Guitar over Cat5 project 1

Thursday 23 June 2011 at 2:08 pm

My stage guitar rig can be a bit of a bind when setting up and breaking down – it’s configured thus:

Guitar plugs straight into amp
Effects send to Boss GT8 pedal
Output from GT8 to effects return
Additional cable from GT8 to footswitch allowing GT8 to switch channel

So all in all 4 cables involved.  I wanted to try & cut down, initially by using a 4-pair multicore, then I could bring the guitar input down to the floor, keeping to a single cable run.

But multicore can be a bit expensive, and I’m an IT network technician with access to lots of Cat5 cable, so I started to wonder…  Could I run the whole thing over Cat5 UTPnetwork cable, put a RJ45 socket at either end then all I’d need is a patch cable of the correct length.

No-one as far as I can see on several Googlings has tried it, so the only way to find out is to experiment.

Today I have this:

which is an old guitar lead soldered to one pair of a bit of Cat5, punched down onto a socket module

and this

which is Cat5 cable punched down into a module with a jack plug on the end

Plug in the lead to my guitar, plug the 2nd bit into an amp*, connect with a 5m patch lead and… bingo!  It works!  No apparent loss of signal strength or quality.

*I did use a proper amp to test – the mini-Marshall is just to show schematic!

Next step is to put in the other channels and see if there’s any crosstalk, hum or interference with the FX loop running backwards & forwards.  Watch this space.