The AB switch is designed to switch from socket 'A' to socket 'B' and back again. An ABY box is just like the AB box, but the extra switch lets you have both 'A' and 'B' on at the same time... The main uses are as follows...

(1) Two Amps
We've all been there, scratching our head, trying to work out how to get that guitar sound we're constantly searching for. Like the Holy Grail, many have searched and few have found! The truth is, there are very few amps that can give us the clean sound and the dirty sound we're looking for. So, a lot of pro artists end up using two amps, one for clean and one for dirty. This is where an ABY switch comes in to play. By plugging your guitar into the input socket at the top, amp 'A' into the 'A' socket and amp 'B' into the 'B' socket, you can switch between the 'clean' amp and 'dirty' amp simply by pressing the button. You can even go a little further for example, if you always use a Compressor and Chorus pedal with your clean sound, you can plug the pedals in-line, leave them turned on and whenever you click to the clean sound, everything is ready, saving you a merry dance trying to turn things on and off. Same with the dirty sound, especially if you used a gain booster pedal and Wah-Wah with your Overdrive.

(2) Two Guitars
Probably the most popular way to use an AB switch especially as most gigging Guitarists have at least two guitars on stage. This switch can be used either way round, so you can plug guitar 1 into socket 'A', guitar 2 into socket 'B' and the socket at the top, to the amp. By rolling the volume on each guitar to zero, you can pick up guitar 1, click the switch to channel 'A', roll the volume up and off you go. If you need to 'kill' the sound at any point you can switch the channel to 'B' and because guitar 2 has the volume rolled off it'll act like a kill switch, then click back to regain sound. If you need to change guitars mid performance, just roll the volume off, click the switch and roll the volume up on guitar 2 when you're ready. If you use the 'Y', setting in this scenario, both guitars will be switched on at the same time.

Unlike basic AB boxes, the switch I use is wired in a slightly different way. Not only does it select one channel to be used, but it shorts out the other channel. Why is this important I hear you ask? Well, you often get a little bit of bleed through from the channel you're not using. Sometimes this isn't important, but if you were running one guitar into two amps, the amp not being used might still amplify a small amount of signal. Again, not a big issue as the other amp will drown it out, but in a studio scenario, this could be a problem.

The same if used the other way around, two guitars to one amp. If one of the guitars was sounding while the other was switched on and you were using the overdrive channel, you might get some unwanted signal. The improved switching circuit neatly takes care of this!

When the 'Y' switch is used, two things happen, 1) Both channel 'A' and 'B' are connected together. 2) The wire that shorts the unused channel is disconnected. 

Sometimes if you connect up two units that have a mains earth, you end up with a 'mains hum'. For a guitarist, apart from the amp, most units don't have an earth, power supplies, effects pedals, etc. However, if you are using the AB switch with two amps, you might well create an 'Earth loop'. There are two main solutions...

(1) Lift the Earth on the amp
This will certainly work, but an amp without an earth is a recipe for disaster as any electrical problems that might occur that need an earth would result in electricity being directed through the guitar lead to the other amp. This might well result in the player getting an electric shock that might result in death.

(2) Lift the Earth on a lead
The best way to remove earth hum is to disconnect the sheild on one side of a guitar cable that links the two amps together. This way, both amps are still earthed in case of an electrical fault and as long as you don't get the lead with the earth lift mixed up with your normal guitar leads, you should be fine.

To save you the trouble of modifying cables, risking your life, etc. This AB box has a special, (plastic housed), socket that has already had the Earth lifted and a buffer circuit added. If you're having problems with an 'Earth hum', just take the jack out of the metal socket on channel 'B' and plug it into the plastic socket next to it.

 

I've been asked to add LED's as an option to various pedals in the range, mainly so you can tell at a glance when the unit is on/off. I've used a 'Super Bright Ice Blue' LED so that this pedal will stand out from the others on your pedal board. These boys are bright!

Most AB or ABY switches I've seen in the past have one LED for one channel and another, (same colour), for the second, however across a darkened stage you can't tell which channel you're on. So, I have one LED for channel 1, (A) and two LED's for channel 2 (B). The LED above the right footswitch indicates that the 'Y' switch is on, so both channel A and B are on. Best of all, the LED's on the left still let you know which channel you'll be returning to when you de-activate the 'Y' switch.So you can change it if needed... Simple but effective!

Over recent years Guitarists have been going back to some more traditional methods in the search for a purer tone. That means heading away from PCB's, (Printed Circuit Boards) and back to point-to-point wiring using thicker cables. This is a trend that definitely works as the larger the area the signal has to travel on, the less it's restricted, so the purer the sound. You can see various examples of this with amps like the Cornford range, Marshall's latest 'Hand Wired' series, as well as the 'Hand Wired' Vox AC30's.

All my units are made by hand with high grade components to keep your signal as pure as possible. I have over 10 years experience as a Guitar Tech as well as several years experience in electronic assembly to medical spec.

Box - Die Cast Aluminium in a rugged Black finish
Switch - Heavy Duty Footswitch made by Carling,
(also used by several American manufacturers like
Fender, Electro Harmonix, etc).
Jacks - Sturdy 1/4 inch jack socket made by Switchcraft,
(also used by several American manufacturers like Gibson, etc).
Wire - 22 SWG Single core Vintage Style Cloth covered,
(Preferred by Guitar and Amp Tech's worldwide).
Solder - Higher Silver content to improve connectivity.
Size - L=11.9cm W=9.4cm D=5.8cm

Battery - 9v PP3 (Included)

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

This item comes with a 1 year warranty that covers parts and labour. If a fault occurs it's the owners responsibility to return the goods via a secure postage method. I will repair or replace and return the goods at my cost.