Making the patch cable switch: George L to Bullet Cable Slug

[walterw]

in defense of ol' george L, i find that tightening their right-angle end caps all the way down using pliers is what makes the reliability difference.

i also like to drip a little liquid deoxit onto the cable end before assembly, so the metal-to-metal contact points have the deoxit on them.

[Intercom Terror]

Originally Posted by walterw

in defense of ol' george L, i find that tightening their right-angle end caps all the way down using pliers is what makes the reliability difference.

i also like to drip a little liquid deoxit onto the cable end before assembly, so the metal-to-metal contact points have the deoxit on them.

I CAN say that I did tighten the caps down all they way with certainty. The deoxit is something I didn't try but I can see where that could make a difference. No need to defend ol' George, my grandfather's steel guitar has been plugged into an amp with a George L solder-less for as long as I can remember. They are good, but not that difficult to make the short out. You have to be gentle in my experience.

[semi-hollowbody]

Originally Posted by walterw

in defense of ol' george L, i find that tightening their right-angle end caps all the way down using pliers is what makes the reliability difference.
.

I did this as well...along with using a razor to make the cuts...and still had issues with george l's...I found that ANY stress AT all on a connection is trouble...

I switched to planet waves...I can plug in a pedal and dangle/swing it from the cable and not break the connection...never ever ever had a planet waves crap out

Those bullet cables look cool, and ive always like the lava (although they are a bit of a hassle to assemble) but these cable kits are way too pricey to change over...i have a huge pedal set up

[Intercom Terror]

Originally Posted by ChampReverb

They look like they would do the job in many cases. However I have found the longer barrels to be problematic at times on a crowded board when trying to fit adjacent pedals with side power and audio jacks close together.

In those situations the smaller Lava jacks are easier to work with.

-bEn r.

I completely agree. I personally like a little space between my pedals and try my best not to overcrowd my PT2. If I were going for the uber-populated board with a switching system I would most definitely use Lavas or maybe solder my own pancake plugs. The wideness of the pancakes can be a problem sometimes too though. I would say for maximum space saving the Lavas are the only current way to go. I have not tried them myself, but I know Lava stands behind their products and are a great business. I just needed something that was really solid and super easy to put together.

Let me say again I'm not trying to say that one brand is universally better than another. Some things just work better than others for some people at some time. I only want to share the experience of my transition in case anyone cares. In my opinion everyone should find what works best for them and not care what anyone else thinks. I love listening to opinions and experiences but neither is certain to sway a decision for me. They may or may not have any influence on me depending on the situation and the credibility of the person speaking.

That being said I have no intrinsic credibility on a forum, but you can do with my information what you will.

Here is a pic of my George L's equipped board in the mean time:



Peace.

[bobwl]

Originally Posted by semi-hollowbody

I did this as well...along with using a razor to make the cuts...and still had issues with george l's...I found that ANY stress AT all on a connection is trouble...

I switched to planet waves...I can plug in a pedal and dangle/swing it from the cable and not break the connection...never ever ever had a planet waves crap out

Those bullet cables look cool, and ive always like the lava (although they are a bit of a hassle to assemble) but these cable kits are way too pricey to change over...i have a huge pedal set up

I had the same experience. I was running Planet Waves before I tried out George L's, so I ended up using the little Planet Waves mini cigar cutter type cutter to make my cuts. I even tested all my cables with a cable tester before I put them on the board. Tightened everything as much as they could go pretty much... still always eventually had problems at what seemed to be the worst times. Anyway went back to Planet Waves and haven't had a problem since.

[big mike]

All vendor posts removed.
If threads are going to continually get spammed Im just going to delete everything. Mods have better things to do.

[Intercom Terror]

Got the kit way early on Saturday. Thanks Tunnelvisionmusic.com (ordered on Thursday got it Saturday. Utah -> Alabama... very nice). Re-wired the whole board. Even though I was trying not to over-tighten the screws, I totally stripped one out with the Allen wrench. My fault, I got over-zealous while making my last connector. I emailed Bullet and I am purchasing a pack of replacement screws for pretty cheap. I didn't ask for a handout since it was my fault, so I don't mind paying for my own mistake. They were super responsive and even though they are not really open on the weekends I got a response on Saturday within an hour. I don't see the need to replace the screw immediately since it's tight and secure for the time being. I won't need to get it out of there unlessI decide to make a different length cable with the same end.

PSA: DO NOT OVER-TIGHTEN THE ALLEN SCREWS... on anything... ever

So, I performed on Sunday. Goodsell Unibox 10 and my board. Plugged in my telecaster and I was absolutely stunned by the amazing quality of... sameness.

I honestly can't tell a difference, not through the amp, not through monitors. I can't detect any high-end loss or any frequency loss for that matter. My guitar sounds very neutral with no pedals engaged. I almost feel like there is less noise, but I could be wrong there. I was probably just running with less gain than usual for the softer set I was playing yesterday. The Slugs look nice and I have wiggled them all repeatedly to see if there are any shorts... not even one. I made all 7 connectors (i bought a kit + extra) without having to re-make one of them. I can't say the same for the George L's. I had to re-make at least one every time I rewired. I will post a picture of my board either tonight or tomorrow so you can see the difference.

[Intercom Terror]

One more thing I want to mention. I do not remember where I read the suggestion previously but I think I will share it here.

For cutting the cabling on these kits (George L's or Bullet Slugs) I have found that making razor blade cuts is really difficult for me. I can make 2 or 3 cuts and then I have to swap the blade around or change it completely. The thin razorblades can't seem to take very much cutting through copper wire without becoming severely dull. I read somewhere (maybe even on TGP) that a pair of pet nail cutters will work wonders. I bought a pair about a year ago and they worked well with the George's with some precision (it also made my issues with the George L's shorting out become much better) but it's like with the Slugs they were meant to be.




These are the one's I have. I know the DIY kit makers say not to use wire cutters because they smash the cable into an oval shape. This is true, but the circular/curved cutting surfaces of the nail cutters seems to cut the cable from all sides at once. To me it makes a cleaner cut than a razor, i don't ever have those few copper wires that end up hanging out of the cut. In my experience you have to angle the cutters ever-so-slightly to make up for the overlap of the two blades but once you get the hang of it it's so easy and perfect.

I don't know if this will work for the Lava Cable kit since there are more steps instead of just making a straight cut. However, I think anyone who is having trouble making DIY solderless cables should spend a few bucks and try this method out.

As always though.... YMMV

[Risewithfaith]

Pic of your finished board?

[Intercom Terror]

Originally Posted by Risewithfaith

Pic of your finished board?

I'm at work and it's in the trunk of my car right now. I will hopefully post a pic tonight while at practice. Tomorrow at the latest.

[Intercom Terror]

Current board pic. With room at the top right for the AMT LLM-1 Volume pedal when they come out next month.

[walterw]

those bullet ends don't seem appreciably bigger than the george L ends, very cool. (what's that little box marked "the pulse", by the way? a trigger for the loop station?)

as for cutting george L, i've had no problems just snipping it with regular wire cutters, then using them to squeeze the football-shaped ends back round again.

[Intercom Terror]

Originally Posted by walterw

those bullet ends don't seem appreciably bigger than the george L ends, very cool. (what's that little box marked "the pulse", by the way? a trigger for the loop station?)

as for cutting george L, i've had no problems just snipping it with regular wire cutters, then using them to squeeze the football-shaped ends back round again.

The Bullet ends do take up less space than the George L's. As long as the right angle barrel doesn't bother you (it doesn't bother me, it actually makes me feel like it's more solid) it's a nice step up as far as space saving is concerned.

The "Pulse" is made by "Railhead Effects" (a TGP member and generally cool guy). It's simply a momentary/Tap-tempo pedal (hence: pulse) that I use as a stop button (so I don't have to tap twice on the RC-3, and I can hold it down for a few seconds to delete the sloop without having to start the loop for a second before it deletes.

Hey, if regular wire cutters work for you, awesome. They destroyed the George L cable when I tried them in a pinch. Oval shape, wires hanging out, not very straight cuts, etc. Glad it worked for you though. Great example of how YMMV.

[Intercom Terror]

After a week and 2 gigs (1 outdoors) and 3 practices. the Slugs are holding up just fine. no issues, no shorts so far. I have been using the Bullet Coil cable (some of the time) that I got with my Tunnelvisionmusic.com reward points and it has been really nice as well. Switching between the coil and my other cables I really don't notice any tone loss, and I'm really listening.

I received the backup screws from Core One (Bullet) so if I ever strip another one of the connector ground screws by getting stupidly over-zealous with the Allen wrench, I can fix it immediately. It's nice to know these are available if needed.

All things considered. I think that I have made the right choice for my setup.

[semi-hollowbody]

Originally Posted by Intercom Terror

Plugged in my telecaster and I was absolutely stunned by the amazing quality of... sameness.

lmao...LOVE IT!