Vibrato IIRC) was naturally a bit more mid-rangey, I used that for the lead channel. But I did keep them largely similar. One could of course keep them the same volume and EQ them totally differently.

I used a Whirlwind A/B/Y the "Selector" I think - I actually unscrewed the switch for the Y and taped it up inside so I wouldn't accidentally hit the wrong button at a show.

A few years back, I tried to do this again with my Twin. I thought if the Whirlwind was good - which was cheap (for me as I got it at a discount for working in the store), I'd buy something better.

Well, the reason I bought the Whirlwind in the first place was because it didn't click or pop when I changed the channels.

This time, my old Whirlwind finally shot, I bought a Art Cool Switch. Not only did it pop, but it pretty much fell apart with a few uses.

I ended up still thinking I needed to go "better" and ordered a "boutique" (well, small manufacturer) This1smyne pedal - which allowed me to customize it with just a single button, A/B only, blue LED, etc.

Well, got it, and it popped. Talked to the guy who made it and said it must be my amp and some signal getting fed back through the system - or the George Ls I was using. I tinkered with it some but never got it to work like that old Whirlwind, which because it worked and was quiet, I was using as the standard.

I need it to be dead quiet, rugged, and work. Not $300

Years ago, I also had a Moreley ABY and it popped too (which is why I bought the Whirlwind to gig with).

If I had it to do over again, I think I'd give the Whirlwind another go. I've not tried the Radial

Oh - I remember something - I also bought an A/B to use with TWO amps - which needs some grounding isolation to work - that's actually the one that popped the worst.

But, for simple A/B in one amp, I'd say avoid any pedals with the extra bells and whistles - you shouldn't need ground lift, or a buffered circuit, and so on. The Fulltone one or the Moreley Mix is probably more than you'll need - and, they might load down your signal (suck tone!).

I actually worry about any "Active" ones - they'll suck tone. Passive ones have battery/power, but it's only to light the light - they'll actually still work without any battery - they're just a switch.

The Whirlwind is still 150 bucks.
The MXR might do just as well for half the price!

But unless you find you really need some active circuitry or other features, bare bones is probably going to be fine. Don't buy into the over-priced hype - aside from it being quiet and if you're gigging, rugged.

BTW, on the Twin and Super, the two channels are out of phase so you can't effectively use the "Y" function. Not sure how it is on a Bandmaster but if you find out they're in phase, you could use A, B, and Y - so it would be worth it to consider the "Y" addition in that part. Otherwise, I say don't bother because it's an extra button to accidentally get pressed, as well as more real estate on your pedalboard typically.

Currently on the floor in the music room is one of those Fender orange ABY boxes; used to switch or combine the Vibrolux & a little Vox. Works fine, although I wouldn't use it to channel-switch in the middle of a song. The switching is definitely audible even though it's passive (guy threw it in with the Vibrolux); likely something to do with a different potential or something (other amp) at one of the outputs - probably where a buffered affair would be handy.

However, the Vibrolux' channels are also voiced differently & I use both. This little guy does that job and is as quiet as a church mouse going back & forth between channels on that amp - I mean dead quiet. (It'll take 9VDC power but that's only to power the LED for the human, works regardless.) Somewhere maybe between $35-40 street or Amazon.

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

Last edited: Mar 27, 2016 06:29:03

Hi,
I would recommend this BigShot ABY form Radial. I have it and I'm very happy.
It has a ground lift, so the hum problem connecting 2 amps is solved because you could lift the ground of just one amp without using a 2 prong adapter...
Additionally it has a 180º polarity switch, so you can use it with 2 channel amps independently of the phase. it's completely pasive, and it doesn't need battery.
The only bad thing I would say about this pedal is the lack of leds becasuse it's passive.
it's not pricey (115 euros).
Good luck!

I use the Radial BigShot ABY as well (with the 2 channels on my BF Showman). The lack of LEDs is a big deal for me, I sometimes can't guess what channel's on without dancing on switches. Otherwise it's a robust, nuclear proof unit. Radial products are geared towards hardcore stage and touring use.

The phase switch is useful, but if it's not necessary with your amp (it's not) then it's redundant. Same for the ground lift (it sounds horrible - you lose all high end), and... same for the 'tuner out'. All redundancy add up to eating your signal. You always will get some signal loss with passive splitting. It may serve your sound for the better, probably not, but you should initially want to minimize it.

There are alternatives with less footprint, and 9v input only for LED, I suggest you get one of those instead of the Radial, especially if you're not gigging. There's even one from Fender.

A Stereo outputting FX pedal can be an interesting solution as well. My Maggie splits the signal beautifully.

Where in the chain do you plan the split, and what goes before or after?
For ex., if after the Y you'll have an active (always on or buffered) device (like Reverb) on one channel, and direct on the other channel, strange impedance effects can make it hard to mix the two channels, especially if you use them both together. If you turn pedals on/off, or play a lot with the vol on your guitar, you might get volume jumps, volume drops and sometimes frequency loss. Adding an active pedal (OD, delay, trem...) to that other channel can help solve that.
If not, any active or buffered pedal before the split (boost, OD, EQ are good candidates) would serve this function of stabilizing the impedance chain.

If you want total modular freedom, on-off switching galore, set and forget, and it always sounds exactly as expected, get an active ABY. It will affect your signal a bit, just like a buffer. If you plan to mostly use the two channels at once, I say go with that.

Last edited: Mar 27, 2016 09:57:01

Thanks for the input, all. I can see its a topic of interest.
Since I've begun to achieve more success in nailing the sweetest surf sound with 61 Bandmaster I've been eschewing pedal boards and complicated signal paths. I love the sound of a raspy fuzz and Magnatone Vibrato but for now stereo image is set aside for linear signal path with few detours. I also offered up my Tape Echo (also stereo)towards finance of this rig, so mono is the rule for now.

The Maggie achieves a great phase shift effect when set to stereo mode jamming both inputs of a single channel, but it won't work with reverb on.

The complexities of multi-amp setups are fun for experiments but I find it hard to even achieve satisfactory results with multile speaker combinations on one amp due to the vagaries of phase alignment, dispersion and relative volume. I can see how A/B amp choices could be a very powerful tool to achieve maximum contrast in tone/voice though. Maybe someday I will need that functionality.

Squink Out!

Last edited: Mar 27, 2016 18:32:44