Any insight on cables?

[bigbob302]

Hey everyone! first post here. I stumbled upon the site while researching what i need for cable and hardware to keep my rig sounding great and being reliable. It seems mogami and redco cable and george L were all pretty popular cable sources with nuetrix and switchblade being popular cable end sources. Any more sources you like would be appreciated. I don't like the idea of solder-less connections so that gets rid of George. I am new to the world or rack gear and just started a small rack up so a lot of my confusion comes from that. I have read all kinds of stuff about trs cables being better and then other people saying a standard tr cable is fine, some say u can use thinner cables in the rack and pedal board and some say to use the bigger stuff. Everyone has something different to say about it. should i just get a bunch of regular shielded instrument wire and do everything with the same stuff ( obviously not for cab to head)? what is going to be my best bet fellas? I hear a lot of talk about balanced and unbalanced connections two but from what i understand that has to do with the equipment being connected and not the wire itself. Is there a one size fits all solution to this? to be honest i dont even know if any of my gear has balanced jacks or not. but am i gunna hurt anything using one type of cable vs another? Is there really an audible difference between cabled due to whatever electric magic happens in a rack that i have herd people say creates noise that i need to consider? I am sure this topic has come up plenty before and im sorry to be that guy if this is one of the weekly questions on this board ( im a newb here) but i don't understand all the technical talk that is used in a lot of articles and threads i have read elsewhere on this subject. any thoughts/tips/suggestions are greatly appreciated! my rig is pretty straight forward.

Ltd esp >>> boss sd-1>>> boss ge-7 >>> korg rack tuner >>> peavey 5150
Loop send >>> a bbe sonic max. >>> isp decimator pedal >>> loop return

 

[Nigel]

I love my Solid Cables Arc Ultra's. They're like magic.

One broke after 4 years...Nial sent a replacement free of charge. Good guy, great gear.

 

[droptrd]

Welcome to the forum!

Im currently using cables i built from Gepco with switchcraft conectors. Im very happy with them. as far as your rack goes, Id use the same cable u'd use for your guitar. Unless you need balanced TRS cables for certain gear in your rack.

The Mogami is good. Canare is good for racks and boards but not guitars cause the jacket is pretty stiff. But it sounds good. The price goes up from there.

Check this out...
http://www.lavacable.com/index.html

 

[glpg80]

mogami and planet wave for the cabling - for ends i use neutrik.

have tested these cables against alot of brands and these are the ones that sound the best and do their job effectively for me

normally i use mogami for anything out front, and i use planet wave for anything out back

 

[feintguitarist]

I'm really happy with my Lava Cables.. I forget exactly which cable from him I got, but they're top notch quality!

 

[jet66]

I like the Canare over the Mogami for the braided shield. It feels like it will hold up really well. It is a little stiff starting out (especially since I put Techflex over it) but it loosens up a bit after a couple of weeks.

That's not to bag on Mogami, I like it and have had zero problems with it, I just prefer the way the Canare is built.

 

[bigbob302]

Wow this board moves fast! thanks for all the advice everyone! so regular old shielded guitar cable for all of it correct? I am gunna order some stuff up real soon just want to do i tone and do it right. Everything on in my rack came second hand to me and the previous owner sent abunch of really thin cables with it. they were like rca cable width with 1/4 ends on them. just real cheep looking and it cant be good for tone and longevity.

 

[bigbob302]

Ya know i forgot to ask earlier but I hear alot of people gripe about keeping cable length to a minimum. Anyone try using 1/4''-1/4'' male to male adapters instead of cables in between their pedals?

 

[feintguitarist]

I just went and checked to see what cable I bought from Lavaman, and it's Sommer (Spirit) cable, but the ends on it aren't the ones he offers anymore apparently. I really recommend buying from Lavacables.com, he offers a lot of different cable options.. Sommer, Canare, Mogami, GeorgeL.. tons more. Plus you can choose what kind of connector and length you want.

As far as connecting pedals goes.. I personally don't use pedals, but I've seen a number of pedal boards on here and the otherforums just using connectors between the pedals and not cables. So you can definitely do that.

 

[bigbob302]

thanks a bunch i am on the lava cables website now pookin around. I really appreciate all the help everyone i cant believe i just found this site!

 

[moltenmetalburn]

I use colossal cables. Cheaper than most boutique and sound great!

 

[PeteLaramee]

I use all Voodoo Amps 50/50 cables. Sorry, I don't use pedals so I've never tried 1/4" to 1/4" adapters.

 

[bigbob302]

thanks for all the help everyone! I ended up ordering from redco. I scooped up redco cable with neutrix ends. the first cable was a daunting task haha but much like everything else in life once I got a system down and retaught myself all the soldering tips (its been a while) everything went smooth. It also saves time when you rember to slide all the stuff onto the cable before you solder both ends on.. ooops haha. I ordered two silent ends ( only one of them got mailed to me but I emailed redco and hope the other one will get sent out soon) so far I like them. time will tell if they hold up or not. I am normally a firm believer in keep it simple so as you have less shit to go wrong but i figured id give it a try. I also went with some grey tech flex. Im not sure if i like the tech flew or not yet but i am happy with the quality of all the parts and i have professional quality cables for half the price of store bought now. thanks again!

 

[jet66]

The red-sleeved Neutrik silent plugs? They work great, as long as you don't have the habit of unplug + drop. Apparently, they are too sensitive to withstand a few weeks of falling 3' on to tile and concrete floors.

The Switchcraft with the little button hold up fine, but is larger in diameter, too much for my preference.

The ones that come on ProCo's Silent Knight cables have a spring loaded sleeve that shorts tip to sleeve when unplugged, those have been my favorite. My last one went almost 15 years before wearing out, and that included the same 3' drop that the Neutrik didn't seem to like. Those are G&H 'Big Foot' Quiet Plugs: Info. To buy.

 

[bigbob302]

i can see how that would cause a problem haha. i used part# np2rx-au-silent ( yes the red ones) i made two 20ft. cables with the intent to put one silent plug on each and one normal plug on each. a 90 degree silent for one cable and a straight silent on the other so as i could use the 90 on my esp and a straight with the stratocaster due to the recessed input on a strat. but i only ended up with one of my silent plugs in the box. the other plugs i used were part number np2x-bag. only have three cables under my belt but i got the hang ov it now and they dont take anytime at all once you get a system down. i made 2 20'ers to go from my guitar to the board and board to my rack tuner. i also made a 3 footer for rack tuner to amp input. everything in my rack goes threw the loop cept the tunner so everything into the front of my amp gets grey tech flex and black heat shrink while everything in the loop is going to have no tech flex and different color heat shrink( or maybe just a piece of tape (depends on what i have on hand for supplies) to make it easy to trace problems. yellow send green return or something like that.

 

[jet66]

Yeah, color coding is good planning, to keep everything easy to follow. I bought Canare in red, orange, and blue, and black Techflex to make a snake for the pedal board send and return, amp input, and foot switch. (Balanced black cable for the foot switch is Belden or Horizon, already had it on-hand from an old mic cable.) I just used electrical tape for the binder, as I've already changed foot switch cable styles once, after changing up amps.

 

[RockStarNick]

Yeah, color coding is good planning, to keep everything easy to follow. I bought Canare in red, orange, and blue, and black Techflex to make a snake for the pedal board send and return, amp input, and foot switch. (Balanced black cable for the foot switch is Belden or Horizon, already had it on-hand from an old mic cable.) I just used electrical tape for the binder, as I've already changed foot switch cable styles once, after changing up amps.

I did the same thing for my snake. SO much easier on stage. Makes setup and teardown fast.