EA Monorail w/George L plugs. Opinions?

[pennylink]

I'm thinking of rewiring my George L pedalboard with EA Monorail, so I could reuse my GL plugs.

1) Does Monorail, being solid core, offer any noticeable improvement over GL cable?
2) Has anyone used this method of fitting Monorail to a solderless plug? What are your thoughts?

 

[duende]

I tried it. Was NOT happy with the results. Soldered contacts for me from now on. And yes, I know all about making george l's properly.

 

[pennylink]

I tried it. Was NOT happy with the results. Soldered contacts for me from now on. And yes, I know all about making george l's properly.

If I understand correctly, it's the mechanical properties you weren't happy with? May I ask what you think of Monorail's tonal attributes vs. George L's?

 

[duende]

Monorails are great sounding. I use the melody cables which are the same core wise. I just couldn't deal with intermittent shorts any more.

The smaller gauge george l's designed for pedal boards are horrible sounding. The large gauge designed for guitar->amp are absolutely fine.

I discovered this years ago. The smaller gauge just don't get along with buffers and color the tone in general. Seriously, almost anything is better.

 

[pennylink]

Does anybody else want to pitch in?

 

[Goldwing]

I've tried to use monorail with Lava solderless.. The thing is that the inner shield is to thick and is not easy to fit, you risk a poor connection to.

Monorail with pancake plugs... the best solution for me. Its soldered but solid! And it only required 20USD of investment and a few attempts to do it right.

 

[Pumpaction]

I tried it. Was NOT happy with the results. Soldered contacts for me from now on. And yes, I know all about making george l's properly.

Same here. The connection just wasn't solid enough.
Wasted a few bucks on a bunch of golden George L plugs ...

 

[chops612]

Agreed^^^ bad idea! The design of the George L's is to pierce the hot conductor with a small needle. With solid core this is a setup for disaster. Just buy some bulk jack ends and spend a couple hours soldering them up. Once it's done you can play stress free with peace of mind.

 

[ChaseTMP]

The George L/Monorail combo, doesn't work well. There is a fine-line between contact with the center core and going too far and compromising the connection. You can't crank the screw down all the way, so you have to back off from a tight connection to have it work, which is just asking for problems IMO. It was a total waste of time when I changed over to Monorail, from the George L. I've used Lava solderless for years now with zero issues.

 

[Shiny_Beast]

Monorail with pancake plugs... the best solution for me. Its soldered but solid!

Not mine, the lack of strain releif on the pancake jacks eventually lead to the joints breaking. I've wrapped the last couple in tape under the barrel to make a tight fit. I might be done with fancy interconnects.

I do like the monorail cable, it sucked to use with the GLs I had though.

 

[JRC4558Dude]

Not mine, the lack of strain releif on the pancake jacks eventually lead to the joints breaking. I've wrapped the last couple in tape under the barrel to make a tight fit. I might be done with fancy interconnects.

I do like the monorail cable, it sucked to use with the GLs I had though.

This place sells little doo-dads to make pancake plugs work better with the Monorail cable:

http://best-tronics.com/mm5/merchan...e_Code=BMI&Product_Code=MC-1580&Category_Code=

 

[Pumpaction]

Wow, those are cool - to bad i just wired up my board.

 

[lester]

To the OP- I have the Monorail/George L setup with the other end being Neutrik/Monorail. It can work and does sound terrific. Locktite is your friend(blue). To the buffer issue, someone mentioned, I didn't hear it but I don't like buffers that much anyways.

 

[Shiny_Beast]

This place sells little doo-dads to make pancake plugs work better with the Monorail cable:

http://best-tronics.com/mm5/merchan..._Code=BMI&Product_Code=MC-1580&Category_Code=

 

[Shiny_Beast]

now if someone can point me in the directoion of those little 3 inch dC jack extension cables I'll be set.

 

[Goldwing]

This place sells little doo-dads to make pancake plugs work better with the Monorail cable:

http://best-tronics.com/mm5/merchan...e_Code=BMI&Product_Code=MC-1580&Category_Code=

That would work.

Also, any heat-shrinking tube with the right diameter would do the work.

 

[soli528]

Regardless of what anyone tells you about solid core cable working with solder-free plugs, I don't recommend it. As mentioned earlier, the little needle that is your coupling to the signal conductor is expecting to be nested inside a bundle of copper strands. If you picture a grip of uncooked spaghetti, you could jam a nail down into the cross-section and and rest assured that your nail is contacted by noodles on all sides, right? Now imagine one large solid noodle that your nail can't pierce, your only hope is to have the nail rest alongside the big noodle. This is what's going on when you try to use solder-free plugs with solid core cable. It may work for a while, but any serious flexing or tugging of the cable can unseat that needle from laying in contact with the side of the center conductor.

 

[Goldwing]

Regardless of what anyone tells you about solid core cable working with solder-free plugs, I don't recommend it. As mentioned earlier, the little needle that is your coupling to the signal conductor is expecting to be nested inside a bundle of copper strands. If you picture a grip of uncooked spaghetti, you could jam a nail down into the cross-section and and rest assured that your nail is contacted by noodles on all sides, right? Now imagine one large solid noodle that your nail can't pierce, your only hope is to have the nail rest alongside the big noodle. This is what's going on when you try to use solder-free plugs with solid core cable. It may work for a while, but any serious flexing or tugging of the cable can unseat that needle from laying in contact with the side of the center conductor.

 

[Pumpaction]

That would work.

Also, any heat-shrinking tube with the right diameter would do the work.

Not really. There is still a lot of space unless you use a really thick tube.