Morley ABY Switch

Ease of use if fairly straight ahead. A and B on the left. A or B on the right. It requires three 1/4" cables and one 9 volt battery, which only powers the on/off led lights. I'd rather see a three button setup, with A for one amp, B for the other, and a center one for both. It can also be used to plug two guitar into one amp.

The box does what it advertises, but no more. There is obvious signal gain loss when going through it. Since the original output is constant (guitar), there's less signal when patched into two seperate amps. However, even when running just one of two amps, there's still noticeable signal degeneration than from running directly into the one amp. I'll use the box but I can't honestly say I'm thrilled. It requires cranking gain and presense (if available) on both amps to generate the same actual output volume as going direct. Some loss of both high and low frequencies through this device. In case you haven't heard, the switches do pop, especially at louder volumes.

The unit is typical Morely quality, as far as strength of the actual box. The inside looks clean and well ordered. However, due to performance issues, I'd say its about an 8.

N/A

I play original rock/blues/country/funk, and have played for about 25 years. My primary axe is a G&L S-500, with the whammy-bar locked tight for chord bend accuracy. (didn't want to wait for a hardtail to be special ordered) The two amps I'm integrating with the Morely a/b/y are a Laney LC50 with Bogner 1x12 ext. cab, and a Soldano Astroverb 16 head over a large 1x12 open-back cab. Each has their own mojo, and combining them was my idea of a good time. I'll use the Morely for this, but will eventually seek some with better sound quality, and quiet switching.

I read a review below where someone said they couldn't figure out how to use it. That guy should be beaten to death before he dilutes the gene pool because a monkey could work this thing. For anyone who can't figure it out on their own, Morley posts the manual on their homepage.

I use it to AB between a 5150 for heavy sounds and a GK Micro Lead for clean sounds. I don't what people are talking about when they say it affects their tone, I haven't noticed any difference what so ever in my tone straight into the amp or through the box. It doesn't process your signal, it simply re-routes it. The one thing that I have noticed is that your signal bleeds through to whichever amp you are not using, ever so slightly. For example, when I switch to the GK for clean sounds, a small amount of the signal still comes out of the 5150. It's nothing major, at full volume you don't even notice it, but if you put your ear close to the 5150 while I switched to the GK, you can hear a very faint version of what is coming out of the GK. I thought I might be mistaken, but when I put the GK 15 feet away so that I could clearly distinguish between which cab the sound was coming from, I could clearly hear the sound bleeding through the 5150's cabinet. Part of this is due to the fact that the 5150 could make a mouse fart sound like an atomic explosion, but it's strange none the less.

I've never had a problem with it. I've stomped all over it, dropped it, done everything short of poor beer all over it and I've never had a problem with it. People who complained about the LED not being bright enough need to take their medication and change the battery. If you leave a chords plugged into the "B" jack when you are done, the LED's will remain on, thus they will drain the battery. If you don't get in the habit of disconnecting the "B" jack between uses, you will need to replace the battery often as it will constantly be running the LED. If you are as smart as a chimp and can remember to disconnect one chord between uses, the same battery should keep the LED bright for a LONG time. I've had the same battery in there over a year with no signs of fading LEDs. The unit will still work if the battery is dead, the battery does not effect the operation of the unit, it merely powers the LEDs. So, if you don't care about the LED's, you can use it without ever replacing the battery. If you need to see the LED's, you will need to keep a working battery in the unit.

Like half the world, I had grounding issues between the two amps I was using. Upon contacting Morley's customer support, they gave me a few options on how to diagnose and fix the problem. Very helpful and timely.

It does what it is supposed to. Forrest Gump could use this thing without incident, so if you are having problems with it, there is something wrong with your other gear or your brain. I'm not sure why other A/B boxes cost so much more, maybe they have built in features that this one doesn't. Otherwise, they are ripoffs, because this one does the job for a fraction of what some other A/B boxes cost.

I don't have one of these Sitchers yet, but I am going to buy one. A friend of mine has one and I'm looking to get one. He never had any of the problems people have mentioned here. But here's what I have to say:
1. So what if you have to take the back off for the battery. Are you that busy you can't take 5 minutes to do that. It just goes to show how lazy you are.
2. For those of you who complained that you couldn't see the LED's: You only have the choice of two rigs to switch between, and you should be able to recognize which one you are using at a time. It shouldn't be a guessing game, you know what rig you're using and what one other one you can choose.
3. You should check you're gear. How do you figure this little piece of electronics could be the cause of all your problems.

You guys give guitar players bad names. Stop being so whiney and grow up. Play your guitar. If it's soooo bad you can't handle it, don't come here and complain, change it that's all. I came on here to find out about this switcher, not read about you guys complain about the stupid problems you have.

Hello, Bill Wenzloff from Morley again. I had posted some comments below about using a 2 to 3 prong adapter (ground lift) when you get ground loop hum. THIS SHOULD ONLY BE DONE TO TEST WHETHER OR NOT GROUND LOOP HUM IS ACTUALLY YOUR PROBLEM. If then noise goes away when you (temporarily) use a ground lift plug, then you have a ground loop that needs to be solved. Continuing to use this ground lift plug CAN BE DANGEROUS. There are a few solutions for ground loop hum, one of which is our Ebtech Hum Eliminator. If anybody in this forum has any questions about ground loop hum or having an issue with our ABY box, please CONTACT me. That is what I am here for. Thanks for the reviews (good and bad) KEEP THEM COMING AND KEEP THEM HONEST.

Hello to everyone, I'm writing from Italy.

I'm pretty interested in buying the ABY switch to jump between my Strat an my Les Paul during gigs, so I won't have the problem of ground loop hum caused by parallel connection of two amps.
Mr. Wenzloff, who is very kind indeed (I had an e-mail "conversation" with him some times ago about Bad Horsie II wah wah I was planning to buy: now I actually have it: fantastic!), suggested that you should lift one of the grounds of the amps to break the ground loop and the hum. This may be a good idea, unless this may cause quite a huge shock hazard.

I read something on the Internet about this problem, just check this link and you'll find an article as a result from a Usenet group discussion between manufacturers and musicians: http://www.guitarnuts.com/safety/clubshock.html

You can also read something about it on the Roger Mayer Crossroads description at www.rogermayer.co.uk or rogermayerusa.com (please note: I'm not trying to recommend that product to you, RM website it is simply the very first place where I read about this shock problems.)
The problem in liftng one of the two grounds is that, in case this amplifier breaks up,a consistent current wil be drawn trough the ground wire of the input cable an then in ALL the ground connections of your guitar, that means (in case you have a Strat,for example):

The metal jack plate
The bridge
The strings

and, if you have metal knobs, volume and tone controls.

I'm quite confident that Mr Wenzloff will soon express his opinion about it after he reads those articles. I do appreciate him and the company he works for,and he himself often posts messages here on HC to make every Morley user know that the company follows its customer always).

I hope this message may be usefull in any way.



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This is NOT easy to use, in my opinion, I can't figure the damn thing out.

Well I don't know cuz I can't get it to work

From what I heard, its a good pedal, I just can't get it to work on my rig.

Well basically, I wanted to use this to switch between my distortion and my phaser pedal cuz I do a lot of switching between the two and I don't want to have to press them both at the same time. Heres the order of my pedals: Dunlop Crybaby Wah -->Digitech Whammy Reissue -->DOD Death Metal Distortion -->DOD Stereo Phaser -->Ibanez Chorus/Flanger. Thats my rig so far, like I said, I want to switch between my distortion and phaser...to go distortion to clean with the phaser turned on at the same time then back again, don't know how to do it and I never go any help. If anyone can help me out, I would GREATly appreciate it!

This box is pretty darn easy to use. Switch between amps or both, or guitars. Don't see how you could not understand how to use this.

I use this switch to split my signal into a Hot Rod Deluxe with an extension speaker, and a Deluxe Reverb. My main Guitar is a Gibson Tennessean. I can only hear minimal volume loss when using one amp but it is MINIMAL! I have enough pedals and control over the guitar to compensate. For those who hate this switch box, it bodes the question: Is it YOU or your GEAR! Probably you. It's a simple switch, no noise. It doesn not change my sound.

Tank

Don't think I'll need this.

I play all styles and gig in clubs that range in capacity from 50 to 500. This box helps me use my amps in stereo and get a bigger sound. I've been playing for over 14 years, gig alot. This is a 'tool' of the trade in my opinion, just like a stage tuner! Simple switch, simple to use, adds great versatility.

simple

IT is the simplest of things to switch a circuit. There is really no way to screw this up. its like attaching two wires together.
yes there is a volume loss when your switching between two guitars....ok...so turn up the volume. Its enherent in analog electronics..when you split a signal...your splitting it...of course its going to be a bit less when you split. But the box does not suck tone..it doesnt do much at all to the tone..just weakens the signal a bit so you turn it up or put a boost in front if you absolutely need that high input power.





Its so affordable and It should be....its a switch and the 200 dollar versions should feel ashamed of themselves.

This really is not a effect in the true sense. Very, very easy to use.

This blows my mind. A lot of people have been bitching about this box being some kind of sound sucking device. IT IS NOT. It does not degrade sound quality at all. I am using this to switch from one relativly processed over driven Laney pro tube 50 head ( acually the clean channel with the gains up there for a SRV sound ), A Boss Reverb in amps effects loop and a Metal zone, Ibanez tube driver and noise suppressor on the floor. The ABY switches this into set up to a Laney Linebacker 100R head that is set crystal clean. You do get a little reverb pop that the linebacker makes when you switch from amp to amp. This box does not effect tone in any way! Down the list of reviews is a Morley tech that should be looked at for you non-believers.

Not much that can really go wrong. I am not going to start backing up my pedals either, so it better work.

Never dealt, never will.

Our band does everything from really classic classics like Uriah Heep's "Stealin'" Molly Hatchets "Dreams" and "Flirtin'" to some Metal like Metallica and Priest. We even do some originals. Been Playing for 20 years. I wish my amp of choice had a real clean channel but it doesn't and I not going to switch. The way the Pro 50 is set up is just too nice to compromise the overdrive trying to get a clean sound. On the "clean" channel the master volume is never over 5, even for gigs, and the pre-amps are all on 10, set like this you can get the most popular electric sounds, Hit the tube screamer and you are in lead heaven, switch to the Metal zone and look out, you are beyond any metal god. This ABY just gives me the choice of a great clean without dialing around my pre-amp knobs. I can't believe some ABY boxes sell for $200.00 when this one works so well and costs so little.

VERY EASY TO USE NO PROBLEMS

I USE THIS TO SWITCH BETWEEN TWO DIFFERENT JAZZ BASSES (DIFFERENT TUNINGS)AND SOMETIMES I USE IT AS A MUTE BUTTON I RUN IT INTO TWO SVT350H AMPS AND OUT TO TWO 8X10 CABS

I HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH THE UNIT AND I DONT MIND TAKING OFF FOUR SCREWS TO CHANGE THE BATTERY IT SURE BEATS A FLIMSY BATTERY COMPARTMENT THAT WOULD EVENTUALLY BREAK OFF