lanark Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 and which elements are the best to use when making your own - both best value and best best. With a soldering iron and a bit of practice, surely it's not too difficult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodaxe Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 (edited) For cable: Van Damme. Plugs: Neutrik. Iron: 25W Antex. Solder: 60/40 Lead/Tin Rosin Core (electronics grade). Both are readily available from a variety of sources (quite a lot on Ebay), Google them & shop around. Depending on how much you want, aim for as near to £1/m for the cable - you might find you need to buy 10m or so to get near that price, but having some spare cable in stock is no bad thing. TOP TIP: Get cable that's a different colour to anyone else's in the band - that way you know which one's yours. If you use 1/4" jacks for speaker connectors, get speaker cable in a different colour to your instrument leads, that way you don't confuse them with patch cables. Soldering just takes practice & a bit of common sense, but try & get [i]proper[/i] 60/40 electronics grade solder, not the 'lead-free' stuff that's everywhere. It's a lot easier to use. If it's all too much hassle though, give our very own OBBM a PM & he'll sort you out for a very reasonable sum. Pete. Edited June 27, 2011 by Bloodaxe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blind pilot Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 (edited) Or check out lava cables, they are solder free, and look excellent! Edited June 27, 2011 by blind pilot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Having gone the DIY route for many years I now believe that making your own leads is only worthwhile if: 1. You are already an experienced solderer, or have the time and patience to learn how to be one. 2. You have lots of free time that wouldn't be better spent doing something else. 3. You are going to be making up a large quantity of leads, or you need some highly specialised ones. 4. You are looking to save every penny that you can. Otherwise get OBBM to make them for you. You'll get high quality cables which will most likely be made better than you can do yourself and only slightly more than the cost of the materials in the quantities you'll be buying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voxpop Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 (edited) [quote name='BigRedX' post='1283702' date='Jun 27 2011, 09:04 AM']Having gone the DIY route for many years I now believe that making your own leads is only worthwhile if: 1. You are already an experienced solderer, or have the time and patience to learn how to be one. 2. You have lots of free time that wouldn't be better spent doing something else. 3. You are going to be making up a large quantity of leads, or you need some highly specialised ones. 4. You are looking to save every penny that you can. Otherwise get OBBM to make them for you. You'll get high quality cables which will most likely be made better than you can do yourself and only slightly more than the cost of the materials in the quantities you'll be buying.[/quote] +1 for OBBM cables. Edited June 27, 2011 by voxpop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottle Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 All good info. OBBM for ready-made cables (and can make to customers' specs too) I'm happy making my own cables - have been doing it for twenty years, so not a problem for me Canford Audio for cables and connectors. I use their HST for microphone and jack-jack cables, MCS-HD for speaker runs (4mm[sup]2[/sup]) and Neutrik connectors/Speakons. HTH, Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanark Posted June 28, 2011 Author Share Posted June 28, 2011 (edited) [quote name='BigRedX' post='1283702' date='Jun 27 2011, 09:04 AM']Having gone the DIY route for many years I now believe that making your own leads is only worthwhile if: 1. You are already an experienced solderer, or have the time and patience to learn how to be one. 2. You have lots of free time that wouldn't be better spent doing something else. 3. You are going to be making up a large quantity of leads, or you need some highly specialised ones. 4. You are looking to save every penny that you can. Otherwise get OBBM to make them for you. You'll get high quality cables which will most likely be made better than you can do yourself and only slightly more than the cost of the materials in the quantities you'll be buying.[/quote] But part of my reasoning is that learning to solder is a useful life-skill I have yet to acquire and could do with learning - especially if I ever decide to build up my own custom bass - and soldering cables would be a useful way of learning - and I need a few new cables anyway. Edited June 28, 2011 by lanark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 There's no doubt that being able to solder accurately and reliably is an extremely useful skill as a musician, for simply the purposes of making up a few cables I'm not sure how cost efficient it is any more. When I learnt back in the 70s, for anything other than jack-to-jack or male to female XLRs there was no real alternative to doing it yourself. I had to go the DIY route because I needed lots of non-standard leads for interfacing various synths and drum machines and recording equipment. Ever since then I've prided myself on being able to make up whatever lead I needed to a good and reliable standard. However the last set of leads I got were made for me by OBBM. Having priced up the components I needed, I decided to check just how much OBBM's custom made cables were. On an order of over £100 that would take me several hours to make up getting OBBM to make them was only going to cost me an extra £20 or so, and the time taken to order the ready made cables was less than the time it would have taken me to find the best on-line prices for the individual components and place the various orders I needed. These days I have far better things I can be doing with my time than making up simple instrument, Mic and speaker leads, so getting them for OBBM has for me become a no-brainer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 [quote name='BigRedX' post='1283702' date='Jun 27 2011, 09:04 AM']Having gone the DIY route for many years I now believe that making your own leads is only worthwhile if: 1. You are already an experienced solderer, or have the time and patience to learn how to be one. 2. You have lots of free time that wouldn't be better spent doing something else. 3. You are going to be making up a large quantity of leads, or you need some highly specialised ones. 4. You are looking to save every penny that you can. Otherwise get OBBM to make them for you. You'll get high quality cables which will most likely be made better than you can do yourself and only slightly more than the cost of the materials in the quantities you'll be buying.[/quote] +1000. Very good practical post. My only quibble would be with point 3b - I'd guess that OBBM could handle most specialized requests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 I'm sure that someone like OBBM could supply almost any lead you wanted, but based on past experience making up specialised leads or cable snakes they have tended to be so complicated that by the time I'd explained to someone else exactly what was required, I would have almost finished the job myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 [quote name='BigRedX' post='1283702' date='Jun 27 2011, 09:04 AM']Having gone the DIY route for many years I now believe that making your own leads is only worthwhile if: 1. You are already an experienced solderer, or have the time and patience to learn how to be one. 2. You have lots of free time that wouldn't be better spent doing something else. 3. You are going to be making up a large quantity of leads, or you need some highly specialised ones. 4. You are looking to save every penny that you can.[/quote] 5. you enjoy it.... um...or is that just me ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewart Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 (edited) I usually get my parts from here: [url="http://www.rapidonline.com/Cables-Connectors/"]Rapid Electronics[/url] (when I don't get them made by OBBM, of course ) Edited June 28, 2011 by Stewart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 [quote name='BigRedX' post='1285469' date='Jun 28 2011, 05:38 PM']I'm sure that someone like OBBM could supply almost any lead you wanted, but based on past experience making up specialised leads or cable snakes they have tended to be so complicated that by the time I'd explained to someone else exactly what was required, I would have almost finished the job myself.[/quote] Fair enough! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escholl Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 How is recommending that the OP buy cables instead in any way helpful? Anyway, the places I'd recommend are either Rapid Online (previously mentioned) or Thomann. Rapid are good, but they only sell cable by the 100m reel and don't have a great selection of plugs, whereas Thomann will sell cable per metre and have a better selection. I'm sure there are other places two, those are just the first two that come to mind. Personally, I've found the combination of Cordial cable and Rean connectors to be cheap and very reliable. However, pretty much any instrument cable in the quid-per-metre price range will be fine (basically, just make sure it's not super cheap) and Neutrik, Rean, or Switchcraft connectors are all good. Neutrik AG actually owns Rean, and although Rean connectors are just as good they do tend to be cheaper than their Neutrik equivalents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brensabre79 Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Maplin also sell all you need to make your own. They can be a bit more pricey than online but if you have one nearby its still cheaper than buying pre-made ones from a music shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Stu Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 When I needed to make a few I bought a reel of Klotz instrument cable from Scayles Music in Edinburgh. They had Neutrik jacks too. Longest cable I made was 20 yards, which is still going strong. The soldering skills you learn are also invaluable for fitting replacement pots & jacks yourself - instead of the minimum rates than any shops tech will charge - and also for fitting new pickups etc that you want to try out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanark Posted July 7, 2011 Author Share Posted July 7, 2011 Well, I ended up buying my cables from obbm, but I still intend to one day learn to solder. I have a long cheap cable that starts crackling when I move while using it, so I might start by cutting that down and resoldering the existing connectors to a 1m length to use with my Bass Trainer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Vincent Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 I have made many,many cables during my PA hire years. I always got the components from Studiospares. And don't forget the Heatshrink over the joints.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monckyman Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 +1 for Studiospares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurbs Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 I would look at Farnell [url="http://uk.farnell.com/"]http://uk.farnell.com/[/url] and RS [url="http://uk.rs-online.com/web/"]http://uk.rs-online.com/web/[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBunny Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 [quote name='Monckyman' post='1298650' date='Jul 9 2011, 11:38 PM']+1 for Studiospares.[/quote] +2 Studiospares Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBboy Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Just ordered some stuff from proaudioshop.co.uk. Very reasonable prices on Van Damme cable and Neutrik connectors, and loads of other stuff. Just to add my two pence worth.... Soldering jacks onto a cable is very easy (even if you're not very good at soldering like me!), and it probably only takes me about 10 - 15 minutes to do one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan2112 Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 (edited) [quote name='BassBunny' post='1308213' date='Jul 18 2011, 06:41 PM']+2 Studiospares[/quote] +3 studio spares. I have made all of my cables from van damme/neutrik and I'm on my fourth year with some of the cables Plus I find soldering relaxing....perhaps it'll all the lead fumes? Edited August 15, 2011 by dan2112 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muttley Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Canford HSS and HST are excellent cables. I've used them for a variety of applications (not just MI). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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