Personal stage snakes: The link from front stage to back stage

Introduction

Messy cables on stage are one of the things that I dislike the most on gigs. Not only does it look unprofessional and confusing, but worse, it is a trip hazard.

This article is not about dealing with stage cables in general, but more about how each band member can manage their personal cables so that the process of setup and teardown runs smoothly. I call these cables personal snakes. They are small stage snakes that every gigging musician should consider having

What is a personal stage snake

A personal snake is a snake that has all the cables that a musician needs for their instrument or vocal. I don’t mean just running the cables neatly side by side, but connecting them just like an ordinary audio stage snake.

Types of cables that are usually in a personal stage snake:

• Guitar or bass lead cables for the main signal
• send and return cables for modulation effects
• Power extension cords
• MIDI cables
• Microphone XLR cables
• Monitor signal cables

Who is it for

Anyone who runs more than 1 cable can benefit from making a personal snake. Guitarists can be using anywhere from 1 to 3, or even more cables when there is MIDI involved. If a guitarist is also a vocalist, it’s even more cables running from upstage to downstage or wherever the main mixer or stagebox is placed.

If your drummer is using several microphones to mic the drums and the main mixer is not that close to the drums, making a snake by just connecting mic cables is good practice. Many drummers use a purchased sub snake that feeds the main stage box like the Hosa Little Bro’ 8 Channel Sub Snake which really cleans the stage and speeds up setup and tear down.

A good example of a minimalistic snake is where my bass player has only two cables in his snake that only go to his pedalboard in front of him: the bass signal cable and the in-ear monitor cable that is fed from a small custom-made preamp on his pedalboard.

Small personal snakes are of course not just beneficial for live use, but also for rehearsals and when recording in the studio. Even when playing guitar at home on a regular basis, using a cable snake will speed up setup, and really look good.

My example

Here’s my personal stage snake in detail. Maybe someone else would think of something different but this really saves a lot of precious time before and after gigs. I sing lead vocals and play guitar in my band. In front of me, I have a tiny pedaltrain nano type pedalboard with the Line 6 HX Stomp for my guitar sound and two TC Electronics voice pedals. I need power for two adapters and my monitor that lies to the left of me, so I use a 3-socket power strip with a very short extension cord. I use the third socket for the short power cable that feeds my monitor.

The main snake consists of four cables that run from the mixer to my position on stage:

1. Guitar signal sent to amp
2. Vocal signal sent to the mixer
3. Monitor signal sent from mixer to me
4. Power extension cord with single input socket

About one meter before my position the snake splits in two directions. On the right are the guitar and vocal signals, and on the left, I have the monitor signal and a short power cable for the monitor that is also connected to the right part and gets power from the power strip. The cables are fixed together with short pieces of wire, but I could have used cable ties or zip ties. This picture explains it in detail.

Stage snake types

DIY mini snake

This is really a straightforward procedure. All you have to do is connect your cables together as tightly as possible without damaging them. You could do this with some duct tape (which you always need to have with you on gigs) on every one meter but I don’t prefer it because of the stickiness when changing cables. Instead of tape, a better solution is to use cable ties or zip ties to connect the cables. Just figure out how to deal with the slack if you don’t like to see it.

Pedal Python

Pedal Python would be something in between the DIY type and the pre-made snakes. It is a custom loom cable management system that really looks great. You get everything you need to make a personal stage snake in the package. It consists of one expandable braided tube that holds all the cables together, velcro anchor straps, 2 velcro end wraps, zip ties, and one big velcro carrying strap. The setup is fast and easy. It takes about 15 minutes to assemble the cable snake.

You could buy all these elements separately somewhere else and get similar results, but buying the Pedal Python is time-saving, better quality, and the difference in price is too small to bother buying everything separately.

Pre-made solutions

These small stage snakes are mostly made with the guitarists in mind. They are intended for use with pedalboards that can become quite big and a bit complicated, especially when incorporating MIDI. They are often called pedal snakes, Some manufacturers offer custom solutions so incorporating an XLR cable for vocals could be possible.

These are some of the best cable loom manufacturers:

• Custom Pedal Boards
• BTPA
• Karl’s by Musicproductive
• Loopi Pedals

Conclusion

So whatever you want to call them: small stage snakes, cable looms, pedal snakes, or sub snakes, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that by incorporating them you get a sleek solution that will turn your setup into a fast and easy process. No more uncoiling individual cables.

Oh, I almost forgot! Personal stage snakes do not bite, they’re more like small stage pets.