Snake Cables

inflames

There is only one other thread on snakes here, but did not find the info I was looking for.

Have any of you used a Pedal Snake: www.pedalsnake.com
It looks like the answer to my soon to be issue.

Is there local snake manufacturers or where do I get some snake going?

What is your take on snake cables?
I need to run 4 cables to my amp inputs, plus a power line to my pedals.

inflames

Anyone?

a Friend told me that it is not a good idea to run signal and power cables together.
Also that the signal cables of pedal snake does not look too hot!

TomCat

Inflames.......PM me the details of what you want to do and I'll see if I can put something together for you.

AlanRatcliffe

It's a case of getting something custom made locally.

I didn't like what I saw on the Pedalsnake site. And no, it's not a good idea to run power and audio together - especially high impedance guitar lines.

TomCat

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: It's a case of getting something custom made locally.

I didn't like what I saw on the Pedalsnake site. And no, it's not a good idea to run power and audio together - especially high impedance guitar lines.

+1 Alan. In fact generally due to the lines being high impedance brings a whole lot of fun and games.
The earthing layout etc will be critical to a guitar snake working properly as crosstalk and even possibly internal looping (feedback) caused by capacitive coupling happening across the individual lines in the snake.

I've actually been looking at making one for myself anyway and seeing how well it works.
The trick is finding suitable instrument cable that is not too thick to make up the individual lines with.

One could feed DC power down the snake as this will not induce hum into the other lines.

inflames

Thanks Tom,

Will PM you with my idea. So far it does not look to good.
I would rather have 3 to 4 cables on the floor than a snake with inferior sound.

DonovanB

I hate to be an eavesdropper, but Inflames and Tom do you guys mind making this public? I'd love to learn from this to see what options we have.

I haven't been seriously thinking of snake cables for guitar but it has crossed my mind before, especially with the 4-cable method of the GT pedals.

inflames

Hi Don,

Not a problem, the reason for a snake is that I also want to do the 4 cable system.
I will do a writeup later this evening for Tom to check out.

I'm more than happy to talk about snakes in public!

TomCat

No problem....slap it on the forum and lets see where it goes...........

inflames

Tom & Co,

Running 4 to 5 signal cables to your feet are never a "lekker" thing. Plus then you will need power as well.

The reason I started thinking about a snake is the fact that I'm a neat freak.
My wife will also "donner" me if she arrives home and see cables all over the show ?

So if you keep the 4 cable method in mind (http://www.guitarforum.co.za/effects/multi-effects-processors-a-logical-approach-to-getting-great-results/).

This means that there will be 3 cables running between your amp and Multi-FX. I also run a footswitch from my Marshall for channel selection.
So now we have 4 cables running.

Now we need power for our Multi-FX and other pedals.
If you don't put the power with the signal it is fine, then we can limit the cables to 2 running between amp and Multi-FX.
So the one power line should be able to split into multiple outlets.

My power requirements would be GT-10 and TS9DX.
My Signal requirements would be 4 or 5 points.

Does this make sense to you Tom?

DonovanB

Thanks Guys. 8)

TomCat

Thanks Inflames...Got it.

Give me a day or 2 to chew on it and come up with a schematic drawing which I'll post on the forum.

inflames

Thanks Tom, appreciate the effort!

Renesongs

I have a Maya 44 which is basically 4 channels in and 2 stereo outputs. I used a Computer VGA monitor cable to make myself a "snake" from my sound card to my patch panel. It works pretty well.

AlanRatcliffe

A couple of velcro cable ties do me well where I have a number of cables to keep together and neat. Also more flexible for situations where you will often be moving things out of the way (like setup in the home or home studio. if a cable bombs, I just replace the cable instead of replacing the whole snake.

Snakes are great for long cable runs where you want to keep things neat with many cables (like 20 or 30 of them) and also where you want to have armour plating for protection in high traffic areas.

inflames

A couple of velcro cable ties do me well where I have a number of cables to keep together and neat.

I can now smack myself! I'm using velcro ties to keep my cables rolled up neatly!
That should solve my problem -1 Inflames ???