Greg_G wrote:
Brian
Please understand that I've said from the start that my observations were general and applied to pedals in general, so the size of this particular box doesn't matter.
The Cornish was just used as an example that he wouldn't use board mounted parts because they aren't the route to maximum reliability "in my opinion". And it is just my opinion.. based on what I've been told and what I've seen.
You don't have to use open jacks because you're not mounting them on the board.
I'm not sure how the old vs young thing applies here, but I guess I fit into the old category..
I'll add another variable as well. most pedals built in a 1590B or 125B enclosure encourage user access. whatever parts are not mounted to a pcb must be connected with wire, and if the user powers their pedals with batteries they will constantly be opening them and some are more clumsy than others... and others are simply inquisitive. If everything is PCB mounted it is a lot harder for them to mess things up. I can't speak for Nic, but I can tell you that for us the biggest reasons thing end up coming back to us. The biggest one is from users taking apart the pedal and not putting it back together correctly. The second biggest reason is us making a mistake during manufacture. Both of these are part of reliability, and PCB mounting all the components helps alleviate both of them. The third biggest reason is hardware failure. Typically a 3pdt failure, and most of those came from one batch i bought about 4 years ago. Neither build technique would really make any difference there.
the point is, if a switch comes loose, and you step on it hard enough something is going to break. Regarding the 1590B box i don't think it's going to have enough room to crack the circuit board. If you have a 3pdt with all connections made with wire, and the nut comes loose, the switch is still going to sink down to the bottom plate. The lugs are held in place only with epoxy and nothing else. I'm not sure how much force it's going to take before the epoxy begins to lose it's grip on the lugs. It's probably a lot less than your average guitar player weighs. Either way there is the same potential for damaging the pedal.
Your gripe seems to be a lot less about reliability than it is about how much of a pain it would be to fix. That's where the old way vs new way came from. Sorry if i was not clear. I think building stuff this way probably decreases infancy failure rate a lot... especially for a growing company. I know for us, it is getting harder and harder to make pedals the way we do... I have one guy that does all the final assembly, and wire work. That's basically all he does. It requires a lot more time to familiarize someone with building a product that way... And the worst part is, as the owner, I always find my self scrutinizing the finest details, saying "well i would have done it this way." Not that his way isn't just as good... but it's not my way. I'd hate to think of what it would be like if i had 10 guys doing that same job... or even worse, if the current guy quit. he was sort of eased in to it as the company grew, and he had plenty of electronics experience. (He still does repair work on the side) Having someone else do that job now would basically be a huge pain, and would probably lead to a few unreliable pedals slipping out the door.
And yes you can use close jacks that are not PCB mounted, but they'll still have the same problems. They come loose, potential for wire to break, or if they are close enough put stress on the PCB.
