Carl Martin Combinator

The Carl Martin Combinator is a compact switching system designed to simplify complex pedalboard setups. It lets you route, combine, and switch between different effect paths quickly and reliably, making it easy to manage multiple pedals without tap-dancing, and Carl Martin says it keeps your signal clean while giving you flexible control on stage¹. For a player, that means one unit on the floor standing in for a row of stomps: instead of hitting three pedals in sequence, you switch whole effect paths at once.

What it does on a board

A switching system sits between your guitar and your effects. You plug your pedals into its loops, and the Combinator's footswitches turn whole chains on and off rather than one pedal at a time. Carl Martin's pitch is that this keeps your signal clean while giving flexible control on stage, which matters because every extra pedal in the path can load down a guitar signal¹. It is built with the same rugged, road-ready quality associated with Carl Martin, a point the maker leans on for a unit that lives on the floor¹.

If you are new to the category, the Combinator belongs to the broader family of switching pedals, which covers loopers, routers and switchers of every size.

The Combinator and the Combinator 2

Carl Martin also makes a larger version, the Carl Martin Combinator 2. The maker describes it as a powerful hub for demanding live and studio setups, designed for players with more advanced pedalboards, and says it allows seamless switching between multiple effect chains while preserving tone and minimizing signal loss². In short, the original Combinator is the compact option, and the Combinator 2 is the one Carl Martin points advanced players toward.

Carl Martin's switching range also includes the Carl Martin OctaSwitch MKII, the Carl Martin Octa-Switch The Strip, the Carl Martin Route Box and the Carl Martin Match Box, which cover other loop counts and routing needs.

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