Switchcraft type 226 plug mystery

[Reeltarded]

Specs. There for a reason.

The cables test good but with an open box you can probe the female if you can't plainly see the fault with your eyes. Yep.

You can 'adjust' the female connectors with pliers.. unless it's tube length on certain plugs, then you have to change ends.

Specs? For what?

[Barks]

I have a load of Studio Spares neutrik trs knockoffs in a box that are totally useless.
I "inherited" them with some used looms. They looked decent enough so I made new patchbay 8 way looms for more outboard.
tested fine, good continuity etc.
It took a while to figure out the intermittent faults was due to these plugs and the slight discrepancies in barrel length due to poor molding of the body. Marginally shorter.

[sluckey]

Your photo "IMG_1046 (1).jpg" that shows a plug stuck in a hole in a board does not look like the Switchcraft 226s that I have. Mine all look exactly like this drawing that came from Switchcraft...

http://www.switchcraft.com/Documents/226_CD.PDF

[jaysg]

Your photo "IMG_1046 (1).jpg" that shows a plug stuck in a hole in a board does not look like the Switchcraft 226s that I have. Mine all look exactly like this drawing that came from Switchcraft...

That's a G&H. Maybe the OP uploaded the wrong pic by accident.

With any cable, the first suspect is usually a ground sheath. I don't know the cable cited. Canare and Mogami have a conductive sheath that has to be trimmed back. It's used to suppress noise in the braid as the cable is moved.

The next question is, have you tested the cables with a great deal of twisting and flopping around? Straight might be the only way it rings out good.

After that, I think if certain pedals are involved, I'd open them up and give a look at what's happening with the different plugs going in, as suggested by a few here. hth

One final note: Large Valve recommends connecting the body to the ground stem, with solder. I've tried on a few and killed a couple. He's very good at it. It takes flux and just the right iron, tip temp, and speed. He's found that over time, the 226 ground shaft gets loose from the body and ground goes intermittent.

[Deric]

This....

With any cable, the first suspect is usually a ground sheath. I don't know the cable cited. Canare and Mogami have a conductive sheath that has to be trimmed back. It's used to suppress noise in the braid as the cable is moved.

To verify...don't test for "continuity", test for ohms from tip to sleeve. Any measurement other than "open" is bad news.

Can see the black sheath in your pic. Peel it back. Should be good to go.

[Reeltarded]

^^^^^

[Structo]

+1 there are warnings all over the place about the black sleeve over the center conductor insulation.

It is some sort of carbon film to helps silence the cable when it is moved around on the floor.
Trim it back from the white insulation about 1/8" and you should be good to go.

[Leo_Gnardo]

He's found that over time, the 226 ground shaft gets loose from the body and ground goes intermittent.

Same with 280 straight plug and all its variations, and worse with the copycat plugs. If I think a plug is going to see rough service, especially speakers, I'll make a solder connection that will hopefully outlast the swaged one.

Also, loose swaged connections are part what I look for when examining suspect cables.

Grounding "assist" sheath, whether conductive plastic or carbon-impregnated cloth, must be removed or you may lose signal in unexpected ways.

[sixstringer]

Thanks for the input. All the shrink tubing has been removed (it made no difference) and I took the cables to a guy that builds studio patch cables, mic preamps and stuff like that. He confirmed that the cables pass a signal but that there is signal loss. He had no explanation for it, he said his cables look just like mine and he tests his like I do. I experimented a bit more and discovered that if I grind the top layer of the plating off the "ground" lug portion of the plug, the signal strength improves. Not just roughing up the area as you would do with sandpaper but actually grinding off the top layer.

The solder joints were good before and good now. I now have a weak signal through the entire pedal board. Tell me more about impedance testing, please.

Wait, are you saying remove the black layer over the center lead? I have not tried that. I'll test it out....

[jaysg]

It's possible that the coax got overheated and there's some melting compromise of the conductors.

[Deric]

Wait, are you saying remove the black layer over the center lead?

Yes.

Tell me more about impedance testing

Set your DMM to ohms. Put one lead on the tip of a plug. One lead on the sleeve. Any measurement (even very low) is bad news. It should measure open.

[JerryFJA]

+1 there are warnings all over the place about the black sleeve over the center conductor insulation.

It is some sort of carbon film to helps silence the cable when it is moved around on the floor.
Trim it back from the white insulation about 1/8" and you should be good to go.

Bingo, sounds like someone didn't remove that black grounding layer.

[sixstringer]

OK, these photos show the "new" trim and the old, as i understand your comments. I checked the cords before and after making the trim change.
They measure 0.00 ohms on my DMM. Is this correct? if so, I'll go back through all the patch cords and make the change. I could not tell a noticeable difference in the signal through the cord from before to after the change. It still sounds somewhat diminished over my GeorgeL cables.

[xtian]

Your new look better than old! But when you measure resistance from tip to shaft, you should get infinite resistance, not zero resistance.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Your new look better than old! But when you measure resistance from tip to shaft, you should get infinite resistance, not zero resistance.

Dittoes, & considering jaysg's observation: try this, take a piece of that cable , trim as if you were going to solder onto plugs, and put your ohm meter across shield/ground to hot wire. Should read infinite. If not the cable's dodgy. Less likely but worth a check, ohm out a loose plug, unconnected to anything, should also be infinite. Can't say I've ever seen a batch of factory fresh shorted plugs but most anything's possible in this wacky wacky world.