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Subject: Re: bananas

From: JWBarlow@...
Date: 1999-09-04

In a message dated 9/1/99 6:56:41 PM, icumedia@... writes:

>3>Anyone here using much banana jacked gear, or are most of you firmly
>in
>the 1/4" camp?
>I've been swayed to banana quite a bit after getting a fenix, and now far
>prefer working with stacked jacks in general rather than mults. As such,
>I've strongly considered using banana jacks instead of the 1/4" (and using
>the 1/4s for a buss in the back of my case)--Mind you, I have no motm yet,
>so have room to dream, as it were. Current finances allow this, if not
>much
>more.

>So, is this heresy? If so, let me burn--but surely some others feel the
>same way?

>Do you just get 940 patch panels and line'em up one one side? After going
>back and forth, this may be the way I'll go....easier...
>Open to suggestions.

Hi Charles,

I don't know anything about Fenix (any useful ideas that might influence MOTM
modules?), but I've been using bananas for my small but growing MOTM (10
modules at the moment) system because that's what I use for my two panel
Serge and my Blacet and homebrew stuff and I didn't want to have a third
interface problem (my ARP 2600 uses 3.5mm -- or possibly actual 1/8" jacks)
when I first started building my MOTM. I fully agree that multiples suck,
they are more intuitive when tracing a complex patch, and that stacking jacks
are more conducive to patching one output to five or six different inputs,
which is very important for the way I use my system -- it would be nice if
you could get stacking 1/4" jacks.

There might be an alternative to multiples for some cases however, I've found
that Radio Shack (US electronics chain) carries a small plastic "Y" device
which has a 3.5mm mini plug on one side and two mini jacks on the other side.
I've found these very useful with my ARP, they may also make a device like
this for 1/4" jacks.

Finally, I do intend to swap out the bananas for 1/4" jacks in the MOTM,
since there are many times when I can hear cross talk when I have patched my
ARP to my Serge using unshielded cables. Also, I cannot use the normalled
connections of the 1/4" jacks and lastly, I believe the MOTM was designed
specifically for shielded 1/4" cables. Serge T. used a much lower impedance
(330 ohms instead of 1K) for his outputs which I believe was due to using
unshielded cables, and to allow greater distribution from a single output. So
my suggestion is to keep your MOTM modules 1/4" and use the MOTM 940s to
interface.

JB