Radial Bigshot ABY Question

[EET_FUK]

Crazy question here. For those of you familiar with this pedal, is it possible to switch between two heads using the same cab? I've looked online but I've only seen it used to switch amps and cabs at the same time.

Another crazy question is would it be possible run multiple ABYs into one another? The idea is being able to run two amps together at once for say you're rhythm or clean sound, then blend two other amps for you're lead sound, and switch between them with yet another ABY.

Sounds crazy but if it's do-able it'd be really cool.

Thanks guys.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Radial Bigshot ABY Question

You probably want to look into the Radial Head Bone.

I use my Radial ABY to split my signal to 2 separate heads feeding their own speakers.

 

[dominus]

Re: Radial Bigshot ABY Question

You probably want to look into the Radial Head Bone.

I use my Radial ABY to split my signal to 2 separate heads feeding their own speakers.

Exactly. The Headbone has a load so you won't blow up the amp that isn't connected to a cabinet when you switch. The ABY will NOT be safe for that. (I wouldn't even try it with solid state amps, as the signal may be too strong for the ABY, even with the volume turned down to 1.)

For switching between amps and blending, yes you could run an ABY into another one. There might be a *slight* signal degradation but what I've done is to run a guitar into an MXR KFK EQ pedal to slightly boost the signal. That has two outputs - which I then ran into two Morley ABC boxes. From there it went to different amp heads (solid state ones) and inputs on my computer, giving me 6 channels at once to switch between and blend together. With proper delaying and panning I would get a nice thick wall of sound.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Radial Bigshot ABY Question

Yes, you can use multiple ABY boxes to split your signal. I use two myself and don't notice any degradation of signal.

What you want to use for sending your signal to either of two different heads to one spkr cab is this (the Radial Headbone VT Amp Head Switcher):

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/ampl...g-headbone-vt-amp-head-switcher-for-tube-amps

This is specifically for tube amps. If you have solid state amps there is a different switcher.

Using two ABY boxes and the Amp head switcher, I can run one, two, or three amps simultaneously and be able to switch the third between two different amp heads. The setup works flawlessly and can give me any tone I want from thin and sparkly cleans, to thick and rich full-bodied cleans, to crunch, to massive thick and meaty tones still with a clean signal through one amp to add single note clarity at any distortion level. The possibilities are endless.

 

[EET_FUK]

Re: Radial Bigshot ABY Question

Yeah, I looked into the Headbone, but wasn't sure if it would work with the hypothetical rig in my head. Basically, running a Vox and a Fender through one ABY, and a Marshall and a Mesa through the other. Being able to switch between all of them or blend any of them together would be the ultimate setup as far as I'm concerned. You guys have any idea how one could get this to work? Using either a 4x12 or 2 2x12s.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Radial Bigshot ABY Question

Assuming your amps are 4 heads and two 2x12 cabs:

Go into one ABY out to two Headbones...one Headbone switching between the Vox and Fender going into one 2x12, the other Headbone switching between the Marshall and Mesa going into the other 2x12. With this setup you can only run any two amps at a time since you only have two cabs.

But if you have combo amps you will be able to run more amps at a time (since they have their own spkrs). I currently run two combos and two heads into one 2x12. The first ABY switches between one combo and the other ABY which switches between another combo and the Headbone which switches between two heads into the 2x12 cab. I can run both combos and either one of the heads into the 2x12 at the same time. Three amps can give you massive tone.

However, if your amps are all combos or if each of your heads has its own cab, you can run all 4 of them together using 3 ABY's.

For a while I had two combos, one head with its own cab, and two other heads switching to a 2x12 cab. I could have my guitar going through any combination of 4 amps at a time out of the five. The wall of sound that I could produce was truly amazing with different effects on each amp. But it became way too complicated. Three amps at a time is all I can handle.

 

[EET_FUK]

Re: Radial Bigshot ABY Question

Looks like I'm gonna have to buy more 2x12s...

Thanks Doc. That does sound like quite a rig. If I may ask, what amps where you running?