Rattlesnake Cable Co Review

[DrewJD82]

This showed up today-

These guys are legit and Hank provided great service. Called me 20 mins after I put in an order request on a Sunday afternoon, covered every area I wasn’t thinking of and prevented me from ordering the wrong direction on the MIDI cable. They send you a proof to approve before building just to ensure there’s no mistakes. My order was built and shipped in less than 24-hours.

No more allowing my cables to dictate where my amp/cab goes on a stage, it’s a 30’ loom.

 

[sandman]

Rattlesnake cables have the best customer service. Great products also. I always recommend them

 

[DrewJD82]

Rattlesnake cables have the best customer service. Great products also. I always recommend them

I missed Hank the first time he called so he shot me a text, I told him I certainly appreciated the above and beyond on a Sunday but by all means, enjoy the rest of the weekend and hit me up during working hours. 20 minutes later he was calling me to get started on the snake.

At this point, customer service is really helping me pick and chose where I spend my money. I don’t care how appealing a product is, if I find the customer service sucks or is nonexistent I simply won’t buy it. I’ve been finding myself getting more and more frustrated/let down seeing people give money to companies that’s only focus is profit while the customer takes a back burner seat, if it even gets one.

 

[sandman]

I missed Hank the first time he called so he shot me a text, I told him I certainly appreciated the above and beyond on a Sunday but by all means, enjoy the rest of the weekend and hit me up during working hours. 20 minutes later he was calling me to get started on the snake.

At this point, customer service is really helping me pick and chose where I spend my money. I don’t care how appealing a product is, if I find the customer service sucks or is nonexistent I simply won’t buy it. I’ve been finding myself getting more and more frustrated/let down seeing people give money to companies that’s only focus is profit while the customer takes a back burner seat, if it even gets one.

I agree with you on all of that!

 

[romanianreaper]

Hank and Rattlesnake cables are so great! I have two guitar cables and a speaker cable. The wrap is solid and although they are stiff cables, so easy to wrap up after a gig and don't kink at all.

 

[romanianreaper]

Anyone use the bare cables? Just curious what those are like?

 

[Monkey Man]

They look awesome Brother Drew.

 

[Brandonrz]

Hank and rattlesnake are great. Can’t recommend them enough.

 

[FourT6and2]

For speaker and instrument cables, do they publish what kind of wire they actually use?

 

[krb813]

Hank and Rattlesnake Cables are awesome. I have purchased a few speaker and instrument cables from them. I feel the Customer Service is one of the best in the industry.

 

[DrewJD82]

For speaker and instrument cables, do they publish what kind of wire they actually use?

Nope, the closest is this-

Since I’m winding down the gear purchasing a bit this year I figure I’m going to throw some money at some of the more esoteric areas of the gear world and I’m going to start with cables. I wired my whole board up with $35 Amazon solderless pedalboard kits, so in a few months I’m ordering the Evidence cable pedalboard kits to re-do it the board with and see if I can hear any legitimate differences. I’m going to grab a few instrument cables from these custom cable companies as well and record a bunch of DI’s with them then I’ll let the TGF members with all their scopes and meters have a field day with the findings.

The Rattlesnake is pretty heavy duty, so whoever is making them is at least bulking them up to feel sturdy. I’ve actually yet to hear of a single issue with them in the wild, not one report of a cable breaking, which is a pretty good sign.

 

[Luca79]

For speaker and instrument cables, do they publish what kind of wire they actually use?

Probably are Belden or Mogami.

 

[FourT6and2]

Nope, the closest is this-

View attachment 431686

Since I’m winding down the gear purchasing a bit this year I figure I’m going to throw some money at some of the more esoteric areas of the gear world and I’m going to start with cables. I wired my whole board up with $35 Amazon solderless pedalboard kits, so in a few months I’m ordering the Evidence cable pedalboard kits to re-do it the board with and see if I can hear any legitimate differences. I’m going to grab a few instrument cables from these custom cable companies as well and record a bunch of DI’s with them then I’ll let the TGF members with all their scopes and meters have a field day with the findings.

The Rattlesnake is pretty heavy duty, so whoever is making them is at least bulking them up to feel sturdy. I’ve actually yet to hear of a single issue with them in the wild, not one report of a cable breaking, which is a pretty good sign.

Years ago, I bought some Lava Cable "Tephra" speaker cables when they were popular. Seemed "heavy duty" as well. The 1/4" plugs were secured with heat shrink as most companies like this do. I was curious, so I cut the heat shrink off and unscrewed the barrel of the plug to have a look.

The soldering was amateur-ish. And the "heavy duty" wire was actually just generic, bargain-bin wire. That's not necessarily a problem. But the issue was they used 4 strands of the stuff per conductor and twisted them all together. Then attempted to solder them to the 1/4" plug. But that much wire doesn't fit properly. And it resulted in cold joints with one of them completely cracked and no longer attached. The only thing holding it together was some electrical tape. It would have eventually completely failed and taken out my amp's output transformer.

This was like... a $100 cable lol. And it was complete junk.

I'm not accusing Rattlesnake of anything. But caveat emptor. Wire isn't a trade secret. I'm wary of any company that doesn't publish their cable specs.

 

[FourT6and2]

Regarding Rattlesnake:

I'm sure their customer service is awesome—but I can't speak to that. And I think for custom looms and snakes, I'd absolutely rather pay someone else to build it than do that tedious work myself.

However, regarding speaker and instrument cable, I'm wary of companies selling premium house-brand cables without publishing their technical specifications or who makes them. By contrast, there are retailers that let you spec custom cables using any brand of wire or connector you like. This makes it easier to understand what you're paying for.

For a DIY comparison, let's look at Rattlesnake's speaker cables. $52 for a 3 foot cable (straight/straight). I bought bulk Van Damme Blue Series 2-conductor speaker cable. 30 feet for $33. That can make 10 cables. Use whatever plugs you want and you've got a cable for $3.30 + plugs. I understand not everybody can solder nor wants to deal with the hassle. So yes, convenience is certainly worth something.

That said, PRS' "Signature" speaker cable is the same thing: Van Damme Blue Series + Neutrik gold plugs. $49.99. Still cheaper than Rattlesnake's, even with the PRS branding. And you know exactly what cable you're getting.

Out of curiosity, I just spec'd a similar Rattlesnake cable at Redco: 3 feet, 12 AWG, with Neutrik plugs. $27. You can choose any cable brand/model or connector you want. Complete transparency as to what you're buying. That's almost half the price of Rattlesnake's cable.

I'm not accusing Rattlesnake of anything. I'm just saying I try to stick with companies who are transparent about what they're selling. When it comes to cables, there shouldn't be any reason to hide what's under the fancy outer braid.

 

[tvegas99]

Highly recommend Rattlesnake!! Great products and the best customer service!!

 

[EyesOfTheSouth!]

I'll just say this............

I have a LOT of cables. Including some high end Mogami Platinums, Ampturco, George L, and both Lava Techra and Clear Connect.

My venture into Rattlesnake was for a short custom cable to go between my overdrive and amp. I've since bought 7 more of them in the last 6 weeks or so. I absolutely love the retro coil. It is clearer than any of my shorter, straight cables.............which goes against capacitance laws. I don't care what it is inside of them as I judge cables with my ears and there is a difference that is more than subtle.

I did not particularly care for the "scratchy" outer covering of their straight cables. So now I've got the retro coil into my overdrive and a short cable without their heavy-duty covering running to my input (no change in tone BTW). And I have 2 sets of their 5-foot patch cables running my loop..........a pair with angled and a straight pair that I can change out depending on what pedals I happen to be using at the time. My vintage Ampturco speaker cables are the bomb, but I may try a Rattlesnake speaker cable just for kicks.

 

[Kelly]

Years ago, I bought some Lava Cable "Tephra" speaker cables when they were popular. Seemed "heavy duty" as well. The 1/4" plugs were secured with heat shrink as most companies like this do. I was curious, so I cut the heat shrink off and unscrewed the barrel of the plug to have a look.

The soldering was amateur-ish. And the "heavy duty" wire was actually just generic, bargain-bin wire. That's not necessarily a problem. But the issue was they used 4 strands of the stuff per conductor and twisted them all together. Then attempted to solder them to the 1/4" plug. But that much wire doesn't fit properly. And it resulted in cold joints with one of them completely cracked and no longer attached. The only thing holding it together was some electrical tape. It would have eventually completely failed and taken out my amp's output transformer.

This was like... a $100 cable lol. And it was complete junk.

I'm not accusing Rattlesnake of anything. But caveat emptor. Wire isn't a trade secret. I'm wary of any company that doesn't publish their cable specs.

View attachment 431711

I bought a couple of premade Evidence Audio cables from Lava when they were a new company. I had to resolder them all lol.

 

[DrewJD82]

Regarding Rattlesnake:

I'm sure their customer service is awesome—but I can't speak to that. And I think for custom looms and snakes, I'd absolutely rather pay someone else to build it than do that tedious work myself.

However, regarding speaker and instrument cable, I'm wary of companies selling premium house-brand cables without publishing their technical specifications or who makes them. By contrast, there are retailers that let you spec custom cables using any brand of wire or connector you like. This makes it easier to understand what you're paying for.

For a DIY comparison, let's look at Rattlesnake's speaker cables. $52 for a 3 foot cable (straight/straight). I bought bulk Van Damme Blue Series 2-conductor speaker cable. 30 feet for $33. That can make 10 cables. Use whatever plugs you want and you've got a cable for $3.30 + plugs. I understand not everybody can solder nor wants to deal with the hassle. So yes, convenience is certainly worth something.

That said, PRS' "Signature" speaker cable is the same thing: Van Damme Blue Series + Neutrik gold plugs. $49.99. Still cheaper than Rattlesnake's, even with the PRS branding. And you know exactly what cable you're getting.

Out of curiosity, I just spec'd a similar Rattlesnake cable at Redco: 3 feet, 12 AWG, with Neutrik plugs. $27. You can choose any cable brand/model or connector you want. Complete transparency as to what you're buying. That's almost half the price of Rattlesnake's cable.

I'm not accusing Rattlesnake of anything. I'm just saying I try to stick with companies who are transparent about what they're selling. When it comes to cables, there shouldn't be any reason to hide what's under the fancy outer braid.

I’m not in disagreement to any of that and I’m not sure if I mentioned it here or at TGF, but the bigger purpose in buying this was to have a working example of a professional quality snake so I can better make my own in the future, I don’t mind footing the bill for that. I did a little digging around user reviews and couldn’t find a single unhappy customer out there, so I went with ‘em.

It’ll be interesting to compare the cables once I start going down the “boutique” cable rabbit hole. Really, durability is my only concern with cables at this point. I’ve yet to hear anything close to a meaningful difference between cables over the years and if Amazon cables didn’t break after a month, it’s likely all I’d use.

 

[rottingcorpse]

I'm in. Just ordered a green one. Thanks for pointing me their way.

 

[Music&Chaos]

Nope, the closest is this-

View attachment 431686

Since I’m winding down the gear purchasing a bit this year I figure I’m going to throw some money at some of the more esoteric areas of the gear world and I’m going to start with cables. I wired my whole board up with $35 Amazon solderless pedalboard kits, so in a few months I’m ordering the Evidence cable pedalboard kits to re-do it the board with and see if I can hear any legitimate differences. I’m going to grab a few instrument cables from these custom cable companies as well and record a bunch of DI’s with them then I’ll let the TGF members with all their scopes and meters have a field day with the findings.

The Rattlesnake is pretty heavy duty, so whoever is making them is at least bulking them up to feel sturdy. I’ve actually yet to hear of a single issue with them in the wild, not one report of a cable breaking, which is a pretty good sign.

Best-tronics is a good alternative for less and super high-quality.