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Author Topic: Neutrik Silent Plug  (Read 41422 times)

Bennett Prescott

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Neutrik Silent Plug
« on: November 29, 2006, 07:57:53 PM »

One of the awesome handouts at the WedgeFest in September was the Neutrik Silent Plug. That I'm just getting to writing about it now tells you how good I am at time management.

Essentially, it's a 1/4" plug designed for guitars that shorts tip to sleeve when you unplug it, eliminating the loud pop that you might otherwise be subjected to. They accomplish this quite cleverly, with a reed switch built into the body of the plug and a moving magnet that closes and opens it. This way the switching circuitry is all sealed and rated for over 10,000 cycles. This image pretty much sums it up:

http://www.neutrik.com/client/neutrik/media/view500/Media_229115894.jpg

I have to admit that I haven't opened mine yet. Have any other LABsters used one, and what did you think? I don't play guitar :/
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Rob Spence

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Re: Neutrik Silent Plug
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2006, 11:05:48 PM »

I removed the plug from one end of my "loaner" cable (bright orange/red) and put the Neutrik Silent Plug I got at Wedgefest on instead.
Like all of the Neutrik connectors I have used, it was a pleasure to install.

I have one other cord with another varient of this on it and it has saved me from some serious pops.

I expect to use it on a gig this Saturday so will report back on how it works next week.

Assuming it works as well as I expect it too, I will do the same to my other "guitar" cords.
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Rob Spence
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Sara Elliott

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Re: Neutrik Silent Plug
« Reply #2 on: December 01, 2006, 01:45:10 PM »

Thanks Rob, I have had a few calls making inquiry on what you guys thought of the plug.  All of those that were at Wedgefest please make sure you post.  Neutrik was nice enough to provide these little gems as "freebies" for the event. So let them know what you think and how you are using it in the field.  
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Mike Butler (media)

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Re: Neutrik Silent Plug
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2006, 05:25:19 PM »

Bennett Prescott wrote on Wed, 29 November 2006 19:57

...I have to admit that I haven't opened mine yet. Have any other LABsters used one, and what did you think? I don't play guitar :/
What, you can't use it on one of your double-barrel harpsichords?
Twisted Evil

OK, my turn. I took a store-bought guitar cable with the standard plugs and lopped off a 3-foot hunk, on which I went and installed a standard Neutrik nickel-plated plug from my inventory and am now using it as a stomp box patch cable. The remaining 22 feet with a newly bare end would be my test application for the aforementioned sample. My first impression is that it is an aesthetic tour de force, which is not surprising with Neutrik, and unlikely you will mistake it for a Switchcraft (more on that later). As an old advocate of nickel-plated all-metal-barreled plugs, I was a bit skeptical of this crimson-shelled beauty, especially knowing that an instrument cable will spend some time lying on stage where it can be stepped on. So I gave it the boot test, first standing on it wearing Doc Marten-type footwear on a hardwood floor. The plug survived, so it gets the thumbs-up for use by punk-rock bands. Next I tried snakeskin Nocona cowboy boot heels, a more stringent test, and this plug gets the OK for country-western bands as well.  Very Happy  It turns out the red barrel is not molded plastic, but enameled or lacquered bronze of a pretty good wall thickness, so much for judging a book by its cover. I didn't do a test of the wear-resistance of the coating, but did find that it is scratchable.

Gold plated throughout, including the solder points, I knew this plug would be a breeze to solder. Now as for what I said earlier, with a Switchcraft or other brand conventional plug, a common mistake is to solder the leads on without first sliding the barrel on up the cable. (Doh!) With this plug, the reverse is true; you don't put the barrel on until after the wiring is soldered.  Think Speakon. The center conductor has a handy solder cup; the shield has nothing but the semi-cylindrical sleeve to solder to (no tab or clamp), but being gold, it attaches readily.

In actual use, it works just as advertised. When unplugged, it does short out the cable, and totally eliminates the pop when plugging and unplugging, plus any hum or buzz that might be picked up when handling the bare plug, or any other stray hum from lying around open-circuited on the floor. I tried it with a solid-body electric and with an EA. One thing crossed my mind is whether this is available in a 90-degree angle plug. The straight configuration is just perfect for Stratocaster-type instruments, but there are some guitars, such as my Ovation EA, whose jack is on the back bowl where a straight plug would stick right out into the guitarist's leg. So I did some snooping and found that the NP2RX-AU-SILENT is available for just another half-buck. Life is good.

I hope these are distributed only to those who are intelligent enough NOT to use them to connect speakers to power amplifiers!  Shocked  Laughing  Rolling Eyes
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Philip Roberts

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Re: Neutrik Silent Plug
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2006, 07:22:03 PM »

Mike Butler (media) wrote on Sun, 17 December 2006 17:25

 One thing crossed my mind is whether this is available in a 90-degree angle plug.


Yep they do the NP2RX-AU-SILENT, I saw it at AES.

How well does the muting work? Could you hear any popping?

I need to get my self some of these plugs.


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Jon Smith

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Re: Neutrik Silent Plug
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2006, 08:03:57 PM »

I have four cables with the neutrik silent plug guitar cords. They work great! They are nice to have when you have a guitar player that loves to pull the "plug" a nano second after their last note. I still try to mute the channel before a disconnect.

I have noticed that there is a very small number of instrument jacks that will not let the neutrik seat completely. Make sure that it is seated completely if you have a problem.

They are great addition to the tool box.
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Rob Spence

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Re: Neutrik Silent Plug
« Reply #6 on: December 26, 2006, 01:45:42 AM »

Ok, so it isn't "next week" but I got distracted by an unplanned visit to Colorado in order to get snowed in Smile

2100 miles of driving later I am home for xmas and can report on the connector.

It worked as advertised. The guitarist and I had no problems with it. I guess I will do the other loaner cable now.

As Mike mentions below, like all Neutrik connectors it was a breeze to install.

I like it.
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Rob Spence
Lynx Audio Services
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Scott Deeter

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Re: Neutrik Silent Plug
« Reply #7 on: December 30, 2006, 03:47:28 AM »

Hmm, this caught my eye while looking around here. Well, an idea came to mind regarding this Silent Plug. Do you think an adaptor version of this would make any sense (straight & 90 degree)? Basically you could use it on any guitar cord without the need for soldering, if the cord goes bad, just switch it to another cord. If some type of locking mechanism was incorporated to hold it onto the regular plug in case of a yank. A thought of an internal clamp that grips the 1/4" tip with just a twist or something. Oh well, I'm not a guitar player either but trying to think for one. Rolling Eyes
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Phil LaDue

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Re: Neutrik Silent Plug
« Reply #8 on: January 01, 2007, 09:20:19 PM »

It could also work for V-Drums Scott!!

Rob Burgess

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Re: Neutrik Silent Plug
« Reply #9 on: January 02, 2007, 01:41:51 PM »

Phil LaDue wrote on Mon, 01 January 2007 21:20

It could also work for V-Drums Scott!!


Not too many drummers play their last note and start unplugging their pads right away Smile  While the plug would be a nice thing I can't see drummers being priority users.

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