Niche Cable (UK)

Haha, yeah, that low impedance stuff is reeeeal goooood shit man!

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Those little adaptors are always cack

Ah man - they look great! Every type of cable except stereo jack to stereo mini jack

This is starting to seem like you don’t actually want to find what you’re asking for. Just a quick search for 3.5 to 6.35 stereo, and here are a bunch of middle ground options:

https://www.visiosound.co.uk/cables-connectors-c1/audio-cables-c8/pulse-2m-6-35mm-stereo-trs-jack-to-3-5mm-stereo-trs-mini-jack-lead-aux-cable-p3475

They all do the other cable you’re looking for too…

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I’ve seen all those and they are already on my shortlist - thanks.

Apologies if it comes across as though I’m being fussy! I have a number of vices - specifically:

  • I am a slave to aesthetics. I’m not proud of it but it’s essentially my job and is what it is… this leads to

  • my inability to just buy the thing that does what I want. I end up looking around at everything in the hope that I will find the thing that does the job, AND that I find aesthetically pleasing.

I realise this makes me come across as a bit of a nob - but at least I’m honest with myself!

For example - for mono 6.35mm cables there are loads of nice looking options which are good and reasonable - tourtech pro cable, for example. I was hoping to find an equivalent for these cables - but everything starts to look a bit more techy.

The options I posted above have a bunch of colours, vintage braided etc. What exact look is it that you aren’t finding? Is it a particular braid or something?

If it doesn’t exist, why haven’t you asked one of the aforementioned companies for a quote to custom make it for you?

And then if that’s too costly, the only option left is to get soldering yourself! Buy the tourtech stuff you like (although I’d suggest that cable isn’t the most durable to be honest, I’ve seen a lot of them fail when used for gigging, but they might be fine for gentler studio use), buy the connectors, and spend an hour soldering. I’ve done exactly that, with black van damme cable, with some designacable braided stuff, – and also some Fender Custom Shop black and white braided jack cables I bought a while ago, largely because they looked great and were on a really good offer!

honestly (please don’t judge_ it’s the connector caps :slight_smile:

Basically I want all my cables to look like this!
https://www.andertons.co.uk/tourtech-3m-10ft-braided-tweed-guitar-cable-straight-to-straight-ttgc-3-btw-ss

I’ve learned something about myself here (that I’m a PITA) - and I think I’m going to go down the soldering route…

I think I’m getting my head around everything I need - the bit I’m confused about is the actual cable itself… what am i actually searching for in terms of the raw cable? Coaxial shielded? TRS wire? Somehting like this?
https://www.designacable.com/components/cable/mogami-2549-22awg-balanced-cable-shielded-hi-end-mic-xlr-trs-wire-101.html

The brown stuff on the connectors? That’s just heat shrink – buy some heat shrink tubing and you can make any cable look like that!

I mean everything about the cable… The flat profile of the connectors, the cotton braid, the minimal branding… I’ve found most of the parts (including the heatshrink)

I’m into the soldering idea. Its a rabbit hole I was trying to avoid, and my wife will be disappointed - I have too many hobbies - but the box is open now and I can’t shut it! Just need to figure out the cable and I think I’m, good to go.

Well it doesn’t need to be a hobby, just an hour or two to do a bunch of cables, then you don’t need to do it again for ages :man_shrugging:t3: and might actually save you a bunch of time spent trawling the internet…

That cable you linked looks fine. Shielded is good.

Yeah - it won;t work out like that… another one of my many character flaws :slight_smile:

thanks for all your help

Just think of the iron as a tool…which it is. Use the tool to do the job. No need to make it a hobby, just treat it the same as you would with any other tool. You’ll be knocking cables up faster than you can search for them online once you’ve made your first couple. It sounds like there is a very specific cable type you’ve seen and want… I’d be asking if those cables aren’t ones that have been custom made? What I’m saying is you could search for ever and a day to get the combo of colours, connectors and cable that you’ve seen and never find them if they’ve been knocked up ad hoc. Imo making your own cables is cheaper than buying them, especially if you bulk buy the connectors and cable.

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Thanks for the advice!

Got any recommendations for a good - cheap - starteriron?

Weller and Antex are decent brands from my experience. 25 watt should be plenty for making up cables. (As week as most other electronics jobs). Many of the weller irons have replaceable tips that come in different sizes and shapes. For what you want I’d suggest getting a chisel tip for starters…it’s what most irons come with anyway. The chisel is better than the pointed tips as the larger surface area means you get heat into the job faster. Get a spool of rosin cored solder and a de soldering pump. I’m pretty sure you’d be able to by a kit with all that in it. Beyond that you might want to look out for a few other bits and bobs to make life easier… stuff that will come in handy for other jobs… like a small bench vise and a few hand tools such as pliers and snips if you’ve not already got them.

Here’s a bit of a random one but last weekend in my local Lidl they has bench mounted vises’ that clamp to your bench or desk. Ideal and dirt cheap. Keep an eye out for their boxes of bits such as heat shrink tubing etc. Perfect for the DIY er. I’m pretty sure they also carry soldering irons from time to time too. They won’t be weller but might do you for what you want?

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What sort of cable do you want on it? :slight_smile: (sorry!)

Soldering irons are tricky and you actually do (generally) get what you pay for. I use an temperature controlled ERSA which is great but very not-cheap. You probably want a reasonably high wattage iron as cable and jack plug grounds can really sink a lot of heat though. Hakko 888 have a good reputation for a cheap option. You would probably get away with a cheap Antex etc but may find it frustrating, depending on technique and solder (use leaded for your own stuff!)

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Cheap starter kit.

https://cpc.farnell.com/antex/k682470/antex-soldering-iron-kit/dp/ANSK6?st=solder%20kits

I use a Weller WTCP station. Not cheap but it’ll outlive me! Everything is replaceable too. To be fair I use mine a fair bit and I’ve had it donkeys years so it’s more than paid for itself. As mentioned above Hakko are a good brand too… but like the Weller stations you’ll pay for what you get.

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I think in terms of cables - it’s more about the terminology of knowing what I’m looking for in a stereo audio cable.

Is it a 2 core shielded cable or 3 core? Coaxial? And then, what about a mono cable?
I’ve been using cables for years, but never thought about their insides!

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Sorry - I was being a bit of an arse - I was joking about the cable on the soldering iron - sorry! :slight_smile: (It was a poor joke - I just had visions of a soldering station with tartan braided cable…)

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And there I was thinking you were trying to help me :slight_smile:
No worries!

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For mono (unbalanced) cables you’ll want single core and use the shield for ground. Same for stereo and just use two cables. If you use two core you won’t be able to solder two plugs on the end of the cores. If you’re going from a stereo connector to stereo connector use two core. Stereo to two monos use two lengths of single core. You could use two core but you’d still want to connect the shield to ground so it defeats the object.

For 1/4” jack cables and XLR’s go for a cable with an overall outside diameter around 6mm. However for RCA and 1/8” jacks you won’t get a 6mm cable through the body of the jack. Prob find something around 4mm would be better. If in doubt have a look at the data sheets for the connectors you choose. The dimensions should be on there.

This should do the job for mono cables. They do a two core and shield version too for stereo.

https://cpc.farnell.com/pro-power/ubmic056blk/mic-cable-unbalanced-24awg-blk/dp/CB17762?st=microphone%20cable

Disclaimer…I’ve not used this brand so don’t take it as a direct recommendation…it’s just there to give you an idea of what to look for

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