Samson S-Patch Plus 48-Point Audio Patch Bay with 1/4-Inch Phone Connections

This is my first patchbay and I'm quite pleased with it. For years I've been crawling around behind the racks in my small studio wiring and re-wiring gear every time I want to reconfigure my signal chains. But no longer will I be covered in dust bunnies and spiders, thanks to the S-patch Plus. This thing really is a game changer, especially for those of us less experienced with what can be a rather confusing "simple" tool- it's well built and packs a lot of common-sense functionality into a small space.The best part about the S-patch is the freedom it gives you to choose Normalled, Half-normalled or Thru functions with the flip of a switch on each input-output pair. This is really convenient, especially if, like me, you're new to patchbays and want to experiment with functionality and signal chain options. The switches are sturdy, as are the jacks and the metal casing of the unit itself- no cheap plastic or thin faceplates here. I've noticed no loss or degradation of signal when tracking or mixing with the unit and I've found the signal flow diagrams printed on the top of the casing to be very helpful as well.My only complaint is that the unit doesn't come with Rack Screws, which isn't a huge deal, but it would be nice. It does come with stick-on rubber feet in a little bag, which I'm not using because I have it racked but they would be nice if you had this sitting on a desk. Additionally, some folks have commented on how there isn't much room on the face of the unit for labeling each channel. This is true, but that's the price you pay for a single rack space size unit. I got around this by purchasing a 2 foot long, 1.5" wide, 1/8" thick strip of aluminum at the local hardward store for 3 bucks. I used a jigsaw to cut it to ~19" long like a standard rack unit blank. I drilled out holes in the ends for screws and mounted it just above the S-patch on my rack. Then I stole my wife's labelmaker and created stick-on labels for each piece of gear connected to the patchbay, and stuck them vertically to the aluminum strip. This plate can easily be removed to access the diagrams on the top of the S-patch when you get confused on what the heck-swoggle "half-normal" means.One word of caution, especially if you're new to this: while any TRS bay will pass phantom power from a preamp to a mic, you run the risk of "hotpatching" your mics if you plug in cables while the phantom power is engaged. This can really damage your preamps. If you're really careful, you can get around this by simply never patching a live mic, but this is always going to be a gamble, especially if you're like me and your brain is in 67 places at once during a session. So while it's tempting to put all your preamps "behind" the bay, it's better run the output of each pre to a channel of the patchbay which is then normalled to your interface / board. For example, in my studio if I want to plug a mic into an outboard preamp, I use the following chain:Mic --- xlr patchbay (much safer for phantom than trs) --- Preamp --- S-patch channel normalled to line input on my interface. This means that my mics always run directly to my interface via my outboard preamps UNLESS I break the normal via patch cable. Any phantom power thus flows to the mic from the preamp "ahead" of the S-patch. Remember, phantom power flows the opposite direction of mic signal!Overall, I'm very happy with the S-patch and I already can't imagine my control room without it. It's also already full, so I'll likely buy another soon.

I've held off purchasing this for quite some time because I always chose to get something in its place that had an active role in recording e.g., Fx processors, guitars etc... Was I ever wrong! This is the single most time saving piece of gear in my studio, hands down. It not only keeps me from crawling around behind things to plug and unplug cables, I also use it in line with my XLR only patch bay where I used to have to use adapters if I needed to plug something in that was 1/4 inch. Now running the XLR patch bay into this and then into my mixer, if I need to change from xlr to 1/4", I just plug into the Samson and it severs the xlr connection and now becomes a direct connection from the new cable. I almost bought another brand that had the switches on top but I didn't like the idea of having to put it in the top slot of an open top rack in order to have access to the switches. The switches on the face of the Samson eliminates that problem. If I were pressed to name a single issue with this, it would be that I have to memorize all the connections or make a diagram because there isn't enough room on the face to label everything. But that is really an insignificant issue when compared to every problem that this one piece of equipment solves. I will be purchasing at least one more as I add more equipment to my studio over time and I can't express enough the need for every studio to have at least one of these to make your life so much easier.

Pretty straightforward patch bay. Front controls allow on the fly switching between Normal/Half Normal/Thru. I personally leave about 2/3 HN and 1/3 N but it’s all about your personal needs.If you aren’t sure if you need a patch bay, all you need to do is see if you need to think about what connectors you have where and how to add a piece of hardware into a chain - and whether your gear is rack mounted- if so, you’ll benefit.Note: You don’t need anywhere near 48 channels to need a 48 point bay. For example, even with a 16 channel mixer, if you set 16 (or 8 w/ inserts for stereo) as mixer outs, the “standard in” can run through the top in N/HN modes. You can then patch in FX or whatever else to any given line, and this is easiest by attaching your FX, compression, etc., all to the pay as well. So to add in compression, you’d patch over to the input for your compressor, and patch back with the output, to the original mixer points. 48 can be used quicker than expected (plenty of semi pro home studios have 2-3 of these), so don’t think its sooo much room.The best part is not having to go searching behind your console constantly. Once well set up, you should only ever have to patch.

Samson S-patch is simple, convenient TRS patch bay. it has 24 in/out which seems more than enough for my expanding hybrid studio. it allows manipulate different effects chains and different hw unit into my limited amount of interface input ports (preamp-bypassed). its easy to switch modes of N/HN/T from the front, and easy to chain hw and switch their order (i.e la2a before or after 1176? add eq after or before compressor, etc). sure with interface that has more inputs such manipulation can be done in its software mixer routing, still i find it less intuitive and slower than simple patch in hw that is infant of me. so far unit seems to work fine with no noise - mainly using it in normal mode.So why I deduct one star? because of the amateur quality control. the unit arrived with its front panel upside down. that means front panel numbers different from back panel, but more importantly the toggle mode switch has no room to move half-normal, just normal and thru. philips screw driver and a minute later the panel set back to it's correct position and issue solved, just annoying it came out of the factory like that.beside that I like its 1u format, so although there is less room to write on it the names of the units, its easy to save document with the inputs/outputs units.