Snake recommendations?

[steelronkeel]

Looking to buy a snake, 8 channel XLR male - XLR female(boxed). I think i saw a Jade brand that was really cheap, 50 ft. for 60 bucks. Is there an issue of sound quality, signal coloration/degradation? I know there is an issue of construction quality. Can anyone recommend an 8 channel, 50 ft. snake pleez?

[jeffwuollet]

I like the jade snakes fine just because I can spend a hundred bucks on two snakes and if one breaks, I get $15 worth of interconnects for free. Although, I've never had one break on me.

As far as sound quality goes, there would be a slight(very slight) improvement if you were to install Belden cables(Mouser can hook you up) into your wall with a soldering gun and a nice frame(I have one if you can pay shipping). You'd end up spending most of your money on the connects themselves. Neutrik- $4 each/Switchcraft- about $7 each. If you don't know how to solder, don't expect great results your first time and probably, due to the poor solder job, you'll get a better sound quality with the jade unit anyway.

[JFreak]

whirlwind snakes are the way to go - they are all hand-soldered and use best quality neutrik connectors. they cost more than other brands but they never fail you

[where02190]

Wurlwind snakes have the same crap quality control that ALL snakes have. All the premade stuff is made by low/no skill minimum wage entry level employees, and is junk. I've seen right from the box wurlwind snakes with imporperly trimmed jacket resulting in no strain reeif on the cable, incprrect wiring resulting in phase reversed channels, it's appauling really.

If you want good quality cabling the ONLY way IMHO is to make it yourself. Bulk connectors from Neutriks are cheap, belden, mogami and canare cabling can be bought in bulk for reasonable prices. It's IMHO worth the time and effort to ensure your cabling, the lifeline of your recording, is done properly. It's not difficult, and soldering can be taught/learned in 5 minutes.

One other point, nothing less than 22ga cabling for mic and line level signal.

[JFreak]

wow, you seem to be having bad luck with everything i have personally not ever seen a whirlwind snake or cable fail... when you open the snake stage box, the wires are nicely organized and individually strain relieved, at least those models sold in finland, and it just seems to be bullet-proof.

of course, hand-made snake with quality parts will always be a good choice. when you solder it yourself, you can know by heart that the connections are good.

[stackatrack]

The wire makes the biggest difference.
I bought 250 ft. of Canare Quad and a bunch of Neutrix silver plated XLRs and made my own.
The Canare is jacketed with a braided ground...very nice if you think anyone will ever "accidently" walk on the cable. It just holds up better and the wire's alloy content offers way less resistence than most other cables. The case using Neutrix over Switchdraft is simply an ease of use issue for me. Mogami is good too...but the jacket is wrapped around the center conductors and when walked on, eventually break down the insulation....Not good.
If the wire has a lot of resistence, you can be assured it also increases group delay which ends up with the signal have phase shifting which isn't so great.
When you consider all those frequencies running up & down the wire...you ideally want them all to go from point A to B in phase. Cheap wire shifts the phase of your signal. That's really great if you're making music for telephone transmission....Not so good for the rest though.
The Monster Cable 1000 wire is great for hi definition use (lead vocals/ snare, Kick/ Bass Drum..well hey, the whole band if you can afford it )
8 pair snakes using Canare or Mogami will probably end up being the best for most use.
Now there is this stuff called Alpha wire A/E PN 1775c. It's solid core balanced wire.
Great for permanent installation...not very flexible but recently I worked in an incredible studio facility that's wired entirely using this Alpha wire. The sound there is fabulous !

[katoramone]

I make my snakes with neutrik tips, and mogami cable. Cost effective and you know that they are well made. BTW Mogami cable I like because they have all different braids and are well marked.