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09-12-2024, 11:30 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-12-2024, 11:32 AM by Sherlok Ohms.)
Hello everyone
I believe your question is answered already?
The design trend towards the least costly solution favours elimination of wiring as that typically involves Human hands and Human effort and presumably too many Humans involved. The use of surface mounted components makes the overall PCB smaller and can make the overall size of equipment smaller, but not universally so.
For example, look at guitar pedals. Simple distortion or tone shaping pedals could always be made in the standard "single pedal width". Modern forms may use SM chips, resistors and caps but the overall size of the pedal remains much the same. A complicated digital reverb might have been built in a double-width chassis but now is single width using SM. The presence of surface mounted components practically shouts at one that "This unit is disposable". It is certainly an aggregious thing to attempt to repair!
A pedal is easy to manufacture without wiring but only if a specific chassis is used that allows the jacks to slide in and out vertically with the main PCB, or if multiple PCBs are used which snap together using board-to-board connectors. Given that connectors are on the spendy side and every piece of equipment is trying to eliminate them - look at computing devices and handhelds - the latter approach is unlikely in a guitar pedal.
Generally, wiring is only used where it is uneconomical NOT to have wiring. I believe the first post made that amply clear.
Cheerio
I believe your question is answered already?
The design trend towards the least costly solution favours elimination of wiring as that typically involves Human hands and Human effort and presumably too many Humans involved. The use of surface mounted components makes the overall PCB smaller and can make the overall size of equipment smaller, but not universally so.
For example, look at guitar pedals. Simple distortion or tone shaping pedals could always be made in the standard "single pedal width". Modern forms may use SM chips, resistors and caps but the overall size of the pedal remains much the same. A complicated digital reverb might have been built in a double-width chassis but now is single width using SM. The presence of surface mounted components practically shouts at one that "This unit is disposable". It is certainly an aggregious thing to attempt to repair!
A pedal is easy to manufacture without wiring but only if a specific chassis is used that allows the jacks to slide in and out vertically with the main PCB, or if multiple PCBs are used which snap together using board-to-board connectors. Given that connectors are on the spendy side and every piece of equipment is trying to eliminate them - look at computing devices and handhelds - the latter approach is unlikely in a guitar pedal.
Generally, wiring is only used where it is uneconomical NOT to have wiring. I believe the first post made that amply clear.
Cheerio
