Originally posted by Bob:
There is the 1/4" that is standard at most Guitar Mart stores. Usually these patchbays have jacks on the front and back and they are flimsy garbage that breaks.
Then there is the 1/4" military style patchbays and cables. These are more robust, more expensive and you can't buy the cables at Guitar Mart (unfortunately). I hope this helps.
Is it worth it to me to buy a $600 patchbay that'll last me 4 times as long as a $100 patchbay? When the $100 patchbay grows old and useless I can pitch it and buy another. The other thing is that I need 144 patch points, or 3 48 point bays. If I bought 3 of the $600 types that totals at $1800! $*^t! I'm not a commercial studio, I don't even bill it out. It's for me to record me and friends or people whose music I think is awesome. It won't hurt me much if the patchbay commits suicide in the middle of a take since I'm most likely going to be the client.
I can deal with patchbay death, but what I WON'T deal with is a patchbay that deteriorates my signal! If buying a $600 patchbay nets a sixfold or even threefold improvement, I'll think about buying them!
As for TT, I don't think I can really afford that. Since I'm not confident in my soldering abilities, it would mean I'd have to buy lots of cabling that terminates in TT at one end to plug into the patchbay.
I don't know. I'm willing to pay the extra if it's worth it for TT and more expensive patchbays, but a few people are also telling me that 1/4" (non-military type) will be totally keen.
