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Topic: 3-Cord In One |
Duane Reese
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Posted 11 Oct 2010 8:17 am |
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I don't really like a mess of cords, and I don't think anyone does. 3-cording is just that: a mess. A powered volume pedal helps, but you have to run power to that too. I decided to invent a better way.
Take a look at this...
It's a 3-cord setup consolidated into one cord. The side on the left goes to the amp, and the side on the right goes to the pedal and the guitar, which is why the cable for the guitar is longer (so it can reach the guitar jack and the others can reach the pedal).
The guitar cable is the George L stuff we've come to know and love, and the cable for the pedal (I forget the part number)[edit: it's Belden 1508A] is high-fidelity audio cable, with two hot conductors, a ground and a foil sheath; in the insulator, it is about the same diameter as the George L. On each end, where the heat shrink is, I have that cable divide off into two, and I put new Neutrik NP3X plugs on the ends, which do a good job of grabbing the insulator (the boots come in black so I had to buy a couple of different colored boots to distinguish between send and return). The reason I didn't just use an audio cable with three hots and run the instrument signal through there is because it's not instrument cable, and could get microphonic.
I have the two cables bound together with this fancy stuff called Techflext, which is like a big long Chinese finger trap (¼"). It's fairly easy to work the cables through it because it expands out quite a bit when you scrunch it. Again, I used heat shrink where the Techflex ends.
The whole thing is about 16' long. Yes, it is a whole lot nicer...just on piece between guitar and amp. What's interesting is that AC hum is actually reduced! It must be shielded better somehow than how I was doing 3-cord prior to this. Hey, I can accept that.
Last edited by Duane Reese on 11 Oct 2010 11:03 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Dave Grafe
From:
Hudson River Valley NY
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Posted 11 Oct 2010 8:29 am
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| That's looking good, Duane, maybe you can start selling them! It's funny to me that pro audio folks are always making up special snakes for our various applications but guitar players will mess with a load of spaghetti and never think twice about cleaning it up or making their setups quick and easy. Well done! |
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Lynn Oliver
From:
Redmond, Washington USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 11 Oct 2010 8:53 am
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Here is the web site for Techflex.
You might also look at Pedal Snake. |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 11 Oct 2010 9:13 am
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| What is the capacitance per foot of the "high fidleity audio cable"? If it's not low capacitance (around 24 uf per foot such as George L's) you have negated the use of the George L's cable. |
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Duane Reese
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Posted 11 Oct 2010 9:37 am
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| Jack, I just went and looked it up... It's Belden 1508A, rated at 31 pf per foot. |
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Lynn Oliver
From:
Redmond, Washington USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 14 Oct 2010 8:52 am
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| Duane, do you have a good source for small quantities of TechFlex? |
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Jeff Dairiki
From:
Shoreline, WA (USA)
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Posted 14 Oct 2010 9:05 am
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Hi Lynn,
Last time I was at Vetco (in Bellevue, WA) they had a good selection of the stuff --- you can buy it by the foot. (This was two years ago or so, but I'm guessing they still have it.) I don't know if it was TechFlex brand, but it was equivalent.
http://www.vetco.net/
Jeff |
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Duane Reese
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Posted 14 Oct 2010 9:10 am
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| Yes. My local audio/video supply house has several rolls of the stuff in different sizes. I think this ¼" stuff ran at about 23¢ a foot. |
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Don Poland
From:
Hanover, PA.
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Posted 14 Oct 2010 4:46 pm
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Parts Express has it for approx 27 cents per foot in 25 foot quantities.
PARTS EXPRESS |
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