Pure Tone Technologies - new "kind" of output jack

[Cagey]

None of that changes the fact that I've got a few of the PureTone jacks coming and do look forward to giving them a whirl.  :icon_thumright:

Right. Gotta have good jacks and they gotta come from somewhere.

 

[amon]

[quote author=ghotiphry]But all the active systems I have need one to trigger the battery circuit.  I suppose I could do an on/off mini toggle, but why?
[/quote]

Actually that's a brilliant idea. 

 

[Cagey]

There are two things to consider concerning auto-power-up via plug insertion vs. discrete on/off switch, with the former usually being preferred over the latter.

With auto-power-up on plug insertion, you don't have to remember anything. The guitar is automatically ready to go. For performers especially, this is a Good Thing. Nothing worse than hitting that first power chord and having nothing happen in front of a big crowd. The downside to the method is if you're primarily a home player, you might often leave the guitar plugged in when you place the instrument on a stand or hang it on the wall. This leads to a dead battery in fairly short order. Perfomers don't usually have that problem because when they're done playing, the instrument generally goes into a case for transport which forces it to be unplugged.

The discrete switch is more intuitive and may be easier to implement in some situations. Plus, it's easy to see its on/off state. But, with this solution home players and performers both are more prone to forgetting to power the thing up or leaving it powered up when done playing, with the resultant battery drain. Plus, there's the risk of inadvertent power down during performance from fat-fingering the controls. Finally, it's yet another hole in the guitar body and more clutter on the face.

 

[JD0x0]

Are these for sale on the market yet? I might get a couple of these.

 

[BigSteve22]

There are two things to consider concerning auto-power-up via plug insertion vs. discrete on/off switch, with the former usually being preferred over the latter.

With auto-power-up on plug insertion, you don't have to remember anything. The guitar is automatically ready to go. For performers especially, this is a Good Thing. Nothing worse than hitting that first power chord and having nothing happen in front of a big crowd. The downside to the method is if you're primarily a home player, you might often leave the guitar plugged in when you place the instrument on a stand or hang it on the wall. This leads to a dead battery in fairly short order. Perfomers don't usually have that problem because when they're done playing, the instrument generally goes into a case for transport which forces it to be unplugged.

The discrete switch is more intuitive and may be easier to implement in some situations. Plus, it's easy to see its on/off state. But, with this solution home players and performers both are more prone to forgetting to power the thing up or leaving it powered up when done playing, with the resultant battery drain. Plus, there's the risk of inadvertent power down during performance from fat-fingering the controls. Finally, it's yet another hole in the guitar body and more clutter on the face.

Good points all. I killed several batteries in my Boss NS-2 noise gate before I realized that turning it off does not disconnect the power. Just another home player who usually puts a guitar back in the rack without unpluging it....  :toothy11:

 

[Cagey]

Same here. It's only been in the last couple years or so that I've even owned a guitar that needed a battery, so I never really developed the habit of unplugging the thing if I wasn't using it. It's worse if I happen to be using the wireless - it stays plugged in and eventually kills the guitar, and I forget to turn the transmitter off as well. Of course, those transmitters eat batteries like they're free anyway, so it almost doesn't matter.

 

[Logrinn]

Are these for sale on the market yet? I might get a couple of these.

They are. I ordered some when I saw the video I mention in the original post.
Here's the link to them.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

So my guitar instructor turned his very cool trans-red mid-90s Strat over to me a few days ago on account of it kept cutting out on him while he was playing. Among other things, I found the ground wire on his output jack was just about to fall off. I decided to go ahead and put in a new jack, and right about that time the UPS man dropped off my PureTone jacks. So I installed one. It's a very beefy part and visually impressive; I dare say it's beautiful in that way that only fine parts can be. It is physically larger than a standard jack and had to be oriented "just-so" on the plate in order to not interfere with the plate mounting correctly, but nothing that presented any issues. Feels good when it engages the cable, certainly sounds better than the one that kept cutting out... Barring anything catastrophic, I'd bargain it's the last jack that guitar will ever need.  All in all I give it a  :icon_thumright:

 

[JD0x0]

I just noticed in the Pure tone's comparison pic, they dont have the 1/4'' on the 'normal' jack plugged in all the way. It looks purposefully not plugged in fully which is why the tip looks misaligned. I bought a pair, and they're good quality, but man, they come off as gimmicky in their marketing.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

I just noticed in the Pure tone's comparison pic, they dont have the 1/4'' on the 'normal' jack plugged in all the way. It looks purposefully not plugged in fully which is why the tip looks misaligned. I bought a pair, and they're good quality, but man, they come off as gimmicky in their marketing.

Good observation! I had noted the misalignment but I chalked it up to poor jack design. Just as the marketing guys intended, no doubt. That's actually why I posted the picture of the Switchcraft jack above. But a closer look really does seem to show that the plug is not fully inserted into the jack. That is a bit flakey...

 

[Cagey]

Or, because of the vertical orientation, they could be implying that the plug is nearly falling out of the jack because the tip connection isn't tight enough to hold the plug in against the inexorable force of mean ol' Mr. Gravity. I know I've seen some of the really cheap jacks such as those that come "free" with a jackplate that can be that flimsy. Some of those pieces of feces have shown up here bent nearly flat just from shipping. I don't know why they bother including them. I can't imagine anyone uses them.

 

[BigSteve22]

....I dare say it's beautiful in that way that only fine parts can be.....

Indeed. A well designed part, that does what it's designed to do, looks good doing it, and made it past the marketing department without being turned into trash. Form follows function: Words to live by!  :icon_thumright:

 

[ghotiphry]

Funny thing, I happen to be building a passive bass.  No reason to use a stereo jack...  Also no reason to install a switchcraft...  I ordered a couple.