[greco]

if you look carefully you will see the wires are marked.

Colour coded...That solves that issue quickly.
We didn't see that specific pic and hence the thread went off on a tangent...LOL

I have 2 fluke meters, thanks anyway.

Another tangential aspect of the thread has now been dealt with.
Very nice BTW...I'm jealous.

So twisting the wire is purely for looks and does nothing at all to cleaning up the signal or whatever reason they use twisted pairs in an Ethernet cable.

Maybe it will help with "cancelling out electromagnetic interference (EMI) from external sources" to some extent. I'm not totally convinced that it is essential by any means....however, it certainly can't hurt anything.

Here is an interesting diagram of the theory...just for fun and educational purposes:

I find it hilarious that everyone says to use lamp cord for a cab. lamp cord is 18 gauge. This stuff is 18 gauge, and if i really want to be safe I could solder the wires like the pic below. Which was my original question

Personally, I think you would be totally fine either way.

 

[High/Deaf]

So twisting the wire is purely for looks and does nothing at all to cleaning up the signal or whatever reason they use twisted pairs in an Ethernet cable.

Maybe it will help with "cancelling out electromagnetic interference (EMI) from external sources" to some extent. I'm not totally convinced that it is essential by any means....however, it certainly can't hurt anything.

Personally, I think you would be totally fine either way.

Yes, and more specifically, CMRR (or common mode rejection ratio). Quite an important thing in very low voltage signal cables, like ethernet or UTP telephone cable, but for speaker cable, with at least 100's of mv, if not 10's of volts on the cable, RF interference is nothing to be worried about. Your pickups are picking up a lot more RF than your speaker cable will ever pick up.

 

[Granny Gremlin]

I find it hilarious that everyone says to use lamp cord for a cab. lamp cord is 18 gauge. This stuff is 18 gauge, and if i really want to be safe I could solder the wires like the pic below. Which was my original question

These two wires soldered together can carry more current than the single wire yes?

Yes, lamp cord is 18 guage.... but the exact same stuff is also sold as basic speaker wire (one conductor tinned; one copper, in order to label polarity).

And yes, if you're worried, you can double up the wires. Lots of "higher end" or DIY hifi speaker cables do that cuz the braid looks cool (e.g. you can use CAT5/6 ethernet cable for speakers - 4 of 8 wires for positive and negative.... not that I recommend that specifically, but in a pinch at a gig I might consider it).

Sorry about the tangents; you don't always know where the OP is at.

 

[knight_yyz]

So, I just got my switchcraft pancake plugs and they don't have terminals!! You have to solder directly to the pin and the case. What a waste of money.

 

[greco]

So, I just got my switchcraft pancake plugs and they don't have terminals!! You have to solder directly to the pin and the case. What a waste of money.

You would think that, with all the offshore competition, Switchcraft would improve their designs.

 

[Granny Gremlin]

All pancake jacks have the ground connection soldered to the bottom half of the shell (coulda swore that even the Switchcrafts had a tab for the tip tho). Generic ones put a triangular punchout (one side left attached) on the shell there which makes it much easier to solder to. Basically, good luck with a pen type iron, but if you have an iron with a proper supply and temp regulation, just turn her up as you would for a pot casing.

 

[knight_yyz]

Lava and GLS have way better pancakes. All I have is a center hole and a piece of insulation

 

[knight_yyz]

I'll post a photo tomorrow

 

[High/Deaf]

I've used those pancakes dozens of times. They work great - and no parts to break off. I've never used them with speaker cables (most amps and cabs work better with straight plugs anyways) and soldering shielded (guitar) cable to them is easy-peasy - if you have the right kind of soldering irons. The right tool for the job.

Brilliant, simple, last for ever.

 

[knight_yyz]

I want right angle plugs so the 2x12 can stay close to the wall. Stupid thing is the lava and GLS brands are better made, they have the insulation disc and tabs with holes to solder and they are cheaper if you don't count shipping. Instead of a 228 it's called a 229

 

[High/Deaf]

View attachment 72057 I want right angle plugs so the 2x12 can stay close to the wall. Stupid thing is the lava and GLS brands are better made, they have the insulation disc and tabs with holes to solder and they are cheaper if you don't count shipping. Instead of a 228 it's called a 229

That is a picture of a Switchcraft - perhaps rebranded as a GLS or Lava? Or I misread your post.

I've never used this version but it would seem to solve your issue with not having a tab connected to the tip.

Soldering the ground to the body of the plug is no problem if you use a large enough soldering tip. Heat (or temp) has very little to do with it. Mass and the ability to transfer a lot of heat quickly is the trick to soldering to plug bodies or pot backs or whatever. There's a reason why the 400 degree air in your oven won't burn you, even the 400 degree aluminum foil won't hurt much - but the 400 degree rack will leave a mark and you may not be able to play guitar for a couple days.

 

[knight_yyz]

From what I was able to gather, it looks like Lava and or GLS approached Switchcraft and said we can make this better, are you on board? So they still say switchcraft, but now you can get colored backs as well. I don't care about the colors as it will be up against a wall. Only problem with the Lava plugs is they are hard to find in Canada. Lava wants 22 dollars to ship 2 of these. 8 bucks for the parts and 22 us to ship.... Not happening. I found the GLS on amazon as they refuse to ship to Canada.

 

[High/Deaf]

Have you tried looking for a Switchcraft 229 in Canada. May be the same thing as those. And with that number, perhaps it was put out the same time as the 228?

I usually pay about $5 or $6 for 228's (comparable to $4US) - and the last time I ordered some, it may have been from one of our GC-local suppliers. Or Electrosonic. I buy from where I can find them and usually bundle with other things to get the shipping price down.

 

[knight_yyz]

Googling switchcraft 229 gives you the lava website. I went to mouser and they want 12 each plus 20 shipping. So 45 plus tax for 2. I already ordered the GLS through Amazon.

 

[High/Deaf]

Here's what I find for SC 229. A totally different right angle plug. I was going to look for others, out of my own curiosity, but their website quit working (probably night maintenance).

229 SWITCHCRAFT | Electro Sonic

That is not an actual 229 (which is a Switchcraft part number), more likely a 226. And yet, they get the 228 part number correct - because I've ordered them. It looks like some American suppliers have 229's but shipping is going to hurt the price.

I like e-sonic because their $10 shipping to Canada, but they fail on that part number. Or maybe it's just the pic. I'm tempted to order a couple and see what I get. I'd use either kind eventually, although I like the flat ones a lot more for pedalboard cables.

 

[knight_yyz]

That's a 226 AFAIK. The 227's look cool too, they have screw terminals though. The switchcraft website has the 229, but the description says it is red. But there is no drawing or picture. Mouser shows the same unit for 226 actually.

The GLS were 5 bucks a pop plus 6 bucks shipping. If you go to the Lava sight they actually put the trademark symbol. Lava 229™ Plug

I would have ordered from Vision guitar, I've ordered from them in the past, they have decent shipping prices. But out of stock.

 

[knight_yyz]

Switchcraft

 

[High/Deaf]

Yes, that I believe is the 228. I've used those many times, but for signal (guitar) wiring, not speaker wiring. It's easy to attach a small wire to that central pin but I could see it being a bit of an issue with 14 ga or bigger. I think amp companies (like Mesa) use these on their combo speaker wires, which is usually smaller gauge speaker wire (16 or 18?).

As is said, I'm tempted to order a few 229's from e-sonic, just to see what I get. But that GLS price is pretty good - is that for the same plug or something similar?

 

[Granny Gremlin]

I've used those pancakes dozens of times. They work great - and no parts to break off. I've never used them with speaker cables (most amps and cabs work better with straight plugs anyways) and soldering shielded (guitar) cable to them is easy-peasy - if you have the right kind of soldering irons. The right tool for the job.

Brilliant, simple, last for ever.

You and I have the exact opposite experience, dude. I refuse to use them unless a client insists or it's a vintage amp's footswitch or speaker connect wire in a combo (nothing else fits sometimes; not a lot of room between back of chassis and back edge of cabinet). For one thing; there's very poor strain relief, so I don't get the whole robustness comment; I have had to rework so many of these for that reason when I was younger (and they were more common).

View attachment 72057 I want right angle plugs so the 2x12 can stay close to the wall. Stupid thing is the lava and GLS brands are better made, they have the insulation disc and tabs with holes to solder and they are cheaper if you don't count shipping. Instead of a 228 it's called a 229

Yeah, there is a tab for tip. As for the shield, try soldering it in that bumpy area just to the right of the round part. Don't spare the flux and turn the iron up (if direct to wall plug, let it warm up for half an hour - it will be a pain, but doable). Tin the spot on the shell you gonna solder to (and the wire) first; don't go light on the solder.

Switchcraft

View attachment 72177

Wait whaaaaat? Ok, it's workable, but why would one intentionally make life harder for themselves by using that? Forget the lack of tip solder tab; there's no insulation strip like any other pancake I have ever used (high risk of short). Don't back away; turn around and run.

 

[knight_yyz]

That's what I am saying, these are 11 or 12 bucks at Mouser and Digikey, but the Lava and GLS sell for like 3.50 each, and they have all the bells and whistles. As for strain relief I will put a nice 4" long piece of shrink wrap at both ends.

I have a Hakko 888 so there is no problem with temperature. But I always find it a major pain to solder something that thin, and applying a ton of heat. Hard to hold it with a cheesy alligator clip