Need a 100' snake with 1/4"!

[cablemotion]

I'm looking for a 100' 24 channel snake. It seems that those out there use almost entirely XLR connectors. Is there a reason for this? I have a number of instruments using 1/4" connector that I will need to plug into the snake. Should I look into converting them all to XLR?

I also need this ASAP. I 'm a little confused as to whether converting a 1/4" to XLR has any benefit or drawback. My 8 channel snake (which has both XLR and 1/4" plugs) just isn't enough anymore, and I need to invest in a new snake soon.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

[cmchamp]

1/4" TS (unballanced instrument or guitar) looses signal integrity at anything over 30'. Your instruments should be converted to XLR (balanced mic level) through a direct box (DI). This will allow you to send clean signal from these instruments through a 100' snake easily.
Rapco, Horizon, Conquest, ProCo all make decent entry level snakes here in the US.

[cablemotion]

Thank you very much! It's a bummer direct boxes cost as much as snakes! But that's good info to know and will be useful as I figure out my sound setup.

I wonder why they don't just design hi-end instruments to use XLR instead of 1/4"?

[cmchamp]

Some do! You can get decent passive DI's for about $40.00 such as the ProCo CB1. If you want to go High Dollar, a Radial passive DI goes for about $180.
ProCo 100' 24 send 4 returns around $450, Horizon around $420.
C.

[phill2796]

The 1/4 on your 8 channel snake are trs bal. sends

[DAS]

I'll bet we could get Pro Co to build a custom snake with DI functionality built in. You'd plug in your 1/4" device and it would show up on a balanced XLR at the other end. Might not be any more expensive than buying a bunch of stand alone DI's, but would sure be a heck of a lot easier to carry around and set up.

[xstatic]

If you built DI's into your snake though, all of your instrument cables would have to plug straight into it which would leave quite a mess on stage, and is very inconvenient if you have to unplug to tune, change guitars etc.... The nice thing about a DI is that you can park it where you want, run as long an XLR cable as necessary to keep your cabling neter, it can be right in front of or behind you, and requires a shorter instrument cable since the box is parked where you want it. My experience is that the cables in instrument rigs get messy enough even when provisions are made for them. I would hate to see the mess that would occur once musicians started moving around if all of the cables on stage were going to the same place.