Bulk Cable Advice

PatF

Active member
Please advise on a good choice for bulk cable. I need 150' each of mic and instrument cable. 35 cables left to make. I'm looking at the Canare L-4E6S Quad Mic Cable 21 gauge with the Squareplugs straight TRS connectors for my DAW, monitors and 8-ch mixer.

Is quad the way to go? Is there a dual 18 awg mic cable?

For the guitar stuff I'm thinking Redco TGS-HD 18 gauge instrument cable. I was also considering the Best-Tronics and Canare equivalants. This is for a rack with an 8 loop switcher and a pedal board tray with a 4 loop switcher and amps.

Is the 18 gauge too bulky to use in a pedal board?
 
18Gauge for a pedalboard, yes that is overkill. I typically use Mogami W2319 or W2314, but recently I found that W2319 is a nice middle ground of flexibility and gauge.

For mic cables I do like quad core, but have not actually solder any quad cores as it was just relatively recently that I got into quad core, as I like having a redundant line, just seems much more robust. I do have some bulk Mogami W2534 quad core cable, but have not used it yet. The Canare L-4E6S does look nice, not sure how it compares to the Mogami. I moved away from Canare mostly due to most of their cable having a woven shield, just a bit of a pain to work with, even though its a great shield design.
 
Mogami W2319 is perfect for pedal boards. its thin and flexible. Just make sure you remove the black core covering when soldering it. I've read that it actually affects the overall tone if its not removes from the exposed part that solders to the cables.

 
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canare quad is probably the best mic cable out there BUT its pretty hard to work with.

mogami w2319 is great if you have tons of wire on your board i also like the regular 2524 for building boards.
 
Cool thanks for the input. I caught that about the black coating Bash Man. I've scavenged almost enough G&H and Switchcraft plugs from old cables for the rack.
 
Another user of the Canare L-4E6S here. I agree with blackba that the woven shield is difficult to work with, but I think the benefit of the better shielding is worth it.

I use the Canare GS-6 for my instrument cables and pedal boards. (FWIW, I don't run a big board.) I know people dislike the extra capacitance, but I've never heard the difference to be all that great. I also use Canare quad for my speaker cables. I think it's the 4S11, but I don't remember.
 
Another user of the Canare L-4E6S here. I agree with blackba that the woven shield is difficult to work with, but I think the benefit of the better shielding is worth it.

I use the Canare GS-6 for my instrument cables and pedal boards. (FWIW, I don't run a big board.) I know people dislike the extra capacitance, but I've never heard the difference to be all that great. I also use Canare quad for my speaker cables. I think it's the 4S11, but I don't remember.
What pedals do you use on your pedal board? some of them may have buffers, which will "correct" the input/output capacitance and not let you hear the lost high end. Years ago I had all my cables as Canare GS-6 and when I switched to Mogami 2524, i definilty hear a good amount of increased high end added to my tone.
 
I have an Axess BS-2 buffer first in the chain splitting the signsl 3 ways. Two for parallel bass and 1 for a tube D.I.

The pedals are a MXR smart gate, TS9 Tubescreamer, Boss DS-1, and Sansamp YYZ.

I am going to get some of that quad speaker cable too. Thanks.
 
What pedals do you use on your pedal board? some of them may have buffers, which will "correct" the input/output capacitance and not let you hear the lost high end. Years ago I had all my cables as Canare GS-6 and when I switched to Mogami 2524, i definilty hear a good amount of increased high end added to my tone.

My main rig is just a wah and a decimator. I use a KSR Artemis and a G-major for all of the "effecty" bits. I have a 6505 as a backup which I run a decimator, a microamp+ and a CE-5. That's it for me.

Even playing mostly LP style guitars, I never find myself lacking in high end. Just my experience.
 
My main rig is just a wah and a decimator. I use a KSR Artemis and a G-major for all of the "effecty" bits. I have a 6505 as a backup which I run a decimator, a microamp+ and a CE-5. That's it for me.

Even playing mostly LP style guitars, I never find myself lacking in high end. Just my experience.
The Decimator might have a buffer in it that's helping with the High end. But regardless, if you're not having an issue with the high end then that's great 🙃
 
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