Hello everyone. I wanted some advice on patch cables... I'm building a slightly more lengthy rig now and need something to connect all the bits and bobs together. What's the deal with cable quality? Is thinner or thicker better (in terms of wire and shielding)? Is lowest capacitance best? Which are good brands that won't leave me broke?
What got me confused was that I had heard good things about Mogami patch cables but I then saw that they actually have a highish capacitance, which threw everything I thought I had read about out of the window.
Wise me up! Cheers
Comments
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
If you've got a buffered pedal early on in the chain: problem solved.
I would suggest something flexible; when I made my own I used Sommer Spirit, which happens to also be low capacitance. That said I also think Viz is correct - Rob will do a lovely job at a sensible price.
The d'Addario self assembly is amazingly good, as is the SIS System.
I've enough SIS and Monorail to build another rack and happy to chat to you about getting it over to you.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
You basically have to assume that the cable you choose is a filter of sorts that will voice your sound a certain way just like a capacitor.
Also consider that each 1/4" plug that you use will have a capacitance as well, and often greater capacitance than the cable length alone. Often a low capacitance cable is around 20pF per foot, and most connectors are around 10-15 pF per connector, meaning that if you have a 6" patch cable, you have more capacitance in the connectors than in the cable itself.
A lot of this is nullified if you're converting to low impedance by way of a buffer, but each part plays a role depending on how deep you want to get into it.
To my ear, after 100+ pedalboard builds, these are the patch cables I like to work with (in no particular order):
1) Belden 9778 (most neutral IMO, hard to prep for assembly, larger diameter, not that flexible for patch cables).
2) Gepco X-Band (also very neutral, easier to prep that Belden but not as easy as Mogami, not that flexible for patch cables)
3) Mogami 2319 (has a bit of a mid-range exaggeration but still pretty neutral overall, easy to assemble, very flexible)
4) Belden 8412 (has a bit more low-mid emphasis but still fairly neutral [this is what Pete Cornish uses], difficult to prep, not very flexible, very large diameter for patch cables).
If you want to make things easy on yourself and get a good sounding cable, I'd go Mogami 2319. It assembles fast, easy to prep, very flexible, and with a buffered pedalboard, will have a negligible difference between the other cables.
If you don't mind putting in the time, I think the best sounding (to my ears) is the Belden 9778, but depending on the space you have to run cables and the time you have to assemble it might not be most practical.
For connectors, the Switchcraft/Lava pancake 1/4" connectors are low capacitance and easy for assembly, so I'd go that route as much as possible. The other model Switchcraft connectors have very high capacitance (20 pF+ per connector), so I'd go with Amphenol if you require traditional R/A or Straight connectors.