World's BEST 1/4" Jack??

I've never seen these before. I will definitely be considering them the next time I need a new jack socket.

 

Weight?

 

seen those for a while now; neat gimmick but i'd never choose an otherwise cheap import jack like that over the far more robust plain ol' switchcraft # 11

there's a zillion of these on vintage guitars and amps all working perfectly after half a century

if you want to get fancy i see where they have a dual-prong version too, the # 2T11



don't see a real need though

 

This ^

 

Joking.

 

Ehm, I have a 1966 Fender P Bass with the original Switchcraft jack. I have a 1953 Fender P Bass with the original Switchcraft jack. I have a house that was built in 1965 with Switchcraft phone jacks. All of these are still working perfectly.

Ahh, Switchcraft works.

 

Pure Tone has a “barrel” style as well. I would like to try that eventually. (Alas, it was back ordered the last time I needed parts.)

 

The tip and sleeve contact points are so close together, it looks like the tip of the cable will short the jack before full insertion. Maybe not bad for a passive bass (not sure about an active bass), but possibly disastrous on an amp's 1/4" speaker output as well as the speaker's jack. All just IMO from looking at the picture. Would be much better with more distance between the sleeve and tip connections.

 

The thing I would worry about with that jack is the short spring section - the Switchcraft design doubles back, which makes the spring longer, which makes it less likely to be pushed out of its linear/elastic region. The shorter spring section on the design in question is more likely to become deformed. Springs on cars are either coils (which lengthens the spring section considerably), or long leafs - for the same reason.

 

ooh, good point. a shorter bit of metal will get bent harder and wear out sooner

 

hmm; barrel jacks (even switchcraft) mostly suck regardless, i wonder if this one is an actual improvement?

ad copy says "more contact area" without saying more than what, kind of annoying

 

All I know that over the last 45+ years of playing electric instruments that I have had examples of every other jack mentioned in this thread break at one point or another, EXCEPT for the venerable Switchcraft #11 - never a failure. Don't ask me to count the number of guitars, amps, stomp boxes, accessories, etc., that I have used with the Switchcraft jacks, because I have lost count over the decades; probably hundreds.

 

Switchcraft for me. Those jacks appear to make the cord difficult to remove which could easily cause a pickguard to break or crack. I guess they would be OK to use if its not mounted to a plastic pickguard.

 

another good point, those would probably be a bad idea on a P-bass

 

The world's best Jack:



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