XLR shorting plugs...

[batee]

I'm looking for some shorting bars for XLR connectors. These are used in (some of) Nelson's amps to allow them to be run in unbalanced mode. Anyone know where I can find them (US suppliers)?

Thanks,

Bryan A. Thompson
bryan@batee.com

[OzMikeH]

As in shorting the balanced line? Or shorting one leg to the ground pin?
I can only suggest buying some good quality metal bodied plugs and doing the required connecton using the plug.

[batee]

Shorting one of the differential inputs to ground is what I'm after. I've seen some "U" shaped pieces of metal made for this app. Nelson mentions them in some of the owners manuals for his amps.

Thanks!

Bryan

[cowanrg]

cant you just bend a piece of wire? get some solid core copper (romex?) and make a little U out of it?

you can also get some XLR plugs and wire them internally to do the same thing.

[batee]

Yes, I considered DIY, but then I reasoned that it would look like a piece of bent Romex and gave up on the idea.

I went on to consider a piece of coat hanger, paper clips, a gum wrapper, a bent nail, and lastly a piece of garden twine. These worked (to varying degrees), but they still didn't provide the professional look that I wanted, so I gave up on them as well.

[cowanrg]

i dont know what you are doing wrong, but making your own shouldnt look any different than a commercial one.

step 1, get some large guage copper wire (solid of course). cut and strip a length of it. maybe about 3 inches long.

step 2, using your fingers, pull it straight, so you get it as straight as possible.

step 3, using a pair of pliers, firmly grasp the wire about 1/3 the way up. firmly press the wire so that you bend it at a nice 90 degree angle. it should look like a right angle, not a smooth curve.

step 4, measure the distance from hole to hole on the xlr jack. position pliers so you can make another 90 degree bend, repeat step 3.

step 5, cut wire so both ends are the same length, so they are even.

step 6, use!

see picture. took longer to write this email. took about 30 seconds to make the jumper. (it looks uneven, that's just the angle of the picture).

[cowanrg]

and installed....

(the wire was just what i had in front of me, you should probably use something just a bit thicker, but this would work just fine.)

[batee]

I think the copper wire will oxidize pretty quickly, so I'm still going to hold out for something plated on the XLR shorting things.

Where did you get the tapered head screws to mount XLR jacks (the ones shown in your pic)?

Bryan

[wuffwaff]

Hi,

it would be better to use XLR cables terminated on one side with a standard male plug, on the other side a cinch plug where you connect 1 and 3 to ground.
This way you have the advantage that the noise/distortion added by the cable is cancelled out.

William

[cowanrg]

Originally posted by batee
I think the copper wire will oxidize pretty quickly, so I'm still going to hold out for something plated on the XLR shorting things.

Where did you get the tapered head screws to mount XLR jacks (the ones shown in your pic)?

Bryan

i said specifically not to use that exact wire. if you get a plated wire, you will be fine. also, just dont touch the wire, and use some wipes on it, and it will be fine.

the tapered screws are pretty standard. i got them at www.microfasteners.com. they have nice hardware.

if you dont like the jumper idea (commercially made ones will be identical...), then get one of these:

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=092-309

and internally solder the pins.

the pass labs stuff has an rca and xlr, and you need to jumper the xlr to get the rca to work, right?