Patchbay routing question

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

I bought a cheap Neutrik patch bay so I don’t have to keep unplugging things at the back of the mixer. I don’t have a ton of gear, but I always have one too many things to plug in.

I hooked it all up, but when I plug my guitar into the input (bottom) on the front panel, nothing is sent to the mixer. If I plug it into the output (top), I get a really quiet signal.

But if I plug it into the front panel output (top) , and plug another cable into the input (bottom), then it works just fine. Is this normal behavior?

The patchbay is half-normaled.

Here’s the diagram:

image

image

Around the back, I have the output from my guitar pedals entering at the bottom (in), and the patch-cable to my mixer’s input running from the top jack.

I understand how the bay works, and how half-normal routing works. But I also think i might have it hooked up wrong.

The idea is that can just jack straight into the mixer to practice, without firing up all the pedals.

#2

If you bought your Neutrik patchbay second hand then it might be that someone has flipped some of the modules. I do this on purpose for some modules to support fx gear as an example.

I use the “front jack A for listen in” configuration for standard use. This should also be the configuration, if the patchbay was bought new. The gray jack B is in the front-low position.

Use:

  • rear-A is the standard-in (from a synth for example)
  • rear-B is the standard-out (goes to mixing desk)
  • front-A can be used to receive the standard-in and route it “somewhere”, while rear-A and rear-B still are connected.
  • front-B is used to hook up a particular input of gear, overwriting the standard rear-A/B routing, and sends to rear B.

Hope this was of any help …

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#3

Excellent, thanks!

Looks like I have my wiring upside-down. The patchbay is new, so it’s wired like in the diagrams. I have my instruments going to rear-B, not rear-A.

I read a lot before wiring, and everything I read said that outputs go over the input i.e on the top:

But that makes no sense when I look at the Neutrik diagram again. Your explanation is much clearer, and makes more sense.

#4

Good to hear this … now … happy patching :wink:

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#5

One more question.

I hooked up my guitar amp’s input to the back of the patchbay. When I plug the guitar in the front, everything is great. However, when the guitar isn’t plugged in, there’s a loud buzz.

It’s the same buzz you get when you plug an instrument cable into the amp with no guitar on the other end. I know what the problem is – the input jack on the front of the patchbay needs to be grounded, or to have its circuit closed. A guitar amp input jack stays closed until you plug something in.

My question, then, is how do I do this with the Neutrik patchbay?

Do I ground the connection to the patchbay chassis?

#6

You could make a jack with a ground connection to the pin and use it as plug-in until the guitar is used again.

#7

That’s probably what I’ll do.

Edit: done, and works great. I have that particular patch module set as a 2-into-1 input. I can leave the shorted jack in one, and pull it half out when I plug the guitar into the other one.

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