Price: $99, one (1) in stock
This is the very, very rare and very, very, very expensive hand
crimping tool for making custom analog audio snakes for the Sony
PCM-3348 48-track DASH digital recorders using multicore cable from
Mogami, etc. and the special JAE connectors required by the Sony
3348 (PCM3348, PCM-3348, PCM-3348A, PCM-3348S).
This is a thousand dollar crimping tool, JAE part number
CT150-1G-PSSF. It is in excellent condition and of the very
highest quality.
This is in excellent condition with little wear.
Defects:
More Sony/JAE reference:
These round connectors fit all known variants of the Sony 3348.
The Sony PCM3324, PCM3324A, and PCM3324S have XLRs and can not use
this.
Sometime between the introduction of the 3324 and the 3348,
Sony got wise and used multipins instead of acres of XLRs, but sadly,
instead of using ELCO/EDACs, they chose their local kung-fu connector,
JAE, and used three 27-pin JAE circular connectors for 24 channels of
audio.
Here is a JAE
reference page, word search CT150-1G-PSSF on it.
A typical pro studio setup uses Mogami W2936 24-pair cable and makes
four snakes, each with three JAE connectors on it, two all male and two
all female, for 48 channels of analog audio in and 48 channels of
analog audio out. The other end usually has something decent and
sensible on it, like ELCO 90s in the SAC-90 24-track studio rental
standard.
Yes, the tool for sale above is for 22-24 gauge, but everyone uses Mogami 26 gauge in these plugs, either the common W2936 cable or the W2937. Mogami is the very best multicore cable for analog audio. The Mogami part number 2937 Multi Microphone cable, 27PR26, or twenty-seven (27) balanced pairs of 26 gauge wire. It is made for routing 27 channels (27 balanced pairs) of balanced analog audio. What the Sonys do with the 3 channels above 24 is unknown to me. The twenty-seven pairs are all inside a very soft and flexible outer jacket. The whole cable is about 7/8" thick. Each wire is neatly labeled "1", "2", and so forth, and underlined, so as not to confuse 6 with 9.
I believe that there may be solder type contacts available, but professionals would not ordinarily use those for any multipin connector, as it is ratty and they would lose their mind holding all those little wires in place. The most common way is to use crimp-type ELCO pins, but the best way (as I do it myself) is to use the crimper just to fasten them, and then solder the pins in place in a secondary operation, to ensure the best connection over time. This not only is a lot neater than using the solder type ELCO contacts, but it is more durable, as the crimped shoulder provides strain relief for the wire that a soldered joint will not.