Multicores...Again

[Pete Alcock]

I'm with Rich on this. All the current crop of £100-£200 multis are fine installed in a pub, but the connectors are invariably crappy chinese copies of Neutrik or Switchcraft, and from my experience are soldered with plumbers solder, by people who can't solder very well.

 

I bought an Adam Hall 33m 16+4 and one by one the circuits failed - all in the tails end. In the end I bought 20 NEUTRIK XLRs and some of that braided sleeving from CPC and spent a few nights re-terminating the whole thing properly. That exercise alone cost the thick end of £50 plus hours of laborious fiddling. It's been fine since mind.

 

My drumkit snake (Cheapie 15m 8-way), I used outdoors just after I'd got it. A punter walked right over it during the soundcheck (not in stilletos I might add), there was a loud plop! and off went channel 5. I now have a 7-way drum snake.

 

Next time, I'll probably buy 50m of really good multicore from Klotz or SommerCable, a stagebox from Penn, and build the thing from scratch myself. It'd be as good as any of the "pro" ones then, coz I made it.

 

Pete.

[Yorkie]

I've used a 16/4 Proel multi, I was surprised to note that the faketrik connectors' weak point was some of the plastic back shells smashing off when the tails were dropped on a hard floor. We're waiting for it to die since the stagebox entry gland is actually too big; it relies on the cable tie around the cable inside to keep it in the box. I was surprised to note that all the stagebox sockets are mounted on a large PCB - presumably if the stagebox gets dented again, the board may break and render the whole lot useless.

[johndenim]

I never use these, just a comment really!

 

I would agree with Pete as far as making your own goes.

As long as you buy decent materials, it's just a case of patience, a bit of skill with a soldering iron and asbestos fingers!

 

A mass produced multicore is never going to have the same care, time and effort put into it as one that has been lovingly made.

 

John Denim.

[mervaka]

My drumkit snake (Cheapie 15m 8-way), I used outdoors just after I'd got it. A punter walked right over it during the soundcheck (not in stilletos I might add), there was a loud plop! and off went channel 5. I now have a 7-way drum snake.

 

sounds rather like my drum multi! isnt a 15m 8-way thomann sssnake by any chance?

[simonwest]

In response to 'the loudest' mutlicore,

 

One of the companies I've worked for have 2 of these. They are 45m with 24 send 8 returns, we got 2 for £240 each, they are drummed and flightcased (extra cost for flightcase).

 

these have both lasted the works for the last 3 years or so, and generally have been ok.... although, I would have a habit of checking it a few times a year. We did find that it did not like being kink'd too much and needed quite some help bending back into shape.

 

fully agree with the comments made, the more money spent on a multi is worth it, such as the VDC style ones.

[Sirch Sound]

I'm with Rich on this. All the current crop of £100-£200 multis are fine installed in a pub, but the connectors are invariably crappy chinese copies of Neutrik or Switchcraft, and from my experience are soldered with plumbers solder, by people who can't solder very well.

 

Exactly, if you did decide to go down a cheap route, then buy some decent connectotrs (neutrik are my preference) and re-terminate the whole lot, its worth it as daft as it may sound. And watch out for the copys, they are getting harder and harder to spot. Just a quick random point, a mate of mine bought 10x 10m stagg XLR cables, all terminated in neutrik apparently, for £40. I got my self strait round because if that was the case I wanted some, however they wernt neutrik conncectors, just some very very good fakes, the little logo on the side of the connector wasnt quite right, and neither was the strain relief. So in the end we just made a load of jacks out of them.

 

I would agree with Pete as far as making your own goes.

As long as you buy decent materials, it's just a case of patience, a bit of skill with a soldering iron and asbestos fingers!

 

A mass produced multicore is never going to have the same care, time and effort put into it as one that has been lovingly made.

 

You may be suprised by the cost of making your own multi, it adds up very very quickly and gets to a point were a sommer or van damme pre-made multi is alot cheaper than buying the cable, connectors, braided sleaving and box/drum yourself. And its a a HUGE job to build a decent size multicore, the amount of soldering and concentration is rediculous. You will also find that the higher quality multis are also built totally different to the sweatshop made cheapo multis. For example the van damme multis are all hand made, and therefore you can get almost any combination that you want.

 

Rich

[fatfrog]

Thanks for all your replys so far - I've been really busy hence not getting back sooner.

 

Yeah, I'd be looking at 16/4 multi about 20 - 30 meters long - Nothing major really.

 

I need it for live bands & theatre work to get from mix position to stage.

 

2nd hand is not a problem if anyone knows where I can pick up a retired multi thats still in good condition.

 

As regards budget - I'd say I can push 350 sterling if needs be.

 

Alan

[pattonaudio]

Thanks for all your replys so far - I've been really busy hence not getting back sooner.

 

Yeah, I'd be looking at 16/4 multi about 20 - 30 meters long - Nothing major really.

As regards budget - I'd say I can push 350 sterling if needs be.

 

Alan

 

If you have £350 for a 16/4 mutli then you have enough for near top range on drum no flightcase! take a look at this from thomann, it not nutrik plugs but almost as good Amphenol plugs!

[cliveybaby]

Studiospares do a not bad range in you price bracket

 

but as mentioned 200 for a multicore is not a lot

 

I payed 170 for a ball raced reel to store mine on

 

 

I item you really dont want to fail on a gig

 

Cliveybaby

[fatfrog]

Ok - Opinions on the thomann pro snake one that patton audio suggests, I know rob beech also advised this in the price range - I'd by more expensive but I have to buy economically!!!

[Rob_Beech]

I've had the 32/8 version of that for about 3 years now and it's never caused a single problem. It gets thrown about, the tails trapped in doors, never one bit of trouble. The drum is a little bit small for it thought, so you have to wrap it up 100% perfectly or it doesn't fit on.

 

I know someone with the 16/4 30m version aswell and that is every bit as good. and its TINY too.

[pattonaudio]

I've had the 32/8 version of that for about 3 years now and it's never caused a single problem. It gets thrown about, the tails trapped in doors, never one bit of trouble. The drum is a little bit small for it thought, so you have to wrap it up 100% perfectly or it doesn't fit on.

 

I know someone with the 16/4 30m version aswell and that is every bit as good. and its TINY too.

 

have to agree the drum is slighty small for the 32/8, but can't complain for the price!

[TallMike]

I bought the cheaper thomann one for a job, and think it's possibly the worst bit of kit I've ever bought.

 

Almost every XLR on the stagebox broke, meaning I couldn't remove the XLR plugged into it.

 

The tails are weak and badly wired, a few have failed.

 

Rubbish!

[fatfrog]

Thanks Again, I went for the pro snake 16/4 one on the drum for 379 euros - it'll do the job just perfect I reckon

 

cheers,

Alan