Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

MasterKtulu

MasterKtulu

New member
Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

A while back, I finally ditched my digital multi-effects pedal board and bought 12 effects pedals that I had lusted over for many years (And for anyone who cares, they are: Dunlop Crybaby Wah, MXR Dyna Comp, MXR GT-OD, Carl Martin PlexiTone, MI Effects Crunch Box, Boss Keeley Ultra DS-1, Electro-Harmonix Metal Muff, MXR Micro Chorus, MXR Analog Chorus, ISP Decimator, MXR Carbon Copy Delay & TC Electronic Hall Of Fame Reverb.) I saved my money and bought them all at once, and having little money left I bought those cheap tone sucking multi-colored patch cables.

Now that I’ve been able to save a bit of money again, I decided to invest in some George L’s cable and a bunch of right angled cable plugs to cover my entire pedal board. It was hard for me to do so, as I’ve never spent that much for guitar cables in my entire life. I hope it will be worth the investment and it will breath more life in my beloved pedal board. They should arrive in a few weeks, and I hope I can hear at least a tiny difference with them.

What do you guys think? Have I done the right thing? Or have I thrown my hard earned cash away for nothing?
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Nice pedals. no Phase 90, though?


A lot of people like george l's. I don't know if it's the type of thing where you'll "hear something extra" but you'll have quality stuff that won't get worn out in 6 months.

Some people can hear differences in cables, some can't. Maybe it just depends on your ears, the length of the cables, the types of effects, amps, guitars, position of the planets, etc. Even if you don't hear a difference, I'd still say it's worth it to have sturdy, long-lasting cables.
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Nice pedals. no Phase 90, though?
Click to expand...

I find the Phase 90 is too "aggressive" if you know what I mean. The Phase 45 though is more subtle/transparent and is probably the next pedal I'm buying.
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

gotta hand it to MXR. they're not the best things ever but for a lot of stuff I feel like they get the job done right at a fine price.

how's the plexitone? I love my MI Audio CB but sometimes I want something that cleans up better, and is less compressed.

I'm thinking of going with lava cable when I do the DIY cables. I got a lava pink diamond (yup. pink cable. it's smexy) and it's lower noise and clearer than the cheap-arse "pro-line" cable I was using.
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

gotta hand it to MXR. they're not the best things ever but for a lot of stuff I feel like they get the job done right at a fine price.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%! I'm know that boutique builders have way better pedals than MXR, but for the money MXR is hard to beat or even equal.

how's the plexitone? I love my MI Audio CB but sometimes I want something that cleans up better, and is less compressed.
Click to expand...

The Crunch Box is great for what it does (80's Boosted Marshall) and I absolutely love it! But my favorite pedal I own is definitely the PlexiTone. It's very clear, with lots of head room, sounding great with very little gain and doesn't lose its character with high gain. I can get great tones with it from SRV to VH and everything in between.
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

I might have to get a plexitone then. Seems pretty rad.
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

MasterKtulu said:
I find the Phase 90 is too "aggressive" if you know what I mean. The Phase 45 though is more subtle/transparent and is probably the next pedal I'm buying.
Click to expand...

I was about to suggest the phase 45 when I read you found the 90 too aggressive.

but in response to the OP, I really think you made a wise decision upgrading to George L's they really are noticeably better cables. How much of a difference you personally notice may depend on your ears (some of us have trained ears while others don't, etc etc), your rig, etc.

I find George L's to be very transparent which I like, I find a lot of other cables cheap and some not so cheap tend to color your tone in some way which I don't personally like (even expensive Monsters color your tone).

The only way you really could've saved money is by the DIY route going through redco.com, but I find that for patch cables the George L's are great bc they don't require any soldering and I like the fact that the cables and connectors have a small footprint so you can use your pedalboard real estate wisely.
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

I did the same thing a few years ago, bought 13 pedals, an SKB powered pedal board, and first used George Ls then the Planet Waves pedalboard kit.

I had too many problems with the connections on the George Ls, so I had to dump them altogether ad go with the Planet Waves kit.

My problem then was the noise with so many pedals. I used a Boss NS2, but the end result was just too much tone being sucked, so now I ave two pedal boards- one with delay, reverb and EQ in the loop, then another with a tube screamer and wah in front.

Kinda sucked cause man I had an awesome setup, just too much noise/signal loss
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

I have a few of the PW patches and the tone is nice but I don't like the connectors they are bulky cables, which is tough cuz I use a lot of pedals so I like to have stuff crammed on my board.
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

When I bought my George L's cables and connectors (10 or 11 years ago), they were really the only serious game in town for easy to build, compact cables. I must have 25 custom cables with a combo of right and angled connectors and have never had a problem with any of them. It is important to follow their instructions word for word. If you just throw them together....might have problems.

They work great. I bought them mostly because of their size and how easy it is to make custom lengths. They sound fine, but I'm not sure cable matters all that much with the shorts lengths between pedals. I'd guess the connectors affect the tone more than the cable itself. Now, if you're running a long length to your board or back that could make a difference. George L's are supposed to be transparent. I've never A/B'd enough to know for sure.
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

I've tried the George L's...

Agree, correct assembly is important. If you make a bad connection with a plug the game is over.

I switched to patch cables by Dimarzio. Very pleased with their durability. For longer lengths I use Spectraflex cables.

I'm not a cable snob so I never really A/B'ed anything. I stick with "the best cable you can afford" philosophy.

...and avoid Monster cable B.S. whenever possible.
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

i use george l's on my board. when i make the cables i check each one with a multimeter to make sure there is no resistance between ends. if you dont do a clean job you might get a few ohms resistance on the hot contacts. if they check at zero chances are you have a good connection that will last and sound great. some of these ive had for about 10 years and they still work great.

i have a pair of 15' long george l's guitar cables and they are good but every so often i need to fix one of the ends. they are not the most rugged things but they work great on pedal boards.

i have a variety of good cables and many do have their own personality. george l's is bright and clear sounding
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

I have Used GeorgeL's since the mid nineties
one developed a Crackle and pop
un-did it snipped off the end re-intalled end
good

the twelve foot sections are what me and my friends use to
rate other cables

on par
slightly dark
muddy

all as compared to the GeorgeL

one of my friends complained that the georgeL he had was "noisy"
unplugged his crappy old SD-1 and the noise went with it

I do love a bargain and I do own some $5 GC braided cables
they do add some wool to the sound of my guitars


Oh and I really dont do the pedal patch cable thing
most of my "pedals" are in the multieffects unit
or I just play Clean
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

I love how some people insist there's a difference in tone from a cable run that's under 12" and if you don't hear the difference, well then you have untrained or "bad ears".

I've never used George L's but I never felt the need to spend the money. I got by with the cheap rainbow of patch cables for $10 for years. Recently, I picked up a couple sets of Planet Waves off of some kid on Kijiji for super cheap because he'd gone to a multi-effects unit. Both sounded the same.
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

I used George Ls for everything a few years ago, then switched to Core x2 which i much preferred. Since then I've changed everything to soldered Evidence Audio, with Lyric HG for the long cables and The Reveal on the board. They all work, they're all different, it's simply a matter of using what you like and what works for you.




Cheers........................................ wahwah
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

I've been using the HOSA patch cables for a while, and never had any problems. Every time I save the coin for the george l's I end up spending it on a pedal.
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

I really like the idea of a build-your-own cable setup for pedalboards. It really makes things nice and clean. Definitely a good investment for the tidiness more-so than the sound IMO
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

I bought a bunch of jacks and cut up an old broken cable. Works great.
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

I will agree on the point of it makes things much tidier/organized.

I'm not going to frown on people that can't hear the difference between cables I'm used to a lot of people not noticing the differences between things, it's nothing personal or meant to be offensive different people hear things differently it's simple human nature. Hence why I said how much of a difference is noticeable will vary depending on the person, the difference is there, and it's subtle.
 
Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

Re: Investing in “Make Your Own” George L’s Patch Cables...

I have three pedalboards that I use with different amps. They are all wired with George L's. Back when I bought them well they were the only game in town. I see no reason to switch now. I have been using them for quite some time. Every once in a while a screw loosens up & I get some noise. Tighten the screw and we are good to go. I also use the .225 weight cable to connect the board to the amp & the guitar to the board, but recently I have switch those cables to Monster. Not for any other reason then I am getting just a bit of noise & I am too lazy to trouble shoot it. My Keyboard player has been using my George L at the last few rehearsals with no issues so it may just be me!

When I first switched everything over I thought I had a clearer signal but if it is noticeable it is very small. You know once the drums kick in you just want/need to be heard...
 
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