Users of high-end patch cables

#101
larrysb said:
I bought a roll of quality Mogami W2319 cable and a bunch of Square Plug SP500 right angle flat plugs and Square Plug straight plugs from West Coast Pedal Board. (link is the same as the name dot-com)

The SP500 are very slim and small, and the Mogami W2319 is physically small and perfectly matched to the connectors.

The slim connectors and the smaller gauge cable take up a lot less room, and the cable is very flexible. Mogami W2319 is also low capacitance and low noise. (yes, cables can *make* noise, if they move...) and pretty easy to work with.

I setup my board as I wanted it, and then custom cut each cable to fit the runs I wanted so there was just enough slack to adjust or remove things, without leaving a bunch of excess cables.

As far as soldering goes, I'm pretty good at it. I just setup a work space so I could quickly and easily assemble the connectors and cables. It really didn't take long with a decent work flow setup, drilled a block of scrap wood to hold connectors for assembly, setup a ruler for cable cutting, etc. I have thermal wire strippers, but the Mogami wire is very easy to work with regular strippers from Home Depot or wherever. I just recommend nice quality, new strippers with sharp blades to make life easier.

Buy a decent soldering iron, even one from Home Depot can do the job and some quality 63/37 rosin core solder.

It really didn't take that long to do. Took longer to map out the pedal board placement than to make the cables.
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Drilling scrap wood as a cable holder is brilliant. New to soldering. Many thanks.
 
#102
el murdoque said:
The day I reach my terminal board, it will either hold no pedals at all or it will hold ALL OF THEM.
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Haha I don't know how many times I've thought "dude, you don't need any of this." Then for a brief moment ponder the thought of just having a DI... next thing you know I'm trying to figure out ways to incorporate new pedals into the board lol.
 
#103
MarshallAC50Stack said:
Actually referring to the core of the plug. G&H use a copper core, which you can see at the tip. Many are nickel plated brass, others use steel cores for economy.
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I wouldn't want a plug where the center conductor was copper, unless it was plated ver the copper (which, of course, means you wouldn't see the copper). Copper corrodes much more easily than nickel plating - it's more likely to have oxidation mess up your signal path.
 
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#104
Adjectives said:
I love Divine Noise cables. Have a 6ft DN 10ga speaker cable that was sticking straight out the back of my 80’s Acoustic 115 combo. My drunk buddy/guitarist fell right on top of it ending up with the cab on its back and my buddy on top of it. That cable hit the ground with 200lb on top at a 45deg angle and didn’t break a sweat. No sound loss, cable is still fine. Didn’t need the lifetime warrantee. I love having a right angle silent plug on one end. Their Patch cables I imagine are of identical quality but they are pricey!
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I hope the silent connector is not on a speaker cable.

A 6 foot 10ga speaker cable is a little extreme.
 
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#105
micguy said:
I've never seen that in an audio cable. I have heard of copper plated steel for RF cables, but there it makes sense - the current at high frequencies (way above audio) travels on the skin, so the center part is just there for structure.

Copper clad aluminum is useful in certain things - microphones, for example. The aluminum makes the conductor light, which helps the performance - useful in some models. The copper makes it solderable. Aluminum has a higher ratio of conductivity to mass than copper - high voltage power lines are aluminum for this same reason - good conductivity, and you don' t have the make the towers quite as strong, since the weight is reduced.
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Copper clad aluminum voice coils are used in lots of speakers and microphones.

Copper clad speaker cable all but took out a schools football field sound system. Every cable had corroded away in side the jacket.

Copper clad steel coax is used a lot for cable TV coax runs from the pole to the house, it's self supporting and as mentioned the skin effect comes into play at RF frequencies.
However a little water in the connector and rust starts forming.
The main trunk lines for cable are ridged aluminum coax with a copper clad aluminum center conductor, yes a little water leak into what is pretty solid sealed connector would cause issues!
Now a lot of that has been replaced by glass fiber.
 
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#107
Mike Caldwell said:
Copper clad aluminum voice coils are used in lots of speakers and microphones.

Copper clad speaker cable all but took out a schools football field sound system. Every cable had corroded away in side the jacket.
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Copper clad aluminum works well in inside environments. When you get to outdoor stuff (especially near salt water), if you get a nick in the copper coating, it does corrode pretty quickly due to galvanic corrosion. We moved away from it in certain microphone designs because of this.
 
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#108
micguy said:
I wouldn't want a plug where the center conductor was copper, unless it was plated ver the copper (which, of course, means you wouldn't see the copper). Copper corrodes much more easily than nickel plating - it's more likely to have oxidation mess up your signal path.
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Reasonable thought. The Divine Cable with the G&H plugs I've had for a couple of years is just slightly tarnished. My other most used cable is actually a Kirlin Original instrument cable. Looks to be nickel plated brass. Both are 10ft, 20awg with spiral shielding (Kirlin 90%, Divine Noise 95% coverage) and have been super reliable. The Kirlin lists at $14.00, the Divine Noise lists at $79.00.
 
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#110
agedhorse said:
Except for the cheap off-shore products that use copper class aluminum!!! Never crossed my mind until I was troubleshooting a weird intermittent issue for a customer and I saw it myself. Just when I thought we had finally hit bottom, a new bottom is created.
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Same with cat5 cabling. The Eia/Tia Ethernet spec indicates the conductors shall be copper, 24ga for cat5, 23ga for cat6, but there is a lot of cheap Chinese cable that does not meet spec
 
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#111
MarshallAC50Stack said:
Here's an article/blurb about Jack Plugs:
Jack Plugs – The Gold, the Brass and the Cheap - Effectrode
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Pretty accurate article.

I posted an in depth discussion on gold plated connectors and how in many cases tin and nickel end up being better because the plating is much thicker and harder.

I also discussed the commercial, industrial, aviation and mil spec(s) involved in gold plated connectors, using hard gold over nickel at much thicker values than audio-fool retail connectors would ever hope to see.
 
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#113
Mike Caldwell said:
I would say they are about the same, small contact area and on the jack that mating contacts are on the very thin board that sticks out in the center of the jack, HDMI jacks are the same design only more contacts.
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From personal experience, I've seen HDMI plugs and jacks get damaged, usually the female connector when a TV gets mounted or equipment gets crammed into a cabinet.
The USB-C seems more robust, but time will tell.
 
#114
Engle said:
From personal experience, I've seen HDMI plugs and jacks get damaged, usually the female connector when a TV gets mounted or equipment gets crammed into a cabinet.
The USB-C seems more robust, but time will tell.
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In my opinion both connectors are not designed for pro in the field day to day use, but as we know the HDMI connector has been pushed into that kind of application.
 
#116
HelpImaRock said:
As I posted in another thread today, I use the Truetone CS6 and CS12. I haven't found a need to spend the extra money on CIOKS.
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Cioks, especially the DC-7/Eventide, has a slimmer profile, fits perfectly under PT boards (especially the Metro series, gee, it’s almost like it was meant to be), and the side access outlets are far more functional. Not to mention, the switchable voltage on each out including 15 for my Radial and Markbass boxes, and I don’t have to double up two 9 outs to get an 18. Plus the link capabilities, and the USB out. Worth every penny.
 
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#117
Michedelic said:
Cioks, especially the DC-7/Eventide, has a slimmer profile, fits perfectly under PT boards (especially the Metro series, gee, it’s almost like it was meant to be), and the side access outlets are far more functional, not to mention the switchable voltage including 15 for my Radial and Markbass boxes, and I don’t have to double up two 9 outs to get an 18. Plus the link capabilities, and the USB out. Worth every penny.
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Pretty sure all of these low profile power supplies were designed with the Nano and Metro series boards in mind. I'm lucky in that I only need 9, 12, or 18v and the Truetone does those easily. I haven't needed to link power supplies or need a USB out but I'll be interested to see how those features become more common/necessary. Glad they work for you.
 
#118
I prefer a decent cable with nice ends (like Switchcraft) if it gets plugged/unplugged/stressed a lot.
Otherwise, if the pedals are secured tightly and a buffer present, they don't have to be high end, but the right length and flexibility to route properly is important.
 
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