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Patch cables


heymisterk

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Hey All! It's been awhile. Marriage and a pregnant wife will do that. [biggrin]

 

I am wondering what kind of patch cables you all use when stringing your foot pedals together. Now that I am back into playing, I realize my current crop of patch cables are sh*t, and I have several shorts.

 

So, can I get some recommendations for solid, high-quality patch cables?

 

Thanks, and all the best!

 

Jeff

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My meager pedal..array..is connected by Geroge L's and has been since the early 2000s. Excellent cables- transparent and just downright good.

 

I just bought a Lava Clear Connect II 15' guitar cable. The first one had a short (bought from Musicians Friend not the manufacturer). The second one is doing well and I'll be doing a comparison soon.

 

I think Planet Waves and perhaps some other companies are doing the "component" patch cable thing but George L's enjoy a good consistent reputation.

 

Best wishes- Brian

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speakin of cables... since we are and all...

 

I bought a Fender Custom Shop Performance (Brown Tweed) cable, 10footer, in 2012. "life time warranty, unsurpassed tone, and reliability and blah blah blah" Yes I know, your $30 cable will change my life.. where do I sign?

 

 

Mind you it is a good cable, but it started getting wonky sometime last year, the issue would be easily fixed with my trusty soldering iron, but these cables are a pita to work on. The shrink wrap is like NASA certified, and the tweed is a pain too.

 

so I finally get around to contacting fender about this "life time" warranty thing. "how do I... ???"

 

Customer Service: "email me a picture of the cable, include as much info as you can provide, we'll send you a new one." so I promptly did all that, Long story short, he replied within an hour, "got it, order placed, give it 7 to 10 days" the replacement cable arrived exactly one week later. it was that easy.

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Hey Mr K! Long time no see!

 

A couple important questions for answering your question..

 

What pedals are you using and how many?

 

If you have pedals with buffered bypass (boss pedals are an example) then you're blurring the line with the differences you can actually hear because the buffer is designed to help the cables work optimally.

 

If you're using a lot of true bypass pedals with no buffering, then you're actually hearing all of the cables, not to mention all of the solder joints, wires, and switches inside of the pedals that your signal passes through.

 

In the end, either way you should stay away from solderless cables. The ones that you cut to length and just put together with no solder.. Those always break faster than soldered cables of comparable quality. I probably wouldn't ever spend more than $10 on a patch cable unless it was long or something specialized. Past that price point, you're mostly paying for bullshit. All cables wear out eventually with regular use, so don't get too caught up in spending big $$ on them

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In the end, either way you should stay away from solderless cables. The ones that you cut to length and just put together with no solder.. Those always break faster than soldered cables of comparable quality.

 

I've actually had good luck with the solderless cables. I don't think they are any better than soldered cables but I often seem to have weird, odd-length runs to make on my pedal boards. Everything is not always in order due the difference in pedal sizes. I like the way the George L's and the Chandler Clearfuse allow me to quickly make these longer and shorter spans. I realize you could do this by making your own soldered cables, but you cannot do this easily with the available lengths of pre-made cables.

 

And, Hey Mister K! Good to see you back around these parts. Hope your school year is off to a great start. And congratulations on the growing family!

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Hey Mr K! Long time no see!

 

A couple important questions for answering your question..

 

What pedals are you using and how many?

 

If you have pedals with buffered bypass (boss pedals are an example) then you're blurring the line with the differences you can actually hear because the buffer is designed to help the cables work optimally.

 

If you're using a lot of true bypass pedals with no buffering, then you're actually hearing all of the cables, not to mention all of the solder joints, wires, and switches inside of the pedals that your signal passes through.

 

In the end, either way you should stay away from solderless cables. The ones that you cut to length and just put together with no solder.. Those always break faster than soldered cables of comparable quality. I probably wouldn't ever spend more than $10 on a patch cable unless it was long or something specialized. Past that price point, you're mostly paying for bullshit. All cables wear out eventually with regular use, so don't get too caught up in spending big $$ on them

 

Hey Dub T-

 

Good points on the buffered pedals info- never considered that. Good info!

 

I respectfully disagree with you on the solderless, though. For a pedal board, which in my case is VERY small, the pedals don't get moved around / the patch cables don't get jostled much if at all. Been using the same ones for around 15 years with o problems whatsoever.

 

Brian

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