Would you spend $40 on an output jack?

[ArtieToo]

Re: Would you spend $40 on an output jack?

I don't understand why we are using 1/4" jacks on guitars/pedals/amps. The XLR format is so much better, the industrie should have switched to them 50 years ago.

I can think of a couple reasons: XLR's are much larger. The signal that comes out of a guitar is microscopic compared to most consumer electronics. Also, 1/4" jacks and plugs are the same on both ends. XLR's require a male and female, which just complicates your parts inventory.

[ehdwuld]

Re: Would you spend $40 on an output jack?

Cant change the jack
That's silly
What's next?
Tube amps

Silly Rabbit

[Mincer]

Re: Would you spend $40 on an output jack?

I don't understand why we are using 1/4" jacks on guitars/pedals/amps. The XLR format is so much better, the industrie should have switched to them 50 years ago.

Was there a big switch gonna happen 50 years ago? Certainly, we should have been using balanced cables all this time. My thought is that 1/4" jacks and plugs got to be the standard as they were already the standard in telephone use.

[donaldr]

Re: Would you spend $40 on an output jack?

I don't understand why we are using 1/4" jacks on guitars/pedals/amps. The XLR format is so much better, the industrie should have switched to them 50 years ago.

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Would you spend $40 on an output jack?

I’ll defend the $35 picks all day. On an acoustic instrument, you have the wood, strings, and the pick (and of course your hands). I’m cool with Tortex on electric stuff, but the strings are heavier and tighter on my acoustic guitar and mandolin, and normal picks tend to rotate. The BlueChips don’t. They also come with the edge beveled, and don’t wear out. And really... it’s $35, and if you don’t like them, people will buy good condition used ones on Mandolin Cafe for $30. Also, once you spend that much on a pick, you tend to stop losing them. If I was a touring musician, I’d use the Dunlop Primetones, which are 90% as good for $3 each.

My basses have quality jacks in them that weren’t prohibitively expensive. I don’t see any reason to spend more than Switchcraft on those.

I purposely rotate my pick. That’s a very common picking technique. It’s not parallel with the strings. It’s maybe a 15° rotation. Helps the pick tip slide off the strings.

I’ve been using these on guitar and bass.




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[MikeS]

Re: Would you spend $40 on an output jack?

Careful what you call an input jack
Some people take exception to that

Maybe that’s what’s wrong with my tone.

[Mincer]

Re: Would you spend $40 on an output jack?

I might try one. I'll get a stereo one, and put it in a guitar just to see what it's all about, and then move it over to a high-end headphone amp I'm building.

Love to hear the report on that!

[ArtieToo]

Re: Would you spend $40 on an output jack?

I might try one. I'll get a stereo one, and put it in a guitar just to see what it's all about, and then move it over to a high-end headphone amp I'm building.

[SoPhx]

Re: Would you spend $40 on an output jack?

Switchcraft and CRL have proven their reliability over the last 75 years. I have 40s Gibsons with original switches, pots, and jack. No problem.

[Mincer]

Re: Would you spend $40 on an output jack?

I am all for people coming up with new ways to do things. There are all kinds of fulrum bridges after the original Strat bridge, and if that hadn't been looked at, we never wound have come up with better designs. It is pretty expensive for a jack, and I'd like to hear more about the advantages that makes it cost 10x more than a Switchcraft jack. It looks pretty industrial, and well-designed.

[ArtieToo]

Re: Would you spend $40 on an output jack?

That's what I am thinking as well. Switchcrafts have served me well, so I am not thinking about changing over to this new and expensive jack.

Not only that, but when I rewire one of my guitars, I usually use a stereo jack. I wire ring & sleeve together so that I have an actual contact for ground instead of simply side pressure against the sleeve. I also like the fact that I can pull the plug out one "click" to temporarily mute the guitar. But as I also mentioned, I'm really liking those Pure Tones. Even their mono version provides for that click-mute function.

[Chistopher]

Re: Would you spend $40 on an output jack?

“What an ingenious idea! Between the QiJack and the Analysis Plus cables, I now have the true tone of the pick-ups and strings on my guitar.” – Russ Hewitt

This is the best consumer review they could get, and if you look him up, he's not an acclaimed musician, he's an "acclaimed musical artist".

[The JEM Ghost]

Re: Would you spend $40 on an output jack?

I can't imagine they'd improve the sound over a good ole Switchcraft.

That's what I am thinking as well. Switchcrafts have served me well, so I am not thinking about changing over to this new and expensive jack.

[PFDarkside]

Re: Would you spend $40 on an output jack?

Ha. well, I don't think they will reply with anything useful -and at guitar frequencies, there's just not a lot of need for improvement -Real improvement would be the connection being locking and solid -which they sort of address partially -but you are still beholdened to 50% of the equation remaining the same.

If your gonna go big -go all the way!

The funny thing is that guitar “tone” is built on inadequacies all along the signal chain. A guitar pickup is hardly the most efficient or flat way to collect the musical “information” coming from an electric guitar. Obviously we want amps that distort, even when “clean”, and a guitar speaker is awful and reproducing what it is fed. Even at the input cable level, Texas Blues Alley did a demo of the redeemer buffer that gets installed in the guitar and it’s just way too bright for me. We are accustomed to cable length rolling off treble and shifting the resonant peak of the pickups lower.

[NegativeEase]

Re: Would you spend $40 on an output jack?

That's it? You need science? I was expecting more from you regarding a high priced audio accesory and 6k cable... (I AM KIDDING! )

Ha. well, I don't think they will reply with anything useful -and at guitar frequencies, there's just not a lot of need for improvement -Real improvement would be the connection being locking and solid -which they sort of address partially -but you are still beholdened to 50% of the equation remaining the same.

If your gonna go big -go all the way!