Center negative jacks and plugs? Idiotic!!

OnePocket · #1 03-06-2010, 12:44 PM

Who was the genius that decided pedals should be wired
center ground?
So frustrating.
Today I decide to wire my Morley ABY so it runs off my OneSpot. Should be easy right?
Nooo..... The morley is grounded negatively to the case,
as any circuit in its right mind would be. I wire in my jack
and it works fine til I try to install it in the case and get instant short( which I should have realized would happen of course). I look on line for a jack that has the shell isolated,
none turn up. So I had to make insulating washers and wrap the jack barrel in tape to isolate it from the case.
Jeeezz ... what a pain. A project that should take an hour took 2 1/2. The thing is working, but I don't know how long my Rube Goldberg fix will last.
Well, just blowing off steam after a frustrating morning.

Taylor Livingston · #2 03-06-2010, 01:18 PM

Your post is a little confusing, but there are tons of plastic 9v jacks, the world of effects would not be the same without them. I can point you to a part number if you like.

And to answer your question, Boss was the one who came up with center negative, and because they were the dominant effect manufacturer in the last 30 years, everybody else had to adopt their convention.

Boss decided to go this way because they used barrel-type DC jacks, and in order to allow the action of plugging the power supply into the pedal to automatically switch from battery to supply power, the ground had to be the center rather than the sleeve.

RickenBoogie · #3 03-06-2010, 01:27 PM

Plus, wouldn't it have been a million times easier to reverse the wires on the adapter, rather than on your effect pedal?

cheapbasslovin · #4 03-06-2010, 01:46 PM

I feel ya bro. I replaced a power connector on a DOD pedal and right before I dead shorted my pedal I realized what I was about to do. Fortunately I was TBP modding it as well so I was already in over my head and it didn't bug me to adapt to a solution.

I can find the proper type of jack now, but at the time I hadn't much experience in searching for parts and it was a PITA.

Here's one.

OnePocket · #5 03-06-2010, 02:39 PM

Well I am glad to know that there is a good reason. I would like to know where to get the jacks, as I am sure that I will have to replace mine at some point because it will short
Thanks,
Steve

OnePocket · #6 03-06-2010, 03:12 PM

Thanks for the link Cheapbasslovin. I am going to order a couple.
Rickenboogie, I didn't change the polarity of the pedal or the 1spot that I want to use for everything, saving hauling/setting up several adapters.

I guess tho with my setup, I wont be able to have the battery cut off when the ac adapter is on. Will have to think about that one. I see now that I need to post here before I start these projects. Then I won't need to blow off so much steam.
Thanks all
Steve