F*#king 1/4" phone plugs!

[ToneMerc]

I have believed for years that the market is flooded with counterfeits.

TM

[tubeswell]

And indeed it is.

[Reeltarded]

I believe that. 99.99999% bet ya.

[George61]

I'm sorry I insulted Switchcraft now. There products are OK but I still think that Cliff and Neutrik are better by design.

I've only built three guitar amps so I'm no expert. I spent a lot of money for parts to build a Trainwreck Rocket. The amp worked but had an intermittent crackle and didn't sound quite right. I could not figure out what was wrong. It was not a tube or a bad solder joint. I eventually gave up on the amp. I am off of work this week so I decided to play around with the Trainwreck again and I discovered that the input jack was the problem and I was really pissed at Switchcraft but I'm over it now, the amp works good.

It my fault that I didn't find the problem right off of the bat. I know enough to check everything when I am building an amp. I should have checked to see if the input was grounded with nothing plugged in and that there was 1M to ground with a plug plugged in. Normally I would do that but this time I didn't.

The jack in question came from Mouser.

Solder on,
George

[Reeltarded]

Edit the topic to curse mouser



Cliffs melt and other stuff, like bend out of the hole if you walk away on a cord. Newtricks are way too complicated to last. Something to be said about metal with a simple insulator.

[LPC78wino]

Switchcraft has always been my favorite and 1st choice. I also like Cliff, G&H and Nuetrik, but I considered Switchcraft because I own a lot of vintage gear and they are fitted with Switchcraft. I took notice that manufacturers have different tip shapes. IOW focusing on the head & throat. Most of my cables have Switchcraft ends and seat perfectly in the jack. Mix-matching sometimes leads to the ¼" male plug popping out unsuspectingly. Happening more often in Guitar enclosure, Bass rigs, & P.A. subs.

Here's an example of a properly seated jack. The positive terminal should seat perfectly in the throat area of the tip (or head) and rest when fully inserted.

[img:200:173]http://www.gearslutz.com/board/attachme ... switch.jpg[/img]
[img:414:92]http://ask.creative.com/wwimages/1212_P ... ectors.jpg[/img]

Examples of different shape & size tips and throat (where the pos terminal seats as noted above)

[img:500:388]http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/135583.jpg[/img]


I've recently switch only my speaker cable to a Planet Waves compression shaft for piece of mind

[img:600:251]http://cdn3.volusion.com/wuagj.xgtzt/v/ ... PT-1-2.gif[/img]

[M Fowler]

In my opinion, it would hard to find higher quality jacks then the Switchcraft brand. But I also use Cliff Jacks in many builds as well.

I did have to watch many vendors claiming to be selling Cliff jacks when they were fakes about 3-4 years ago.

Mark

[Leo_Gnardo]

I've recently switch only my speaker cable to a Planet Waves compression shaft for piece of mind

Some very good points on the fit between plug and jack.

On those Planet Waves, how is the cable connected to the plug? All the ones I've seen, they're like George L's, you screw in a pointed set screw and "hope" it hits the conductor inside the insulation. No soldering. NOT a very certain way of making a connection, too iffy for me. Especially with amp outputs.

Quarter-inch plugs and jacks shouldn't be used for speaker connections above @ 200 watts. There's just not enough contact area, and the connector can arc and burn. Here's an example: one of my customers was having trouble with his Carver PM 1.5 amp, so he thought. Everytime he used one channel to drive his JBL Cabaret series 18" sup, the amp would thermal out after a few minutes. I checked out the amp and it was just fine. The input jack to the sub, a Switchcraft quarter-inch, was roasted black - the insulator wafers were carbonized. With no speaker attached, I measured 1 ohm across the connector. After I replaced it, everything ran just fine, and the customer ran it at a low power level that did not tax the connector. Now it's perfectly possible before he bought it, someone ran way too much power into that sub, and fried the connector, and it could happen again.

The point is, the ubiquitous Switchcraft connecors, especially the quarter-inch plugs and jacks, are excellent - within their limits. Some manufacturers choose mic type connectors - but no matter the manufacturer the contacts on those are rated 5 amps. Do the arithmetic, that's 200 watts at 8 ohms. Not much of an advantage. Better select appropriate connectors for those big PA and bass rigs. Some use Hubbell Twist-Lok, Neutrik Speak-on, or Cannon/Australia multipins with 30A rated pins. I was "spoiled by Clair Brothers" so it's the Cannons for me.

[LOUDthud]

I've known for years that Switchcraft jacks were rated at 5 Amps. What are the Cliff type jacks rated at?

I had a Cliff type jack catch on fire in the lab recently. There wasn't any current going through it, it was near a clip lead that melted down. I was in the other room checking something on the computer and left a 50W power amp connected to a 4 ohm load with a square wave going through it. When I smelled the smoke the clip lead had burned out and the Cliff type jack was the only thing burning. I say Cliff type because they are probably fake from ebay. No markings on them that I can see.

[statorvane]

The Cliff jacks seem like they were made for guitar amplification. They are by design insulated. Much easier to solder the resistors and lead wire for a 4-hole style Marshall build (I have a real soft spot for these amplifiers). The chrome nut looks much nicer than the Switchcraft too.

[Structo]

Yeah it's curious that we still use the open type jack most likely invented by Western Electric
for use on telephone switchboards.

That is why they are called a Phone jack and Phone plug, not to be confused with a Phono jack or RCA connector.

The Tip, Ring and Sleeve denote the parts of the plug and jack.
Usually referred to as TRS connectors.

Curiously the phone connector hasn't changed much in 100 years.

The problem with the phone plug and phone jack match up , is most times you are using
two different brands of connectors and the all important contact point on the tip
can be poor depending how well the two match up.

Some makers claim their plug and jack are designed for each other so the tip makes better contact when connected.

When you stop and think about how these different connectors match up and using them with 100w+ amps and speakers it's amazing they even work as well as they do.

We now have Speakon connectors for high power connections.

But we still use the lowly 1/4" Phone Plug and jack.

[img:625:252]http://www.oldradioparts.com/2a17p.jpg[/img]

[harleyboy2112]

I hate to jump on the anti-switchcraft bandwagon but I've had nothing but problems with their switching jacks.
The first 5 amps I had built all ended up back in the shop with input jack problems. I replaced them with Cliff UK jacks except for one that I did manage to get switches to keep contact. Even then I told the customer if he had any more problems I'd replace them with the Cliff UK jacks.
The problem I would have is after awhile the switch wouldn't keep contact. I'd clean the contacts & try bending them to keep them together. Definitely not like the old ones.

[David Root]

I find the most critical application for 1/4" jacks is send and return for FX loops, because you have signal going thru not one, but two jacks, when the jacks are not in use as send and return. Both jacks use the shunt contact design. I had continual intermittent contact problems

About 2 or three years ago I stopped buying the regular Switchcraft jacks and changed to the Switchcraft Mil-Spec jack (C12AX). Silver plated contacts. No more drop outs in FX loops or any other duty. Cost a bit more but seem to work like the old ones did. Mouser 502-C12AX.

Makes one wonder why, if the regular jacks are "so good" how come they're not good enough for Uncle Sam?

[cruisemates]

Take a look at the way I got ripped off a couple weeks ago: This listing for a "Peavey Jack" made by Switchcraft (this is NOT a switchcraft issue) - the part number is "12B" - so I though I was buying package of 12 connectors for $12.99.

I received ONE connector - and there was a handling charge - It came to $15.00 for 1 switchcraft 1/4" jack.

The company was Smart DJ Lighting. To return it you have to get an RMA, send it express and they charge a 20% re-stocking fee. ASP - SWIPES!

http://stores.ebay.com/Smart-DJ-Lightin ... 7675.l2563

AVOID - AVOID - AVOID - AVOID

[jelle]

The ebay ad clearly shows that it is for one piece.

The model mumber is 12B.