With all the new CAT5 driven technology finding its way to live music, several manufacturers have addressed the durability issue surrounding traditional CAT5 network cables. Duracat, Gepco and Eurocable manufacture a "road worthy" type of cable commonly referred to as "tactical Cat5 cable". Rather than a cheesy PVC jacket wrapped around the cable, they've somehow figured out how to wrap it with a rubberized jacket much like a guitar cable. It also coils just like a guitar cable - another issue with traditional network cables. To address the cheesy plastic RJ45 connectors used as the "jacks", Neutrik sells an ingenious housing that can be added to an existing cable. The housing looks just like an XLR plug and is called "Ethercon". Tactical CAT5 cable and Ethercon connectors are the way to go if you're playing out live allot. Investing a few extra bucks will save you major headaches at a gig if someone inadvertently steps on your cable and the RJ45 cracks. Check out Redco audio. They sell the three brands of tactical cable I mentioned above and will also make any length cable you want with Ethercon connectors if you choose. They even have a pretty slick custom cable ordering application on their website. Eurocable is about $1.00 per foot, Gepco about $.085 and Duracat is about $.045.
Bulk Network & Control Cable | Redco Audio There's also a guy on ebay selling tactical cables pretty cheap and has them in all lengths.
Elite Core 10' ft Durable Cat5e Cable w Neutrik Ethercon Series RJ45 Connectors | eBay NOTE: The Ethercon Male plug on your cable will only fit into the Ethercon female receptacle. So if you have an older Axe or MFC, you'll need to fashion yourself an adapter box using the female Ethercon "passthru" adapter like I had to do
