Carl Martin Combinator 2

Extremely easy to use. Patch the pedals you wants and store. Manual it decent - one page.

Setup = 84 American Strat equipped w Noiseless pickups, 91 Charvel w Dimarzio Area 58 and 61 pickups, or 73 Ibanez Les Paul copy equipped with Seymour Duncans. All w gauge 10s. Crate Palomino v32 212. Connected all pedals with livewire cables and with George L cables. Also tested with Vox Pathfinder model v9158, Fender FM 100 head, Marshall MG 250 DFX.

Sound = quite. no popping on any switching. has made overall sound way better.

Only issue was that my RMC-1 Teese Wah started to cause a hum in my overall sound. I had to move my wah a good distance away from the combinator on my pedalboard before the hum went away.

I have been gigging with it and it is built to last. I can't gig without a backup. I would have to play directly into the amp and it would have to tap dance all night to get the sounds I want.

I give it a nine since I have less than a year with this.

never had to use it

Soul, funk, r&b, blues, rock, latin, latin rock, tejano, jazz,??? I could not play all these styles easily without the combinator. Before I had to pick and choose with pedals I wanted to use or tap dance all night to get the sounds I needed. Now I can use 12 pedals!!! 12!!! On some Loops I have more than one pedal looped. The tuner out is great for on the spot tuning (in conjunction with the mute you can quickly tune your guitar silently as the singer talks between songs). It has granted me a lot of freedom to play a lot of sounds and styles that I couldn't before.

been playing 25 plus years

I own Boss, Ibanez, Morley, RMC Teese, Carl Martin, DOD, Alesis, Digitech, MXR, Aphex, and Analogman modded pedals.

I gave this category an 8 because of some connection issues I had. The Combinator is very, very easy to use but connecting options for loop 7 & 8 (stereo loops) are limited and require the user to purchase additional equipment. This is not mentioned in the manual. Loop & is mono send and stereo return. However, there are not two separate left and right return jacks but rather, one return jack labeled L/R. The same goes for loop #8 which is stereo send and stereo return. There are two jacks labeled L/R send and L/R return. This means that if you want to use stereo pedals in these loops, you must purchase a stereo send and return cable such as the HOSA model #STP-201 for each send and return connection. Not a big deal financially but still, not mentioned in the manual and it turned out to be a source of heartburn for me. The device is not plug and play out of the box for stereo users. One other point of interest for stereo users, loop seven needs to a have stereo return signal, if the pedal has two out puts, you need to use the above mentioned HOSA cable into the return of loop seven, otherwise the stereo in loop eight does not get signal in both sides, and the output of the combinator shuts one output down! This again is not mentioned in the manual and could present problems for someone. I learned most of this from the Carl Martin website but more on that later. The device is extremely easy to operate but can be somewhat tricky to use in stereo.

The sound quality is excellent. There is no added noise to my signal path at all. There is also no gap between patches. The Combinator has brought out the best in all my pedals by isolating them from eachother. The Distortion and Chorus especially have a new life to them. One really starts to realize that stringing all your pedals together in one long chain is a bad idea after using the Combinator. To get a feel for what I mean, take just one of your pedals off your board and run it right into the amp. Chances are you will immediately notice a difference in the tone. That is what the combinator offers. If you are having any doubts about the benefits of this device, let them be squashed here and now.

I've had mine for a few months now and I've had no issues at all. The power supply has been great.

Regarding the issue about the stereo loops mentioned above, I had purchased a few different types of stereo Y cables, insert cable etc trying to connect loop 7 & 8 up properly without success. I started poking around on the internet and found that Carl Martin's site had a forum so I immediately joined and asked about my problem. Within hours I got a response from the forum leader (Rid). Even though all of Denmark takes the month on July off, I was able to get help direct from the manufacturer. The explained the solution to me both on the phone and by way of the message board and I was off and running. The customer support provided by Carl Martin is by far the best I have ever received. I suggested that they add the stereo information to the manual. Let's hope they do.

I have modeled my rig after the late 70's to early 80s Alex Lifeson rig. I have pretty much the exact same effects and identical amps he used for PW, MP, Signals and GUP. I've been playing for almost 30 years now and concentrating on Rush for the last 6 or so. This device was the final piece of the puzzle in my rig. This device allows me to accomplish the switching of all the effects and basically acts as a stereo mixer that feeds my two Marshall 4140 combos. If the Combinator was lost, stolen or damaged, I would definately purchase another one. My only suggestion to CM would be to add the extra 3 jacks needed to make the stereo loops plug and play. I spend a lot of money on high quality cables for me rig but to make this rig work in true stereo, I have to use lower quality send and receive cables to make it happen. That kind of sucks.

This pedal is very easy to use. I did not need a manual. Just select a chanal, chose the effects you need on that chanal and push the store button. Thats it! To create your clean chanal without effects just select a chanal without effects. That way you can always go back to your clean sound with one push on the button.

I use it on a fender super twin reverb. This amp has only a very good clean sound. I use a couple of overdrive pedals, a flanger, delay etc. Al of it is build in a case together with the combinator. There is no hum or what ever (someone wrote there is a hum in it, well there most be something wrong with him). The sound is true by pass. To create your clean chanal without effects just select a chanal without effects. That way you can always go back to your clean sound with one push on the button.

In 4 years I never had any problem with it. Solid build.

No need for customer support yet, so I can not answer this question.

I play all kinds of music for 15 years. The combinator is a big help in making my own sound with the stomp boxes that i use (I never use digital effects). I can make all kind of combinatins with my effects and put it under one button...what else do I need!

Intuitive layout, punch in the loops you want alive and hit store, one preset cooked and ready, very analoge and userfriendly.

This thing is silent.
Switching is silent, no pops or hum.
And my pedals seems to be more "alive" when hooked up to it, I rather like that!
It makes my sound good.
I love this switcher.

Well made, everything is neat and functional.
It gives me the needful confidence for live work.

Have no dealings, but I guess that their product reflects their service level.

I play various livegigs as a hired player, so I need the extra pedals.
In short it makes my life easy.

This is one of the best loopers/switchers on planet earth.
If you have enough pedals to be in need of a switcher, you probably know how to setup it without reading the manual...

This switcher is silent like it is expected to be.

This switcher makes you sound good because it is silent.

This switcher can make a pedal slut's life easier and more productive.

I gig every week. No problems at all.

Carl Martin is an excellent company. Just excellent. They make products that last and last and last and last in time...

Plus they are really kind and fast with their emails...

I am a session musician. I can't afford to have gear that fails or sounds weak.
Carl Martin makes products I like.
The Combinator is one of them.

I have surveyed some plenty amounts of loopers, midi-shifters, shapeshifters, mindblowers upscalers and downsizers.
In other words it is analog simple to use if you remember to do it right.
So an 8 is sufficient,because if it was a 9 or 10 it would change patches by the help of the mind.

The amps that are getting the full assault are one Marshall SuperLead 100 from 1970 and one Matchless Phoenix 35 head.
I have a basement full of way too many strange pedals, mostly I use my old Ibanez stompers, they like this switcher.
My pedals gets a good feed from the switcher, overdrives in the first two or three loops have a good drive but without any loss of those essential dynamics.

Maybe if you drop you steelcovered boot down hard??
On the other hand what does steelcovered booties have to do with this?
Anyways for a normal gigging player this switcher will most likely hold up very good.
No stupid design flaws to observe, I think that I have som faith in this switch thingy.

No dealings.
Maybe they could give me one more for free to my mate.
No repairs it still functions, maybe it is because I have those steelcovered boots as a silent threat.

It switches my effects, so it does its thing with no bad fuckups.
So I trust in it, to think that one can trust in a dead electronic gadget?
I Combinator!
Maybe it will rebel on me one day?
Perhaps when those steel enhanced boots are gone?
It works, it switches, so that is what it should do, my effects sounds good, my cleansound loves the signal it gets with my way too long cords.
Before the switcher was bought, the sound I had was muffled and dull, now it sounds like a guitar again.
I Combinator hath conqueered thee.

Well quite easy....the procedure is straightforward, patch in the effects in your given string and punch store, done deal.
Nothing fancy or hype about this, just a good userfriendly way of doing it.
The first one had 8 loops, and yes you had to use one patch for a dry clean, minor thing that did not bother me much.
The second edition has 6 patches in three banks and a muteswitch for tuning, just to keep the system quiet during breaks, very nice addition.
It pulses a red LED when the switcher is muted.
I use both in two different systems, and the old one is slightly slower in the switchpart..but it is not an issue for me.

Unlike one of the other reviewers I cannot detect any noise, this unit is quiet.
It has buffered bypass that ensures that no noise or static will occur.
Perhaps it is a good idea to check your cables and the impedance of your pedals before claiming that the unit is a bad product??
I have had both the combinator 1 and 2, never had any troubles with noise or hum....once again check your gear for compability in impedance and shielding...
Well back to soundquality....no degradation, no loss of highs or any other frequency, like using your cable into the amp.
Very nice.
I have used both units on several different amps, performed as expected, no troubles.
A very pleasent and simple experince.

Both units have sofar not been taken out, and I have used them both for quite some time now, to my fullest happiness.
They simply just work due to a simple layout and sturdiness.
Simple is sometimes the most useful in the long run.
If stolen I would get a new one without blinking.

Dunno what that other guy have done, but I asked CM about the impedance for older pedals, and I got full support on that issue.
Had an old fuzz that could not deal with modern impedance, very cool of CM to help.

This is a simple and straightforward effectswitcher.
I do not use a huge amount of pedals, and both the first and the second edition has served my needs well.
As I needed a simple system for my pedals.
Again I am a bit baffled by the negative review I read before, sounds like he had faulty equipment looped in the system, or his cables where bad??
Or a sick amp....dunno but both of mines are deadquiet, so I cannot agree with his review.
Never mind that now, did not had a need for a big loopsystem, actually a few other manufacturs of highend products recommended me the Combinator instead...very helpful of them.
The Combinator is for those who has no need for a big advanced system, who needs a simple reliable switcher that does not muck up your sound,
no pops or any other annoying niggles on either of them.
Quality has its price and sofar I have been quite happy with both switchers.
Defently recommendable.

easy to program, but it doesn't switch intantly like a pedal. You has to switch really fast. when the buttun in pressed it goers into bybass and it doesn't make the switch untill you realease the button so it creates a lag durring which all you hear is the clean sound. If you do it really fast you don't notice the moment of clean sound as much, but other times it is really distracting.

The only way to bypass the unit is to keep one of the buttons pushed. This unit does NOT offer true bypass, it doesn't offer ANY bypass. to create a bypass I stored a patch with nothing in it.

This thing hums. The hum it makes is the same sound a single coil makes when your not touching the strings. If you touch the jack and the switch at the same time the hum will go down, obiously you can't do that while you play, so there's no way to mitigate the hum (i even tried grounding the switches). I could not live with the hum, that is the opposite of what this thing is supposed to do.

I know your thinking it's the pedals causing the hum. Even with no pedals connected the hum is constant. No matter where you plug it in the hum follows you. give up.

I have a couple vintage Aria apb-5 switchers that do not hum and have bypass! they also have a master volume for each patch, and costed much less.

It is dependable, no matter what you do it will hum. The guy who designed this is no Bradshaw. Carl Martin has made some good stuff, but they should be ashamed of this.

They're going to tell you your unit is fine. There is nothing wrong with it, they all sound like crap. nothing special about yours. They do answer their email, but what can they do? the product is crap.

This is beyond useless even without the hum, it's a bad switcher because it doesn't switch smoothly isn't true bypass and cannot be bypassed. On the plus side it's easy to use but if you can't figure out a midi switcher maybe you shouldn't be using a switcher. check out axess, digital music corp, and bradshaw.

I have no axe to grind w/ CM. I use their compressor, the fuzz, the chorus X2, hot drive and boost, and contour and boost. If anything I am pro carl martin, and i really tried to like this. I got my money back out of it. Just thought I might save someone some time and frustration. I ordered this and a big ass pedal board and tons of cables thinking I'd have a miniature bradshaw system. far from it. I'm back to the aria apb-5's untill I find something else, probably the axess.

If you play in metal band maybe the hum won't bother you. If you care about tone and keeping noise out of your chain don't buy this.

Very straightforward pedal controller, easy to program, just switch on the pedals you want use in the preset and hit store, it has 8 loops, some of them can control a channelshifter/tremolo/vibrator on an amp.
3 banks with different coloured LEDs for showing what bank you're in.

Your tone will improve by using this thing, no more worries about "true bypass" and impedance mismatches, it can take both low and high impedance pedals, so users with vintagestuff will be pleased, and you can use your Wah wah in one of the loops as well.
It has two outputs for stereo users.
No noise, no change in tone, it is like playing with your chord only when no effects are dailed in.
It has muteswitch with a red LED that blinks when it is muted.
It also has outlets for 9v batterypedals...8 x 9V DC 300mA.
Standart for Boss and Ibanez, the ring is the hot.

No trouble what so ever, nicely build and a solid case.

Good support, no complaints.

Very useful unit for those who is tired of tapdancing with your pedals.
The noise is low, the features are simple and goodworking.
Great for those who do not need a Custom Audio or others alike for their switching needs, simple and non-midi.
Highly recomendable.