Patch cables and power supplies

[PanicProne]

Also known as the: Let's see your PATCH CABLES/POWER SUPPLIES!-thread.
Sort of. Post pics if you want but...

Backstory/problem (aka the tldr-section):
I started out with super cheap 10-pack patch cables from my local music store, but once I really started getting into pedals (and the true bypass/tonesuck-discussion was at it's peak) ran into a dealer who told me about George L's (solder free, no idea if they have other variants). I experienced maybe a little less of the dreaded tone suck and the cables where easy to make, although I had to redo a couple of them after switching pedals on my board, and still felt I was losing a lot of my "original" sound (whatever that means when you're plugged into 8+ pedals). So eventually, when actually started playing out with a bigger board (again, say 8+ pedals here) I decided to try Lava Cable. I got their solder free mini ELC kit and immediately recognized a MASSIVE change. The problem was (and still is tbh) is that it took me ages (as in too many tries per cable) to succesfully build the cables. Also, even though this was followed by my least pedal changing period ever, some of the cables did eventually fail or half on me, in practice as well as live a few times. Regardless of it being me just sucking at making the cables or it being a bad solder free "building method", I've come to a point where I am now done with solder free stuff. I tried some EBS patch cables (soldered) and had a mix of these with my "working" lava's last tour and they were good but don't feel as I was as happy as when I had a full working lava setup. (Anyone know the difference in these two?) I really like how the lavas "sound". But I can't seem to find a euro dealer for soldered lavas and might as well hear if people have other suggestions.

So. My hands are pretty far from steady and I'm too lazy/don't have enough patience or interest at the moment to learn to solder properly on my own. So basically, I'd like to hear what cables people are using, how they are liking it, recommendations/tips etc. As always, the cheaper the better, but even though buying cables isn't that fun I'd rather pay up and be happy forever then have to troubleshoot now and again.

Also, I've been running Voodoo labs PP2+ for ages and think they do the job well, but often have too many pedals on the board for one PP2+ to handle it alone. This results in a boss PSA+daisy chain solution for the additional pedals, which works, but does make things more noisy. Is there a good smaller isolated power supply I should get to compliment the PP2+ or a bigger one I should get to replace my current one? There are a lot more alternatives out there now compared to when I started and I really haven't followed the market power supply wise,

Questions (aka the "skip here if you want just want to post a reply and tell me about how awesome your stuff is"-section):
What cables are you using? How do you like them? Compared to others you've tried? Pros/cons? The same question goes for power supplies.
(Only looking for soldered stuff and plugs equally sized or smaller than the lavas.)

[rfurtkamp]

I'm a cheapskate, but I've always been able to get by with basic power supply daisy chain.

I'm not running Strymons or weird stuff power-wise though - my entire master board, including ES-8 and DB11 4 loop switcher, and 13 pedals...is on a One Spot.

Cables..whatever was around and Hosa stuff for when I needed to get straight/RA combos for the ES-8.

The ES-8 is moderately soundwise better than running everything without, but it was fine before.

I've compared to baseline "guitar-cable-amp" and ...I still sound like me, so...

I'm also not trying to gig with this stuff, if I was I'd probably have a mean power supply but since I don't deal with venue power these days..

[Olin]

I've personally never had any issues with any patch cables that have been soldered, and only had a handful of pretty fixable issues with non-soldered ones. I mostly use hosa pancakes, but have a few of the cheaper, usually brightly coloured ones which have been fine. I'm slowly trying to replace them all with EBS cables because of how slim and durable they are, but 'spensive to get over here. However I really can't say that I've ever heard a tonal difference between different patch cables personally, but that could have something to do with lo-fi pedals and excessive amounts of reverb.


Also, probably an Ojai would do you good? Tiny, stackable and really impressive output. Pedaltrain just announced their own homebrand competitor which also looks promising. http://www.pedaltrain.com/spark

[MechaGodzilla]

I have a bunch of hosa patch leads from when they were a bit cheaper. Love em.

Soldering is pretty easy but actually once you've bought cable and plugs, your wallet won't be much happier than if you'd bought some ok premade ones. (That's assuming that you aren't exempt from paying vat/sales tax. If you can source stuff in bulk from a trade supplier you'd be making savings. Otherwise I've never found it to be particularly cost effective to do DIY cables)

[popvulture]

I tried the soldering thing but am horrible at it... I hope someday I can get a proper lesson from someone, because watching YT vids just isn't doing it for me. Until then, I'm staying away, as all of the patches I've tried to make have been utterly unusable garbage. I blame that solely on myself though, haha.

I went the route and splurged on some patches that will last me forever. My board's wired up with Divine Noise—it cost a couple hundred bucks in total to get all of em (bought em bit by bit), but it's nice not having to worry about them at all. They sound amazing, are rock solid, and are guaranteed if anything happens to them. Highly recommended.

As for the power supply situation, I did exactly what PanicProne was thinking about and added a Voodoo Lab ISO-5 plugged into the courtesy outlet on the back of my PP2+. It works great, no noise, no problems. I do think I'm eventually going to replace the ISO with a second PP2+, as I don't have a crazy big board (about 10 pedals) but throw in a tuner and a buffer and you're maxed out pretty quick. It's nice having a couple free extra jacks in case I want to add something. I'm thinking about getting one of the 4 switch GigRig Quartermaster switchers to make things easier for singing/tapdancing too, so I'll need an extra power slot for that.

[frodog]

I also have a bunch of Divine Noise cables, a couple bought individually and I put in a custom order with them once. A bit pricey maybe (shipping not least) but it's good to know they will likely not fail. But they are bulky, which is why I switched over to Evidence Audio SIS cables as board space got tighter. Very happy with those, they're easy to make and I have not had a failure yet (had them for like 2 years now). Can't hear any difference to the Divine cables, although those are way thicker. I have friends who've had bad experiences with other solderless cables, so I recommend Evidence over all others.

As for power, I use a Cioks DC10 and a Dr. No daisy chain. No issues even running two analog and three digital pedals on that (1500 mA) daisy, but maybe I just got lucky.

[Benn Roe]

I've been using various types of Monster cables for years, but was finding them too bulky and rigid and couldn't find long enough cables for some of the runs I needed, so I've been slowly switching out for EBS to give me the most possible flexibility in properly arranging my board. To be honest, I haven't been able to hear a difference between Monster and EBS. I've been using a Strymon Zuma and two Ojais for power, which has everything sounding great. How big is your board? Do you have many long runs of cable? Maybe the issue you're having with tone isn't the quality of cables, but the length of them. How many buffers or buffered pedals are you running?

[Seedy]

I have used mostly Hosa pancakes and some cheap-ass colored ones. The best thing I can advise is get a Behringer cable tester for $40 bucks, buy the cheapest patch cables that comfortably fit your board and your layout, and just test each cable to check for crackling/shorts as you put it together.

A 12-pack of multi-color footlongs was $10.99 at my local store. Thanks to the cable tester, I saw that two were duds, 10 were working. I didn't even bother to return anything I just tossed the bad ones. 10 working cables for $1.10 each and no effort beyond plug goes in, plug goes out. I kinda feel like making one's own patch cables is time better spent actually practicing guitar. Buying pre-mades is more than adequate.

[PanicProne]

Ojai and ISO-5 look like good suggestions. I might look into those.
As far as cables go, might end up going EBS anyways, cause it's an easy solution and they're easy to find around these parts..
Btw, is there a good site/tool online for comparing diffrent cables and their character? Figured that since I enjoyed the lavas compared to others maybe I could find out and read into a little about the difference between them and for example the George L's. And yeah, I feel I've done enough gigging/switching around to realise it's more about cable quality rather than length in my case.

[rustywire]

I, too use what's cheap & available, but I've also made some patch cables from Canare & Mogami mic wire.
For guitar I like a coiled/higher capacitance cable first in the chain from guitar to primary fuzz/dirt, for a combination of reasons.
It subdues the harshness from single coils, has exceptional insulation from noise and allows for easier movement.
After that I want low capacitance cables between pedals and amp, sometimes I'll add length in a run between wah & volume pedals to tame resonant peaks if they show up in uninvited spots.

Guitar board rn is mostly corded/ac pluggable pedals, fuzz & wah runs off rechargeable 9v cells. The lone RRR has a dunlop 9v wall wart.

Bass board is handled by a Onespot and a couple wall wart psu [for the Effectrode compressor and Dr Sci BitQuest)
Coiled cable up front, low capacitance patches in between.

It's my tabletop/electronic 'board' that has a mix of goofy power requirements, handled by Cioks AC10.
Frostwave Resonator works best at 16vac although it can work off 12vac. Either way it needs like 650mA.
Van Amps Reverbamate needs 12vac 200mA.
SS/BS Pretty Years wants 9vdc 200mA
Effectrode phase-o-matic deluxe needs 12vdc 1250mA, from a wall wart.

Low-cap cables all throughout w/electronic gear...generally with an 8ch snake giving each effect its own channel strip.

[Iommic Pope]

I'm just whinging here, but if any Australian ILFers could let me know where the fuck you obtain a decent isolated supply for under $200AU in this country, that'd be fucking tops.
I fucking hate Australian retail prices at the best of times but this is taking the piss.
Its a fucking power supply. I have a strong moral objection to paying as much as a pedal or even more for one.
Iso 5s and Aetos are $270AU.
Ojais are $250AU and 1 spot CS7s are $230.
Fuck this shit.

[worra]

I have two PP2+, one on each board, on the large board I also have an Ojai. I kinda want another Ojai to use on the tabletop stuff, it's such a great little unit. As for patch cables, I have some pancake jack ones I made with GLS jacks and mogami gold cables. I have a handful of cheap hosa ones, and a couple awesome EBS flat ones that I got in Stockholm. If anyone knows a good US hookup for the EBS cables, please let me know, I want more....

[mysteryroach]

Cables: BTPA CA-0678 with G&H stubbies for straight plugs where required for loop switchers and Squareplug S400s for right angle on most pedals (although also have some GLS pancakes, and some heavy duty right angle where the pancakes are too wide). These cables + plugs are what I'd recommend for a high-quality soldered solution. Plugs are the lowest profile ones available (AFAIK), and cable is extremely low-capacitance (while maybe not necessary for the board, I see no reason to skimp on this cost considering it's so negligible when considering plug costs).

Power supply - CIOKS Ciokolate and CIOKS DC10. Cioks are good, but they use RCA plugs instead of whatever the standard is. I only really went CIOKS cause I needed the AC power at the time, needed 240V, and didn't have enough gear at the time to justify the 2nd supply (would have probably gone Yankee had I known).

It really depends what you wanna power - what you need to isolate - how many high-current pedals etc. Decibel11 + Onespot + TREX may be your cheapest options? I thought there was some rather-cheap aussie company doing supplies as well? May be wrong.

[Iommic Pope]

Not that In aware of.
Mostly gear thats made here is doubly expensive again.

[Jwar]

I have had so many fucking patch cables fail over the last decade it's insane dude. Here's my thoughts. George L and Lava are complete and utter garbage. They sound good but they lose continuity super easy and any little knock or if you switch a pedal, it fucks them completely. I've tried Hosa (they are ok), Planet Waves (best solderless out there IMO. Never ever had any issues and I've had two long ones on my board for 2 years now), EBS (current favorite), home soldered ones and a variety of ones that stores sell.

The best for the money right now is EBS for sure. There's another company making a similar product to them right now but metal and they are stupid expensive. However, they are going to sell just the plugs, but you'll have to solder them. It's worth it if you know how to do it. Soldering is stupid easy dude. I think you'd be fine with some practice.

So IMO, EBS wins hands down.

For power supplies I like the following-

Voodoo Labs (have 2 Plus' running all the time)
MXR Iso (have on of these two)
Cioks (have a Cioksolate)

Walrus Audio Phoenix
Strymon Zuma and Ojai
Voodoo Labs Mondo or 4x4

That's basically the only ones I'd trust at this point. There's some other ones out there but I don't like them personally.

I'm not sure if anything I just said is helpful. haha