Rockboard Patchworks solderless patch cables

Keefy

I was down in Exeter on Friday so I thought it would be rude not to visit Project Music for a mooch around. I had done the round of all the big stuff and turned my attention to the cabinets full of effect pedals when I came across these Rockboard Patchworks plugs and cable. I have been using the Rockboard flat patch cables for a while, and it's usually been possible to find a length to suit my needs, but the latest iteration of my rock'n'roll 'board really could do with custom length cables. I bought 2 packs of 6 plugs and a 6m pack of cable. Total cost was £34 which I thought was competitive as these things go.

I've just re-wired my R'n'R board and it looks much tidier now. The plugs can be set up straight or right-angled, which is handy. Their profile is not as low as the flat patch cables but all but one of the pedals on this board has 'top'-mounted sockets anyway. Also the instructions refer to the 'included' cable cutter but there wasn't one. I used good quality (Knipex) cutters but I had to make sure there were no stray wire whiskers that might cause a short. It's a bit fiddly assembling a plug in right-angle format as the cable wants to push the reversible piece of the plug body away from where the screw will locate.

It just remains to gig this and see how reliable it is...

Keefy

Situation update.

I had to replace the shortest patch cable as it crackled in response to any movement, such as switching a pedal on or off. Turns out it's not really possible to make a cable that short because there is not enough mechanical resistance betwwen the inner and the outer to prevent the inner moving around.

Yesterday I made some longer cables for another pedal board. One of them took a couple of goes before it was not shorting to ground, the others were fine first time. The problem is the same as I used to get with Lava cables - no matter how cleanly I cut the cable (with good quality Knipex cutters, not the cutters that they didn't supply) I then have to go in with a scalpel blade to make sure there are no stray strands. Anyway, I wired up the board and - no signal. In the process of connecting the cables between the pedals, one apparently good cable is now shorting out.

I can't risk a cable randomly going bad on a gig, so I have ordered a bunch of Rean pancake plugs and I'll make up my own soldered cables. And yes I know about the Evidence Audio solid-core system that TPS Dan loves, but ffs the price!

That's me done with solderless patch cables.