DIY cables

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fender3x · #1 Post by **fender3x** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 12:02 am

What cable and connectors do you recommend for instrument and speakers. I know speaker cables should be as short as possible. How about instrument cables? Does it make any difference?

DaveK · #2 Post by **DaveK** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:06 am

My preference is Speakons all around for speakers. Make your own.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl ... er=092-190

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl ... er=100-481

For guitar cables, the rule I've always heard is <20' for stage use and <5' for studio use. Make your own here, too. PE sells the connectors and wire and they seem to be good quality.

Mark Coward · #3 Post by **Mark Coward** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 11:13 am

Speakons, and I'd recommend getting the 4 conductor cable if you biamp or plan to. This lets you wire the jacks so you can daisy chain tops & subs and keep the signals separate. But, you can use them like normal 2 conductor until you're ready.

For guitar cables I love George L's, no solder screw on connectors.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=153800

For gig rack wiring, depending on your needs often a small 3' - 5' snake will make for a neat wiring job. If you use all 1/4", get a 1/4" - 1/4" snake. If you need a combination, get an XLR M to F snake and replace as many as needed with 1/4". This would let you use the balanced TRS 1/4" plugs as well.

fender3x · #4 Post by **fender3x** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 1:54 pm

This is very helpful! Thanks, guys. If I just wanted to buy instrument cable (rather than the kit) from PE, what cable would be good?

DaveK · #5 Post by **DaveK** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 9:22 pm

fender3x wrote:This is very helpful! Thanks, guys. If I just wanted to buy instrument cable (rather than the kit) from PE, what cable would be good?

I bought a spool of mic wire so I can make either mic cables or guitar cables. For an unbalanced guitar cable solder white to Tip and black to Sleve. Clip the shield at the guitar end and solder it to Sleve at the amp end. I used the braided shield Pro wire, but the next cheaper wire looks like it is pretty much the same inside with a cheaper jacket.

gdougherty · #6 Post by **gdougherty** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 1:19 am

I pick up all my cabling these days from audiopile.net. Good quality, great pricing.

bjhueni · #7 Post by **bjhueni** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:32 am

gdougherty wrote:I pick up all my cabling these days from audiopile.net. Good quality, great pricing.

+1

Good service, selection, shipping, etc. Great prices.

fender3x · #8 Post by **fender3x** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:53 pm

hadn't heard of them. Thanks! Do they sell raw cable, or just with the ends already attached?

DAVID_L_PERRY · #9 Post by **DAVID_L_PERRY** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 3:56 am

I used to make all of my own cables, but its not now worth it. If I have some spare cable and speakon's I will use them, but other than that its off to CPC or Thoman or some other online source and buy them ready made.

I purchased a mass of great pre built mic leads with Neutrik XLR end and Van Damm cable for cheaper than I could buy the components wholesale..!!

If you do build your own speakon leads don't get cheap alternate speakon sockets, my experience with them was not great......

Dave

gdougherty · #10 Post by **gdougherty** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 12:27 pm

fender3x wrote:hadn't heard of them. Thanks! Do they sell raw cable, or just with the ends already attached?

All preconstructed. It's mostly stuff from Taiwan I think, a company called EWI, but the build quality is up to snuff for road use and the connectors are the same design and durability as the quality Neutrik stuff. In fact, my Neutrik color coding plastic rings I use to mark cable lengths and identify individual cables fit on the EWI ends just as well as the Neutriks. Price per cable is generally half what I find elsewhere for the same level of quality, so I can buy a few more than I expect to need, be covered for the unforseen and still come out ahead. Up untill recently I swore by ProCo's Ameriquad cabling (still love it especially the 20 yr no questions warranty) but I'd rather put my money towards other gear and if I only have to buy a handful of new cables over the same 20 yr period I'm still quite a bit ahead.

Speaker cable I do all on my own mostly because local retail marks it up so much and shipping on heavy gauge cable is higher than signal cables. I also find it much simpler to screw on NL4FC's than solder XLR's, a useful skill I mostly mangle due to lack of teaching and experience. For my mains I recently discovered Home Depot carries a nicely jacketed 12/4 power cable I can get in bulk for ~$1/ft. Pair of speakons runs me ~$7 at GC so for $57 I can build a 50ft 9ga cable. Local retail wants about $60 for 50ft of 12/2 with speakons. I also build all my own power cable and I'm switching up to 10/3 600V for all that to combat voltage drop on the long runs I frequently need.

mloretitsch · #11 Post by **mloretitsch** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:19 pm

bjhueni wrote:
gdougherty wrote:I pick up all my cabling these days from audiopile.net. Good quality, great pricing.
+1

Good service, selection, shipping, etc. Great prices.

+2

Reasonable prices on trunks and other cases. Their mic cables are decent as well even though they are knock off neutrik style connectors. Reasonably priced snakes...I have a 8 channel 1/4" patch snake for the FOH rack. Really nice stuff.

-Matt

David Robinson · #12 Post by **David Robinson** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 7:20 pm

About eight years ago, I bought 20 mic cables from audiopile. I think 12 are still in service. Not bad for the price. I haven't ordered any more, just because it's too easy to hit the local George's or GC when one bites the dust. The cheap George's mic cables with the Neutrik-style ends are fine by me. I think the last one I bought was $15 for a 20' cable.

For instrument cables and other 1/4" applications, the cheap LiveWire cables with the blue shrinkwrap are as good as any IMHO for weekend warrior use.

I do agree it's cheaper to make your own speaker cables. Pick up the Neutrik ends from whomever has the cheapest and bulk cable from a major hardware retailer.

The biggest thing, no matter who made your cables or how much you paid for them, is to take care of them. Coil them neatly avoiding kinks, wipe them down occasionally, you know the drill. Take care of them and they'll take of you.

AntonZ · #13 Post by **AntonZ** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:26 am

gitfiddl wrote:Coil them neatly avoiding kinks

I think that's the most important part, and the one so many people don't understand. I learned about this from sailing - wind up ropes without kinks.

Over 15 years ago I made myself an instrument cable from the cheapest cable I could find at the time. I think it was flexible coax, way thinner than regular instrument or mic cable. One of the two jack plugs died last year, other than that it served me well for 15 years without repairs. Guitarists that I played with over the years kept buying new cables just about every one or two years.

LelandCrooks · #14 Post by **LelandCrooks** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:41 am

AntonZ wrote:
gitfiddl wrote:Coil them neatly avoiding kinks
I think that's the most important part, and the one so many people don't understand. I learned about this from sailing - wind up ropes without kinks.

The best trick I ever learned. I spend a lot of my day coiling ext cords, air lines and what not. This works like magic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUz266TU ... ed&search=

Once you get it, its very fast.

Dave Non-Zero · #15 Post by **Dave Non-Zero** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 7:59 am

brilliant. thanks leland. i had heard of this but when i tried it i didint get the 'under' part right.

I makes a lot of sense, like coiling multicore in a figure 8 in the flightcase. It means you are never putting a complete twist in the cable.

BillFitzmaurice.info

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