The 6,3 mm phone plug must be the worst piece of gear we musicians use. When you plug it in, it short-circuits the equipment in use every time and there's nothing you can do about it.
When it was first used in telephone switching boards a hundred years ago, that brief moment of shorting presented no real problem as the currents used were tiny. It even might have built some confidence in the operation as the client would hear this cracking noise in her blower. It meant she was being connected.
Now musicians are connecting their instrument to their amps with this same connector. We all have heard those sonic explosions when a fellow musician plugs in his guitar into a cranked-up full stack.
This little device cures the century-old design flaw once and for all. There's a little collar at the base of the plug that recedes into the body of the plug once the act of switching is nearly complete. Only then is the device connected.
Very neat and reliable solution. I'm in the process of making a silent plug conversion to all my instrument leads.
Only thing is I must remember to inform the FOH and monitor guys before every gig that I'm using silent plug leads so there's no need to panic even if I reach for the plug mid-show to change guitars.
Is great,
Ilkka, Helsinki, Finland