Lead Foot ABY

I bought this Lead Foot ABY to switch between - and mix together - the left and the right channel on my 22500 Loper's stereo output.

To test channel interference, I used the A and B 1/4" jacks as inputs in which I sent a 0 dB (1 kHz) signal. I connected one of the parallel 1/4" jacks as output to a HI-Z input on an Audio Interface to measure signal strength. There was no change in the signal on the selected channel, but there was a crosstalk of -28dB from the non-selected channel. When A and B input were linked together, the sum of the signals was +6dB.

The buttons are fitted with just 4 cm distance between them which means that you need to be a bit accurate not to press the wrong button by misstake. The advantage is that you can easily press both buttons at the same time if you need to.

When both A and B are active at the same time, both LEDs are illuminated. Therefore - if you forgot the previous A/B setting, you can not determine which of the A and B jacks that becomes active when the Y-connection is disabled. (This could have been encoded with the use of multicolor LEDs.) The LEDs are small and sits deep in the panel and is therefore a little difficult to read in bright light and/or at a large viewing angle, but mostly this is no problem.

There was no problem to get the 9V battery in and out of the box. The LEDs are activated whenever a plug is inserted in one of the "parallel" in/out jacks.

The Lead Foot ABY switch pedal does what it is meant to do. Feels robust, and has a good price

The Lead foot ABY is a simple ABY pedal. Feels solid and the foot switches placement and style make it usable. I use footswitch toppers for extra surface and color coding.

I use the ABY pedal to combine together two signal paths that were split with the EHX Bass9. In this way, I can optionally add the pitched-down bass sound to the main overdriven guitar sound. It has worked quite well for my purpose, without noises or glitches.

This ABY pedal is mechanical, which makes it basically equivalent to switching patch cables on the fly. Depending on the application a more advanced solution (buffered line switchers) may be preferred.

The size is ok, taking less vertical space than other pedals. The access to the battery is not the easiest but fortunately the battery lasts long since it is only used for the LED lights.

In my experience, the main inconvenient is that the lights only turn off when there are no jacks connected to the A and B inputs. This makes it a bit inconvenient to use on a fixed set-up on a pedal board since you have to remember to connect and disconnect those jacks every time if you don't want the battery to drain when the pedal board is stored. An on/off switch or 9V connection would have been preferred.

I missed that this unit is only powered by battery. In practice that means, that if you don't unplug the input cable, it will stay on forever. I personally prefer my board to power everything up and down. Sure, I can get a powercable connector that ends with a 9V battery terminal but at this point, I went with the Electro Harmonix switches, which gives me two power options.

Another thing worth noting is that pressing the A+B switch engages both outputs but DOES NOT disengage them. Initially, I thought it would go back to whatever I selected - A or B. Instead, I have to press the A or B switch to go away from A+B. It's probably something I could get used to, but it was confusing in the beginning.

Otherwise, excellent build and great sound.

I bought this item looking for a low cost switch in order to play with two amps simultaneously or separately, or to connect two guitars in one amp. I choose this product from Thomann site. My first impression were quite nice.The outer part is made of metal and the construction is solid. The two buttons work very well in continious and hard pressures without blocking. If you want to set a battery inside (which is used only for the led light operation), you will find some difficulties to put the cover back in the right position. Anyway, considering the price, I think it is a very advantageous purchase.


Dimitis, Greece

This is very simple to understand and use.

you can send two guitars into one amp or one guitar into two amps.

I have done this both ways successfully. There are plenty of switching pedals on the market and some have more features/options but not there aren't many in this price range that feel robust.

The option to use this without a battery is helpful but when you're at a gig and switching in the middle of songs, the LED indicator is essential!

This has been gigged and remains on my pedal board, it's small footprint means it doesn't take much space on the pedal board and if it ever breaks I'll get another one.