Y Splitter boxes?

[nomenclature]

Heeeeeeeey this place is still here. I haven't been around in years, also stopped playing for years and now I'm getting back into things and rebuilding so I'm looking for suggestions.

 

Basically I'm rebuilding my board from the ground up and this time breaking it into two parts, dirt in front, everything else in the amp loop, BUT since I'm going to be running really high gain stuff in the front, I've picked up a Fortin Zuul. That's going in the loop, but I'm looking for a Y splitter to run in front to split off into the amp and then into the key input of the Zuul to really clamp down. I'm currently using a Micro Pog to do that, but it's a waste of a pedal that I can throw on another board (I can't really use the Pog as an effect because I'm trying to learn 8-string guitar and the Pog makes it TOOO LOW).

 

So what's a decent Y splitter that's not too expensive? I don't need an A/B (I have a Lehle ABY which is great, but I don't need the switching aspect), just a straight up Y box. buffered I guess?

The Empress Buffer looks ok (I love their stuff), but I don't need the loop.

 

There's an RJM Music Tech "Tone Saver" which seems to fit the bill and around the same price as the Empress, but I don't know much about them.

 

There's a Suhr buffer which also looks good, but is getting a little on the expensive side considering I just need the second out to be a key (oh yeah, I'm in Canada so stuff is more expensive. I'd like to keep it around $160 CAD tops if possible).

 

there's the Lehle P-Split is getting a little out of my range for what I want to spend (but being passive is a bonus by saving a power supply spot).

 

 

There's the JHS buffered splitter which is in the right price point but I've read some negative reviews of...

 

Is there anything else out there worth looking at? You'd think a basic Y split box would be easy to find.

[WRGKMC]

If it wasn't for the fact you're trying to split the signal between the front end and loop I'd say any $2 Y cable would fit your bill.

 

The question really comes down to whether that Key input on the ZULU is actually isolated from the signal. Any bleed and you're risking a feedback loop which bridges the guitar amps preamp. That's not only risky from a sound quality position but dangerous for your amp. It may not even be the signal that bridges, it can be a matter of DC bias being altered.

 

At least its good you recognize this and are leaning towards using an active splitter with a buffered out. This should prevent the guitars preamp from feeding back to the amps input. Again, you're only a buffer away from real problems but I dount there would be much reverse bias that can cause a problem.

 

Personally I wouldn't have used that type of gate if its what you need to have it function properly. There are plenty of gates that can handle wide dynamic ranges and still silence the signal. The big problems occur when your background noise is as loud as the driven signal but drive that high usually sounds like ass recording or live so the need to key the signal from a dry input shouldn't even be needed. Too much of anything is bad that goes triple for drive.

[nomenclature]

the key input is isolated from the signal path and strictly and on/off trigger. my (likely) overall path is

 

guitar > tuner > dirt > amp > loop > modulation (which is a bit noisy) > gate > delay/verb > back to amp

 

the zuul works really well on its own without the key input, but works amazingly well in the loop with the key for really tight djenty stuff. it’s basically clamped down all the time for complete silence (besides trails on delay and verb), and when the signal hits the key input it opens up and the clamps right back down when the signal reaches the minimum level you set. getting the signal from before the loop is important for the tightness, if i had a tuner out or anything i’d use that but everything but my delay is mono. a y cable would work, but it’s not ideal for minimizing signal loss and would be a bit clunky on what’s becoming a tight board, unless i get something custom made with exact lengths and low profile right angle plugs. also my pickups are currently passive so a buffer would probably be good in the chain anyways.