Fancy Patch Cables

[Boxbie]

How many of you use george L or lava patch cables (the ones you cut to length)?

Do you rate them? Are they durable? Are there any other brands that do these?
Cheers!

[Ancient Astronaught]

How many of you use george L or lava patch cables (the ones you cut to length)?

Do you rate them? Are they durable? Are there any other brands that do these?
Cheers!

Use the search function, there's been 20 or so threads asking this exact question.

[PeteeBee]

Necrobump, partially because this was hilarious when I searched “fancy patch cables Ilovefuzz” in google.

What’s worth it? What isn’t? I’m pretty committed to dialing in a somewhat long term pedalboard and force myself to do a real project with it. If it’ll make a difference I’ll get/make some nice cables.

When I currently go from my pedaltrain jr to a tiny setup, I do notice some tonal difference. I’m not sure if it’s from patch cables or what. If people don’t buy the fancy patch cable hype I’m willing to troubleshoot any other ideas.

[Boxbie]

Ha!
I also got a chuckle out of the necro-snark of Astronaught's reply!
I bought one george L to test. I just use it as a permanent channel jumper on my superlead. Had it years now.
But the long term results reported on forums seem to be that they aren't durable and shouldn't be unplugged and re-plugged too often.

[PeteeBee]

What about if I make soldered cables with nice components? Will I be blessed by the tone fairies? Even though that’s a joke it’s a genuine question. I don’t really trust solderless. I’ve had a few band mates that were always ripping there board apart to find the culprit cable and I’m not down with that.

Edit: like I think if I buy the sinusoid slivers kit I have to solder them.

[Boxbie]

I don’t know. My feeling is anything better than the absolute worst cables pretty much sound the same. Especially for such short lengths.

[MechaGodzilla]

Crappy cable can pick up noise, shitty jacks can fail even if you solder the connections. Get decent parts that work well and are reliable and you should be fine.

[Ghost Hip]

Mogami gold and Livewire Elites blow in terms of flexibility. Durable as fuck, but the pedal's have to be in the exact right position for it to not be obnoxious. I worked at Gc at the time so thankfully I didn't blow much money on them. I always have a buffer in my chain and prefer flexible patch cables for pedals and mogami gold or equivalent for amp/guitar. The reverb.com patch cables are great for larger top jacked enclosures and side jacked enclosures.

[K2000]

Good thing about George L's is that they can snake through really tight situations, and you can fit a bunch jammed up next to each other (when the jacks are very close) etc.

Once you learn how to make them, they are pretty fail-proof (it does take a strong grip, and for that reason I don't try to make a whole bunch at one time). You also have to cut the cable perfectly (use a fresh razor, cut it perfectly perpendicular, and don't squeeze the cable out of shape with pressure, let the knife do the work). I roll the cable a little, to cut from different directions. Then impale the crap out of the cable, onto the pin inside the jack (the part which takes a strong grip). I also rotate a little bit here, too.

The cut-to-custom length thing is super helpful IMO.

Down sides: Expensive. Best for permanent/semi-permanent situations (plugging/unplugging seems to be the stress which makes them susceptible to fail).

[goroth]

I would never use solderless.
They are a fucking pain in the ass to screw together and get a good solid connection - soldering is much easier imo - and they slowly unscrew themselves. I was super anal putting mine together but had a cable go bad during a gig. With a PT-pro it wasn't fun trying to find the offender.

I say use a buffer and then buy anything mechanically sound.

[gnomethrone]

They aren't DIY but EBS flat patch cables are really nice.

[emcee_m_prime]

I solder with Lava cable and connectors and I am happy with them, they seem durable and are small. If you get one of the kits on sale it's not much more expensive than buying a bunch of individual Fender patch cables or whatever, and you can make them in the lengths you need. But I don't think it makes a huge difference sonically unless you're using super crappy cables, especially if you have a buffer somewhere earlier in your chain.

[PeteeBee]

Maybe I'll order some EBS cables. People have been talking about them on here for years now. I think I actually have two buffers, assuming all boss pedals have buffers, my TU3 and RC1 are both on there. I bet replacing the couple really cheap cables will make a difference.

[worra]

They aren't DIY but EBS flat patch cables are really nice.

I love my EBS cables, I just wish they were easier and cheaper to get in the US

[PeteeBee]

They aren't DIY but EBS flat patch cables are really nice.

I love my EBS cables, I just wish they were easier and cheaper to get in the US

https://www.sweetwater.com/c44--EBS--Cables

I just ordered enough to completely redo my board for $80, and that was getting the fancy gold ones. This better sound super incredible! If nothing else it'll all match.