ART Loop Switch True Bypass Effects Loop Switcher and A/B Pedal Passive

ART LOOPSWITCH: One Footswitch for a Whole Effects Chain

The ART Loop Switch is a passive true-bypass effects loop switcher with In, Out, Send and Return jacks that removes one pedal or an entire chain from the signal path with a single press. True bypass means that in the off position the input jack is physically connected to the output jack through the switch contacts, with no buffer, no circuitry and nothing to load down a guitar pickup. Because the switching is entirely mechanical, the pedal needs no power at all to do its job, and an optional 5 to 18 V DC center-negative supply exists purely to light the status LED at under 3 mA. This is a deliberately simple accessory and its published specification is short, so this page covers it at accessory depth.

How the Loop Works and What It Removes

Patch the guitar into In, the amplifier into Out, then run Send to the first pedal of a group and Return from the last, and the whole group sits inside a loop that engages and disengages together. Every pedal in a chain contributes something even when its own footswitch is off, whether that is the hiss of an old fuzz, the tone suck of a long input cable, or the subtle high-frequency loss of several buffered inputs in series. Taking the group out of circuit entirely returns the guitar to a direct connection with the amplifier, which is a difference most players hear immediately on a clean tone. A guitarist with a six-pedal board and one genuinely clean song in the set has a use for this within about ten seconds of plugging it in.

A/B Switching From the Same Four Jacks

Ignoring the Return jack and using Send and Out as two separate destinations converts the unit into an A/B switch, sending one instrument to either of two places on command. A player running two amplifiers can keep a clean combo on one output and a driven head on the other, alternating between them without a level jump or a reconnection. The same wiring works in reverse for two instruments arriving at one amplifier, which suits an acoustic and electric changeover mid-set. Studio guitarists use it to send a single take to two different signal chains for comparison without unplugging anything.

Distinguishing the Loop Switch From the L-Switch

The Loop Switch carries audio through four jacks and physically interrupts the signal path, which makes it a completely different device from the similarly named L-Switch. That unit has a single 1/4 in jack, carries no audio at all, and instead closes a remote contact on another device's footswitch input to change an amplifier channel. Choosing between them comes down to one question: does the signal need to pass through the box, or does a switch somewhere else need to be operated from the floor. Anyone building a pedalboard that needs a bypassable effects group wants this unit, while anyone missing an amplifier footswitch wants the other one.