The GigRig Humdinger is not really an effect, but will make using your pedalboard easier and quieter. The GigRig Humdinger allows you to split your pedalboard’s signal, correct phase & kill hum. Great for DI, re-amping, wet/dry and stereo into two amps.

Basically, playing three two amps even in a home studio can sound big and glorious. Stereo pedals can add so much to your sound and a wet/dry setup is also quite cool. As its allows for one amp to have the effects and the other to be dry and direct. The blend can be fantastic.

Once you play tru two amps or go stereo it may be hard to go back to playing one guitar into one amp! Getting a composite tone using two amps can be intoxicating and has been used live and in the studio by Stevie Ray Vaughn, Billy Gibbons and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers for years.

The issues that can plague this are earth ground loops that cause excess hum plus tasing issues that can cancel making your signal sound thin. GigRig Humdinger is a simple well made device that can solve this quickly and easily. Plus safer than breaking off a ground lug or using ground lifts on your amps AC cord!

How to use this.

If you have a single guitar into one effects pedal into one amp, you generally won’t get hum from an earth ground issue. Your effects power supply is also isolated from the mains so this won’t create a path to earth. The hum problem occurs when you have more than one path to ground for your signal. Using two amplifiers has always been an issue because they both must be connected to mains ground for safety; however, you only want one signal ground for your audio or you get hum!

So all you need to do is place the Humdinger last in your effect chain. Plug the Buffered output to drive the primary amplifier (will also compensate for long cable leads) and the Isolated Output to drive a second amplifier (or other equipment like DAW, etc). The Phase correction switch to give brilliant tone when using two amplifiers. Just switch it to where your signal does not sound thin lacking bass (it sounds like this when the phase between the amps is wrong cancelling lows).

For studio use, the HumDinger allows you to easily connect the buffered output to your guitar amp while sending the isolated output to your audio interface or mixer’s High Impedance input for direct recording – no direct box needed, and without any ground loop issues.

Phase Switch fixes and issue when the same sound is going to two amplifiers. The speaker cones could be both moving forward at the same time and this would be in phase. Sometimes however one may be moving forward whilst the other is moving backwards causing an out of phase condition. If this situation occurs the sound waves can cancel at some positions in the room giving a reduced and strange tone. Usually received as a lack of bass and thin.
To Change the Phase to correct this problem: Just flick the phase switch.

If you are running in stereo, you can plug output 1 from the stereo effect pedal direct to one amp and output 2 to the Humdinger Isolated input. Connect the Humdinger to Amp 2.

You could also experiment with a wet/dry setup by putting the humdinger in-between your wet pedals and your dry ones and split the signal there.

From GigRig:
The Humdinger was designed to eliminate earth loops in audio equipment by isolating the second output with a high quality audio transformer. Earth loops are a common complaint. As soon as the ground on your gear has more than one main route to earth, you have the potential for an earth loop. The best and safest way to get rid of an earth loop is to isolate the ground that is causing the hum.

Using the HumDinger to get rid of earth loops is easy. If you use 2 amps all you need to do is stick the HumDinger at the end of your effects chain. Your main (buffered) output goes to one amp and the isolated output goes to the other. Your earth is consistent through the main output but isolated through the isolated output.

Using a mains powered effects pedal, simply place the HumDinger in the chain after the mains powered effect. The Mains powered effect is your main ground and the ground from the amp is isolated.

KEY FEATURES

Eliminate Ground Loop Hum
The isolated output uses a high quality audio transformer to maintain the best possible signal, while also eliminating ground loop hum that can be a problem when using two amps.

Correct Phase
The isolated output features a phase switch, so you can correct phase problems between two amplifiers or other devices.

Buffered Output
The main output is buffered using our custom designed 1:1 Class A buffer, guaranteed not to mess with your tone. Both outputs will drive long lengths of cable so you don’t need to worry about the distance between your pedal board and your amp.

Multiple Uses, Multiple Solutions
Use Humdinger to split your signal to two amps; use it to split your signal at any position for wet/dry setups; use it at the start of your effects chain to send a clean DI signal to your DAW for later reamping; use it as a buffer for long cable runs; use it in a stereo rig to isolate the second amp and kill earth loops.

FAQ
My amp is making noise. Will the Humdinger cure it?
If you’re using 2 amps and the noise is an earth loop, then yes. If you’re only using 1 amp and the noise is coming from somewhere else, then no.

What does the PHASE switch do?
The phase switch changes the relative phase on the ISOLATED output, it has no effect on the buffered output. Hook up your two amplifiers and flip the phase switch. When the amplifiers are in phase the sound will be full, when they are out of phase the sound will be thin.

POWER
9V / 100mA
CURRENT DRAW
100mA
OUTPUTS
1 x buffered, 1 x transformer isolated/phase reversible
DIMENSIONS
5.2cm x 2.6cm x 10.2cm / 20.5″ x 1.02″ x 4.02″
WEIGHT
0.25kg / 0.6lbs