Drum Loom cable lengths?

M

Matt Vivlamore

Senior
Jan 11, 2011
911
4
18
41
Southern MD, USA
www.meerkatsound.com
I’m wanting to build a drum loom that plugs into a stage box that sits next to/near the drums. I'm gonna bundle a few XLR cables together.

Instruments:
Kick - 25’
Snare - 25’
High-hat - 35’
Rack Tom 1 – 25’
Rack Tom 2 - 25’
Floor Tom - 40’
Overhead (single, floor tom side) - 50’

What are your thoughts?
 
Those seem like very long lengths. I've always dedicated a 12 channel drop box for the drum riser and generally get the kit done with 12 & 25 footers. All of our 12 ft XLR cables are made from cables with EIA color jackets so we have the added benefit from seeing the right color in the right hole when you wire it yourself, not so much when its the stage crew du jour.
 
I'm with Riley on this - 10-15' cables cover the bulk of the kit with a couple of 25' cables for stuff that's further away (such as overheads). OTOH, I don't usually use a drum loom with the stuff I do (too much variability), and I typically land a stage box either immediately upstage of the drummer or SR of the kick drum (assuming a right-handed drummer), so YMMV.

That said,
Is your HH really 10' from your snare and toms?
Is your overhead really a 25' cable run from the snare and rack toms?
Are you comfortable with the loom always running along the snare side of the kit?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jeff Babcock and Sound Forums News
I strongly prefer to use a subsnake (hosa little bro is a cheap but decent option) right at the kit and then 10-15ft cables.

A loom (for drums, or more generally for other stage inputs) sounds great in principle, but doesn't really save much time or work out that well in my experience unless it is purpose built for one specific band that has a similar setup every gig. And still, the bands I have done this for in the past have changed often enough that it wasn't always a time saver.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom