Can you use guitar cables for pedals?
Most electric pedals use the same instrument cables as other instruments like electric guitars and most pianos. So if you need to add some interesting effects to your sound, you just need to buy an extra instrument cable.
You need two guitar cables for each pedal you buy. One cable to plug into the input of the pedal and another cable to plug into the output of the pedal. Most pedals will label the input and output jacks, but the standard is for the input to be on the right side of the pedal and the output on the left side.
For pedals connected right next to one another, 6” cables work best, but often you will need 12”, 18”, or 24” patch cables to connect pedals around your board.
A TRS (or stereo / balanced) cable can be used for everything from carrying midi messages to the latest boutique effect, to connecting expression pedals to effects on your board. It can be used to carry your guitar's signal, digital messages, resistance values and more.
They function identically, but have a different plug for different applications. Instrument cables however, are unbalanced cables. This makes them more susceptible to noise, especially at longer lengths.
All electric instruments — guitars, basses, and keyboards — use the same basic quarter-inch jack cable to run signals from instruments, through effects units, and into amplifiers. However, you should never use instrument connectors for anything running from an amplifier or PA mixer.
A too-high current won't damage your pedal (in contrast to incorrect voltage), which means it is not a problem to connect a pedal drawing only 10 mA to a 100 mA power supply output. The pedal will only take in the amount of current it needs.
In most cases, you cannot use a 12V adapter to power a 9V guitar pedal. Using a 12V adapter on a pedal designed to only handle 9V can completely destroy it. There are some guitar pedals built to handle voltages higher than 9V. Those pedals will work perfectly fine with a 12V adapter.
The shorter, well-shielded and well-protected cables tend to be the most durable and good-sounding guitar cables out there. To understand the quality of a guitar cable, you should have some knowledge about what materials are used in the cable.
one time i tried a speaker cable because i didn't have an instrument cable and it was incredibly noisy. and probably not good for the amp either. Yes, using the wrong kind of cables can be very harmful to your amp, your pedals, or anything else really. You want to use instrument cables for your guitar, pedals, and amp.
Can you use any power supply for pedals?
Sit down and write the power requirements for each pedal and then ensure the power supply you'd like to buy will match those requirements. Most pedals require 9v DC power and have a very low current requirement but pedals to watch out for include powerful digital pedals like the Strymon or Eventide pedals.
You can run guitar pedals through the primary input of the amp or individual pedals into the 'effects loop' (usually reverb, delays, modulation) depending on the effect and the player's preference. So yes, any guitar pedal can be used for any amplifier.
1/4″ (6.3mm) Instrument Cables
As guitar cables are unbalanced, they're highly susceptible to interference. This means the quality of your cable will impact your tone. The amount of impact it has on your tone depends on the quality of your guitar and amp, pedals and interference.
XLR cables are usually balanced (3 pin) and RCA cables are unbalanced (1 pin). The main benefit of balanced cables is their ability to transfer sound signals over much longer runs/distances without signal loss, or interference.
The majority of guitar pedals on the market require center-pin negative, and therefore the result is that the majority of power supplies output center-pin negative polarity (BOSS, Voodoo Lab®, Cioks®, Truetone®, Walrus®, etc..).
A commonly held belief among guitar players is that gold-plated connectors are somehow superior to nickel or silver. But the truth is, gold is only better because it's less-corrosive, and lasts longer without tarnishing. Which gives the cable a longer lifespan.
Generally, instrument cable center conductors are in the range of 18 to 24 AWG, with strands of 32 to 36 AWG. Many American wire mills simply cannot work with wire smaller than 36 AWG because their equipment is too antiquated.
If it's an instrument cable, you'll notice a wire or two covered with some form of shielding or coating. Some manufacturers use foil wraps, others use braided wire meshes. A speaker cable will have two independent wires inside. One is attached to the sleeve and the other is attached to the tip.
Guitar cables and speaker cables are two different kinds of cable designed for two very different purposes. Using one in place of the other can have unpleasant effects ranging from merely annoying interference to outright equipment failure.
An instrument cable has a signal wire and a shield for carrying instrument level signals. A speaker cable has two identical wires for carrying speaker level signals. Using an instrument cable as a speaker cable can be damage your equipment. Using a speaker cable as an instrument cable will cause excessive noise.
Is it cheaper to make your own guitar cables?
Learn how to make your guitar and pedalboard cables like a pro! Today, we are going to see together how to make jack cables like a pro! The big advantage of making your cables yourself is that it will cost you less than buying prepared cables. Plus, you can customize them!
For example, putting a 500mA pedal on a 100mA power tap would cause it to act erratically and probably shut down — it might even damage the pedal. Conversely, sending more milliamps than needed to a pedal is fine. Putting a pedal that draws 20mA on that same 100mA tap is no problem.
Going even higher, say 1200 mA or even 2000 mA, is perfectly safe for the pedals and gives us freedom to add many additional pedals in the future.
Current is typically notated in milliamps (mA), and most standard pedals require less than 100 mA. Digital pedals often require a much higher current to operate correctly, generally 200 mA to 1000 mA.
YOU CAN'T DO THIS WITH MOST 9V PEDALS! Some pedals are designed to accept 9-18v, and it will say on the pedal or in the manual. But most 9v pedals are not designed to handle voltages higher than 9v. You may or may not destroy the pedal, but it won't work properly.