Smaller Traditional Pedalboard Cable Plugs

[László]

I had some new cables made up to lengths I needed for my pedalboard, and requested they be terminated with the traditional, soldered G&H angled plugs with strain relief barrels I’ve been using for years. They’re USA made, high quality stuff.

He said G&H came out with a smaller version, still the same features and quality, and sent a photo. I thought I’d try them on the board, and said let’s do it.

They’re pretty darn small, and very nicely made! My vendor put shrink wrap on the barrels/cable for added strain relief.

I’m ordering a couple more to match these and will move the upper deck pedals closer together when they arrive (might as well do them all at the same time).

For traditional soldered plugs with barrels, these have a very small profile! They’re on the black Kokoboost on the upper right and the pedals on the upper left. I should be able to squeeze another pedal onto the board easily without compromising reliability.

I realize that this is small potatoes, but for those putting together pedalboards, these are a nice way to go. If you compare the earlier gold plugs on the gold and green pedals to the smaller ones, you'll see the space-saving potential. Every little bit helps!

 

[Tony M.]

I see a noticeable difference between the new ones and the old ones.
This is a good idea, especially for someone like me.
My self-imposed size limit for a pedalboard is 8 X 20
so every square centimeter counts.
Thanks.

 

[Simon Says]

I wonder how they stack up with the Boss connectors I've been using for the past couple of years. I found them the smallest I ever came across.

BTW, what are you using to upload the pictures?

 

[JasonE]

I use pancake jacks. They are the slimmest jacks I have seen. I bought a couple of George L cable kits that came with them as well as cable. It is not a solderless kit. They are meant to be soldered. I think the jacks in these kits are made by switchcraft. I won't use solderless connections, especially since I know how to use a soldering iron.

 

[Simon Says]

FWIW

Here is a picture I took a couple of years ago while searching for the most miniature angled jack available. Gutted Boss patch cable jack next to the Squareplugs jack. More petite in every way. I know that Sommer is just about to issue an even smaller jack, Pascal at Sommer sent me some pictures, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post them as they are not out yet

 

[László]

I wonder how they stack up with the Boss connectors I've been using for the past couple of years. I found them the smallest I ever came across.

BTW, what are you using to upload the pictures?

It looks from the pics like the Boss are a bit smaller.

Unfortunately, I'm not big on pancake plugs, I always scrape my fingers and knuckles on the screws and flanges when grabbing them in a tight spot. Also don't care for the way they look when visible on the board.

One thing I like about the G&H plugs is having a barrel strain relief (also makes pulling plugs out of pedals easy when there's a tight jack), and another is that there's a copper center core going all the way to the bottom of the plug. So you get a very good connection.

All this stuff has its pros and cons.

Answering your other question, I use Imgur to post my photos.

 

[bodia]

Looking tidy!

 

[qprs]

I'm pretty happy with the EBS patch cables. I know the OP is focused on "traditional" cables.

They are perhaps the lowest profile patch cables around and have worked well for me.

 

[László]

I'm pretty happy with the EBS patch cables. I know the OP is focused on "traditional" cables.

They are perhaps the lowest profile patch cables around and have worked well for me.

The EBS cables look pretty nice. I'm sure they're very good cables.

My obsession is more with the cables than the connectors.

Cable can only do one thing. It can only subtract from tone. It can't add goodness to the signal, unless high frequency rolloff is desired.

All cable is subtractive, it's a matter of degree. Issues like shielding and noise rejection, capacitance, and how everything adds up dictate what happens downstream with the audio.

My first consideration is to avoid loading down the pickups and creating high frequency rolloff due to capacitance. I run 15' of cable from the guitar to the pedalboard; for that I use a cable that has an extremely low capacitance of 16 picofarads per foot (as a comparison, excellent cable like Mogami has around 48 pF per foot). Less is better, unless you're looking to roll off high frequencies.

I do use a studio grade buffer at the very front of my pedalboard, but if some pedals have high output impedance when switched on, a cable from pedalboard to my amp switcher and amps can still load down the signal in spite of the buffer. So the signal cables from pedalboard to switcher, and switcher to amp inputs, can matter when pedals are on, and usually I have one or two pedals on.

I run the signal through the length of the pedalboard patch cables; some go into and out of a patch bay on the side of my board. There's probably 15 feet of cable in all that, because the board's big, and I have the patch bay set up with a separate loop between the pedals at the far end of the board.

From the pedalboard there's another 20' of cable to the amp/cab switcher.

Coming out of the switcher, there's between ten and twenty additional feet of signal cable to each amp. That's a lot of cable! With unbalanced cable of that total length, capacitance is still a factor I keep in mind.

But -- there's always a 'but' -- shielding to prevent the accumulation of noise is also important. Often a cable's shielding increases capacitance, so I look for cables that have both good shielding and low capacitance. That entails a balancing act with inevitable trade-offs. I also need cables that lay flat.

I'll accept a bit more capacitance with short pedalboard patch cables, if they have good shielding, because they're stuffed into close quarters on a pedalboard, and they're near AC cords, power supplies, etc.

After an eon of trial and error, I've gotten my pedalboard and amps utterly silent even when they're all on. There are no hums, buzzes or other noises, and very little appreciable tone suck I can blame on the gear.

My own playing suckage is another matter!

During sessions for client projects, I generally have all the amps on and ready to go; each one is miked up separately. I can move from track to track using different amps and speaker cabs without having to think about guitar noise building up in the mix. This lets me move fast when there are the usual deadlines/clients breathing down my throat!

So I've become something of a cabling fanatic, and I often experiment with latest-greatest cable to see if I can get things even more transparent.

I fix it even if it ain't broken. I'm that guy! But it's kinda fun to tinker around with.

I know. No one asked for this digression. I simply cannot stop myself. I have Audio Tourette's syndrome. I'm considering therapy for it, but I've been awfully busy overthinking cables.

 

[László]

I would also like to point out that I'm very competent at planning for the last war, instead of anticipating what could happen in the next war.

In that way, I'm like the 1930s French military, who prepared very well for a repeat of World War I. In so doing, they built the horrendously complicated, expensive, and obsolete-from-the-get-go Maginot Line.

Unfortunately, the Germans weren't planning another World War I. They had other ideas in mind.

So it goes when you're making the best-laid plans of mice and men!

To this end, I've finally created my perfect pedalboard/amp/switcher/cab/mics setup for guitar-based rock music sessions. Ya wouldn't believe the time and effort I've put into this.

Thing is, clients rarely ask for guitar-based rock music any more. They have other ideas in mind.

My rig is my very own Maginot Backline!



I still like it, though.

 

[László]

In pursuit of fantasies of pedalboard perfection, I ordered a few more cables to replace the larger connectors on the remaining pedals, and have them all the smaller size so the pedals can be moved closer together. They'll look nicer if they match, too.

When they arrive, I'll also tidy up the cables underneath the two decks, say 'job well done', have a martini and move on to my next pointless but enjoyable project!

 

[László]

Ta-da!

Now have space for two additional pedals.

I don’t have any in mind but the board will be ready if one comes along. Or maybe just a channel switching pedal for the Mesas.

I also neatened up the cables underneath, but not to Simon’s level.

Bundled them where it made sense using cable ties. With everything laying flat and stuffed in securely, it didn’t require tie-down brackets. The stuff underneath isn't going to move.

I was going to tuck all of the upper shelf cables beneath the shelf, just for looks. But if I need to troubleshoot an issue, as I did only a week or so ago, then I'm unweaving wires, etc. Would take too long in a session. Granted, exposed cables aren't as cute as hidden cables. But discretion is the better part of...uh...cute.