Those pesky RCA plugs on Fender footswitches

[adbrunner]

I can't stand these little metal rca plugs, so flimsy and always seem
to need fixing. Do I need to consider anything if thinking about
installing sturdier, more modern plugs? My footswitch is not original
or "vintage," so I'm not worried about retaining the value. Why is one
wire covered in white plastic, while the other is exposed and looks to
be partially soldered to the exterior of the plug? any advice is
greatly appreciated.

thanks!

adam

[Mike Tremante]

Standard 1/4" jacks work the same as RCA plugs. The pin on the RCA plug is
like the tip of a 1/4" and the exterior of the RCA is like the rest of the
shaft of the 1/4". The exposed wire that is soldered to the plug is the
ground shielding. The one covered with plastic within the shield is the hot
wire. It's just like standard shielded guitar cable. Hook them up the
same. Ground to the long part and hot to the tip.

thanks!

adam

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[adbrunner]

Thanks for the info, Mike. I should've supplied more info too. My
footswitch is a two-button vibe/reverb unit for a Bandmaster Reverb
head. I'm not looking to replace the old RCA plugs w/ 1/4" plugs, as
they would no longer work on my amp -- just want to upgrade to
sturdier, more modern plastic RCA plugs that will hopefully be much
less finicky.

Since one rca plug is for the vibrato and the other is for the reverb,
and the two look very different (as you explain, one w/ the ground
shielding soldered to the outside, the other the hot wire covered in
plastic), I wanted to be sure there wasn't a special type of RCA plug
I needed for either specific side?

Am I over-thinking this? Could I just splice in a short length of
modern RCA cable, with the hot wire going to red and the ground going
to white?

thanks again,

Adam

[Mike Tremante]

Adam,

The shield that goes to the cover of the jack is shielding a hot wire that
is underneath the shield and goes to the pin on the jack. I believe that is
for the reverb and carries a signal and must be shielded. Yes, you can
splice cables just make sure you splice shielded to shielded and the
shielding is intact for the whole length and it is insulated from the hot
wire underneath. Not an easy task...just replace the jack if you can. As
far as "special" RCA jacks, no, they are simple 2 conductor affairs. The
red and white are not shielded and I believe they would work either way
because they just complete or break the vibrato circuit. If not, just
switch them.

Mike

[Rich Giudice]

No.

Sent from my iPhone

[adbrunner]

Rich -- All of your replies to this groupor "no" or "NOT," or
"WRONG!" -- get a clue, pal. If you want to stop receiving the emails,
you have to unsubscribe from the list. If you can't figure out how to
do that, I suggest you go back to using a typewriter.

[fred.pantalone]

+1

[rgg...@cox.net]

What?

[frank]

troll...

[fred.pantalone]

For clarity, you're talking about changing the plugs (male), not the
jacks (female), right?

Just order new ones from tubedepot or redco or somewhere similar.
E.g.:

http://tubedepot.com/p-sc-3502a.html
www.redco.com

Make sure you diagram the connections before you remove the old plugs.
Better yet, just clip off the old plugs with a half-inch of the leads
(still soldered onto the old plugs) intact so you can replicate the
connections when soldering the new plugs. Also, do one at a time or
label the leads before you clip them so you know which is which (if
the wire isn't marked).

Fred

[adbrunner]

Yep, Fred. The jacks are A-OK. thanks again.