the slightly thin patch cable pin scratchy hum thread

liquidsmoke · September 04, 2012, 01:25:38 PM

Or am I wrong? Are some cord plugs actually thin enough to cause noise or is it more the pedal jack size? All I know is some of my patch cords suck and I'm sick of wasting money on them. I don't like the DIY kits but the molded and premade ones seem to vary in size and quality. At the very least I'm quite sure that they aren't all exactly 1/4", if that was ever the exact size in the first place. I'm not talking about sound quality here, I'm talking about BBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR and SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Grrrrrr... Wasting money is fun.

Hemisaurus · September 04, 2012, 01:34:04 PM

I found recently a batch of jacks I had bought were slightly undersized. A couple of those jacks have fallen apart when a unit was dropped and swung from them. They failed to make contact in one of my cabs. If a jack is loose it can cause noise, hum would mean that it or something else in the chain is making poor ground contact.

liquidsmoke · September 05, 2012, 12:22:52 AM

I've heard scratchy static and hum. Sometimes I can just kick my pedalboard and the solid contact comes back. I'm going to be throwing away a bunch of patch cords.

neighbor664 · September 05, 2012, 09:57:38 AM

Quote from: liquidsmoke on September 04, 2012, 01:25:38 PMAt the very least I'm quite sure that they aren't all exactly 1/4", if that was ever the exact size in the first place.

Well, if you've ever used Monster brand cables with your gear the jacks are now stretched out just enough so that any true 1/4 is is loose.

RacerX · September 05, 2012, 11:50:28 AM

Quote from: neighbor664 on September 05, 2012, 09:57:38 AM
Quote from: liquidsmoke on September 04, 2012, 01:25:38 PMAt the very least I'm quite sure that they aren't all exactly 1/4", if that was ever the exact size in the first place.

Well, if you've ever used Monster brand cables with your gear the jacks are now stretched out just enough so that any true 1/4 is is loose.

Bingo. You can always open her up & bend it back, tho.

liquidsmoke · September 05, 2012, 12:08:43 PM

Never used Monster, never will because of this. There should be an exact worldwide standard size.

Hemisaurus · September 05, 2012, 03:02:53 PM

Wherever there is a spec, people will underspec, and others will overspec

Monsters are an extreme though, and should be avoided.

liquidsmoke · September 06, 2012, 12:56:36 AM

Quote from: Hemisaurus on September 05, 2012, 03:02:53 PM
Wherever there is a spec, people will underspec, and others will overspec

They suck for this. Of course if we don't know the exact spec... perhaps someone with the right tool for measurement and a bit of free time could figure it out and we could spread this info online and it would eventually standardize cable jack size.

Are Monster jacks actually big enough to ruin input jill holes? Pretty evil genius of them if they simply bore them out making all other cables worthless. I'm sure as hell not spending hundreds on their cables either way though.

Hemisaurus · September 06, 2012, 09:15:00 AM

Yes, Monster stretches them out, rendering them useless for standard sized jacks. Actually had an instance where a Monster wouldn't fit the jack on a strat copy, it was too big, and the jack must have been slightly underspec.