Question About Z-Macs Routing and Multiple Amp Heads

Hey everyone!

I’m working on a switcher setup for my recording studio and could use some advice.

I have 16 amp heads and 4 cabs. Right now, I manually switch everything using a custom patchbay. The way I work is by running 2 heads into 2 separate cabs simultaneously—one dirty and one “cleaner.” I frequently swap heads and cabs, with no dedicated pairing between them.

I’m considering an amp switcher to simplify this process. From what I understand, the ZMACS only allow 1 head into 2 cabs at a time. If I were to get 4 ZMACS to cover all 16 heads, is there a way to make this work? Or do I need a different solution?

Any creative routing ideas or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Now that I think about it, if I got two amp switchers and patched in 8 amps at a time, I could make it work. While it would be nice to have all 16 set up, in reality, I am really only auditioning between 3 or 4 at a time for the specific purpose. I do not need all 16 amps plugged in simultaneously. I could just create a patchbay for the 8 inputs and be good to go!

That’s a pretty specific use case and there are no amp switchers we know of that are capable of dealing with it.

We could probably come up with something, but your two unit with pachbay suggestion is the closest we would be able to offer for now.

Dave