Solder-less cables - mostly the same *edit - or perhaps not

TimmyO

... to a point.

I've realised recently that when I've been chipping in on the Lava vs other vs whatever conversations that I probably wasn't comparing like with like.

My issues with Lava seem to have been with the ELC stuff, whereas the current 'Tightrope' system is, as far as I can make out, identical to the EA SIS system. Having taken delivery last night of some Tightrope stuff, and watched the instructional vids on both that and SIS I conclude that the way they work and assemble is identical - anyone used both and able to advise to the contrary?

Same seems to go for the even newer Lava Piston plugs compared to the Free The Tone system - appear to operate identically...

So it looks to me like that 'SIS is better than Lava' forums conversations around the net are true if to add "...ELC" to the end.

Thoughts?

cbellanga

Hope they are working fine Tim to your point, the ones I tried before and had massive failure rate was George l's. Moved to lava tightropes and never had 1 single problem (as you can see on the amount of different cable lengths I made)

The lava piston is a bit more complicated to put together, screws can go missing, the cable itself is bulkier but so far so good.

CustomPedalBoards

i've used both the lava tightrope system and the ea sis.
custom pedal boards only use the ea sis, and have done since they came out.

reason being its better, in my opinion.
the cable feels better as do the plugs.

the lava cable is actually a fraction of a mil thinner which means it waggles around in the plug when making them, the monorail does not an is a much more solid fit. as for the quality of the copper and other materials used, who knows which 1 is better but the little evidence pixies assure me that the ea cable is higher quality.
the sis plugs have a much nicer feel and quality than the lava plugs which have a shiny plastic feel to them, also the knurled ends on the lava plugs play havoc with your skin, the sis plugs dont (well less anyway)

i have made hundreds even thousands of sis patch cables now, and are the only choice for solderless patch cables, and the extra cost is worth it as far as i'm concerned.

there u go, take it or leave it.

TimmyO

That's really good info - most people who express a view have only use one or the other (or are on TGP and have to just shout whatever the TGP-Tourettes answer for that month is) 

:-)

cheers

Tim

Laurie

A couple guitar buddies of mine bought Lava Tightrope (the cheap and cheerful EA SIS knock-off) and experienced difficult assembly, intermittent signal issues, and total signal loss at gigs as a result of choosing Lava.  I've been using Evidence Audio for years without any problems - and I gig a lot! 

Evidence Audio SIS are far superior, more rugged, durable and just overall a much better quality product.  My guitar friends have since moved over to EA SIS (on my recommendation), and have never had any problems.

Cheers..
Laurie

jellybelly

My experience with Solderless was the opposite of CPB above - I found the tightrope stuff noisy and fiddly to put together. When it worked it was a step up from the georgle Ls in terms of sound but the George Ls were more reliable.

In the end I spent almost half as much on Lava pancake jacks and 2m of lava cable and soldered them myself. Not had a single noise problem since and wasn't difficult to do - found it easier than the Solderless Lava system!!

CustomPedalBoards

not sure i'm understanding this opposite your talking about jelly?

jellybelly

CustomPedalBoards said:

not sure i'm understanding this opposite your talking about jelly?

Apologies, it was cbellanga's experiences I was referencing.

kjdowd

The only ones I could get to work with ease and regularity were George Ls. Undoubtedly user error on the evidence and lava stuff, but my experience was that they were fiddly to our together and about half worked first time.

hotpickups

I'm sticking to lava solderless as I've never had a problem with assembly or usage. Tightropes' are my preference though