Guitar Circuit Breaker for Live Shows

[jonfields45]

Just a heads up, if you guitar is active, the Neutrik Silent jack will likely connect before your preamp has fully powered up. For most active guitars you still get a fair amount of noise.

EDIT: Seems others have not had this problem. In my duo we were using an active Ibanez bass and an ES-1 Taylor. My partner could not get either to work with the cable I bought him. For my own usage with my PRS electrics, I use them almost exclusively.

[Rudy4]

Several good suggestions here. I used to use a multi-effects pedal with different settings programmed for different instruments and simply programmed a patch for zero volume and changed the label to "MUTE" to use when switching instruments.

[Photojeep]

Originally Posted by jonfields45

Just a heads up, if you guitar is active, the Neutrik Silent jack will likely connect before your preamp has fully powered up. For most active guitars you still get a fair amount of noise.

Please forgive my ignorance, but are saying if your guitar has a battery it will still make noise?

I'm only asking because all 3 of my guitars have what I THINK are active pickups (that is, they all have a battery inside) and NONE of them have ever made any sound when unplugging the Neutrik Silent jack.

Again, if I'm wrong, please set me right.

Best,
PJ

[Stringmaster]

I’d like to find a cable with a built in volume control—I understand Taylor used to make them—anyone make them now?

[jonfields45]

Originally Posted by Photojeep

Please forgive my ignorance, but are saying if your guitar has a battery it will still make noise?

I'm only asking because all 3 of my guitars have what I THINK are active pickups (that is, they all have a battery inside) and NONE of them have ever made any sound when unplugging the Neutrik Silent jack.

Again, if I'm wrong, please set me right.

Best,
PJ

Yes if it has a battery in it, it is active. I've never had any active guitar work with a Neutrik Silent jack, but it seems you've had much better luck!

[FrankHudson]

I've tried the D'Addarrio cable mentioned in the thread. I found it somewhat hard to use the small button that silences it. You could also use a wireless guitar transmitter, as all I'm aware of let you turn the transmitter off when switching guitars.

As many have mentioned, if you have a cord, you're plugging in, and a tuner pedal or other floor switch just is a better, more convenient solution IMHO.

[Chriscom]

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

As many have mentioned, if you have a cord, you're plugging in, and a tuner pedal or other floor switch just is a better, more convenient solution IMHO.

This also works with the tuner built into my Martin Road Series gig guitar.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by L20A

Does anyone have a suggestion for something to use to turn the sound off when unplugging your guitar cord and plugging the cord into a different guitar?

What is available that does this and is dependable?

Hi L20A
All my preamps (and ToneDexter) have a mute switch that works well…

You could always insert a floor tuner with a mute switch. I have A/B switches, but they tend to 'pop'.

[rmp]

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

. You could also use a wireless guitar transmitter, as all I'm aware of let you turn the transmitter off when switching guitars.

yes. this is what I do too, some are silent when the shut off, some just "click" a little bit, nothing like the "Whhhommmmp!" you get when pulling a live cable out of the output. A sound mans nightmare...

[leew3]

I use this to connect my guitar and mandolin to the PA. It has some gain control to compensate for the difference in output between these two instruments and functionally has a 'mute' switch when you simply turn off the output to change instruments (I use multiple guitars on the guitar channel so that's handy too)

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...combiner-pedal

[guitarwebguy]

I have active K&K pu’s in all my instruments and have never had a problem when using the Mogami-Neutrik silent plug

[tinnitus]

I've always used a simple, cheap A/B switch.
Guitar or pedal board plugs into the common jack.

A feeds the amp/PA.
B feeds a bright, easy to read floor tuner - that's it.

Whenever I switch to B, there is no signal going to any kind of amp. Any tuning noise is just the unamplified sound of the electric or acoustic guitar.

Besides tuning up, B works great for silently swapping instruments without loud thumps and buzzes.

[david57strat]

Originally Posted by rmp

yes. this is what I do too, some are silent when the shut off, some just "click" a little bit, nothing like the "Whhhommmmp!" you get when pulling a live cable out of the output. A sound mans nightmare...

When I've done sound gigs, the channel mute button was my friend. Had to anticipate when a musician was going to plug or unplug and make sure the channel was muted.

Didn't always work LOL. Most of the time, it did, though.

Sometimes, they'd ask - "Hey, can I unplug now?", or they'd give me a brief glance and point at their output jack, and I always gave them a quick friendly nod and a thumbs-up.

Musicians lugging/using their own equipment (amps, effects, sub mixers) onstage tend to also use the tuner mute (or maybe switch their amps to standby), or volume pedal off, since they're not always excited about hearing that loud pop through their equipment, either.

It's any electronic musician's nightmare - not just the sound tech's LOL.

I don't like my tuner directly in line with my signal path, so I kill the volume pedal, before changing out guitars.



When I used an A/B box to switch between guitar and tuner, I used these Startouch A/B boxes, which are excellent. Super reliable. Hand-made, point-to-point wiring - a pleasure to use. They just worked- day in, year out. Although the switches are traditional clicking switches, the switching is electrically silent (no popping or electrical noises through the system, when switching.

[Lost Sheep]

I wonder if any manufacturer (or electronics hobbyist) ever made a device like this:

It would have a male and female 1/4" jack on each end.

Have a "mute" button on the side

The 1/4" male end would plug into the instrument output and the female end accept the 1/4" male cable that leads to the amp/mixer.

Such a device would be able to convert any ordinary instrument cable to a mutable cable (if/when the cable needs to be replaced by another - e.g. different length or cable failure).

For someone who does not use A/B switches or tuning boxes on the floor, this would be an alternative to buying a dedicated mutable cable (which has more failure points than the device I envision). Sure, it has an additional interface, but I think that is a small sacrifice. One advantage is that when the player grabs the cable to unplug, the mute button is right there at the player's fingertips (for those players who sometimes forget to use a foot pedal, the button under their fingertips is a reminder to "mute" before unplugging - plus the button is right there).

[Petty1818]

I no longer use them because I don't switch from guitar to guitar and I have pedals for muting, but they work perfectly. I have yet to have a Planet Waves circuit breaker fail.