DACS Headline Guitar Switcher

The DACS Headline is an amp switcher offering the choice of 8 amps and 4 loudspeaker cabinets giving guitarists and producers a fast and flexible way to compare several amplifier setups.

The DACS Headline consists of two 1U enclosures, a user interface and a relay switching box both connected via an RJ45 network cable providing an affordable way for easy routing and cable management.

The User interface includes 12 illuminated buttons eight red to select the amplifiers and the blue for the loudspeaker cabinets. 

To avoid open or short circuits, the loudspeaker connections are always monitored. Each available speaker output appears as dimly lit while unconnected outputs are not lit at all, giving clear indication as to what amps are available.

The relay switcher unit provides perfect isolation between amps as well as complete fidelity. To avoid hums or interference, unselected amplifier inputs have thee signal and screen linked. Unselected Amplifier outputs connect to a dummy load to avoid any problems with sensitive valve output stages.

A small delay occurs when switching between amplifiers (40ms) and loudspeakers (150ms) to let amplifiers time to settle and reverbs to dissipate before disconnecting the outputs.