Tell me about Lava Tightrope patch cables

gibsongretschfan

Are they any good? How do they compare to the Evidence SIS ones?

and before anyone says "solder your own" I usually do but having space issues 

Gagaryn

gibsongretschfan said:

Are they any good? How do they compare to the Evidence SIS ones?

and before anyone says "solder your own" I usually do but having space issues 

Tightrope is Lava's budget cable. It has a solid core so it can be shaped but is more prone to break. Evidence is multicore - can't be shaped but is less likely to break. Lava do other kits too with multicore cable like ELC and also do other plugs that fix with a grub screw - called Piston and also do soldered plugs which are a similar size to the solderless ones.

xscaramanga

Got a few Tightrope cables on my boards. Never had any issues with them. I'm not very good at practical stuff and I find making them pretty easy. 

Cabicular

Occasionally have to chop a cm or two and redo them but generally ok for pedalboard use

Gagaryn

jonnyscaramanga said:

Got a few Tightrope cables on my boards. Never had any issues with them. I'm not very good at practical stuff and I find making them pretty easy. 

I just bought the ELC kit - was £45 at Bax which seems reasonable. Normally make my own with pancake jacks but they don't play nice with Strymon pedals as the sockets are too close together.

lincolnblue

My board is wired with them and I've never had any problems at all.

gibsongretschfan

Gagaryn said:

jonnyscaramanga said:

Got a few Tightrope cables on my boards. Never had any issues with them. I'm not very good at practical stuff and I find making them pretty easy. 

I just bought the ELC kit - was £45 at Bax which seems reasonable. Normally make my own with pancake jacks but they don't play nice with Strymon pedals as the sockets are too close together.

This is my problem too. Would you recommend the Piston then? Or should I man up and go Evidence?

gibsongretschfan

How does everyone feel about mixing and matching patch leads on a board? I'm not very OCD but the thought starts to make me shudder 

Gagaryn

gibsongretschfan said:

Gagaryn said:

jonnyscaramanga said:

Got a few Tightrope cables on my boards. Never had any issues with them. I'm not very good at practical stuff and I find making them pretty easy. 

I just bought the ELC kit - was £45 at Bax which seems reasonable. Normally make my own with pancake jacks but they don't play nice with Strymon pedals as the sockets are too close together.

This is my problem too. Would you recommend the Piston then? Or should I man up and go Evidence?

Depends what you want to spend. If you are going to do a lot of changing about on the Board I would go soldered. Solderless are all inherently weaker. My Board only has 5 pedals on it - they don't get changed about.

hotpickups

jonnyscaramanga said:

Got a few Tightrope cables on my boards. Never had any issues with them. I'm not very good at practical stuff and I find making them pretty easy. 

Me too. I've been using Lava solderless for years and they've never failed on me. Mind you once my pedals are on the board they don't get moved around frequently so why wshould they fail. I use SIS jacks too and more than happy with them too. SIS feel a little better made personally though i.e. better machined . I don't hear anything sonically though and sound just the same to me

All I'd say about the ELC jacks is they ripped my hands up when screwing them together

Gagaryn

Well, I made up the ELC cables last night. Have to say, it's a bit of a faff, certainly do not chose these thinking it is easier than soldering. That said it's not complicated, they all work and the plugs have a small enough diameter that they fit next to each other on Strymon pedals - unlike pancake jacks. They stick out about the same distance as pancake jacks though so don't think you will save any space that way.

I wore a pair of marigold rubber gloves to help with the tightening. And because I like wearing marigold rubber gloves. These were black ,"Smell The Glove" limited edition marigolds. :-)

digitalscream

They're fine, as long as you don't swap your pedals about much. If your board makeup is pretty stable, they're great.

Still, I always carry a few regular patch cables around, just in case. Then again...I always have, whether I was using solderless or not.