Jack Placement - Top, Sides Bottom - What is best

[fxseth]

Where does everyone think is the best place to put your input and output jacks?  I have been putting them on the sides of the pedal (left and right) and then the power jack on the top.  Then I was thinking that for a pedal board, maybe putting them all on top would save space.  wanted to see what others think

Looking down on the pedal

On TOP
__In____Out_
|                    |
|    O      O      |
|                    |
|        o           |
|                    |
___________


On  Sides
     ___________
     |                    |
     |      O    O      |
     |                    |
     |                    |
  IN|         o         |OUT
     ___________

[blooze_man]

Sides all the way for a few reasons: I use the 1590b as a standard. If I were to put the jacks on top, I would (1) have to move the pots down the face of the pedal about an inch increasing the chance of knocking knobs when I hit the footswitch, or (2) use a bigger box which means your using more pedalboard space to save pedalboard space. One more reason for me is I don't like to pack my pedals as close as possible anyway because I hit the wrong ones accidentally. Just my two cents...

[jasperoosthoek]

There was a similar thread only a few weeks/months ago.

I think you shouldn't put them on the bottom of the box.

[Brymus]

I like them on the top,I think it looks cleaner and allows the pedals to be closer together.
It also makes it a little harder to put together,and putting them on the sides it seems its a little easier to wire.
SO
If you can make it work and YOU like it then put them on the top.

[fxseth]

Sorry, missed the other thread and will take a look for it too.  Should put the power supply on the bottom... have you seen those inductive chargers?  Probably add some buzz unless you can get it in low microwave...

Thats a really good point about the pots.  I have been mainly using the Taiwanese 'BB' Size from small bear.  I was thinking maybe if I can squeeze the jacks below the pots...

Thanks for your feedback.

[petemoore]

  The box shown looks shaped like RACO's...
 I have the I/O jacks in the RACO front panels [L/R] so the effects and order of effects can easily be swapped around, and then the bypass switch uses the space in between.
 All angle jack patch cables.
 A box comes off the pedalboard and is open by loosening its two plate screws.
 

[Brymus]

I am able,and have seen lots of builds with the jacks belowe the pots.
I use the enclosed 1/4" jacks too FWIW,and the BB size enclosures.
You just have to be careful when drilling as there isnt much room for error.
But I can fit the 1/4" jacks and the DC jack in the top and the pots will just clear them.

[jasperoosthoek]

I posted a picture of my most common box in the other thread. Cannot find it as I use my Nokia now.

I use exactly the same Taiwanese BB boxes and manages to squeeze the switchcraft jacks on, uh, the bottom. Not the bottom that touches the floor as it meant in my other post above but bottom as opposed to top in your post . Hope that makes sense.

But you need to use 2PDT switches as the 3PDT are too wide. That way you have a lot of room for the pots. I even squiz
ed a small clone chorus in that box. That was a tight fit!

[milosch]

Put them inside and just push the cables in there before you screw the back on.

[Mark Hammer]

Sides allows for short leads to the switch, which is good, but can often end up wasting space in a 1590B-sized box.  Rear-mounting requires longer leads to and from the jacks, which increases the risk of oscillation in high-gain pedals.

Side mounted does allow for those solid male-to-male plugs, though, which is nice.

I made myself a slew of rear-mounted jacks (I guess what you have called "top") and these allow for some conveniences.  One is that the pedals can be snuggled up beside each other sop that the stompswitches are easy to get to.  I made up a batch of short (4") patch cables with right-angle plugs that I got on sale from Radio Shack.  And with the boxes lined up beside each other and those little cables, it was as neat an arrangement as you could hope for.

If you do rear-mount jacks, put the power jack in the back or else you forfeit all the convenience.

[joegagan]

consumers seem to have gravitated toward tightly packed , pedals side by side pedal board layouts. with this in mind, skinny oriented 1590s with jacks on top would allow these people to pack one or two more pedals on their boards. for two-tier setups, the jacks on top work well also. i think the public is a little too lemming-like, but i might be going off topic.

i like a more haphazard approach, very rarely stick with any given lineup long enough to make any hard decisions. imo, jacks in varying locations add to the artsy look of a well laid out board.

[fxseth]

Yeah, I have been building my pedals with the jacks on the sides, but near the top.  Then I decided to move them to the sides on the bottom so I could get the jacks closer to the actual switch and reduce wire length.

Longterm, I wanted to start soldering my jacks straight to my PCB board because it would be easier to build the pedal.  Using a jack like the 1/4 in. Mono Neutrik #NYS2152 would work for this, but then putting them at the top of the pedal would make life easier so  you could just slide the board in.  I guess wahs have them on the sides though.  With this, you get into the issue of having a long wires or traces again which I don't like...

[Johan]

the ibanez "10" series from the 80's had the jacks on top. it allows you to have the boxes tightly placed on a pedal board, and I always liked that arrangement. but for practical reasons I allways end up with the jacks on the sides in my own builds, just like any boss-pedal...for me, its easier laying out the circuit, boss-style, without causing accidental shorts between jacks, pots and other components..
J

[DougH]

I like them on top, if only all my commercial pedals put them on the top too. If all pedals on the board had top mounted jacks, you could really squeeze them in side by side, save room, use the standard sized interconnect cables, and it would keep the cables up and out of the way. But since most commercial pedals have side mounted jacks, it requires custom interconnect cables (the standard ones I have won't reach from the side to the top) and you don't get the space savings anyway. So I put them on the side.

[Mark Hammer]

If the pedal is ultimately ONLY for yourself, I think there is more to gain by placing jacks along the rear skirt.  That presumes, of course, that you aren't doing something like what Z-Vex does, and cramming 4 or 5 controls along one long edge.

If the plan is that you'll build it, grow quickly bored with it, and sell it, then side-mounted may be better and more compatible with what's already out there.

Whether side or rear-mounted, personally, I think that adaptor jacks need to be along the rear skirt to keep power cabling neat.

[jefe]

I like them on the faceplate:



I did this with a raco box, mounted EVERYTHING on the front plate. Makes for easy cable changes, order changing, etc, without having to pull the pedal off the pedalboard. I haven't done all of my pedals this way, but I could see doing group of them.

edit: like this:

[Mark Hammer]

You need to buy yourself some right angle plugs and chop those patch cables down by 2/3.  Got to be hard to reach over them, waving around like palms.

[jefe]

Oh, those aren't mine, Mark.. just using someone else's pic as an example. mojotron's pic, to be exact. (See pg 2 of the pictures thread)

[fxseth]

Thats kind of cool on the faceplate.

This is one I made showing what I have been doing:



made new PCB boards and lowered them to be inline with the switch to shorten the wires inside the box.  Not sure if I do another revision of the board if I will push them up to the top though.

[Philippe]

I like them on the top,I think it looks cleaner and allows the pedals to be closer together.

*concurring all the way* A 125B or 1590BB are also a lot easier when it comes to laying-out your interior placement(s) as well.