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Solderless cable - tightrope vs planet waves

Discussion in 'Effects [BG]' started by theunknowndude, Apr 14, 2017.

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  1. Apr 14, 2017 #1
    theunknowndude

    theunknowndude

    Jun 20, 2007
    Adelaide, Australia
    Well I just have a mini rant / question...

    How do you make those lava tightrope work grrr / are all solderless apart from the planet waves like that??

    I had the planet waves since 2009ish, never had an issue with them, never failed, reused them so many times. Bought the tightrope and watched the video 3 times, thought I did a pretty decent job but after making it last night and testing through the board tonight, it would only intermittently pass full signal... and I don't mean like jiggle it and it completely cuts out, it was more like a dying battery going from spurts of full signal to 3/4 then back to full!

    As annoying as the big heads on the planet waves are they are sooo easy and so reliable - going to stick then despite losing pedalboard space... ah wells!

    Anyone else had any luck with tightropes?
     
  2. Apr 14, 2017 #2
    254 stringer

    254 stringer

    Apr 15, 2010
    Waco Texas
    I went to lava from planet waves and love them. I have had two bad cables with the lava(out of 30 jacks) mostly from the center solid wire being too long. They are a little harder to make but once you get the process down it's no problem.
     
  3. Apr 14, 2017 #3
    theunknowndude

    theunknowndude

    Jun 20, 2007
    Adelaide, Australia
    Hmmm ok well I got a gig I can't afford for them to fail on so will try making a few more and taking my time... would love a nice neat board just don't have time to mess around much where as planet waves is easy as, just cut the whole cable and screw the head on.
     
  4. Apr 14, 2017 #4
    254 stringer

    254 stringer

    Apr 15, 2010
    Waco Texas
    That center solid copper is the most important part if it's too long it will break. I usually strip the rubber back 3/8 to a 1/2 inch then strip the center and cut it if it's too long then I peel back that black layer off the white insulation with my fingernail. If the stranded copper is too long I just trim it up a little. But I wouldn't want anything failing on a gig either and the planet waves were always reliable when I used them. The problems I had with the lava were after I built and installed them so far they have been good on the board after the problems were corrected.
     
  5. Apr 14, 2017 #5
    adamaarts

    adamaarts

    Apr 19, 2001
    Corona, CA
    Beta tester Source Audio, demos/reviews of many others
    Make sure you get that thin black inner wrap off as well. I saw another video where they said it was conductive, that'll give you that dying sound like you mentioned. I skipped over this before as well, and now I have zero issues with these.