Square Plugs have been around for a few years now and have been making some serious waves in the patch cable / rig building game. Yes, this is about as nerdy as it gets - a nine minute long video and blog post about 1/4" plugs. You have been warned, you are now entering the BTPA NERD ZONE.

If you are still reading, we will assume that you are into pedalboards/racks enough to have noticed the small square looking plugs that have been popping up on people's rigs. We receive a lot of questions on these things so we are going to try and cover them and make your decision process much easier! SQUARE PLUG SPEC AND COMPATIBILITY SHEET

square plugs vs other brands of connectors

Why are Square Plugs Significant?

Square Plug connectors are changing the pedalboard and rig building game because of their quality, robustness, and [most importantly] their size. The Square Plugs line of connectors (Straight or right angle, TS or TRS) are extremely low profile. They are much lower profile than the typical pancake connectors you see on the market (in terms of depth and length). In addition, they are easier to solder than most of the pancake plugs on the market. No more scratching the surface of the pancake connector to get the shield solder to stick (Hallelujah!). The Square Plugs line of connectors also outperforms the other flat style connectors on the market in that they are not over molded ends. Should you ever have a patch cable go bad, you can simply open the connector and troubleshoot/fix. This story is not the same for over molded flat style plugs.

Another thing that sets the SP400/SP500 apart from the typical pancake plug is that they are not as wide. This allows you to plug them next to one another on most devices. This makes a big deal when running stereo pedals (i.e. Strymon Timeline, Eventide H9) or pedal switchers (i.e. RJM PBC 10, Disaster Area DPC 8EZ). The square plugs eliminate the need for a straight jack protruding an inch or more from the back the piece of gear, thus creating more space on the board for other pedals or simply routing cables. The jack spacing of the gear you are plugging into does come into play, though. Please refer to page 3 of this list on different switchers that the right angle SP400/500 will/will not fit next to one another on. The BOSS ES-8, for instance, will not allow SP400s to be plugged in next to one another. The SPS4/5 connectors work great in this instance :)

The SPS4/5 straight line of Square Plugs are great as they are lower profile than the typical 380 plug (or comparable) on the market. The plugs boast a 0.78" handle. Another thing that sets these apart from the 380 is that they feature strain relief. There are two small set screws that you can tighten down to hold the cable in place. Yes, most of the time these cables are dressed in and ty-wrapped to pedalboards - but still some pretty good peace of mind!

The Differences Between The Models

The easiest two ways to categorize these are the SP and SPS series & 400/4 and 500/5 series.

  • SP: refers to right angle connectors
  • SPS: refers to straight connectors
  • 400/4: smaller opening in plug for cable
  • 500/5: slightly larger opening in plug for cable

TO BE CLEAR - the SP400/SPS4 and the SP500/SPS5 are the exact same size as one another! Dimensionally (depth, height, etc.) these connectors are the exact same. The ONLY difference is the diameter of the hole for the cable. Here is a detailed list of the cable and plugs compatibility, below is a short list:

The final difference that we will point out - the SP550-S connectors are clearly TRS, while the others are all TS (mono) plugs.

Solder Points:

Finally, we get a lot of questions on which lugs to solder each cable. Here are diagrams:



Hopefully this helps!! Please feel free to email us at info@btpa.com with any questions that you may have. To close, please, for the love of all things guitar gear - purchase a cheap continuity tester! Not only will this help you test every cable you make or you think may be flawed, but it will also help with many other things within your guitar rig (i.e. biasing certain amps).

Posted on Products : Belden8451, SPS5, SP500BK, SP500, SP550-SBK, SP400BK, SP550-S, SPS4B, SPS4, SP400, CA-0678, SPS5B