George L cables.. or similar?

Post by **Doog** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 1:08 pm

Anyone got any thoughts on these more-expensive-than-gold-by-weight pieces of kit?

I'm not after TEH MOJOTOANZ but at the moment, my pedalboard is a mess of thick red-rope liquorice cables, what with my pedalswitcherthingy. Something like this (decent thin cable, compact jacks) seems like an ideal solution, albeit a very costly one.

Any cheaper alternatives to recommend?

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 1:13 pm

At some point I plan to make my own patch cables.

Bitsbox sells pancake jacks pretty cheap:
http://bitsbox.co.uk/connectors/audio_con.html

Studio Spares sells Klotz cable pretty cheap too:
http://www.studiospares.com/cable-guita ... a9qg%3D%3D

Post by **Doog** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 1:30 pm

Yeah, I made all of the cables I currently use (inc. some with pancake jacks, generally a bit tempremental), it's just that the thought of having something easily "resoldered" onstage should anything to awry is pretty appealing, especially when dealing with this much cabling..

[youtube][/youtube]

othomas2 · Post by **othomas2** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 1:32 pm

I've got this and really happy with it...

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 1:44 pm

Diago have just released their own brand of cables that looks really nice quality.

http://www.diago.co.uk/cables/patchfactory.html

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 1:48 pm

I use George L's, I rate them due to the size of the cables and ease of creating the cables. I have used the Planet Waves cable kits in the past, an advantage the George L's have is that the cables themselves are more flexible and easier to manouevre in small spaces. Apologies for mentioning in the wrong forum, but I think I have some George L straight jacks I don't need and could do a bro deal on.

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 1:48 pm

Also link from TGP http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showth ... ?t=1028144, basically people discussing if they prefer soldered or solderless. Interesting read.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:00 pm

Had George L's back in the day. Wasn't that impressed with their reliability to be honest.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:01 pm

Gabriel wrote:Diago have just released their own brand of cables that looks really nice quality.

http://www.diago.co.uk/cables/patchfactory.html

Apart from the screws on the jacks that require a screwdriver rather than just using your fingers, these are exactly the same as George L's.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:05 pm

In the same vein, but not exactly the same:

http://www.diago.co.uk/cables/patchfactory.html

Code: Select all

Other solderless cable designs suffer from poor reliability for two reasons&#58;

1. Other screw-on caps use a coarse imperial thread. We calculated that by using fine metric thread instead, the same amount of force will tighten the cap more.

2. Finger-tightening, even with a knurled cap is simply not sufficient to make a reliable cable. We have machined a coin slot into each of our caps, allowing you to apply several times more force, resulting in a tighter fit. Using a coin means you can assemble a reliable cable without any additional tools wherever you are. Better still, the slot will fit almost all international coins. We don't recommend using plectrums - even the thickest ones just don't have the rigidity of a metal coin.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:05 pm

I recently bought a Lava Cable kit. I have not had a chance to make them yet, but I know Lava has a good reputation. I plan to get working on that this week and I can report back. I know Haze was fan of them and the one he sent me works great.

http://www.lavacable.com/index.php?id=14

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:06 pm

I'm not disputing Mike's experiences but in the 3 or 4 years I have used George L's cables on my pedalboard for regular gigging/rehearsals I have had no issues with reliability.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:11 pm

I remember being amazed how expensive this stuff generally is:

http://www.hotroxuk.com/guitar-accessor ... 001-0.html

Right Angle George L Plug - Â£4.25 each
Cable = Â£3.85 per metre.

http://www.giggear.co.uk/p/diago-patch- ... le-system/

Diago Patchfactory kit
10 plugs, Cable for 3.5m - enough to make 5 cables = Â£59.99

Equivalent George L's would be Â£54.05

That's only 5 cables.

Do your sums Andy, how many cables are you going to build? Could get very expensive very fast. If you can solder I would always recommend sourcing cable and jacks somewhere where you can get decent parts for reasonable (non guitar inflated) prices and just build them properly.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:15 pm

I'm pretty particular when it comes to my pedalboard cabling, and have used George Ls for years now. Not a single complaint, very easy to use and I have never had them crap out on me...just take the time to make sure they are put together properly in the first place. Yes they are expensive, but they were cheaper when I bought them.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:23 pm

I'm pretty sure they were cheaper when I bought mine too.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:28 pm

There's a guy on ebay (recommended by benecol) who made some cables for me with Sommer Spirit cable and Neutrik jacks. I wouldn't worry in the slightest about them getting damaged onstage. They seem incredibly well made.

Best of all he does it for not that much more than the parts cost, so I'm thinking of getting him to make patch cables for me. Even if they are expensive, they're still cheaper than the kits end up, I know that that the cable is very high in mÃ³jÃ³qualitiÃ©, and the fact that I can specify length when I'm making them and know that they (very probably) won't fail means that they also undermine the main appeal of the kits.

Might be a wee bit bulky, though.

EDIT: This lad:

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/weardaleelectrics/

toez10 · Post by **toez10** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:53 pm

I've got the Bullet Cable "Slug" pedal board kit, and I like them a lot. I noticed a significant increase in volume and tone when I switched from Monster cables to Bullet Cables. It could've been a fluke, but since then, I've been pretty hooked on them.

George · Post by **George** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:56 pm

Iâ€™ve been looking at StudioSpares for yonks but never know which jacks to buy so end up rage quitting the order. Any of you UK scalers want to go in for some bulk buys on some Klotz cable and decent jacks? It could save some money (postage willing).

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 3:04 pm

My question would be, other than reliability or build quality, does anybody notice an actual sound difference with these expensive cables? For the life of me, I've never been able to tell the difference between different cables. I have one of the super high end monster cables that somebody threw in with a bass I bought a long time ago, and I seriously can't tell the difference between that and the regular cheap model monster cables that I have or for that matter even the old ass Peavey cable I've had since I started playing guitar that has outlasted all these other fancy expensive monster cables. The only advantage I can find to monster cables is they have that lifetime warranty and since they seem to break after a year of regular gigging that has come in handy, but the fact is they still break all the time. I've looked into lava cables only because they look cool as hell, but they're 4 times as expensive as the cheapo cables I use and I'm not even sure I'd hear a difference.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 3:09 pm

George wrote:Iâ€™ve been looking at StudioSpares for yonks but never know which jacks to buy so end up rage quitting the order. Any of you UK scalers want to go in for some bulk buys on some Klotz cable and decent jacks? It could save some money (postage willing).

This was something I was going to see about asking you all at one point, but then the guy I linked to was able to do them cheap enough. I suppose he buys a lot of cable and passes a bit of that saving on.

Billy3000 wrote:For the life of me, I've never been able to tell the difference between different cables.

NOOB!