Careful when making mic cables!

[rob aylestone]

I've got loads of XLR cables - but for something coming up I needed some longer ones. In my store I knew I had a couple of drums of mic cable - been there a while, so I thought I'd get the tools out and make 20m cables up - as in 10. Checked the connector box and yes, 10 Males and 10 Females. There were a few males in there that actually were females in the wrong box, but I eventually found what I needed. No idea where the cable came from but discovered a big problem after I'd chopped the two drums into 20m lengths. Both conductors were black. Damn I thought, I must have seen a bargain and not read the spec but I've had them a long time and can't remember who I bought it from.

Stuck all the males on, then used a cable tester to find out which was pin 2 and got them all soldered on. I eventually googled the code on the drum and found it was Studiospares in the UK, and the cable is special and has black carbon covering the red and white inners - with the warning**Please note - The black plastic carbon screening must be stripped back carefully to ensure it does not short against either of the copper conductors.** This also explains why a few of them on the tester let other LEDs come on dimly. I am going to have to remake every single one!

 

[spantini]

Rob, is this the cable kit you purchased? That's a handy little testing tool included there.

Studiospares XLR Cable Bundle

The Studiospares XLR Cable Bundle offers you everything you'll need to create and maintain your own tailored XLR cables. Includes: x1 Ultimate Cable Tester | 15x XLR Male 3-Pin | 15x XLR Female 3-Pin | Europa Ultimate 100m Cable. Cable testing has never been easier, simply plug both ends into...

www.studiospares.com

 

[rob aylestone]

No - although the tester I have is the same but differently branded, and yellow.
I just bought the cable. I found it in my accounts and they don't sell it any more. probably because it's horrible to put on, being quite stiff. The connectors I like are the FXX and MXX types.

 

[CoolCat]

strange, both conductors black...sounds like my luck.lol

 

[ecc83]

I had come across this many years ago with single core 'guitar' cable but not two core mic. The problems with the conductive grease are even worse in a "high impedance" guitar application and I had to strip back about 50mm of cable then scrupulously scrub out the conductive crap with meths (ISOPROPA will do as well but it does not go so well with Coke!)

Dave.

 

[rob aylestone]

When I cut the two blacks back to tin and solder not once did the colour coding appear. I note it’s now discontinued so probably many have done the same thing.

 

[rob aylestone]

It took me longer to repair than it took to make first time.
I can see why the supplier discontinued selling it - I bet they had tons of complaints. I tried knives and every wire stripper I have, and getting the black carbon off without also removing the white or red inner was so random. I ended up having to pick off the conductive coating with my nails. Simply dreadful stuff - but now the cable tester LEDs are solid, no crosstalk and they're fine. Never ever but it again.

 

[TalismanRich]

I'm guessing the carbon coating has something to do with some "enhanced" shielding? People try all kinds of stuff to justify higher prices on things, even if it has minimal to no effect.

 

[spantini]

Stated purpose of carbon screening : The additional plastic carbon screen stops crunching and squealing sounds breaking into the microphone’s output when the cable is flexed.

 

[rob aylestone]

The best mic cable I ever had was branded MusicFlex - and had plastic conductive screening - essential a tube over the two cores and one bare drain wire - this touches the tube all along the length. It's not quite so good as a dense braided screen, but it was tough, very soft, always layed flat on the floor and was so easy to put the plugs on as no messing with the screen at all. It was a perfect match to the Neutrik IDC connectors that did not need solder - screwing the clamp on pierced the two conductors and clamped the drain wire. I loved them - but they never caught on and the cable evenually vanished. None of the connectors have ever played up!