OT: Anyone make custom cables for their rigs?

[roburado]

Does anyone here use custom cable lengths like with the Planet Waves system for their rigs? Seems like the perfect thing for racks and pedal boards.

 

[lenny]

Yah i use George l's and the planet Waves ....i am slowly going all GL but it gets expensive but great quality for the price , i like the solderless connection myself ,some guys love the "lava" cable Bill LAwence also puts out a nice cable ,but for ease of use and dependability AND for a pedal board GL's are for me.....Hope that helps here is a shot of my board this week
the GL's are th red cable(From board to head.225 cable) (white cabble is GL .155)and the Planet waves are the blacks

 

[mesaboogieman]

Absolutely - I think the DIY cable kits are definitely the way to go. I use the Core X2 Pedalboard Cable kit. The solderless connections are great.

 

[fsmith]

George L's for me too... In fact I need to pick up some more right angle connectors to finish off my pedal board.

 

[Astrofreq]

George L's here too. (all the red cable) At first it was kind of a trick making sure the connectors were tight. It was annoying having no signal and knowing that something inside the wire wasn't connecting. It means lots of checking, but once everything works, they sound great.

 

[58super]

Canare cable, a bag full of switchcraft plugs and a soldering iron is my oldschool cable kit.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Well, I make my own speaker cables, and have outfit all the heads/cabs at the store with them, too. For my pedal board, I have some customized Belden cables with right angle Neutrik connectors. Right now with the wet/dry setup I am currently trying to OD on I only have 3 FX pedals -- a 95Q wah, Boss EQ, and TC Elec. stero chorus, so there really isn't much going on. I hate tap-dancing.

 

[TNT]

Wow, those boards are works of "art"!!

The only cables I make are for my fishing leader cables!!

That's right , might as well practice, since I ain't catchin' any fish. Hey, then I'd have to set down my guitar to reel it in anyway!

Oh, and yeah, Georgie's the way to go!

 

[morsecode]

I'm real happy with the Planet Waves Pedal Cable Kits since I started converting them over a few months ago. It has been getting expensive but I think it's been well worth it, especially since I've expanded my board quite a bit recently. I need to pick up my third kit on the weekend and that should be about it for a while.

 

[Jimmyb]

I make my own patch cables for my board. A hundred-weight of switchcraft jacks, 100m of cable and I'm away.

 

[Larry]

I always have wanted to try my hand at making cables... But I always end up just buying Monster I like the fact that when I roll over them with the chair and it shorts I can just drive and get a new one.

 

[beej]

If your rig is going to see a lot of abuse, solder your cables (components like Pete's).

Else, solderless is great. I use Bill Lawrences on my pedalboard (George L's are basically a knock off of the Bill L cable, the Bill L stuff is better to my ears). $48 for 50 feet of cable and 10 solderless ends. He has two ends- the small ones are tiny, take up less space than the Neutrick right angle cables.
Bill Lawrence Website

But, whatever works.

 

[candid_x]

Cool link, thanks, Beej.

Interesting stuff:

Why Low Capacitance?

1. The higher the capacitance of a cable, the less highs reach the amplifier.

2. High-capacitance cables shift the resonance towards the lower frequencies which dramatically alters tone. For example, Jimi Hendrix used a coiled cord with 3,000 picofarads (.003 microfarads), shifting the resonance below 2,000 Hertz on his Strats. This was the secret of Jimi's tone. Shifting the resonance frequency at 2,000 Hertz has a similar effect to a midrange boost. However, when he recorded and needed a typical Strat sound for some tracks, Jimi switched to a short, low-capacitance cable.

3. There are some very expensive high-capacitance cables on the market with a sound you might like for some tunes, but then you are stuck with that one sound. Using a low-capacitance cable, you can easily change the circuit capacitance by using a push-pull tone control to switch capacitors -- one capacitor for clean sounds and another for distortion. This allows you to choose the right capacitor values to match the pickups, aiming for a 600-700 Hertz resonance for clean sound and a 1500-2200 Hertz resonance for distortion.

 

[beej]

Lots a neat stuff at the BL site. I've spoken to him on occasion and he's a wealth of information.

With regards to low cap cable, not everybody likes the sound. Same thing with a buffer on your pedalboard. Lots of guys like the sound of a regular cable, it does usually work better if you're playing with gain (you want it all midrangey). But for cleans you really notice the difference with an active signal, buffer or low cap cable, just more highs available.

Anyhoo ... that stuff is cheap, easy to make cables from and quite handy to have around for when you need spares.

 

[ivanmihaljevic]

I usually make my own cables too. I use Klotz cables and Neutrik connectors.

 

[roburado]

Wow, thanks guys. I've got this Lexicon Alex sitting on top of my amp. It's connected to the effects loop by these long cables which are just sitting there coiled up. It's suboptimal.

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

I used to use George L's, but they kept coming undone! I even used the little rubber jackets you are supposed to use but it was no good. I now use planet waves and they are great.

 

[Spudmurphy]

I am not a fan of George L's, saw them on a board in a shop and they sucked- gotta have solder baby!!
I cadge cable off my mate and use neutrik connectors.

 

[SteveB]

I used all George L's on my pedalboard, but they kept failing on me at the most inopportune moments. Nothing like trying to figure out which tiny jumper cable on your pedalboard is the 'culprit' when the pressure is on!

I scrapped 'em all and just bought some nice pre-made ones.. Belden cable and those really flat 90 degree connectors.

 

[Colin]

Ernie Ball makes great cables...