It's not really the VFD. It's my board.

I didn't even think of how this decision would impact the wall wart, but this is what I did:

The board was ORIGINALLY meant to JUST be powered from the EMPEG itself. I stumbled upon a Digikey part that would let me add a LITTLE usefulness to the board in allowing folks to use a wall wart when not in the car.
This little doo-hickey had a "switch" in it that when nothing was plugged in, it allowed current to flow between two pins. When a jack was plugged in, the circuit was broken, and current came from the jack.
Now since we're talking about +12V, I couldn't let the pin that was ALWAYS connected be +12V.. What would happen if you had the board plugged in, and connected up to your motherboard? Or the Empeg, not in it's sled? (For the former, +12v on the DTE line would NOT be good. For the latter, I'm not so sure if it's even connected up in the Empeg itself.)
So the only thing that I could do was have the 'switch' in the jack connect and disconnect the +12V, not GND. This made the OUTER SHELL of the jack positive.

Now I realize that is probably was a dummy thing, not thinking forward to the Empeg's wall wart (didn't even know IT would fit!) and looking online at Digikey, I do NOT think there is a jack that will do what I need. (i.e. +12V in the tip, and having the 'switch' turn THAT onoff instead of the sheild.)

I'm still not 100% sure this is what it is, I'll find out today. Right now, it's leaning towards it. If it is, like V99 and dbrasher said, i have a few options, whicl I'll post here, and get ideas on..

Me.
(And don't worry. After this, I'll never do anything again. )