Stage Magic sent us a 7-channel, 18-foot 7M18 BaseSnake ($80 retail/$70 street; 4-channel BaseSnakes are available, as are longer cable runs) and the proper Pigtails to configure our test rig. The 7M18 provides seven color-coded channels, all terminated in 5-pin DIN connectors. Six channels have three active pins for routing audio, power, footswitch lines, or MIDI signals. One white channel has five active pins for carrying MIDI signals (plus phantom-power for MIDI footcontrollers), high-current power, and other functions. I easily configured the 7M18, combining Pigtails called “GLines” for audio signals and “PLines” for power. I used a single-channel RS1 set ($20 retail/$16 street) with one angled 1/4" connector and one straight 1/4" connector to get sound from my pedalboard to my amp. Then, I opted to route the delay unit on the pedalboard through my amp’s effects loop by using an RS2 Dual GLine Pigtail ($33 retail/$27 street) with a pair of color-coded 1/4" connectors on each end that share a ground, and therefore use only one of the seven channels.

To power three 9V pedals, I used the SnakePower power supply ($26 retail/$22 street), the MM1 single PLine ($20 retail/$16 street), and the Daisy4S Power-Chain cable ($12 retail/ $11 street) that feeds power to four pedals from one power source. To power an additional pedal that requires 16V, I connected an MF1-H High Current Single PLine Pigtail ($22 retail/$19 street) to the five-wire white channel. I also used RS1-TRS Pigtails ($21 retail/$17 street) to control a two-button footswitch requiring a TRS stereo connector. Total cost for this system is $198 street.

Although conventional wisdom advises against running audio and power lines in close proximity, neither the line from the SnakePower unit, nor the 16V wall wart produced any additional hum. The audio quality was also quite good, with no noise increase or tone sucking taking place. Of course, all those Pigtails with their DIN connectors on each end of the BaseSnake doesn’t make for the tidiest arrangement visually. The best option is to build your system with a pedalboard that allows you to tuck the lines under it and out of sight (makers such as Pedaltrain, Pedal Pad, Core One, and others offer boards that can hide cables). Then, all you have to do at the end of a gig is disconnect everything on the amp end, coil the cable, place the Pedalsnake on your pedalboard, and you’re off.

The Pedalsnake is an ingenious and highly flexible solution for those running cables of multiple types between their frontline and backline rigs, and the more plentiful and varied those cables are, the more appealing the ’Snake becomes.

Kudos Consolidates nearly any combination of audio and power lines into a single cable.
Concerns Works best for pedalboards with “hide space” underneath.
Contact Stage Magic, Inc. (919) 828-7652; pedalsnake.com