Carl Martin Combinator 2

The Carl Martin Combinator 2 is a switching and routing hub for pedalboards. Its job is to let a player move between several different effect chains, with the maker describing it as allowing "seamless switching between multiple effect chains while preserving tone and minimizing signal loss"¹. Rather than tapping a row of individual pedals mid-song, the player selects a chain and the Combinator 2 handles the routing.

Carl Martin positions it as "a powerful hub for demanding live and studio setups"¹, and it sits in the company's switching range alongside units like the Carl Martin OctaSwitch MKII, the Carl Martin Octa-Switch The Strip, the Carl Martin Route Box and the Carl Martin Match Box. For more on how this kind of unit works and where it fits on a board, see Switching Pedals.

What it does

The Combinator 2 is designed for players with more advanced pedalboards¹, where several combinations of pedals need to be reachable at a footstep's notice. The core function is chain switching: instead of engaging and disengaging pedals one at a time, the player stores or selects whole chains, and the unit routes the signal through only the pedals in that chain. The maker's stated aim is that this happens while preserving tone and minimizing signal loss¹, which matters because every extra pedal and cable in the path can dull the signal, particularly on larger boards.

In practice, that makes it a hub at the center of a board: guitars in, effects loops routed through it, and one output onward to the amp. Players building larger setups around true bypass switching will find it sits in the same family as the other Carl Martin switchers, each aimed at a different board size and control layout¹.