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lbpesq
Senior Member
Username: lbpesq

Post Number: 5182
Registered: 7-2004
Posted on Sunday, July 08, 2012 - 1:12 pm:   Edit Post

Anyone here have any experience with PRS cables? They are made by Van Damme in England. Aside from the usual cable hype, they claim to prevent coiling and tangling. One of the few reviews I found, however, claimed they made noise when you move. The tangle/coil resistance appeals to me.

Bill, tgo
davehouck
Moderator
Username: davehouck

Post Number: 10801
Registered: 5-2002
Posted on Sunday, July 08, 2012 - 2:36 pm:   Edit Post

Slightly off topic, but since there have been a couple of threads on cables recently, I thought I would toss in the subject of coiling cables. A quick youtube search shows several methods; but this one is the one I use. I think it is a definite improvement over the way most people coil cables. And in my experience, if you start a new cable off with this method, it will last much longer and stay in very good condition. And this is good for mic cables, guitar cables, etc. Once the cable is coiled I then wrap a velcro strap around it to keep it together. Of course, once you start using this method on your cables, you'll cringe when anyone offers to help you at the end of the gig and they start coiling your 5-pin Alembic cable into a tight coil. I'm sure there are other methods that folks have found to work for them, but this one has worked well for me.
cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member
Username: cozmik_cowboy

Post Number: 1236
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Sunday, July 08, 2012 - 6:47 pm:   Edit Post

That one works. My thinking, however, (having been a lifeguard in my youth) is that if it keeps a ring bouy line free for the next toss, it'll work for a cable - and experience has borne this out. Hold your left hand (assuming right-handedness - sorry, Kimberly) palm up and thumb forward with one end of the cable between thumb & index finger, connector hanging on pinky side. Grab long end of cable with right hand, palm down & pinky out - you should now see, proceeding out from your body, connector, left fingernails (pinky closest to you), left thumb, right thumb, right knuckles (pinky farthest), rest of cable. Run your right hand out the cable as far as you can, grab there, bring it back under the left, and lay the cable across the left palm pinky-to-thumb. Repeat. This can be done very quickly, and without taking your eye the drowning victim or cute barmaid, depending on situation. It will uncoil smoothly every time. Has to - a life/your chances for the night could very well depend on it. And +1 on the velcro straps! Or, for mic cables, you could put a cable spool on a mic stand & reel them in connected.

Peter
jcdlc72
Intermediate Member
Username: jcdlc72

Post Number: 174
Registered: 11-2009
Posted on Sunday, July 08, 2012 - 7:06 pm:   Edit Post

+1 on Velcro straps. However... and at any risk of sounding ethereal-meets-metaphysical-meets-hippie-meets-Eric Johnson... In my experience, most cables tend to have a "Memory" of their own of the very first day they were coiled (How's that for antropomorphizing? haha!), and there is this "groove" that they lead us into when coiling them back. I have some cables that have been with me for a little more than 20 years (yep, that's right!) and only had to resolder one of the plugs once, somewhere on 96'. What I do is: I grab one end of the cable, then get the first loop of a "decent diameter, and then, while holding this first "loop" on my left hand, I'd twirl it and it WILL adopt the proper spiral curve, that of its own. Then I'd let it guide until it makes the second loop, and so on, and always checking there is no tension accumulated on the cable on each loop -other than the very curve-tension the cable has from the moment it was first coiled-. This has led me to mostly tangle-free, noise free, long lasting cables. On some cables this is easier/ clever than others, and YMMV of course. But for the awful lot of cables I have to deal with, this has worked wonderfully.
lbpesq
Senior Member
Username: lbpesq

Post Number: 5183
Registered: 7-2004
Posted on Sunday, July 08, 2012 - 11:50 pm:   Edit Post

Wonderful suggestions on coiling technique. So, anyone ever tried the PRS cables?

Bill, tgo
cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member
Username: cozmik_cowboy

Post Number: 1237
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Monday, July 09, 2012 - 3:24 am:   Edit Post

Juan Carlos: In my experience, vinyl cables have memory, rubber ones do not. This is one of the reasons I won't use vinyl ones.
Bill: No, sorry - but the tangle-prevention sounds, on the face of it, like a load of bul...um, I mean, marketing.

Peter
bassilisk
Intermediate Member
Username: bassilisk

Post Number: 105
Registered: 4-2009
Posted on Monday, July 09, 2012 - 5:42 am:   Edit Post

Recently I needed an extra cable to get a signal from our PA board to my powered monitor. I ended up with an 18' Fender Custom shop guitar cable. It's cloth covered and I have to say it is one of the most supple and tangle free cables I've ever tried. Short of tieing a double knot in it it's impossible to tangle. The ends are also done very well and will take a beating. All in all I was very impressed.
davehouck
Moderator
Username: davehouck

Post Number: 10803
Registered: 5-2002
Posted on Monday, July 09, 2012 - 5:45 am:   Edit Post

Bill; sorry to hijack your thread! To answer your question; no, didn't know PRS sold cables.
wideload
Intermediate Member
Username: wideload

Post Number: 189
Registered: 6-2003
Posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2012 - 2:49 pm:   Edit Post

Bill, why do you keep hijacking this thread, trying to find out about PRS cables?? (Sorry, I don't know about them, either. But I have a great recipe for pork rib rub!) :-)
terryc
Senior Member
Username: terryc

Post Number: 1908
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2012 - 4:23 pm:   Edit Post

wideload..well he did ask about PRS cables which brings me to the other thread about wires and plugs..seems a very popular topic at the moment

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