Pedals with top mounted jacks - I don't like it.

[andy474x]

Having enjoyed my Wampler pedals so much thus far, I'm looking into getting one of the new Clarksdale pedals - really like the idea of a Tubescreamer with a full EQ stack. So I'm doing a little research, and discover it has top-mounted jacks - and on top of that, it sounds like ALL Wampler pedals will soon be switched to having top mounted jacks, apparently due to popular demand. I must be the minority, because I really don't care for top mounted jacks. I guess the trend now is packing pedals together to make for a smaller board, and the top jacks save on space between pedals. I think that would've been a great idea 25 years ago, before everyone already had a million pedals with side jacks. But I think trying to mix them is a PITA. All the sudden I've got patch cables doing acrobatics to reach jacks, right angle plugs fighting each other, power supply plugs trying to find a place (don't even get me started on side mounted power supply jacks), in general just a big compatibility mess on my board when someone decides to reinvent the wheel. A downside of having customized my board so much I guess.

Obviously some people must like top mounted jacks, or these boutique builders wouldn't be making their pedals this way.

End rant.

 

[László]

All of which explains the growing popularity of do-it-yourself cables like the GeorgeL's and Lava sets. It's nearly impossible to run cables neatly these days!

Truth is, you can get more stuff on a board with top mounted jacks. And I remember in the early days (the 60s of beloved memory) lots of pedals had them. My old Maestro fuzz not only had a top mounted jack for input, it had a pre-attached output cable that couldn't be disconnected!

On a personal note, I buy the stuff I need regardless (I'm sure we all do), but it sure would be nice if everything was one way or the other!

 

[NomadMike]

My circa 1970's Maestro Boomerang volume/wah peddle came with the input and output opposite of the norm, which always made it fun in any signal chain. But hey, it still works.

 

[CoreyT]

Just wait until a decade or so from now, all pedals will not require jacks, they will all be wireless and connect with each other.
This is only a prediction

 

[László]

Just wait until a decade or so from now, all pedals will not require jacks, they will all be wireless and connect with each other.
This is only a prediction

No doubt you're right. But they'll be unable to transmit the signal to the next pedal because they'll all speak different digital code. You'll wish for analog pedals and cables again!

 

[Raymond]

All of which explains the growing popularity of do-it-yourself cables like the GeorgeL's and Lava sets. It's nearly impossible to run cables neatly these days!

This, not only the jacks are smaller, the best thing is you can do specific lengths, you can make them 1 inch long between jacks so if 2 pedals are side by side, it goes out of one and into the other without going down anywhere, no excess cable to hide, no U-turns.

There is no way i could use the bypass looper with regular off the shelf cables either.