1/8" Patch Cables.. Blasphemy?

[kothoma]

The idea is good, but in my experience 1/8" (3.5mm) jacks are unreliable and short-lived.

Edit: Alternative idea: Put the jack(s) on the bottom plate (no kidding). No wires visible on the pedal board.

[wgc]

I've been considering using XLR plugs and jacks to make a daisy chain, or alternatively 5 pin midi so you could also include power.  MIDI might be too wimpy, but one  connector is really appealing!

There might be some locking mil spec connectors that would work too, but they aren't cheap.

I haven't pursued it simply because I think the wiring at the outside connector can get bulky this way.

Really, I think the best/most reliable way to save space is to put multiple builds in a single box.  You lose some immediate flexibility, but maybe there's a way to use internal headers or molex styles to make it easier to swap things around.

[davent]

I've used stereo jacks for the send/return of fx loops in a few pedals, use a 'y' cord or a loop pedal that has an input stereo jack wired to functiion in that capacity or as a mono input.

I guess we need to know whether using 1/8" connectors is the goal here or... is it to make the most efficient use of the total space available and if that's the case wouldn't a single multi-circuit enclosure be the way to go, would only need two jacks. There's been some great examples of those posted here, the October contest thread contains some beauties!

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=11945.0

dave

edit. hadn't seen this page or posts when i entered this so ditto wgc on a single enclosure idea. You could also add in jacks for inserting more pedals into the chain and switched jacks if you want to be able to access individual circuits.

[slimtriggers]

The idea is good, but in my experience 1/8" (3.5mm) jacks are unreliable and short-lived.

Edit: Alternative idea: Put the jack(s) on the bottom plate (no kidding). No wires visible on the pedal board.

I've thought of this, too.  You could really have a neat setup that way 

[brand0nized]

Yeah, there's a lot of truth to that.  I was assuming he wanted more space on the inside of the enclosures.  After your post, I re-read the OP.  If it is referring to fitting more 1590a pedals on a nano, I am not sure it would be worth it; the spacing would be too tight (at least for me and my size 13 shoes).

I'm actually planning a dual drive inside a 125B, like the BYOC dual drive, except with terminal blocks so I can switch stuff out. I'm even toying with the idea of building an amp simulator from ROG for my base tone, leaving it on all the time, so that would make it 3 effects in a 125b. So you're right, more space inside!

Edit: Alternative idea: Put the jack(s) on the bottom plate (no kidding). No wires visible on the pedal board.

That's actually not a bad idea! My only problem would be switches being too close together, and maybe the cables on the bottom getting in the way of a power supply or the jacks don't fit the space on a PT style board.

Plus it doesn't save me any internal space.

Thanks for the input guys! This is really great! I'll keep y'all updated with what I decide to do!

+1 on having 3.5mm to 6.5mm adapters handy