skidder652003 Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 On 25/09/2019 at 20:26, Dood said: Lots of great suggestions for quality cables - also worth noting is how you treat your cables! I treat all of my cables as if they are way more delicate than they actually are. Case in point, I have had just one cable failure in well over 25 years and that was my fault when a cable got stuck under a metal stool leg IIRC. I currently have a whole drawer full of cables "in active service" as it were. So a few tips: Learn the correct way to coil and store cables. Many prefer the over-and-under technique. I never figure of eight my cables and I cringe when I see anyone knot them or wrap them round their arm to coil up. Don't throw cables in to a bag and forget about them - well, you'll spend way too long untangling next time anyway. Plugs should be removed from sockets only by grasping the barrel casing and not by the cable or strain relief. Don't sit down on say a settee to play where the cable can get bent over at an excessive angle. Don't buy cheap, you'll buy twice.. maybe more. Don't stand on cables, yank them about or stand gear on them. Speaker cables and Instrument cables are different even if they have the same 1/4" plugs on them. Don't confuse the two! There are more tips I am sure, but these are good habits to form. I'd agree with all those points except the knot technique. When we pack down the PA at 1am and have about 40 different leads to get away, the easiest and quickest way to get all the leads away in a box without tangling by far is to loosely tie them in a knot by taking both ends of the cable, folding in half then half again etc until you have a length of about 3 feet and (I'll say it again) loosely tie them in a single knot. With quality cables, I've not had a failure. Our guitarist uses the "proper" coil method and takes forever with his half dozen leads thus avoiding any actual real work taking down the goddam rig! The need for speed getting out of the dog n duck after a 3 punter wet November is paramount! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 2 hours ago, skidder652003 said: I'd agree with all those points except the knot technique. When we pack down the PA at 1am and have about 40 different leads to get away, the easiest and quickest way to get all the leads away in a box without tangling by far is to loosely tie them in a knot by taking both ends of the cable, folding in half then half again etc until you have a length of about 3 feet and (I'll say it again) loosely tie them in a single knot. With quality cables, I've not had a failure. Our guitarist uses the "proper" coil method and takes forever with his half dozen leads thus avoiding any actual real work taking down the goddam rig! The need for speed getting out of the dog n duck after a 3 punter wet November is paramount! Sure, YMMV as they say, but I've seen many pull the knot too tight and leads get tangled.. Interestingly, "proper" coiling 40 cables will need less space in a bag than knotting as they lay flat - and then you can do a roadie throw where the cable always falls out in a straight line every time too. But these points aren't rules and there's no guarantee that cables will hold out when you finally strangle the guitarist with one for taking too long coiling his own cables! 😂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chienmortbb Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 (edited) 6 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said: THing is tehy are using base-level Neutrik and Van Damme components, which are probably little different from ordinary non-crap components. The NP2x jack plugs are £2.04 each plus VAT if you order 50 from RS. NP2Rx is £2.52. Van Damme 'pro grade' XKE cable is 1.28 per metre in 100m reels. So to make 3m cables in bulk leave about £1.60 to cover other costs. But Designa will probably buy direct from Neutrik and Van Damme in much larger quantities so I think we can assume the £1.60 easily covers the assembly cost, leaving a similar profit on the parts to whatever markup RS are putting on. My point is that that includes labour and profit . Edited September 28, 2019 by Chienmortbb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 1 hour ago, Chienmortbb said: My point is that that includes labour and profit . Probably more profit than labour, with an automated cable stripper it's less than a minute to hand assemble those cables if you have the knack and no doubt at Chinese labour rates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 I used one of the angled red neutrik "silent" plugs to plug into the bass for a cable I soldered this week and it is a revelation - no speaker thump when plugging or unplugging - I'll have to upgrade a few other cables with one of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Blank Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 6 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said: I used one of the angled red neutrik "silent" plugs to plug into the bass for a cable I soldered this week and it is a revelation - no speaker thump when plugging or unplugging - I'll have to upgrade a few other cables with one of those. I swear by the ‘silent’ Neutriks now, I was constantly forgetting to turn the volume down before unplugging and getting that awful thump, not any more! Found my brand. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulbuzz Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 47 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said: I used one of the angled red neutrik "silent" plugs to plug into the bass for a cable I soldered this week and it is a revelation - no speaker thump when plugging or unplugging - I'll have to upgrade a few other cables with one of those. They are good, but a word of warning: don't drop them on a hard floor - the reed switches inside need to be treated with a degree of respect... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Blank Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 12 minutes ago, paulbuzz said: They are good, but a word of warning: don't drop them on a hard floor - the reed switches inside need to be treated with a degree of respect... Absolutely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 I have been using those silent plugs for a few years, never had any problem with them, although as I am wireless when gigging they are just there for backup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulbuzz Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 The straight ones now have an extra rubber jacket for additional shock protection, but the right-angled ones still don't have this (more tricky to incorporate it into the design, I imagine) and so are more vulnerable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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