Photo 1
There are many different types of output jacks, including mono, stereo, TRS, barrel, and power types (Photo 1). Ultimately they all have the same job: transfer the signal from your guitar to the instrument cable. Output jacks can eventually wear out, causing the signal to be intermittent—usually at the worst possible time. Ever been onstage and heard a crackling sound or even silence when you jiggle your guitar cable in the jack? No fun.
When it's time to replace a cranky output jack, there are several things you need to know before firing up the ol' soldering iron. The first step is to identify what kind of jack you have and what will make the best replacement.
Form and function.
Almost every type of output jack used on both acoustic and electric guitars is referred to as "a 1/4" jack," but as gearheads we have to be more specific. Here's a list of the most common types of 1/4" output jacks:
- Mono: Used in most acoustic and electric guitars with passive pickups.
- Stereo: Used in acoustic and electric guitars with stereo outputs or active electronics.
- TRS (tip-ring-sleeve): Used with active electronics, active pickup systems, or acoustic-electric guitars with two independent sound sources (such as an under-saddle transducer and onboard mic).
- Power: This is usually a stereo or TRS jack attached to a preamp.
Each of these can be found in different forms, including the open or skeleton jack, the enclosed or panel jack, the barrel jack, and the flange jack. Let's take a closer look.
Electric guitars with passive pickups typically have open jacks. I prefer the Switchcraft brand, because they have heavy-duty construction.
When it's time to replace a cranky output jack, there are several things you need to know before firing up the ol' soldering iron.
Imported guitars, especially budget models, usually come with enclosed or panel jacks. Often encased in plastic, these jacks are inexpensive and tend to wear out faster than a well-made open jack.
Acoustic-electric guitars often have a cylindrical barrel jack that passes from the inside of the instrument through the tailblock. Secured externally with a nut and threaded strap button, this jack replaces the guitar's endpin. Barrel jacks can have mono, stereo, or TRS configurations.
Takamine acoustic-electrics, as well as some other acoustic-electrics, use flange jacks. These have integrated endpins and structurally resemble barrel jacks. They too come in mono, stereo, and TRS styles.
Guitar applications.
The most common output jack for electric guitars is the mono jack. It has two lugs: One is the ground, and it's part of the jack's interior or case. The other lug is the hot or primary lead. This lug is part of the long, bent flange that connects to the tip of your instrument cable.
A stereo jack is similar to a mono jack, but it's equipped with a third lug and a second (shorter) bent flange. The latter acts as a power switch for active pickup systems by connecting and disconnecting the third lug when a standard 1/4" plug is inserted or removed from the stereo jack. For example, when the black (negative) wire of a battery snap is soldered to the third lug, inserting a 1/4" plug into the jack engages the battery by connecting the negative battery wire to ground and completing the circuit.
The TRS jack functions like a stereo jack with the addition of a fourth lug and third flange that allow you to add a second pickup source. By using a stereo cable and TRS plug, you can independently control these two sources. This is useful when you want to send each to its own preamp, direct box, or amplifier.
A common use for a TRS jack is in an acoustic guitar that has an under-saddle pickup, as well as an onboard microphone or a body sensor. For electric guitars, the TRS jack works great for using magnetic pickups in conjunction with a bridge configured with piezo-pickup saddles, like the L.R. Baggs X-Bridge.
Power jacks attach directly to a preamp and can have either a stereo or TRS configuration, and some preamps are housed within a barrel jack. Power jacks are found in many different systems, including the L.R. Baggs Active Element, Fishman Matrix, and Taylor ES1 and ES2. Because most power jacks are soldered to a printed circuit board, they are difficult to replace without damaging the electronics. If a power jack fails, your best option is to replace the entire unit.
How do I wire this thing?
Photo 2
With the exception of the power jack, all of these are simple to wire if you take the time to map them out. All of them will have a ground and a primary lead, but they differ in other ways. Here's a breakdown of those details:
- Mono jack: The ground lug is attached to the case and the primary lead lug connects to the bent flange (Photo 2).
Photo 3
- Stereo jack: The ground lug attaches to the case; the primary lead is the short lug that connects to the longer bent flange, and the long lug is the power/battery switch that connects to the short bent flange. Photo 3 shows the wiring for a stereo open jack.
Photo 4
And Photo 4 is a stereo barrel jack.
Photo 5
- TRS jack: The ground lug attaches to the case. The primary lead is the short lug connected to the bent flange, and the medium power/battery lug connects to the short bent flange. The longest lug connects the secondary pickup to an isolated output (Photo 5).
Okay, got all that? Great—someday there will be a test ... and you'll be ready.
[Updated 9/9/21]
- Gain Staging Pedals for Tracking - Premier Guitar ›
- Build Your Own Stompbox! - Premier Guitar ›
- Mod Garage: The Original Eddie Van Halen Wiring - Premier Guitar ›
- Guitar Shop 101: How to Install Standard and Locking Strap Buttons - Premier Guitar ›
- How to Wire a Guitar Output Jack in Your Electric Guitar - Premier Guitar ›
EBS BassIQ Blue Label Triple Envelope Filter Pedal
The EBS BassIQ produces sounds ranging from classic auto-wah effects to spaced-out "Funkadelic" and synth-bass sounds. It is for everyone looking for a fun, fat-sounding, and responsive envelope filter that reacts to how you play in a musical way.
Reverend Vernon Reid Totem Series Electric Guitar - Shaman
Silos features six presets, tap tempo, one full second of delay time, and three voices—two of which are styled after bucket-brigade and tape-delay sounds. In the $150 price category, it’s not unusual for a digital delay to leave some number of those functions out. And spending the same money on a true-analog alternative usually means warm, enveloping sounds but limited functionality and delay time. Silos, improbably perhaps, offers a very elegant solution to this can’t-have-it-all dilemma in a U.S.-made effect.
A More Complete Cobbling Together
Silos’ utility is bolstered by a very unintimidating control set, which is streamlined and approachable. Three of those controls are dedicated to the same mix, time, and repeats controls you see on any delay. But saving a preset to one of the six spots on the rotary preset dial is as easy as holding the green/red illuminated button just below the mix and preset knobs. And you certainly won’t get lost in the weeds if you move to the 3-position toggle, which switches between a clear “digital” voice, darker “analog” voice, and a “tape” voice which is darker still.
“The three voices offer discernibly different response to gain devices.”
One might suspect that a tone control for the repeats offers similar functionality as the voice toggle switch. But while it’s true that the most obvious audible differences between digital, BBD, and tape delays are apparent in the relative fidelity and darkness of their echoes, the Silos’ three voices behave differently in ways that are more complex than lighter or duskier tonality. For instance, the digital voice will never exhibit runaway oscillation, even at maximum mix and repeat settings. Instead, repeats fade out after about six seconds (at the fastest time settings) or create sleepy layers of slow-decaying repeats that enhance detail in complex, sprawling, loop-like melodic phrases. The analog voice and tape voice, on the other hand, will happily feed back to psychotic extremes. Both also offer satisfying sensitivity to real-time, on-the-fly adjustments. For example, I was tickled with how I could generate Apocalypse Now helicopter-chop effects and fade them in and out of prominence as if they were approaching or receding in proximity—an effect made easier still if you assign an expression pedal to the mix control. This kind of interactivity is what makes analog machines like the Echoplex, Space Echo, and Memory Man transcend mere delay status, and the sensitivity and just-right resistance make the process of manipulating repeats endlessly engaging.
Doesn't Flinch at Filth
EarthQuaker makes a point of highlighting the Silos’ affinity for dirty and distorted sounds. I did not notice that it behaved light-years better than other delays in this regard. But the three voices most definitely offer discernibly different responses to gain devices. The super-clear first repeat in the digital mode lends clarity and melodic focus, even to hectic, unpredictable, fractured fuzzes. The analog voice, which EQD says is inspired by the tone makeup of a 1980s-vintage, Japan-made KMD bucket brigade echo, handles fuzz forgivingly inasmuch as its repeats fade warmly and evenly, but the strong midrange also keeps many overtones present as the echoes fade. The tape voice, which uses aMaestro Echoplex as its sonic inspiration, is distinctly dirtier and creates more nebulous undercurrents in the repeats. If you want to retain clarity in more melodic settings, it will create a warm glow around repeats at conservative levels. Push it, and it will summon thick, sometimes droning haze that makes a great backdrop for slower, simpler, and hooky psychedelic riffs.
In clean applications, this decay and tone profile lend the tape setting a spooky, foggy aura that suggests the cold vastness of outer space. The analog voice often displays an authentic BBD clickiness in clean repeats that’s sweet for underscoring rhythmic patterns, while the digital voice’s pronounced regularity adds a clockwork quality that supports more up-tempo, driving, electronic rhythms.
The Verdict
Silos’ combination of features seems like a very obvious and appealing one. But bringing it all together at just less than 150 bucks represents a smart, adept threading of the cost/feature needle.
EarthQuaker Devices Silos Multi-generational Time Reflection Delay Pedal
