Amp Switchers

MirrorProfiles said:
Been trying to navigate this for a while and there is no perfect solution. Random thoughts of mine dumped here but curious to hear everyone’s thoughts and experiences to try and find what might be best for me. The main ones I’ve looked at are KHE, Ampete, DeLisle and Kahayan.

As far as I can tell, the KHE has a decent buffer (on the most recent version), Kahayan has no buffer. No idea about Ampete and DeLisle.

KHE and Ampete seem safest for switching amps but maybe i’m missing something. Delisle and Kahayan have that “in between” area when turning the knob, but maybe this is done in a way where amps always have a load?

Kahayan manual mentions about being careful not to select a cab option if nothing is connected. I think the others have some safety options in place?

I have 4 load boxes - 3 are 8 Ω and one is selectable. My cabs are a pretty even split between 8 Ω and 16 Ω. There’s no elegant way to switch without going behind amps and manually matching things which sort of negates a switcher in the first place. The best solution for me is probably to just set everything to 8 Ω and if I decide to have cabs hooked up, to use the 8 Ω ones. I know things can be mismatched with some amount of safety but my OCD would rather use things as intended.

I have 20+ amps and over 8 cabs, as well as the load boxes. I don’t intend on hooking up ALL of them up at the same time because I’d be spending thousands in the gear, shipping, import fees, cables etc. I’m leaning towards either 8x4 OR 8 amps to one output (and just use a single load box). With 8x1, I can always expand later, either adding another 8 amps, or start incorporating more cab outputs.

There’s so many questions between “do I want a buffer or not?” “do I want fx loops?” “is this one safer than this?”, and whatever I decide on will have some amount of compromise. That’s why I still haven’t bought one but I’d like to try and make this decision easier somehow.

Really appreciate any advice!
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I got the Morley ABY switcher pedal. It's silent, no clicks when stepping on the button. MF had a Stupid Deal of the Day for 30% off on this pedal about a year ago so I snagged one. Just make sure to unplug it when you're done or you'll drain the battery. Works great when switching between amps as well as combining 2 amps also. Don't know nothing about no buffers or load boxes, because I don't know much about electronics. Just know this pedal is silent and sounds great.

IMG_0674 (1).jpg
 
Ordering the KHE 4X4FX switcher direct is about $165 cheaper than through Reverb, but that only holds true if there are no import fees. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
2112 said:
When I did the Zen amps videos they had 2 of the 8x8 KHE switchers to run all the amps and cabs. Loved it.
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The mighty Zen Amps.. RULES!
Best channel on YT for clips with rad amps & speaker choices and killer guitar players like yourself!
 
maguchi said:
I got the Morley ABY switcher pedal. It's silent, no clicks when stepping on the button. MF had a Stupid Deal of the Day for 30% off on this pedal about a year ago so I snagged one. Just make sure to unplug it when you're done or you'll drain the battery. Works great when switching between amps as well as combining 2 amps also. Don't know nothing about no buffers or load boxes, because I don't know much about electronics. Just know this pedal is silent and sounds great.

View attachment 20593
Click to expand...
Combining amps is awesome man!!
Weird road to travel down especially after you find the ‘ace’ combination of amps.
More cake..eat more too…
 
HomespunEffects said:
Sounds like you’d be better off with a patch bay.

I have a de lisle 4x4 and I’ve already outgrown it.
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One of the best quality of life features amp switchers provide is that once you get it setup, you never have to plug or unplug your amps and cabs again to get any combination of them running. Another benefit is that you can't accidentally run an amp without a load attached.

A patch bay fundamentally cannot provide that first benefit and also cannot guarantee safety from the second scenario.
 
GreatGreen said:
One of the best quality of life features amp switchers provide is that once you get it setup, you never have to plug or unplug your amps and cabs again to get any combination of them running. Another benefit is that you can't accidentally run an amp without a load attached.

A patch bay fundamentally cannot provide that first benefit and also cannot guarantee safety from the second scenario.
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If you have 7 amps and a 4x4 switcher you lose the first point. Tell me why a patch bay can’t do the same as a switcher?

I’ve also found that if you have an amp with a different output impedance you can’t put it in the mix without going behind and moving wires. I did match all my cabinets to 16 ohms but my stupid Bassman is 4 ohms only. I may take it out of rotation just for that reason.

It’s me that needs the patchbay. I figure if nothing is plugged in that a good visual that you aren’t plugged in and I’m pretty sure you can have a dummy load on the unplugged jacks.
 
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HomespunEffects said:
If you have 7 amps and a 4x4 switcher you lose the first point. Tell me why a patch bay can’t do the same as a switcher?

I’ve also found that if you have an amp with a different output impedance you can’t put it in the mix without going behind and moving wires. I did match all my cabinets to 16 ohms but my stupid Bassman is 4 ohms only. I may take it out of rotation just for that reason.

It’s me that needs the patchbay. I figure if nothing is plugged in that a good visual that you aren’t plugged in and I’m pretty sure you can have a dummy load on the unplugged jacks.
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If you have 7 amps and a 4x4 switcher, you've either bought the wring tool for the job, or you've outgrown your previously viable solution by 3 amps. That's a user issue, not a limitation of the tech.

As for mismatched loads, get a Weber Z-Matcher for your one odd amp, done deal!

A patchbay just seems super risky to me. A patchbay isn't going to allow you to auto-route all unused jacks to dummy loads. That's not what patchbays do, amp switchers do that. And you can be careful and do everything right 99% of the time, but one screw up and you've blown one or more amps and cost yourself money and downtime. IMO it's not worth the risk and it's not really a valid alternative to an amp switcher. All a patch bay is doing is just physically moving some manual connections you have to make each time you want to play an amp/cab pairing to a more centralized location, but with the added risk of making it one level of abstraction harder to see if the right gear is plugged in when the standby switch is flipped.
 
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I don't know much about switchers but just last week I was at a friend's home studio and he's running a KHE switcher. I brought some of my heads and he hooked them up to it so we could compare our amps.
It works perfectly and all the amps sounded great through it, pretty much like they sound straight into the cab. So I have no issues recommending it based on that experience alone.
 
Yes, I’ve outgrown the 4x4.

GreatGreen said:
… A patchbay just seems super risky to me. A patchbay isn't going to allow you to auto-route all unused jacks to dummy loads. That's not what patchbays do, …
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Wait, why not? Seems like an easy thing to implement.
 
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