Can anyone help with a wiring query?
I've built a small patch bay for my pedal board consisting of a plastic PCB box containing 8 ¼†mono jacks wired directly together in pairs.
It works but sounds bad, excessive noise etc.
The jacks are wired together with insulated copper wire and solder, not sure what kind; just a bit I had available
Can anyone suggest what I can do to reduce the noise? Should I use a certain kind of wire or solder to improve the sound quality?
I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts
Thanks
b3ans
More info required: Describe the noise. Hum? Scratching? Hissing? While playing? Not playing? While wiggling the plugs?
-=tension & release=-
Shouldn't the cables be shielded by a braid?
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Hi there
I tested the box by plugging the gtr into one side of the pair of jacks and the other into the amp. Upon plugging in I got a quite high pitched buzz & hum, it ‘sounds' like ‘electricity', sorry for the vagaries. The noise is there when I don't play and continues at the same level when I do, increasing in volume as I turn up the amp.
I repeated this for all pairs of jacks in the box and got the same result. I haven't done a wiggle test as such because I heard the noise it was making and thought, stop here, something isn't right.
Cheers
b3ans
Short runs between jacks shouldn't normally require shielding. How long are the wires between jacks? If more than a couple inches (5 cm) change over to shielded audio cable for the connections: Center conductor to the the tip (hot) and braid (shield) to the ring (ground or earth). Also: Make sure you are not crossing hot and ground wiring from one jack to the next.
-=tension & release=-
Thanks for the response
The wires are probably about 5 to 6 cm in length,
I was probably misleading in the last post, it's not jacks I'm having problems with, it's jack sockets, so I guess audio cable with a centre and shield is not the right kind of wire for the job as I need to connect the tabs of each socket together that are separate, not like a jack plug where barrel and tip are together as you have suggested.
Have included a pic of the things I'm trying to connect if this is any use?
Cheers again!!
b3ans
socket = jack. the other half is only called a plug.
I understood you correctly, and do mean to use a cable with a center and shield for the socket (jack, as you've pictured) connections. This requires peeling away the braid and twisting it together to form a thick wire off to the side of the center conductor. It's sometimes challenging for newbies, but is a common practice.
-=tension & release=-
You are certainly right! I don't know my arse from my elbow and have never tried anything like this before. 1st time I've pickup up a solderig iron since the school days!
OK, I understand where you're going, I'll give this a try.
Thanks for all your help
b3ans
