BigShot i/o Development

Today, it is just as normal to see a bass player with two basses on stage as it is to see a guitarist with two guitars. This is done not only for tuning purposes but also to provide greater tonal range. For example, a passive Fender Jazz Bass sounds very different from a Yamaha active 6 string bass, just as a Stratocaster sounds very different from a Les Paul.

The challenge for the musician has always been to change instruments quickly and elegantly. Rock stars have full-time guitar technicians to help them change instruments. For the rest of us though, changing an instrument on stage has always required muting the amp, disconnecting one guitar and reconnecting the other, re-setting instrument level, etc.

Another major annoyance has been in dealing with tuners. Anyone who has carefully listened to the effect of a tuner on the guitar signal knows that unless the tuner is completely taken out of the signal path, it causes the tone to change due to loading. This is why the true-bypass purist has always resisted having any kind of buffer between his guitar and the amp.

The BigShot i/o addresses these concerns by providing a compact switcher that is extremely easy to set up and use that is built tough enough to take the constant abuses of road use.

In instances when using two passive instruments such as maybe a Fender Strat with single coil pickups and a Les Paul with humbuckers, the single coil pickups will not be as loud as the humbuckers. This effect is often desirable and therefore, the DIM would not be used. If however you had your system set in such a way that you would want both at the same level such as during a direct recording session, you would engage the DIM and introduce the bright switch to offset the effect of the potentiometer. The BigShot i/o is designed to suit both true bypass purists and multi-instrumentalists alike.

The BigShot i/o is also equipped with two outputs. One is designed for a tuner while the other would go to your amplifier. When the MUTE footswitch is depressed the output going to the amp is shut off to allow quiet tuning on stage. A selector switch allows the tuner to either be on all the time or be toggled so that it is only active when the footswitch is depressed. Some tuners introduce clicking noise from their quartz clock or can load down the guitar signal. For the purist, toggling the tuner when needed is preferred.

Using the i/o as an A or B switcher

The BigShot i/o can also be used as a A-B amp selector by using the tuner and MUTE switch to toggle between the amp output and the tuner out. As there are no ground lift or isolation features, the i/o will not be as flexible as the BigShot ABY or the Switchbone, but certainly perform as well as all other passive AB switchers on the market.