Morley ABY - What a disappointment!

[JShape]

I bought a Morley ABY box to switch between, as well as combine dirty and clean tones from my 2 amps. It worked fine at first, providing the switching I needed with little noise or noticeable tone degradation, and it seemed to be built like a tank. It did well enough that the other guitar player in my band bought one shortly after I did to use as his tuner mute, since they were on sale at GC. He only used his at gigs, and I used mine very sparingly at practice. Not more than 10 times after using it, including for practice and gigging, mine just out-of-the-blue wouldn't work (right before a gig too, of course). No output on either side. So I took it out of my chain. We go to set up for the next gig, and the other guy's quits on him too, same deal. I had a look at the wiring and didn't see anything noticeably wrong with either box. I'm no tech by any stretch, but they're just ABY boxes - how complicated could they be? You only even need a battery for it if you want the LED indicator. Of course, GC wouldn't take them back, since they quit working after 30 days, and GC usually employs a bunch of idiot poser punks at the customer service level anyway. I emailed Morley, they told me I could ship the boxes to them - at my own expense (cheaper to just buy a new one).

Like I said, I'm no tech - Does anyone know enough about the inner-workings of these things that they might be able to tell me what the problem could be and how to fix it, just by reading this? Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks, and God bless!

[jyee]

the morley ABY boxes are made with PCBs (printed circuit boards), so fixing them can be easy if it's just a part that's come loose... but if it's something else, it could be a pain.

Lots of people like the Radial:
http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/p...her?sku=153931

If you're handy with a soldering iron, you can make one. here's a simple schematic:
http://www.kilback.net/homebrewtweak...k-abyschem.jpg
and you can get parts from places like:
http://www.effectsconnection.com/oscommerce/index.php (my favorite pedal parts store)

[JShape]

Thanks for your help, Jyee. I can't believe I've never heard of that Radial before. Looks like a good box. Though it's a shame to let the 2 Morleys go to waste, since they seem to be built from solid parts on the outside. I'll figure out something to do with them eventually I guess. Thanks again!

[jyee]

yeah, the morley boxes are solid... I suspect the switches probably are too. They may be worth keeping if you can desolder all the physical parts from the circuit board, then you could wire up your own switcher or use it as a case for a homemade pedal.