Connections for pedal boards

[socialleper]

In some of the pictures I've seen of different players pedal boards on this site, some of them have these really awesome looking plugs patched between the pedals. Some of them look like just two 1/4" connectors stuck together. Can someone please help me out and tell me what they are called and who makes them? When I look it up on Musicians Friend all I can find are the little shorty cables, not these neat little plugs.

[JehuJava]

George L's?

[Bryan R. Tyler]

They're called couplers.
http://accessories.musiciansfriend.c...ght?sku=330079
http://accessories.musiciansfriend.c...er-?sku=330080

[Jared Lash]

Originally Posted by Bryan R. Tyler

They're called couplers.

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.c...er-?sku=330080

Not being obsessive about tone I've never asked this, but is there any downside to using couplers? I've seen a number of boards where someone uses George L's for pedals right next to one another where a coupler would work just as well and wondered why.

Personally I don't notice any difference and have never had reliability issues with a coupler but have with short George L cables.

(To be clear, George L's are fine as long as you don't move or pull on them, but sometimes that can't be helped.)

[Bryan R. Tyler]

I don't use them myself, but I doubt there'd be anything that could take away from the tone. If the coupler plugs were of good quality, then I imagine it might decrease the chances of tone-suck by eliminating one potential element of it (bad or attenuated cable).

At the same time, it's physically joining two pedals together, so you run the risk of damaging one if, for example, you stomp on one pedal that shifts down slightly when stomped on while the one it's attached to stays more rigid.

[dannybuoy]

Couplers work fine for me - I use the EBS gold ones:



Pros: They are very rugged and won't fail on you like a Geroge L cable can if it's repeatedly plugged an unplugged. You can sometime get your pedals closer together than you can with a cable, depending on the pedals and their positioning.

Cons: Pulling the pedals off can put strain on the jack sockets, which could be an issue if your pedal has the jacks soldered to the board. Also some pedals have gently sloping sides so the the couplers end up pointing slightly up in the air. The 442 and BB in the pic above were like this, I losened the nuts a little bit to take care of after making sure the jacks weren't soldered to the PCB! Sometimes you just can't use a couple due to location of power and jack sockets. For instance the VT Bass and Carbon Copy having clashing power plugs in the same place, although I managed t work around this by squeezing the Pitchblack in there!

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Never saw a black 442 before.

[dannybuoy]

I believe it's an early model that Tayste got on special order before the bass version was generally available!

[rustynuts]

Originally Posted by Bryan R. Tyler

At the same time, it's physically joining two pedals together, so you run the risk of damaging one if, for example, you stomp on one pedal that shifts down slightly when stomped on while the one it's attached to stays more rigid.

This is the problem I had with couplers years ago. There's no flex to them so when you step down on one pedal, the pedal it's attached to get's pressure exerted on its input jack. I ruined a couple of pedals with the couplers after extended use.

[socialleper]

Awesome, thanks everyone.