Designed for guitarists, bassists, keyboardists, or any other instrumentalist making use of stompboxes, the Radial Engineering BigShot EFX is a switcher that lets you route pedals into different paths and switch them in and out of your effects chain at will. It features passive true-bypass circuitry, so that when a pedal loop is disengaged from the chain, it’s as if the pedals aren’t there at all. Thus, a pedal that produces noise even in its bypassed state can be routed into one of the BigShot EFX's loops for quiet operation when disengaged.

Would you like to instantiate a modulation effect, a distortion, and a delay—all with one stomp of the foot? Simply loop those pedals into one of the paths provided, leave them on, and step on the BigShot EFX's footswitch when you’re ready to turn on all three pedals. In this way, you can eliminate tap-dancing on stage and concentrate more on delivering your best performance. Loop 2 of the BigShot EFX also provides a mute toggle switch, so you can route signal to a tuner, mute the output of the BigShot EFX and kill sound going to the amp, and tune your instrument in silence. If you experience any hum or buzzing issues, flip the ground-lift toggle switch of either loop to eliminate the problem.

The BigShot EFX is housed in a 14-gauge steel chassis to promote durability, and, at 3.6” x 4” x 2”, it won’t take up too much room on your pedal board. The pedal itself employs a passive circuitry, but to utilize its onboard LED indicators, you’ll need a power supply, available separately.

2 Passive FX Loops Wired in Series    True-Bypass Signal Path    Ground-Lift Switch on Each Loop Path    Mute Switch on Loop 2 for Silent Tuning    Bright LED Status Indicators    Switch Noisy Pedals out of Your Chain    For Guitars, Basses, Keyboards & More    Durable Parts Employed Throughout    Relatively Compact at 3.6" x 4" x 2"    Made in Canada

• 2 individual effects loops wired in series
• True-bypass signal path for straight-wire connectivity
• Separate ground-lift switches to reduce hum and buzz each loop
• Relatively compact at 3.6” x 4” x 2” 
• Bright LED status indicators
• Switch between rhythm and lead pedal-chains
• Switch noisy pedals out of the signal chain
• Stomp and tune in silence
• Easy to use and set-up
• 100% passive audio circuit
• Works with guitar, bass, keys, acoustic/electric mandolins, and more
• Made in Canada

Each loop features its own true bypass footswitch. When the footswitches are in their bypass position, the guitar signal passes through the switch as if hardwired. Depressing the LOOP-1 footswitch diverts the signal to the SEND-1 jack and to the effect pedals in that loop. The signal is received back through the RETURN-1 jack and passed on to the LOOP-2 footswitch where the process is repeated using the SEND-2 and RETURN-2 jacks. Please note that the two loops are in series so the guitar signal will pass through effect pedals in LOOP-1 before pedals in LOOP-2.

With the BigShot EFX, noisy or non true-bypass pedals are completely taken out of the signal path when they're not in use, thus allowing you to regain the primary guitar to amp connection when needed, free of the unwanted noise that you wouldn't necessarily hear when the offending pedal was engaged.

The unit provides three switches: one ground-lift switch for each effect-loop (to eliminate hum), and one mute switch on loop 2 for tuning silently.

The BigShot EFX utilizes durable parts, such as switches with a metal outer casing rated at over 20,000 cycles, a military grade PCB board, heavy-duty 9-pole footswitches, and a 14-gauge style chassis.

Related Questions and Answers

Q: 1. since this is passive, does it only output mic level? Or can the outputs also be Line level?

A: The XLR pass throughs are mic level, and the 3.5mm audio outs are line level.

Q: 2. Does this unit work standalone or does it have to be used with the Broadcast Press Box?

A: This broadcast audio splitter can be used a stand-alone unit, and only requires a balanced XLR input from a mixing board or other source. .

Q: 3. Maximum Cat5 cable length?

A: Hello John,Thank you for your interest in Radial. Using shielded Cat5e cable, we have successfully tested lengths of 100 meters (328 ft) without signal loss. Regards,Ryan

Q: 4. Does this version send a beep through the audio output when it's in pairing mode/when it loses signal with the device? The first version did, hoping this one solved that.

A: No, the Radial Engineering BT-PRO V2 Stereo Bluetooth Direct Box does not send any beep or chime sounds through the audio output when it is in pairing mode or if it loses Bluetooth signal with the device it is connected to.

Q: 5. Can the XLR output into a stereo pre-amp ?

A: Per the instructions: Left and right XLR outputs - Balanced low impedance (600 ohm) level outputs. Connects to mic input on mixing console. Hope that helps.

Q: 6. What are the dimmentions of the unit? Radial Keylargo

A: The dimension of the Radial Engineering Keylargo as published on the manufacturer's website are: 8.4 x 5 x 1.9 .

Q: 7. Will this unit work if there is a switch in between the TX and RX units?

A: No it will not. This is point to point the TX needs to connect directly to the RX

Q: 8. Does the EQ effect the overall output, or just the mic or laptop audio?

A: The EQ controls on the Radial Engineering Presenter Mixer affect the microphone signal only.

Q: 9. Doe this item work with a Catapult Mini TX on the one side and a Catapult Mini RX on the end with this item in the middle?

A: It is our understanding that the Radial Engineering Catapult RX4 Cat 5Snake for Audio/AES Routing (Receiver) does a variety of configurations. This includes TX on one side and RX on the other.

Q: 10. Is there a mic and line level switch for the outputs on this board?

A: No, the Soundcraft EFX 12-Channel Mixer has separate Mic and Line inputs.