Anyone try the pedal snake?

Anyone used this to try and do the 4CM with the FX loop on an MTS amp?

http://www.pedalsnake.com/page.php?id=1

Looks really simple...

I have 2, 1 on my live rig and another at home. Works great and makes set up fast and convenient. Highly recommend.

Which one did you get? Or what is your set up? I am trying to figure out which snake will work for me. Thanks for telling me that you like them as they look like a great way to clean up the floor around my FX unit.

I've used one for years but don't use the pigtails. I had them originally hard wire the ends I needed at the time but have replaced those myself as my needs changed.

The only negative attribute is that the thin wires can be micro-phonic if you tap them. So just don't tap or walk on them and it's good. Overall, they're pretty heavy duty and roll up nicely. If you can fit it into your rack or pedalboard case, it really speeds up setup and breakdown at the gig.

If you can solder, you might want look at some bulk Mogomi snake and the connectors you'll need to compare the value.

Marco, why didn't you use the pigtails? All I am needing is to go from an M13 (Line 6) 4CM into my RM50 or RM 20 serial loop. I think that would be three lines with 1/4" and then one line for power. Does that sound about right?

PS Thanks everyone for the replies. This forum is killer. I have posted on other forums like Line 6 and get zero replies. This place is great. I get replies no matter how stupid some of my questions have been.

ricky said:

Marco, why didn't you use the pigtails?

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I think it was OCD and it looks cleaner with hard wired ends.
Yes, you can do what you want with just three cables but I highly recommend having more if in case down the road you want midi or stereo.

Mine had 5 pin midi, 7 pin midi, and 5 1/4" ends so I could do mono, stereo or W/D/W. At one point I used the 7 pin midi to power my controller from the amp, then out the Thru back to the pedalboard to midi connect all my pedals. :idea:

Thanks everyone! I just ordered a snake and can't wait to use it. It should be in on Monday and I have a gig on saturday. The others in the band will finally love me since they won't be tripping over my **** all of the time.

I have the 6 end one but haven't used it much. My live rig was the 4 tail snake. The rig was simply a GSP1101 into the board with a Rocktron Rack Interface and a Sennheiser wireless. 1 tail was sending power to my midi pedal and my vocal box.

When I played my Mod50 I used the same 4 tail snake and had parts of my pedal board in front of the amp and some in the loop. Basically used the dual 1/4" ends for the loop, 1 tail for mid, 1 for power and 1 for front of amp.

That looks nice and neat, but after the 100'$ I've spent... and after a lot of trial and error to find just the right cable's, I'd be scared to death it would destroy my tone.

Most of the people I talked to have said that the tone actually improves. As I am going 4CM either with my GSP1101 or M13 it would make sense that the simplicity of this might make my tone better.

On the site it says this... "Some cable makers lead you to believe it they use some sort of "magic dust" to make their cables sound better, etc. In fact, there is very little difference between the sound of different guitar cables. Wire is wire.".

That's a buncha bullhockey.

Could they fool me in a music store with a blindfold? Yes sir they certainly could (Maybe, but...). After a day or two I'd probably be able to hear the difference. I don't know if this cable will mess with the tone or not, but whenever I see/hear/read people talking this way it's usually a bad sign.

ricky said:

Most of the people I talked to have said that the tone actually improves. As I am going 4CM either with my GSP1101 or M13 it would make sense that the simplicity of this might make my tone better.

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Yeah I dunno ricky, Im just saying me personally I'd be worried, and it would be hard for me to buy into this thing after all the cable BS I've been through.

Plus what kind of cables are these people starting out with?

It's like this GSP1101 I just got. A lot of people seem to love it. I think it's OK. It doesn't completely kill the tone, but I can hear a def difference. I was on another forum yesterday, and I read where one guy wrote... "so you're saying the GSP1101 is way better then this other piece of junk you have?" Yeah it probably is lmao.

I hope it works out for you

Again: I have absolutely no idea how these cables work or sound. I just don't like the kind of talk they used on that site. It makes me think I should be worried when I buy into that.

Good Luck Though!!

Eric Johnson once said that he could tell the difference between between an EverReady and a Duracell 9V. I believe him.
Somehow I think that all of the cables I use right now suck up the tone so I am willing to risk it.
I notice the difference in cables more in feel than in tone. Bad cables tend to respond differently.

ricky said:

Eric Johnson once said that he could tell the difference between between an EverReady and a Duracell 9V. I believe him.
Somehow I think that all of the cables I use right now suck up the tone so I am willing to risk it.
I notice the difference in cables more in feel than in tone. Bad cables tend to respond differently.

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"feel/tone", to me they are very related. It's a package deal. ..but yeah if you have crappy cables now, it might make things much better. It'll certainly clean up the floor heh

suphuckers said:

That looks nice and neat, but after the 100'$ I've spent... and after a lot of trial and error to find just the right cable's, I'd be scared to death it would destroy my tone.

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I'm a bit of a cable snob myself and have tried a few types. I tend to like Mogami; I think it may dull the highs a little because it seems warmer to me. I use that in my pedalboard. I just wired up a rack with Canare and built a new snake from my board to my rack with that and I'm happy so far.

When I re-wire my new pedalboard, I might try the Canare there too as it's cheaper (and more durable) than the Mogami although it lets more high end through.

The pedal snake cable sounds very good and rejects noise well. It's actually balance cable (hot, cold and shield) even though there are wired unbalanced (hot & cold wired to tip). The twisted wire helps reject noise on those long cable runs.

I think back when I first switch to the Pedal Snake I was still using store bought cable like Monster or Planit Waves and I noticed an improvement right away.

MarcoR said:

I'm a bit of a cable snob myself and have tried a few types. I tend to like Mogami; I think it may dull the highs a little because it seems warmer to me.

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http://btpa.com/pdf/CA-0446.pdf

This is the most recent cable I've tried. I always buy bulk cable and make my own, so I can make sure I have good ends the cables are the ideal length, and the joints are well soldered. This cable is a tiny bit darker then most of my other cables, but I still like it. Reminded me of it when I just read what you wrote.

I'll check that out, the link is blocked at my work. I had my board wired with George Lynch Cable before the Mogami and that sh!t was way bright. The Mogami was a huge improvement. Yeah, I'll never buy pre-made cables again.

Another thing to consider is the connectors and their capacitance. The amphenol and neutrik strait 1/4" connectors have pretty high capacitance. Using a lot of those in your chain will have an effect. The GHS pancakes are a bit lower and a good choice for the pedalboard. They're easier to solder than the Switchcraft panckaes too.

MarcoR said:

I'll check that out, the link is blocked at my work. I had my board wired with George Lynch Cable before the Mogami and that sh!t was way bright. The Mogami was a huge improvement. Yeah, I'll never buy pre-made cables again.

Another thing to consider is the connectors and their capacitance. The amphenol and neutrik strait 1/4" connectors have pretty high capacitance. Using a lot of those in your chain will have an effect. The GHS pancakes are a bit lower and a good choice for the pedalboard. They're easier to solder than the Switchcraft panckaes too.

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I was afraid to try the GHS end's. I've tried lots of other ends but when it got to the GHS I just said the heck with it (I was done "trying" stuff out) and I just started using the switchcraft. I like the Georg L cable. I also like Bill L's cable too (They are very similar, but I think I like Bill's a tiny bit better), and yes the are both very bright compared to this cable I just posted.

I have a combination of cables running right now. ATM I have one of these cables that I just posted plugged into the guitar. It was a definite loss of brightness compared to the other coax style cables I had been using. It still has a nice sweet tone though.

One Note: If you try that cable be very mindful of the distance between the insulation and the lugs at the connectors. There's a mention of that on the website. The insulator actually partially conducts and if you make the insulator too close to the lug when you solder it the signal will be destroyed. Read on the site. You'll understand what I'm saying better after reading.

Anyways, sorry I hijacked the thread ricky. Marco feel free to msg me, or start another thread, if you wanna talk cable's.

Let us know how that snake works for you ricky.

suphuckers said:

One Note: If you try that cable be very mindful of the distance between the insulation and the lugs at the connectors. There's a mention of that on the website. The insulator actually partially conducts and if you make the insulator too close to the lug when you solder it the signal will be destroyed.

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Same deal with Mogami, so many people make that mistake. I did too once...

I am going to re-hijack this thread....I got the pedal snake last weeks and I really love it. Maybe after 50 years of loud music I don't notice it, but to my ears the tone was great. I used it at rehearsals with the 4CM and a Line 6 M13 and then at a gig on Saturday and I was impressed with both the sound and the ease of my set up. Totally cool piece of gear!