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[Steve Loewenthal]

+1 Audiopile.net
In a similar thread, I posted about going through my inventory of cables that have required repair or are beyond repair. Not a single 1 of my better cables have needed repair. Almost all of my cheap cables are no longer in my inventory.

[Tim McCulloch]

I'm of the "spool your own" camp. If you have a new hire, or even an intern, it's a great project for them. Helps them to get solid on a skill that can be very important on site/on the road.

When we do ours, I do color coded e-tape (in this case, red is the cable pack it belongs to, and purple indicates a 10' or 50' cable) and a company tag. Nothing fancy; I just print these on the regular printer, but company name and just under it where you cannot see, an asset number. I also include an extra piece of clear heat shrink for when I eventually move to a bar code system- they will be ready to get a bar code label as well.

Having your name on EVERYTHING will help to avoid losing them... organizational types like putting the right cable back into the right case... Now, when I QC things coming back from a show, I know how many cables are supposed to be there, and can make sure it's all complete again.

We worked with a national campaign back in March, and the touring production manager lamented his need for additional 100' XLRs. I sold him 4 from our production kit... and since I had numbered them, I knew WHAT cables I had sold, and could re-build them with the correct asset number still.

(You can order cables from Horizon, CBI, etc, and have them include clear shrink on the cables so you can do your labeling when you get them. Just depends on whether you prefer to solder yourself or pay a bit more to have them do it for you.)

-Ray

Not sure in the image attachments come through in the quote, but i *hate* having labels on the female end of the cord.  It will be in every IMAG shot and it looks tacky.  The only thing worse is a shop that uses velcro ties and puts them on female end...

[brian maddox]

I have no quarrel with that Brian, except to add that I've found microphones to have good staying power too.  That EV PL20 I paid way too much for back in 1982, did a fabulous job on trombone last Saturday night.

...
GTD

Agreed.  But it's way more fun to buy mics than the stupid spaghetti things that we connect them to.  😀

[Stephen Kirby]

I've gotten about 15 years of weekender use out of 25 odd cables I bought from Orange County Speaker.  I had to resolder one connector and toss one that got stepped on or rolled over hard enough to pinch the conductors.  I do try to get Rapco or similar cables nowadays, but these cheapies keep hanging on.

[John L Nobile]

Not sure in the image attachments come through in the quote, but i *hate* having labels on the female end of the cord.  It will be in every IMAG shot and it looks tacky.  The only thing worse is a shop that uses velcro ties and puts them on female end...

Great tip Tim. I've always kept my tie lines on the male end but never thought about it. Now I know why.

[Josh Millward]

Great tip Tim. I've always kept my tie lines on the male end but never thought about it. Now I know why.

Yes.

Labels and fasteners go on the male end, always. With the velcro, it is always a good idea to wrap it back together before you plug it into your input box so all the velcro lines do not stick to one another. Bonus points are awarded if you are forward thinking enough to make sure that the fuzzy side is out on all the velco straps. This helps them to not stick together.

[Stan Shields]

Any opinions on this from PSSL:

http://www.pssl.com/25ft-XLR-to-XLR-Microphone-Cable-8-Pack

I realize maybe not the best quality but eight 25' XLR cables for $50 is hard to say no to and for use by less than Lounge level guy.

Run away! Big mistake. Make your own, you'll know they're right and you'll save some $$.

[jim whitmer]

I've gotten about 15 years of weekender use out of 25 odd cables I bought from Orange County Speaker.  I had to resolder one connector and toss one that got stepped on or rolled over hard enough to pinch the conductors.  I do try to get Rapco or similar cables nowadays, but these cheapies keep hanging on.

No failures on mine here after several hundred gigs. HOWEVER, I am constantly losing those little rubber O rings on the female end. Do you experience the same???

[Brian Jojade]

Not sure in the image attachments come through in the quote, but i *hate* having labels on the female end of the cord.  It will be in every IMAG shot and it looks tacky.  The only thing worse is a shop that uses velcro ties and puts them on female end...

It's a trade off.  A small label on the cable indicating cable number makes tracing things much easier. Clear heat shrink over a small label is not horrible in photos.

I make my labels inverted. They are black with white text.  From a distance, you can barely see them.

[Stephen Kirby]

Yes.

Labels and fasteners go on the male end, always. With the velcro, it is always a good idea to wrap it back together before you plug it into your input box so all the velcro lines do not stick to one another. Bonus points are awarded if you are forward thinking enough to make sure that the fuzzy side is out on all the velco straps. This helps them to not stick together.

That's a good idea.  I'd started moving them a foot or so down the cable so they didn't conglomerate at the stage box, but wrapping the velcro up is an even better idea.

Last weekend I needed an extra 50 footer for a wedding ceremony and ran down to the local music store.  When I got things set up the first thing I noticed was this obnoxious white bit of sleeving at the mic end with the store's name on it.  Swiss Army knife to the rescue.

[ProSoundWeb Community]