Switchcraft vs Audio Accessories 96 point patchbays.

They're the same price, and the only major difference is the audio accesories has gold alloy contacts, but the soundcraft you can remove blocks for soldering and has nickel contacts.

Is the gold alloy going to be any better? Or is one more rugged than the other?

FWIW I just had to replace two audio accessories at a clients studio that were less then 4 years old and didn't have much use. The patchbays had switchable normals and were elco in the back. The problem was out of nowhere the cold side of the balanced connection was shorting to ground. Because of the way audio accessories made them, they were unable to service without major major hassle. Now Audio accessories is making right by sending us two new ones for us to swap out but if you ask me, shouldn't happen. IN 2 96 oint tt patchbays happened on roughly 14 points.


good side is their customer service was awesome.

bad side was we are having to wait for the new ones to swap the faulty ones with.

i have 20 years old switchcraft and they works whitout single problems

I'm pretty sure I have wired on every brand of TT patchbay ever made, and I like the Switchcraft.
The Switchcraft 96 TTP series has some great features, offset solder tabs and buss oriented sleeve tabs that make wiring much easier, easy diss-assembly, hard gold plated contacts of the normal switching where you want it, a good strain relief bar, and nickel plating on the jacks. If you use  patch cables with nickel plated jacks this is a good formula, no dissimilar metals in contact. Gold is not a good choice for repeated use friction contacts.

Any experience with the redco patchbay's reliability or other issues? They also have the switchable normals/grounding and db25's for termination into the back of the bay.

Thanks!
jonathan

I prefer the Audio Accessories bays in all styles.  I like the slight bevel on the TTY sleeves.

The Redco bays are more robust than I figured.  I replaced so many of those plastic TTY points in British consoles over the decades I figured they were the same, but I have them in commercial installs for over two years where they get used daily and they hold well.  My only complaint is that you have to make your own ground lug- not a biggie.

More important that any particular patchbay manufacturer is keeping them dust and smoke free once they are installed.  An AA bay will be sticky and dodgy in less than 2 years if kept in a messy studio.  A patchbay vacced every week or so will last forever
Mike

We have some Switchcraft bays that are over 30 years old, and still in service.
+1 for the vacuum, or compressed air!
Best,
Bruno2000

No go on the compressed air.  It just blows it all over your DIY racks.  Vac with a camelhair brush, 1/4" screen inside to catch any knob or switch caps.
Mike