What's in your wire kit?

To many ads? Support ODJT and see no ads!

Jeff Romard

Administrator
Staff member
ODJT Supporter
Sep 4, 2006
21,838
21,391
53
Sydney, Nova Scotia
I'm a little (Lot) OCD when it comes to wires. When I was a very young DJ I didn't check a set of speakers that I was trying out and was 60 miles from home to find out they had Neutrix ends. All I had was 1/4 inch ends at that time so fortunately I had the time to go back 3/4 of the way and had someone meet me with the right ones it all worked out but it could have been bad. That taught me a valuable lesson a bad wire can end a night if you don't have backup. That's when I started the wire obsession

I have 2 wire bags that have almost identical setups and a bag with the same plus video connections. In each bag I have 2 full sets of wires, power and signal, for the NX55's, 6 additional 25Ft XLR cables, 8 3ft XLR, 4 6" XLR, 4 1/4 to 1/4, 2- 25' extension cords, 2 Male and 2 Female XLR splitters, a few XLR to 1/4 adapters a few short cheap extension cords and power bars, various other cables, and a power conditioner and 4 C clamps. My rack is prewired

Up until 2020 I changed all my main signal cables every year so in addition to the above craziness I have a hockey bag full of used cables that are still good including banana clip wires for my passive gear. It weighs close to 100 Lbs.

So what's in your bag?
 
I carry 3-4 different bags; 1 for AC cables, 1 for XLR cables, 1 for adapters and tools, and 1 for Neutrik cables and adapters for my passive system.

My 100' cables aren't normally in my AC or XLR bags. I only take them if there is a chance I will need them.

My AC bag typically has:
2x 25' IEC cables
4x 6' IEC cables
2x 25' Edison triple outlet
4x 10' Edison
1x 12' 7-plug power strip (metal)
2x neon outlet testers

My XLR bag typically has:
2x 40'
2x 25'
2x 20'
4x 5'

My adapter bag has all sorts of stuff:
XLR M/F to TRS-M
XLR Y-cable
2x 1' XLR cables
RCA-RCA gender changers (M/M and F/F)
RCA-TS adapters
RCA-XLR adapters
3.5mm to 6.3mm TRS
XLR gender changers (M/M and F/F)
XLR tone sniffer
Cable tester
Digital multimeter
Battery tester
Flashlight
Gaff tape
3.5mm to RCA
3.5mm to 3.5mm gender changers
RCA stacking cables
Wire strippers
Multi-tool
And probably a lot that I am forgetting

My Passive bag contains
2x 50' Neutrik
2x 20' Neutrik
3x Neutrik F-F couplers
 
I carry 3-4 different bags; 1 for AC cables, 1 for XLR cables, 1 for adapters and tools, and 1 for Neutrik cables and adapters for my passive system.

My 100' cables aren't normally in my AC or XLR bags. I only take them if there is a chance I will need them.

My AC bag typically has:
2x 25' IEC cables
4x 6' IEC cables
2x 25' Edison triple outlet
4x 10' Edison
1x 12' 7-plug power strip (metal)
2x neon outlet testers

My XLR bag typically has:
2x 40'
2x 25'
2x 20'
4x 5'

My adapter bag has all sorts of stuff:
XLR M/F to TRS-M
XLR Y-cable
2x 1' XLR cables
RCA-RCA gender changers (M/M and F/F)
RCA-TS adapters
RCA-XLR adapters
3.5mm to 6.3mm TRS
XLR gender changers (M/M and F/F)
XLR tone sniffer
Cable tester
Digital multimeter
Battery tester
Flashlight
Gaff tape
3.5mm to RCA
3.5mm to 3.5mm gender changers
RCA stacking cables
Wire strippers
Multi-tool
And probably a lot that I am forgetting

My Passive bag contains
2x 50' Neutrik
2x 20' Neutrik
3x Neutrik F-F couplers

I forgot about the tool kit. I have a small one with the basics if it gets advanced I cant fix it anyway LOL
 
  • Like
Reactions: ittigger
I'll say it this way. Having backup gear is great because you never know when something will fail you and if something fails at a gig and you don't have backup that can be a big disaster. That can be the difference between you being able to do an event or finish doing an event. I have 2 laptops and 2 Denon DN MC 6000 controllers. I was a Boy Scout and their model was be prepared. I say carry backup because it's man made not God made.
 
My inventory of items isn't as precise as yours... but I have road case of strictly extension cords ranging from 8ft-50ft, which when all combined, I have probably close to 500ft of extensions. Then I have another road case of strictly audio wires and adapters. Mostly xlr's and power wires for speakers, but also a handful of adapters for random situations.
 
I'm a little (Lot) OCD when it comes to wires. When I was a very young DJ I didn't check a set of speakers that I was trying out and was 60 miles from home to find out they had Neutrix ends. All I had was 1/4 inch ends at that time so fortunately I had the time to go back 3/4 of the way and had someone meet me with the right ones it all worked out but it could have been bad. That taught me a valuable lesson a bad wire can end a night if you don't have backup. That's when I started the wire obsession

I have 2 wire bags that have almost identical setups and a bag with the same plus video connections. In each bag I have 2 full sets of wires, power and signal, for the NX55's, 6 additional 25Ft XLR cables, 8 3ft XLR, 4 6" XLR, 4 1/4 to 1/4, 2- 25' extension cords, 2 Male and 2 Female XLR splitters, a few XLR to 1/4 adapters a few short cheap extension cords and power bars, various other cables, and a power conditioner and 4 C clamps. My rack is prewired

Up until 2020 I changed all my main signal cables every year so in addition to the above craziness I have a hockey bag full of used cables that are still good including banana clip wires for my passive gear. It weighs close to 100 Lbs.

So what's in your bag?
Full trailer at every show probably every cable you could ever think of in there
 
with the big van now I'm happier that my spare bag sits in there as well as some ext cords (black, of course).
I have a wired mic in there as well. Never used it.

I had an iffy main speaker wire, so bought new ones..seemed too short so bought 2 more longer ones - lots of spares now.
Still not happy with some of the stuff I have. I'd rather not 'share' wires - if I need the wireless speaker setup I want a complete set of wires with it...somehow I've relocated one of thse wire....

I re did my photobooth and have a spare road box now...I may stuff it will extras, or maybe do smaller boxes that sit under the front seats of the van , that way I always have stuff and never have to load/reload things - and perhaps forget something!

I'd like to get some more 110v adapters and a backup power strip/furman, and some canon to 1/4 adapters. My main mixer can output either, my wireless speaker transmitter can take either, but my ceremony mixer only taks 1/4 and my speakers only take canon. (aka xlr).
 
Mine is broke down into two, the main kit has the all the XLR's/DMX/power cables and extension cords
Breaking it down, I want to say
5 ext cords( black of course) all are 25ft , I believe, 2 are IEC-NEMA, I got those from mains but then switched to piggy pack adapter , so I got some IEC-NEMA adpaters so I can use them with NEMA plugs.
XLR's- I want to say they range from 5ft-50 ft, all in pairs.
DMX- 15ft x3 and 25ft

In my random ass shit kit( I keep my mics, headphones and other various items) I have a RCA-3.5 jack cable in there, along with some other cables, 1/4 to 1/4 and a back up USB cable, an extra 3.5-1/4 adaptar for my headphones , I think I keep a mic cable in there too.

Then I have the 2nd kit that has all of the other fittings and connections that I might need( like Taso's)
 
I use a plastic bin for all of my cables. It's easier for me to stack things on top of it when it's loaded on my cart.

And anyone with OCD would probably have a panic attack looking at the condition of that bin during the busy season.

I have a bunch of different length XLR cables:

Short 10 footer for my handheld wireless mic that I use personally.
15 footers that run to my speakers when I'm in a fairly compact footprint
5-6 25 footers when I need to spread out more, and I've also used these for vocal mics in situations where I need to set up a handful of them.

Power cables, I have a handful of different lengths and splitters. My wireless mic and wired handheld mic both travel inside the bin. Headphones, spare AA batteries, the FlareCon Air to send wireless to my lights.

In the van, I keep a 100 ft. power cable when I need to do a really long run. I also have a couple of 50 ft. XLRs in there.

I also keep certain cables with the elements they go to. Like I have cables in the bag for my dance floor wash lights. My ceremony rig has a completely separate set of cables with it that is specific to that set up (like 1/4 inch signal cables instead of XLR to the Bose compacts).
 
For reception/main sound system only, I have a Gator Cable bag/case and I put all my main power and audio cables I would normally use for a gig, and at the bottom in a separate bag are all the odd audio, adapters, splitters, converts, etc. that come out every now and then.

The rest of my "could use" power cables are in a separate bag, but I don't generally bring it out too often as the main ones are always in the Gator case.

Within the gator bad, my main cables consist of

1. combo audio/power cables for my speakers
2. 15ft, 25, ft, &50 ft power cables
3. Wireless handhelds

I also store my T4s and 2 of my Chauvet Core Pars in there.

 
I have an FOH Box which will have everything needed to DJ, but is primarily configured now as an all around general problem solver for any type of AV gig.

Cables and such are all pulled per the specific job, and that is determined in advance and then printed when the event is being prepped. The checklist can be customized to suit a given type of event or particular purpose - such as a gear checklist or To Do list.
 

Attachments

  • Pre-Event Checklist.zip
    21.9 KB · Views: 6