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Post by Ward on Sept 29, 2021 9:13:36 GMT -6
Have you seen the prices of the Mogami db25 - db25 snakes? HOLY SMOKES< they're insane.
Are they really worth it? 400-700 for a snake that's $75 from Hosa, $125 from Daddario or $175 from Seismic.
Just wondering if any devoted users notice that much difference.
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Post by svart on Sept 29, 2021 11:18:20 GMT -6
I've built my own from high end connectors and I've used hosa quality cables. It's usually about the build quality of the connectors more than anything. if it's an installation-and-leave-it arrangement, then buy something mid-quality and forget about it. Hosa can be a perfectly fine brand to use if you don't plan on plugging/unplugging and flexing the cable a billion times.
I also used to lurk on ebay and such and find used cables. You used to be able to look for a few days and find something useful and affordable.
There's a ton of places that sell "hand made" snakes too, but hand made can sometimes mean "more potential for human error" as well.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2021 12:15:04 GMT -6
Mogami has been my go-to for 25 years (I nearly always build it myself), but I agree with svart about Hosa: it's usually not the cable sound itself that gets complained about but the reliability, and in the back of a rack that never moves you're unlikely to ever be troubled by it. In the unbalanced cable world, I hear significant differences between brands of cable, especially as it's all a capacitance game. But for balanced cables at line level, I'm usually blissfully unconcerned what it's made of. I'd rather worry about rooms and microphones and speakers.
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Post by Ward on Sept 29, 2021 20:07:21 GMT -6
Thanks guys! Hopefully we'll get a couple more replies and that will make my mind shut up. And yeah, I've had a couple of snake failure - jkust sitting there in a rack. Heat maybe, or mutant alien rodents sneaking in at 5AM for a munch.
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Post by recordingengineer on Sept 29, 2021 22:37:39 GMT -6
Over the past 25-years, I’ve wired my studios and rewired my studios numerous times. When I have the money, I buy all Mogami. When I don’t, I’ve bought Belden, Gepco, and Redco and have never regretted or thought twice about it ever again. I always make my own DB25 cables. When it comes to mic cables, I always go with Canare though, for nothing more than the best hand-handling in the business!
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Post by johneppstein on Sept 29, 2021 23:01:42 GMT -6
Have you seen the prices of the Mogami db25 - db25 snakes? HOLY SMOKES< they're insane. Are they really worth it? 400-700 for a snake that's $75 from Hosa, $125 from Daddario or $175 from Seismic. Just wondering if any devoted users notice that much difference. I've owned a few Hosa snakes. They're pretty sucky. And don't even look at what they use as/call a shield. OTOH, they are cheap. And they kinda work. |
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Post by Ward on Sept 30, 2021 10:02:03 GMT -6
Yeah, I wouldn't go the Hosa route or recommend it to anyone! Just using them as the baseline.
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Post by Tbone81 on Sept 30, 2021 10:18:48 GMT -6
I’ve been slowly converting my cabling to Planet Waves modular snakes, I think they sound good and the modularity is a great feature.
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Post by jmoose on Sept 30, 2021 13:45:02 GMT -6
Where are you seeing them for $400-700? Talking regular 8 channel DB25 to whatever..?
Even at high retail the most expensive Mogami DB25 I can find is a 50 foot for just over $300. Normal 10-20 foot are around $200...
Maybe your getting boned on exchange rates?
Hosa is ok. Not great but as a few have said if you aren't moving them around a lot they tend to last. I actually have a crate or two full of random stuff like Hosa RCA to 1/4" snakes that have never posed a problem... might still have some ELCO 56 pin around too? Basically stuff that I might only need once every 3 years and they work every time I plug 'em in.
Some of the Hosa non-molded end cable, random patches I've bought last couple years seem to be much nicer and haven't failed.
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Post by Ward on Sept 30, 2021 14:07:26 GMT -6
I do everything in USD.
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Post by svart on Sept 30, 2021 14:14:54 GMT -6
I’ve been slowly converting my cabling to Planet Waves modular snakes, I think they sound good and the modularity is a great feature. I have some of those. They seem to be decent quality for Hosa-ish prices. |
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Post by johneppstein on Oct 1, 2021 15:17:32 GMT -6
I’ve been slowly converting my cabling to Planet Waves modular snakes, I think they sound good and the modularity is a great feature. I don't know how they handle the "modularity" bit, but IMO anything on a snake cable that can work loose should be eliminated. |
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Post by the other mark williams on Oct 12, 2021 23:13:39 GMT -6
I’ve been slowly converting my cabling to Planet Waves modular snakes, I think they sound good and the modularity is a great feature. i really like the Planet Waves / D’Addario modular snakes, too. |
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Oct 13, 2021 12:24:07 GMT -6
I’ve been slowly converting my cabling to Planet Waves modular snakes, I think they sound good and the modularity is a great feature. I don't know how tjhey handle the "modularity" bit, but IMO anything on a snake cable that can work loose should be eliminated. A quick look will show you how simple they do it the snake is Dsub to Dsub and then you add a Dsub to XLR OR TRS adapter. Is this ideal? No but it works. |
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Post by johneppstein on Oct 13, 2021 14:17:41 GMT -6
I don't know how tjhey handle the "modularity" bit, but IMO anything on a snake cable that can work loose should be eliminated. A quick look will show you how simple they do it the snake is Dsub to Dsub and then you add a Dsub to XLR OR TRS adapter. Is this ideal? No but it works. Right - thereby TRIPLING your number of Dsubs. I'd say "no, thanks" but I do it myself, as you can't find a 32x32 converter that doesn't use 'em. OTOH, Elcos would be too bulky and way too expensive.... and XLRs would take too much space. |
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Post by ericn on Oct 13, 2021 14:34:56 GMT -6
A quick look will show you how simple they do it the snake is Dsub to Dsub and then you add a Dsub to XLR OR TRS adapter. Is this ideal? No but it works. Right - thereby TRIPLING your number of Dsubs. I'd say "no, thanks" but I do it myself, as you can't find a 32x32 converter that doesn't use 'em. OTOH, Elcos would be too bulky and way too expensive.... and XLRs would take too much space. I agree Dsubs suck, but they are cheap and dense so manufacturers love them. |
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Post by Omicron9 on Oct 20, 2021 10:38:21 GMT -6
Have you seen the prices of the Mogami db25 - db25 snakes? HOLY SMOKES< they're insane. Are they really worth it? 400-700 for a snake that's $75 from Hosa, $125 from Daddario or $175 from Seismic. Just wondering if any devoted users notice that much difference. Ward, I've got some DB25 snakes (made by Redco) that I'm no longer using. Mogami and Gepco IIRC. Let me know (PM me) if you're still looking and I'll get the specs to you. Everything is in pristine condition visually and all in perfect working order last time I used them. Regards, -09 |
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Post by tim on Nov 26, 2021 12:20:13 GMT -6
I've built over 30 dsub snakes myself using Mogami and the metal housings from Redco. I use the solid gold-plated pins from digital-key. They ain't cheap but better than the hollow junk from amazon. At the time I think cost of each cable was somewhere around $50-$75 and would take me around 45 minutes to make. So saved a lot of money making my own but spent a heck of a lot of time building them.
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Post by chipbuttie on Dec 10, 2021 18:56:27 GMT -6
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Post by Ned Ward on Dec 11, 2021 11:54:03 GMT -6
20' Dsub snake with Redco cable and terminators is $101... with Mogami cable instead it's $147. I'd call Redco...
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Post by ironinthepath on Dec 11, 2022 22:15:15 GMT -6
I've had really great experiences with Event Horizon in Nashville (shipped to me out of state) for custom made DB25 to XLR and many others (I was even able to custom color code), all Mogami for my orders but they have Canare too: eventhorizon-srv.com/Prices were reasonable last I used them, that was probably 2021 though. |
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Post by theboris on Dec 15, 2022 10:26:21 GMT -6
Have you considered the used side of these? I've purchased a lot of snakes used, test thoroughly upon arrival, and have never found a need to recrimp or resolder pins. Some dsub to xlr have had poor jobs done on the xlr side, but that's easy enough to take care of. For me, it saves a lot of dough. If I was doing a lot of db25s I'd probably invest in a good machine, then sell it once job finished. I'm generally slow in cable builds but can get a bit perfectionistic sometimes...
But if needing new, decide if you want crimp or solder. I prefer crimped. For that, I've had great experience with Jason at ProAudioLA (no affiliation). Redco solders theirs and are reliable as well.
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Post by bchurch on Dec 17, 2022 9:07:08 GMT -6
I bought some Vintage King 'budget' db25-XLR snakes in a pinch and likely couldn't tell you the difference between those and something costing 3x. Again - build quality on the connections seems to be where you feel it the most. Another maker for a <$100 comparable one was literally like a "single use" - the connectors literally fell apart.
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