1/8" Patch Cables.. Blasphemy?

[brand0nized]

While I was pondering space-saving tactics for multiple fx pedals and for my pedaltrain nano, it occurred to me that I could use 1/8" jacks and make 1/8" patch cables. I'd have more space in the enclosure for pots and circuit boards, and I could fit everything closer together on the nano.

Would this be so bad? I'm just wondering about the types of cable and wire which the audio will be transferred through..

[alanp]

I suspect it's more that 3.5mm jacks and sockets tend to be a lot shonkier than 6.5mm jacks.

[croquet hoop]

You may have more space inside, but you'll have to deal with adapters (which will make you lose space outside) if you ever want to add a "normal" pedal to your setup.

I have thought about it too, but despite finding the size of most 1/4" jacks and plugs absurdly bulky, I thought that it was safer to use small 1/4" jacks in the pedal, and use/make cables with small connectors (Lava CX, George L, or any ready-made cheap patch cables with reasonably sized connectors, see Pickdropper's thread about his pedaltrain nano for instance).

[pickdropper]

If you are building just for your own use, go for it.  It'll be much more compact.  You may want to have 1/4" jacks mounted to the pedalboard for external connections, however.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

If you run into issues, you could always get a few 3.5mm to 6.5mm adapters..... or vice versa 

[alanp]

Put it this way.

If your foot slams into a 6.5mm jack plugged into a Kingslayer, not much happens (other than maybe less than a mil of twisted metal.)

If your foot slams into a 3.5mm jack plugged into a Kingslayer, it's hugely more likely to need time under a soldering iron. (Not a soddering iron.)

[croquet hoop]

We need small magsafe connectors (with $30 adapters to 1/4" for compatibility).

[davent]

Top end mount the 1/4" jacks. The 1/8" jacks i've been able to get (headphone amps) have extremely short threaded bushings which makes it a bit of a challenge to get good mounting on the usual Hammond enclosures.

With Dave's (Pickdropper) Nano board it looks that for the "a's" he's using there that the side mount jacks/plugs act as spacers to keep the individual switches far enough apart that you don't accidentally hit more then one switch at a time. There's only so close you can group the pedals before it becomes impractical/difficult to access the switches.

dave

[pickdropper]

Top end mount the 1/4" jacks. The 1/8" jacks i've been able to get (headphone amps) have extremely short threaded bushings which makes it a bit of a challenge to get good mounting on the usual Hammond enclosures.

With Dave's (Pickdropper) Nano board it looks that for the "a's" he's using there that the side mount jacks/plugs act as spacers to keep the individual switches far enough apart that you don't accidentally hit more then one switch at a time. There's only so close you can group the pedals before it becomes impractical/difficult to access the switches.

dave

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).

If you really wanted the pedals closer together, you could use those 1/4" connector bars that don't have any cable.  You'd have to take those into account when building the pedals, however.

[davent]

Do the connector bars take into account that on the diecast enclosures (eg. Hammond) opposite sides = side-by-side enclosures, the sides are nonparallel?

[pickdropper]

Do the connector bars take into account that on the diecast enclosures (eg. Hammond) opposite sides = side-by-side enclosures, the sides are nonparallel?

Some are straight through, some have an offset, but the offset doesn't match my layouts.  I could probably account for it if I planned ahead, but I don't use those.

[jimilee]

Let's not kill his dream, of course it will work. If it's just for a whole nano pedal collection and board, I don't see any issues.

[pickdropper]

Let's not kill his dream, of course it will work. If it's just for a whole nano pedal collection and board, I don't see any issues.

Oh, we're not killing the dream.  As we figured out early on, it's totally viable.  We've just digressed into what the relative merits are of it (we tend to stray a bit here at times).

[jimilee]

Let's not kill his dream, of course it will work. If it's just for a whole nano pedal collection and board, I don't see any issues.

Oh, we're not killing the dream.  As we figured out early on, it's totally viable.  We've just digressed into what the relative merits are of it (we tend to stray a bit here at times).

None as far as I can see, it's just a cool thing to try. No way I need the 5 or so phasers I built No way I'd  personally take that thing in to a bar, a church gig maybe though. :-)

[pickdropper]

Let's not kill his dream, of course it will work. If it's just for a whole nano pedal collection and board, I don't see any issues.

If you wanted to get really funky, you could just use a single stereo jack, In on the tip, Out on the ring, Gnd on the sleeve.  If you wanted to get super funky, you could use a 4-conductor 1/8" jack and put power on the second ring.  Of course, that would only work if you went to a central looper type pedal as you'd have to split it out if you were daisy chaining the pedals directly.
Oh, we're not killing the dream.  As we figured out early on, it's totally viable.  We've just digressed into what the relative merits are of it (we tend to stray a bit here at times).

None as far as I can see, it's just a cool thing to try. No way I need the 5 or so phasers I built No way I'd  personally take that thing in to a bar, a church gig maybe though. :-)