a ? For rack guys...

[Cazmarzak]

I want to get an interface panel for my rack. I have seen them in a lot of guys racks so I know they are out there but dont' know where to get them.

Basically I need a 1 or 2 space rack panel with 2 1/4 inch female jacks and a female midi jack on the panel. And from those jacks would be the cable in about a 3 foot length along with the male plugs.

I want this so that I can hook up everything to the front of my rack and not have to dive into the back of the thing. Right now I have all the plugs in there and I just disconnect it at the peadal board and throw it in the back of that rack but that is a mess.

[Kent S.]

Re: a ? For rack guys...

Sound like what you want is a patch bay, seems a bit pricy for 4 jacks though ... my advice, by some male to female cables (or just the jacks, and the cable and make them yourself), a blank rack panel, and drill some holes in it and mount up what you need. A good electronics supplier will have everything you need. Or check Furman or Pro-Co. they probably have something less than a full blown patch bay.

[Hellion]

Re: a ? For rack guys...

About 13 years ago, I was using 4 or 5 different guitars during a show and got tired of unplugging and plugging during the course of the gig. I made a 6 plug switch panel into which I plugged all the guitars and then had a single connector to the amp. Something like that might work for you, just with different connectors.

[Robert S.]

Re: a ? For rack guys...

I just made exactly what you are asking for and for the exact same reason.

I already had a blank steel 1 space panel in my rack doing nothing but taking up an empty space. I got tired of patching between my wireless (rack mounted - rear access) and my Triaxis (rear access). All I did was to drill two holes in the steel rack panel and then install two female jacks that I hard wired two sheileded cables to with 1/4 male jacks on the ends. It took maybe 10 minutes to make and it works great. Now I can plug directly into the front of the rack with a guitar cable or I can jumper the wireless output to the Triaxis input from the front panel.

I have a shockmount rack so I can run a 25 foot 7 pin midi cable out from undernieth the bottom unit so I didn't need to install a midi jack but doing so wouldn't have been much harder.

You aren't looking at much more than maybe $25 in parts and a drill and a soldering kit is all thats really nessessary to do it. Try www.mouser.com for the parts.

[Mincer]

Re: a ? For rack guys...

could you repost pics of this?

[Cazmarzak]

Re: a ? For rack guys...

I would like to see a pic also. Thanks!

[lastwinj]

Re: a ? For rack guys...

if you dont want to do it, hit me with a PM.

germ

[Robert S.]

Re: a ? For rack guys...

Give me a minute and I'll pull it out of my rack and take a couple of pics with it unmounted. It is really far more simple to make than you might believe.

[Robert S.]

Re: a ? For rack guys...

bump

[Cazmarzak]

Re: a ? For rack guys...

Thanks Robert! the only thing I'm haveing trouble finding would be a panel mount Midi connectoer.

[Robert S.]

Re: a ? For rack guys...

Im working on it. They have them at www.mouser.com but it's a lot to search through and the illistrations are pretty rough.

PM lastwinj, he'll point you in the right direction.