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Lets see your nice cables.

Red Planet

Red Planet

Inactive
May 29, 2005
6,487
2,152
Atlanta
Disclosures
I'm cranky in my old age.
#1
This be the Back of your Rack/Head and Cable Thread.

I'm a heavy duty cable nut and like to make everything nice and neat as well.

Here are some things I've done to hook up my Rig - Speaker Cables, Audio Cables, Instrument Cables, Tuner Cables, etc......

What are you guys doing?


Lets see for Power I made a 10 foot 12 gage SO Cable that goes to my two rack units. The 12 gage cable runs into a twistlock female plug then from a male twistlock out to two 14 gage IEC cables to my Preamp and Poweramp. I use the little Boss TU-2 Tuner powered by one of those Ultralife 9 volt batteries and just unplug slightly the input to it when not in use. The Tuner is held down with good ol velcro.

For those times when I need more length to my power cord or am plugged into questionable dirty power I made a 20 foot 10 gage SO Cable that runs into a 4 gang box with an indutrial grade Surge Supressor with built in RFI EMI filtration. The Surge unit will take up to a 32,000 VA surge and still protect my gear.

For Audio from my Preamp to my Poweramp, I made a short XLR Cable. The XLR goes into one Channel on my Poweramp then I jump over from the TRS 1/4" jack of that channel to the other channel of the Amp. This cable is made up of some foil shield Beldon and has Switchcraft ends on it.

For my Bass I use a $150.00 heavy duty Instrument Cable, not for it's esoteric Audio but just because it is sturdy.

For Speaker Cables I used 12 gage speaker wire with Neutrick 4's on each end. I made these just a little longer than the exact length.

Now I know some of my stuff here is overkill and I am not advocating any special Tones to my Cables or anything, I just enjoy making heavy dity cables. I did not need/want a strip in my rack and was tired of using two cables going to the same place, hence the crazy Y cable I made. I put in the twistlocks so it would not pull apart and was a nice clean way to make the Y connection to the two IEC's.

Also I like to look at pics so here are mine, lets see your's.


100_0668.jpg



100_0669.jpg



100_0670.jpg



100_0667.jpg



100_0671.jpg
 
#3
That's pretty solid. If you're looking for more overkill the only thing I could suggest you add is some adhesive-lined heatshrink for additional strain relief and waterproofing. That should be enough to take what you have to the "capable of withstanding a nearby nuclear blast" level.

I keep a few sizes around and just do every cable that passes through. Comes of spending more time as a roadie than a performer...

No photos though, all the big stuff is at the rehearsal studio.
 
#4
Your use of heavy gauge cables is refreshing to see. I am also a heavy gauge nut for good reason. While 12 AWG wire may be a bit of over kill, I can say for certain that power starved gear has a shorter life, even though it seems to operate just fine.
 
#5
Nice stuff there. When I was a youngster, I had the pleasure of learning cable building and "Cable Maintainence" from a wise old tech guru. He taught me about the "thousand dollar mic cable". The idea was when Sinatra or any big star took the stage, the audio crew would pay a thousand bucks to avoid a mic cable failure. That was the quality he expected from my cables, and I made damn sure he got it. If you pay that much attention to your cables, the rest of you gear is probably pretty well kept up too.
 
#6
I routinely spec the Hubbel twist lock products. Never had any trouble with them. Good stuff. They are well suited to higher amperage use.

For my bass rig, these days it is just a longish IEC to Edison, 14 GA wire.

I don't see any advantages to moving away from Edison plugs for less than 15 Amp load. Above that, and the twist locks are clearly superior.
 
#7
I haven't spent a whole lot of time thinking about cables, so I'm pleasantly surprised because I never have really put much thought to it.

Here's my rack:
CabWiring003.gif

SVT 4Pro
Sure Wireless
Phonic power conditioner

The Wiring:
CabWiring001.gif

I have everything cable tied up and using the smallest length cables possible.

Use of Coaxial Cable hanger to route amp power:
CabWiring002.gif

When I put the back cover on my rack mount I tuck the power side up there.

I'm thinking I need to pay more attention to this area of my gear in the future.
 
#8
My biggest reasoning for the Twistlocks was it gave me a nice, neat, easy way to Y the IEC's and since it would hang down the lock keeps it from dislodging during play.

Daniel those must be some long exposure times on those pics your taking!:D edit You got em up right before I chided ya!

Allright guys bring em on. :bassist:
 
#10
Red Planet said:
This be the Back of your Rack/Head and Cable Thread.

I'm a heavy duty cable nut and like to make everything nice and neat as well.

Here are some things I've done to hook up my Rig - Speaker Cables, Audio Cables, Instrument Cables, Tuner Cables, etc......

What are you guys doing?


Lets see for Power I made a 10 foot 12 gage SO Cable that goes to my two rack units. The 12 gage cable runs into a twistlock female plug then from a male twistlock out to two 14 gage IEC cables to my Preamp and Poweramp. I use the little Boss TU-2 Tuner powered by one of those Ultralife 9 volt batteries and just unplug slightly the input to it when not in use. The Tuner is held down with good ol velcro.

For those times when I need more length to my power cord or am plugged into questionable dirty power I made a 20 foot 10 gage SO Cable that runs into a 4 gang box with an indutrial grade Surge Supressor with built in RFI EMI filtration. The Surge unit will take up to a 32,000 VA surge and still protect my gear.

For Audio from my Preamp to my Poweramp, I made a short XLR Cable. The XLR goes into one Channel on my Poweramp then I jump over from the TRS 1/4" jack of that channel to the other channel of the Amp. This cable is made up of some foil shield Beldon and has Switchcraft ends on it.

For my Bass I use a $150.00 heavy duty Instrument Cable, not for it's esoteric Audio but just because it is sturdy.

For Speaker Cables I used 12 gage speaker wire with Neutrick 4's on each end. I made these just a little longer than the exact length.

Now I know some of my stuff here is overkill and I am not advocating any special Tones to my Cables or anything, I just enjoy making heavy dity cables. I did not need/want a strip in my rack and was tired of using two cables going to the same place, hence the crazy Y cable I made. I put in the twistlocks so it would not pull apart and was a nice clean way to make the Y connection to the two IEC's.

Also I like to look at pics so here are mine, lets see your's.


100_0668.jpg



100_0669.jpg



100_0670.jpg



100_0667.jpg



100_0671.jpg
Click to expand...

hey how do you like that marcus miller pre?
 
#14
Big John66 said:
Nice stuff there. When I was a youngster, I had the pleasure of learning cable building and "Cable Maintainence" from a wise old tech guru. He taught me about the "thousand dollar mic cable". The idea was when Sinatra or any big star took the stage, the audio crew would pay a thousand bucks to avoid a mic cable failure. That was the quality he expected from my cables, and I made damn sure he got it. If you pay that much attention to your cables, the rest of you gear is probably pretty well kept up too.
Click to expand...

LOL, who did they pay a thousand dollars to, the tech guy?
 
#16
Unfortunately, I never got paid a grand a piece for my mic cables. The general idea is that a cable should be made as if it was worth a thousand dollars since the signal chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. If it's pro audio, studio, or bass guitar the cable is just as important as any other piece in the chain. Btw Bob, every QSC piece I've had always sounded great and was tough as nails.
 
#17
Isn't there a way to drive both channels of the QSC poweramp from a single input source without having to run the extra 1/4" cable? My poweramp has a switch that puts it into a parallel mode for that purpose.

Also, it appears that you have to go around to the back of your amp to tune. :confused:
 
#18
The QSC PLX2 1804 has no switches or any other options. It does not bridge, parallel, etc...... but what it looses in it features it gains in it's light weight. The full featured 02 series PLX2 QSC Amps weigh 22 pounds but the 1804 weighs 13 pounds. I like it.

Tune, shoot I tune up before I start playing and then I play. Fortunately for me my Basses stay in Tune. Heck most of the time I do not even use it.
 
#19
I'm quite happy with the heavy duty cables built for me at Redco Audio.

The 8" 12 gauge speaker cable with the oversized 1/4 plug is the best I've ever owned.

They also made me up a very nice 12" guitar cable, both costing
less than $40.00 at time of purchase.

Several high end studios recommended Redco and they will certainly
get all my business from now on.

http://www.redco.com/
 

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