The new ¼-inch QiJack jacks made by Analysis Plus won Best in Show at the recent 2021 Summer NAMM Show held this past July in Nashville. QiJacks are replacement jacks for guitars or guitar amps that use a standard ¼-inch input jack. Made in the USA and built to last, the QiJacks are machined from a solid billet of brass and are available in either stereo TRS or mono TS versions.
If you have ever replaced jacks on guitars or amps, you know they are prone to breakage or wearing out from just ordinary use. The QiJack has no solder tabs sticking out that easily bend and break off. Instead, there are large soldering pads to securely attach wire(s) of any practical size. Yet somehow with all this, QiJacks will retrofit into the same locations and spaces easily. The new design also protects the entire length of the plug while it is inserted.
Vanguard Audio V44S Gen2 Microphone – A Real-World Review
For review, I received two stereo (TRS) QiJacks. I wanted to build an additional two-station stereo headphone box for musicians/singers in the studio’s isolation booth. I liked that the uncomplicated, all-analog Simon Systems CB-4 Headphone system when driven by a Hafler 100-watt power amp is super-rugged and sounds great with headphones of any impedance—even my low-impedance Audeze LCD-X planar magnetic pair. Pending this review, I’m replacing all four jacks on my existing CB-4 headphone box with QiJacks.
The QiJacks mount conventionally in the same size hole as other TRS jacks in my homebrew headphone box and come with just a single star-lock washer. I could also use a nice-looking finishing washer as I use the star lock inside behind the front panel to make sure the jack makes a solid connection to the metal chassis (and ground) by biting into it. The first thing I noticed is that the tight fit of the plug is inside of the QiJack! The machined solid brass socket should never bend or flex and stop making a good electrical connection—not ever.
There are three sections of brass for the TRS model and two for the TS version, with each layer separated by a Teflon washer insulator. There is that good, familiar feeling of a “patch” when plugging in. Removing the plug from the QiJack requires a little more effort than usual— that is a good thing! For any electric guitar installation, this is perfect: no worries about ever getting unplugged at any time.
