Plastic Neutrik 1/4 jack. Great price, what's the catch?

[patrick398]

I used to buy open frame 1/4 sockets which were branded as Neutrik but i guess where actually Rean's. I had no problems with them, in fact really liked them. Never had a failure and they always seemed sturdy as shit to me. Can't find them for a decent price anymore so been looking elsewhere and came across these:
https://cpc.farnell.com/neutrik/nmj2hf-s/jack-socket-2p-unswitched-full/dp/AV11176

It's a pack of two and if you buy more than 10 it's £0.86 so that's 20 jacks for £8.60. Sounds pretty damn good to me.

Anybody have any experience with these, or plastic sockets generally? I've only ever used metal.

Aside from the issue of having to find another way to ground the enclosure are there any other drawbacks?
I'm thinking they probably have a slightly larger footprint than open frame mono's but at this price i'm struggling to find a reason not to buy.

[GGBB]

I've used the NMJ2HC-S which has a different nose basically. I would consider these plastic ones "light duty" as compared to metal framed open or otherwise. They simply are not as securely fastened to the enclosure because the plastic threads can only be tightened so much before they basically jump back one rotation (they don't really strip, but I supposed repeated overtightening would cause that). I think the PCB mount ones might work better if there are other parts also PCB and chassis mounted. I used mine in a little pedalboard adapter in a 1590B enclosure for my various ins and outs to/from the board. It's pretty easy to accidentally kick the cable out - one time I even popped the jack out of the hole in the enclosure to the inside. If they're just for pedal board use where the jack isn't exposed to any potential strain - they'll be fine. But they are not even close to metal jacks as far as security goes.

[MaxPower]

Never had an issue with that type. I use the cheapies that Tayda carries and they seem fine to me. I'm not a gigging musician though and spend most of my musical time messing with synths so... longevity may be an issue for some. And yeah, slightly fatter/longer. On the other hand, may help prevent possible shorts for sloppy builders.

[patrick398]

Thanks for the replies, i'm really not sure. I guess i could get 10 and see how they hold up. I don't particularly like the idea of them being any less heavy duty than the metal ones. My pedals mainly stay put on my pedalboard but i know a lot of friends and people i build for are forever changing and re-ordering their boards so i don't want something that's going to deteriorate over time
I really loved those metal ones. Anybody in the UK know of a decent source of open frame metal jacks for less than £1 a go?

[bluebunny]

Having tried all sorts of cheap and less-cheap alternatives from various suppliers, I settled on these (mostly) exclusively for my mono jack needs:

  <-- 59p from Rapid

They are pretty solid and the tabs don't turn.  They're very snug, so you might need to "relax" the tip contact, but overall I'm very pleased with them.

For stereo, I got a pile of Neutrik NYS230 from Farnell, but the price has gone up somewhat since I last bought them (well over a quid a pop now).  But they're very good.  (Don't look at the mono ones - it'll make your eyes water!)

I've also been known to get Lumberg KLBM3s when I want to push the boat out, but only if I can get a good price in bulk (they're quite spendy).

[patrick398]

Thanks Marc. That's interesting, i usually take one look at those plastic wafers and disregard them. Something about them just doesn't fill me with confidence and also if i bought a pedal off someone and i saw those i think i'd be skeptical, but i trust your judgement and may have to give them a go.

I ordered a few of the Neutrik plastic nut ones i linked earlier, out of curiosity mainly.

I also ordered a few of the mono ones you mention: https://cpc.farnell.com/neutrik/nys229/1-4-jack-panel-socket-mono/dp/AV09109

These also come in a two pack so if you're buying 10+ it's £0.92 a socket which seems pretty good. They're listed as Neutrik as opposed to Rean. I was under the impression that Neutrik no longer made open frame sockets and outsourced it all to Rean

[bluebunny]

That's a handy reminder, Patrick: CPC and Farnell, despite being the same people, have different price breaks (and often different prices!).  The CPC price breaks are more useful in this case, and they're cheaper!