A/B/Y pedals why the WIDE price swing?!? What do you recommend / use?

Geeze

Geeze

Well-Known Member
It's time for stereo and I'm looking at these and noted prices from $49 to $379. Some powered some not. Buffered/Not. Polarity.

What are the features you like / insist upon to run a stereo setup? Not interested in low budget but I also need to be convinced on the higher priced units.

Russ
 
Geeze said:
It's time for stereo and I'm looking at these and noted prices from $49 to $379. Some powered some not. Buffered/Not. Polarity.

What are the features you like / insist upon to run a stereo setup? Not interested in low budget but I also need to be convinced on the higher priced units.

Russ
Click to expand...
I have some cheap ones from Ambazon that work just fine on some stereo amp setups. If you're not getting ground loop hum, go low budget.
I also have amps that don't like the cheaper A/B/Y switches, but I've had good luck with a Radial Big Shot. (Actually have 2)
It has ground lift, polarity and signal isolation switches that seem to solve any problems I have. The A/B toggle and Y buttons are also handy for setting amp volumes.
 
While I don't use one myself (my regular rack setups have 'stereo' outputs) I built one for a guy a while back on request. Obviously I tested it and had a play around. One thing which he requested and is not often found is an input level control. In this case there were two inputs, one 'plain' and one featuring the control. The way I understand it is that he uses that for humbuckers or higher output guitars and the plain input is for single coils. I intentionally kept it simple with labeled switches showing the settings rather than LEDs as he wanted it to work without auxiliary power. This also meant no internal buffer and an inherent volume/amplitude drop when switching to the Y mode as it's all passive. Because of this I added a switchable FX loop to the unit and built him a simple buffer pedal which could optionally be used in conjuction with the splitter. He also requested that only one input be engaged at any time, but barely any of these units have multiple inputs.
I didn't add a phase flip option as I've never really seen the need for it. While I can't speak for everyone, it's my opinion that one is better off resolving the issue causing you to want to flip phase than doing so.

1787327714365.png

The ground lift is very handy to have, yet can always be achieved by disconnecting the ground on the signal lead involved. Here's the schematic:

1787328088512.png

Geeze said:
It's time for stereo and I'm looking at these and noted prices from $49 to $379. Some powered some not. Buffered/Not. Polarity.
Click to expand...

It's a bit of a trade-off. On one hand you have a passive option; cheaper, no power required, effectively no impact on the signal unless you engage both outputs and each suffers a volume drop. On the other hand you have active units which require auxiliary power and have buffers which may or may not play nicely with your signal chain. The safest bet would be a hybrid if such a thing exists. Anything over about $200 is moving into rip-off territory, though - they're very simple pieces of equipment and contain no particularly rare or expensive parts.
 
I went with SaturnWorksPedals ABC box. Passive, 1 input 3 out, with volume knobs on each out. Didn’t think I’d find the volumes necessary but they are convenient. Saves me from walking across the room to tweak the amp vol. It was somewhere around 150$. These prices vary depending on if you want the vol controls and how many outs. Also Active and Passive available.

I’m plenty happy with mine. I was surprised at how lightweight it is. The box is not as thick as other brands. But how heavy does it have to be?
 
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