Leaving cables wrapped (using the cable as the tie) for long periods

[RoadRanger]

"Hey' date=' we need a 30 footer over here." "wait, I need to unreel 3 15 footers to get to that 30 footer."[/quote']You can just use two 15 footers . I actually boxed up all my older cables and have all 25 footers now - much easier than worrying about having a bunch of bastards. I have a separate bag of 10 footers to "stretch" the occasional "not quite long enough" one. IME 25 footers are the longest that can be arm-wrapped without damage by the unwashed "help" at gig-end. I had a fair number of 20 footers that conveniently became 10 footers and a few 50's that became 25's . All my SpeakOn cables are 25's now too (passive subs and monitors).

[Dogoth]

Over and under unless it's a huge cable (like power feeders or multi pair snake) in which case figure 8 sometimes works better (depending on the road case they're stored in). I've been using Tie line for years without any problems (some of these cables are 20+ years old with near constant use).

 

If you have the space......I like to make as big of coils as possible (less coils means less memory, less time wrapping and less mess unwrapping). This usually doesn't work for road boxes but fine for hanging in wall hooks. The best method to get long service life from your cables is to buy quality cables in the first place.

 

my .02

[Tomm Williams]

I'll put my flame suit on' date=' but for 15 years we've been wrapping cables (all 25 ft or shorter) by folding them in half until about 2 feet then tying them. It's easy for everyone to do and better than the ol' over the shoulder forearm wrap you see the bar band boys doing. The only downside is they don't "undo" all that easily. But we're only talking about using 6 or so XLRs per so as we have patch snakes for everything else and they loop up on the back of the mixer rack for storage.[/quote']

 

 

 

Right there with you........ While I find figure 8 to be the perfect answer to deploying a cable, I find it too time consuming for a rapid pack out. Then there's also the problem of what device to use to keep the coils intact for storage. I carry around 70 Xlrs in a large trunk and by doing the method you describe, I can just grab arm- fulls of cables and go. Yes without a doubt they don't always deploy tangle free but at 20-25', I find the tangles easily dealt with. I also try to not tie the overhand knot too tight as to avoid hard bends or general strain.

 

 

 

its worked just fine for me so far.

[StratGuy22]

Drop snakes are so handy.

 

 

 

8ch for drums, bass & guitar:

 

 

 

 

6ch out front for 4 vocal mics, acoustic DI & keys DI

 

 

 

 

Keeps things pretty clean at the board.

[mshifflett]

 

 

 

Right there with you........ While I find figure 8 to be the perfect answer to deploying a cable, I find it too time consuming for a rapid pack out. Then there's also the problem of what device to use to keep the coils intact for storage. I carry around 70 Xlrs in a large trunk and by doing the method you describe, I can just grab arm- fulls of cables and go. Yes without a doubt they don't always deploy tangle free but at 20-25', I find the tangles easily dealt with. I also try to not tie the overhand knot too tight as to avoid hard bends or general strain.

 

 

 

its worked just fine for me so far.

 

We do the same thing. I leave the ends of the cable longer than the main loop and try to be as gentle as possible. When I unroll them I just untie and hold the ends that were left long and they usually open up just fine.