Kendrick ABC Box

The Kendrick ABC Box is extremely easy to use. All you have to do is make sure to read the instructions first. If you have an older tube amp, you should make sure that it is Grounded since the ABC Box provides a ground. On newer tube amps, you won't have to worry as much.
Also make sure the connections are made before turning the device on.

After that you're all set and it's really really easy to use. You push the button and on comes the LED light. If it's on, that signal is being used, if it's off, it's not. It's that simple. Kudos to the Kendrick folks for making such a outstanding and easy to use pedal that solves so many audio switching nightmares.

The sound that I get from the Kendrick ABC is very clean and transparant. It does not color the tone at all and does not hinder volume. Basically it does its job and helps you send one signal to three and switch between the three.

I go into it with a monster cable direct or a monster cable via my wireless unit. The three outputs go into Ernie Ball Volume pedals and then into a Marshall 1987XL, a Fender Vibrolux and a Roland JC-120. The Kendrick is much cleaner and much more reliable than the Morley ABY/Radio Shack Splitter system I was using before.

It has traveled on my pedal board and is very reliable. It's built in a very strong and durable housing. I hope to have this unit for many years without any glitches and I don't see any of those occuring with proper care. Again, if you kick the !@#$ out of your gear, it will last if properly built but everything has a breakage point. Take care of your gear and it'll take care of you.

It's nice to call a company and get the head on the phone. Gerald Weber is extremely knowlegeable about amps and pedals of all kind and was a real help in my final decision to purchase this pedal. Customer support gets an A+ from me.

I play rock & roll music and I am a tone freak. I use three amps onstage so that I have sound and tone options. The Kendrick ABC allows me to play all three of them at once or separately. This is a great help.
I asked some other companies to make me this device and their prices were significantly more than what Kendrick is charging. More bang for the buck for sure!!

My only complaint is the power cable. It's long, which is a good thing, but when the pedal lives on a pedal board, it can be nuissance. It would be nice if there was just an AC plug to attach an AC cord while on, and then unplug it while traveling. This may effect the cost.

But my overall rating is that this is a great pedal for people who know how to use it and have situtaions where it will work. It WILL get the job done.

This is a follow-up to my previous review. Since then I have entered into the world of germanium transistor fuzz, and this has led me to slightly re-evaluate this product. I still rely on it for live use, and it serves it purposes very, very well. Silent switching, no hum, well built etc. However, any Fuzz Face-type pedal has to be placed *before* it in the effects chain, or else the fuzz is screwed up badly. This is similar to what non-true bypass pedals do to the tone of germanium transistor fuzzes (and maybe silicon transistor fuzzes too, for what I know) - they get thin and shrill sounding. This happens both with a Fulltone 69 and a Z.Vex Fuzz Factory. When placed before it, the tone is preserved, but it seems to steal a very slight amount of gain compared to going straight into the amp. However, this could just as well be caused by more feet of cable.

Plug and play...it doesn't get any easier than this. One input, three outputs. It comes with a power cord attached. On a pedalboard, the rugged power cord could potentially be a minor problem, possibly getting in the way of other pedals. It comes out of the box at the lower front right-hand corner.
There are three switches, one for each output, with a yellow, green and red LED for outputs A, B and C, respectively. Note: The switches work as ON/OFF switches. In other words, you can run any combination of outputs you want. I'll explain more about this later. The switches are very easy to hit, and there shouldn't be any confusion as to whether an output is on or off. If you want to go from one output to another instantly, you have to hit two switches simultaneously. This is not hard, but it *could* potentially go wrong. A useful feature is that when all outputs are off, you can unplug the cord from the guitar without any buzz or hum. Very neat if you're switching guitars between songs.

I use three amps in my setup, one on each output.
A) Fender Twin Reverb reissue
B) 50W Marshall from 1971
C) MESA/Boogie Mark I reissue
With the ABC switch, I can not only switch between all three amps, I can also use any combination of amps. This is more useful than one might think. For instance, I have a Danelectro 59DC reissue, which sounds killer through the Boogie. Crisp and bright, terrific for rhythm. However, the Boogie's bass is rather weak for rhythm, so I just use it in tandem with the Twin Reverb. With the right setting on the Twin Reverb, I get just enough bass added, without interfering with the great Boogie sound.
As far as sound goes, there is very, very little colouration/signal loss. Undetectable on the Boogie and the Fender, and only slightly noticeable on the Marshall. Any of my pedals are worse.
I have noticed that output B seems to "leak" slightly...at high volume and high gain a little sound comes out of the amp even when the output is off. It's not a problem at all, though, as the active amp would overpower it completely. Outputs A and C are dead quiet. Sometimes there is a little popping sound when hitting the switches, which could potentially be annoying. It hasn't been a problem yet for me. The switching from one output to another is instant...no silent gap.

I'd be impressed if anyone managed to break this. Very, very rugged.
I do gig without a backup, but the only thing I think could go wrong is if someone spilled beer on it or something. That would be a bummer, though, since it's the "control center" of my whole setup.

Never dealt with them.

Overall, I think this is a great product. Great build quality and sound quality, and very useful. It is a little expensive, though, especially in Norway. It is also very big (approximately 8"x5", and 3" tall, including the switches), taking up a lot of space on my pedalboard. I haven't seen any other products that would do the same and that could be mounted on a board. Therefore, I won't give it a 10, since theoretically, there could be a better alternative out there. I am *very* pleased with it, though.
(PS: You don't have to use three amps to get good use for it...one output could for instance go to a tuner, thereby keeping that out of the signal chain).