Solid coupling jacks

[Mark Hammer]

It is possible to buy these solid "patch adaptors" that are essentially two offset male phone plugs linked-by/in a solid shell.  The fact that they are slightly offset like so...

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...means that even when the side-mounted jacks of two pedals are not perfectly lined up vertically, the plugs can still fit in if you stagger one of the pedals a little more forward than the other.  These little gadgets are a huge help when trying to fit a bunch of pedals in a small space and certainly provide less clutter than a bunch of patch cables.  The trouble is they are hard to find and sometimes (make that generally) cost more than a patch cable.

The other day I popped into a local store to pick up some parts and saw they had two right-angle phone plugs cheap, so I snagged them.  Once at home, I started wondering if it would be possible to rig them up just like one of those little offset things, so I took the "backs" off each of them (they look like this: http://www.smallbearelec.com/stores/sbe/catalog/228.JPG ), soldered a short solid wire link between the signal lugs on each, and screwed the "fronts" onto each other.  Like this:
 
Voila! a cheap offset solid coupler that provides an even snugger fit on the pedal board than the ones I was trying to mimic.

[Mark F]

Wow! Great idea Mark! The other jacks you mention are, no doubt, a bit more costly than your idea. I haven't checked the price recently.

[petemoore]

  A little bit flexible like that is a + I think.
  

[analogmike]

the available offset m-m plugs are very poorly made, with poor connections and break easily.

so don't buy too many until you test them, the ones I saw were useless.

good luck!

[ranchak]

Mark, someone makes a quality offset plug, I think these are what you are looking for:

http://cgi.ebay.com/3-pack-1-4-to-1-4-Effects-Pedal-Connector-NEW_W0QQitemZ110153001627QQihZ001QQcategoryZ47075QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem