Soldered or Solderless cables for wiring up pedalboards

[infrared72]

It occured to me today that the various 6', 10', and 15' guitar cables I have here really suck for permanently wiring up a pedal board. Having to coil up and fit all that extra wire down in the pedal train really sucks. I bought a few shorty pedal cables that I think are 6" and I've found that the right angle connectors are a little too big for me to fit everything on the board and have it wired properly. So those are getting returned to see if I can come up with something else, possibly one of the solderless cable kits.

I started looking around at various solderless packages for pedal board wiring like George L's, Lava Cable, and Planet Waves. Is solderless really the way to go with this sort of thing? How well do solderless cables hold up over time?

-Peter

 

[eschoendorff]

Re: Soldered or Solderless cables for wiring up pedalboards

It seems to me that you just cannot go wrong with a good soldered connection. The operative word here is good. A crap solder job will yield crap results at the least convenient time. My experience anyway...

 

[man-in-moon]

Re: Soldered or Solderless cables for wiring up pedalboards

i prefer the solderless cables for ease of making new cables on the fly. and being able to make them what ever length that you want or need. i used george l's but did not like them. for the last 4 months i used a lava cable kit. i like it a lot. i have not had any problems with the cables i have made. they are expensive but which ever brand you decide to go with i think you will prefer the solderless cables.

 

[woemoejack]

Re: Soldered or Solderless cables for wiring up pedalboards

as long as you do a good job with the assembly of the cables, solderless cables are a very viable option. I have the core x2 kit and couldn't be happier. I used cheapo soldered patch cables before. I have nothing against the connections, but rather the inferior shielding of cheaper cables. they seem to introduce extra noise. solderless kits usually have good quality cable. plus with solderless you can make custom lengths. that to me is a top selling point.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Soldered or Solderless cables for wiring up pedalboards

With both soldered and solderless, the cables are only as good as the person putting them together.

It's way easier to screw up a soldered connection though.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Soldered or Solderless cables for wiring up pedalboards

With both soldered and solderless, the cables are only as good as the person putting them together.

THIS IS THE KEY!!!!

I have used solderless cables for YEARS now...done HUNDREDS of gigs with them and have NEVER had an real issues...

Take your time putting them together and you're good to go.

I once had a cymbol stand fall over and cut my guitar cable just a few minutes before time to his the stage...thganks to the fact that I use George L's I was able to repair the cable in less than a minute, on stage and never even had to set my guitar down.

That my friends is priceless!

 

[Hellion]

Re: Soldered or Solderless cables for wiring up pedalboards

I prefer soldered connections to not, but I get the convenience issue, and with George L's, there IS a tonal difference. I still like hard connected terminals.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Soldered or Solderless cables for wiring up pedalboards

Guitarists are weird. They say "I prefer a hard, soldered connection" - meanwhile every guitar, pedal, and amp in their rig is connected with a latching plug and jack ... a solderless connection.

 

[eschoendorff]

Re: Soldered or Solderless cables for wiring up pedalboards

Guitarists are weird. They say "I prefer a hard, soldered connection" - meanwhile every guitar, pedal, and amp in their rig is connected with a latching plug and jack ... a solderless connection.

Irony. Far out.

 

[sonnyblu]

Re: Soldered or Solderless cables for wiring up pedalboards

Solderless have been a blessing for me...
I'm glad I got a couple sets before the price went through the roof!
George L's have always worked great for me.
.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Soldered or Solderless cables for wiring up pedalboards

I've been using solderless connections for about three years now with no problems on my pedalboard.

 

[ken361]

Re: Soldered or Solderless cables for wiring up pedalboards

I replaced 2 of my George L's patch cables with Live wires Elite because the GLs' wires were pulling out some. The screws seem to loosen slightly,when I retested all 3 again there was one not sounding as good and this is the 3rd time cutting them. The livewires have hefty nutrik jacks on there and it has a little more low end to them so I dont have to worry about them plus a life time warranty.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Soldered or Solderless cables for wiring up pedalboards

I have 3 different pedalboards that I use with different amps. They are all wired with George L cables. I switched to these many years ago & have never had to replace a cable. They work very well, but what sold me on them is what Christian states. You can fix them very easily if they break!!

 

[tone4days]

Re: Soldered or Solderless cables for wiring up pedalboards

my board is solderless - lava

has been bulletproof and was dead simple and quick to put together

highly recommend

 

[Thunder]

Re: Soldered or Solderless cables for wiring up pedalboards

THIS IS THE KEY!!!!

I have used solderless cables for YEARS now...done HUNDREDS of gigs with them and have NEVER had an real issues...

Take your time putting them together and you're good to go.

I once had a cymbol stand fall over and cut my guitar cable just a few minutes before time to his the stage...thganks to the fact that I use George L's I was able to repair the cable in less than a minute, on stage and never even had to set my guitar down.

That my friends is priceless!

Priceless tgwif. Love George L's!

 

[KoreanGuitarMan]

Re: Soldered or Solderless cables for wiring up pedalboards

Guitarists are weird. They say "I prefer a hard, soldered connection" - meanwhile every guitar, pedal, and amp in their rig is connected with a latching plug and jack ... a solderless connection.

It's not as though all of the connectors are solid brass and rhodium plated either.