MXR M196 A/B Box Signal Switcher Pedal Reviews

Worked great for what I needed.

Works like a charm! Great recommendation guys!

Nice for Running two effects chains simotainoiuly. Or switching between them ..
Does what I need it too!
Love it!!

Well I'll be darned. I've owned this pedal for YEARS, and I have used it exclusively to switch one input between two outputs - because it's written right there on the pedal "Input", "Output A" and "Output B". I just tried the reverse - one guitar INTO "Output A", and second guitar INTO "Output B", then ran a cable OUT of the "Input" - AND IT WORKS GREAT. ****. Saved me a hundred bucks buying a new pedal to switch instruments when my existing MXR a/b Box ALREADY DOES IT. Good work, MXR. Plus, this thing is built like a tank. Five stars.

Needed this to be able to shoot my MIA tele into my 65 deluxe reverb and run my martin acoustic electric into the PA. I just put it at the end of my chain and unplug my tele and plug in my Martin when it's time for a song that uses the acoustic...it can also work backwards, so you can put a second one at the beginning of your chain and have an electric guitar and an acoustic guitar both shooting into your pedal board simultaneously. I might snag another one at some point so I won't have to be unplugging guitars all the time. It's smaller than I thought it would be...which is nice, since I don't have a huge board (Pedaltrain Classic Jr.) Looks sharp on my board, does its job, and I haven't noticed any unwanted coloration or noticeable degradation of tone. Would definitely recommend...at $...can't go wrong.

I had a gig coming up and needed an A/B-Y box. I knew I had an Whirlwind Selector somewhere, but after a week of searching and the gig fast approaching I, out of panic, bought this box. Of course, less than 24 hours later I found the fifteen year old Selector. I set up my rig with Selector and I noticed a large gain reduction from my PRS with Les Paul Modern pickups when using the "Both" channel. When I received this box I noticed no gain loss from my PRS to my Mesa Boogie MkIV. Very happy I ordered it! Anyone want a Whirlwind selector cheap?

It's only fair to mention a few notes about the genealogy of MXR. (Even if only some of us are old enough to have noticed the misnomer, or for that matter, even care.)Regardless: I'm afraid that saying "In 1972 Dunlop introduced the MXR pedals..." is a misstatement, at best. In fact, Jim Dunlop didn't have anything to do with MXR until 1987, when he purchased the licensing rights to the MXR brand, allowing the Dunlop company to essentially re-produce the original pedals. At that point, MXR had lost some of its impact in the market, and the original founders from Rochester, New York had since gone on to found Alesis, Whirlwind Sound, and ART (Applied Research and Technology). Nonetheless, they had surely made a significant mark with the original pedals, and the demand for those effects was experiencing a resurgence. As such, we can thank Mr. Dunlop, rest his soul, for being a wise entrepreneur in purchasing/RE-introducing the MXR brand, and subsequently adding many other effects and pedals to the original lineup of MXR products. I love Sweetwater Sound, and of course will always be a happy customer! However, when producing synopses regarding manufacturers, it seems we should allow truthful credit where credit is due.

Works fine. Love how it has a throughput that isn't affected by the switches. Don't understand why it couldn't be in a smaller pedal though. Still it works well for my purpose... which is to drive 2 different stacks and a voice box.

This is a great aby pedal if used to branch effects within a signal chain. I've had it for a while and its been reliable branching modulation effects.
As pictured: I have just finished separating out my pedalboard into frontend section and loop section and thought I'd move my MXR ABY. I moved to the very front, first thing in the path after my guitar. I wanted to use it to split out to use two amps and send the thru signal to a TRIO pedal. Just like others have written, I now have tremendous ground ring microphonic feedback when just plugging into the input port of any other pedal or amp even when they not powered on. Shown; disconnected from the input of the TRIO and using only the thru output to send my guitar signal to a single amp. As I said prior using this pedal to switch between effects paths it works well, It's not until I plugged an amp into it and attempted to plug something else in is when I found the application use issue with it. I think a more detailed mfg. product description specific to best application could be helpful. This is were your SW product engineer provided the advise. Wrote this as I'm shopping for a switch with isolated outputs

This is exactly what I needed to run my 2 amps. Once engaged it's noisy as hell. When I remove it I get crystal clear silence when guitar volume is off. Reconnect and noisy again. Not sure if the pedals bad but I'm sure it's not supposed to do this.
Also, when I wiggle the connections at the A / B inputs it's gets louder and softer.

This is not the passive, solid a/b box you are looking for. colors your signal and adds noise. Only good for active pickups and synth I suppose. Not good for a tube driven, organic feel where tone is priority

I'm not sure what the issue with this pedal may be, but for my application this pedal makes a lot of noise when integrated into my signal chain. I use it with a tuner plugged into the through output and one channel runs into my Peavy Classic 30 and another channel to another tube amp, or a solid state PA. Either way, this pedal creates a lot of noise. When I run my pedalboard directly into my amp without using this pedal (I removed the pedal completely) then the amp is virtually quiet. I think the wiring in my house is problematic, but I have found a combination of six pedals fed into the front of my amp that creates virtually no noise, so I can't attribute this pedal's problem to the wiring. I've had to weed out quite a few pedals for this reason and this MXR A/B Box is one of them. It's now merely decoration on the shelf in my office/music room. I'll keep experimenting with it and if I find a practical use for it in a different set-up, then I may change the rating.

Nice idea . Poor execution. 2 defective boxes so far.

very noisey would not have bought had I known.

I got this a while ago and was pretty excited.. but once I went back and listened to the recordings I realized this thing has a super low output and a ton of added noise. The noise exists on both channels, no matter what. For a while, it was only having these issues when both "A" and "B" were engaged, but after about a week it started happening whenever the thing was even plugged into the pedalboard. Its cheap, and it does not work. Well, it passes signal... but it sounds nothing like the original signal.

I can't even use it anymore, because of how much hum it creates. I've tried every type of troubleshooting imaginable, including power conditioners, ground lifters, different wall outlets and rooms, swapping amps and instruments.. nada. This is a bad product, which sucks, because I really do like MXR.

The problem is, when it comes to practical, "utility" gear.. ya gotta spend a decent amount in order to get good quality cables, stands, converters, splitters, power supplies, etc. Spend a little more than this.

I LOVE being able to Run my EVH 6L6 50 watt and My Line 6 75 watt at the same time! KILLER Sound but after 2 to 3 songs I start getting a HUMMMMM!! Like a MO FO!! but maybe it's the wiring in my house ( As I read in a review)
IDK! Not going to give up on it yet. VERY DISAPPOINTED THO

This thing is noisy and causes ground issues, humming. Pretty disappointed.

I usually love mxr products. But I bought this and right out of the box, the output jacks were loose and it just buzzes. Piece of junk if you ask me.