I'm sure there are plenty of opinions about this, I'd love to hear them all!!

1. Does anyone have brand preference as to which solderless patch cable kits are best (soundwise)? I've seen George Lynch's, Planet Waves, and Core X2 DIY kits -- any opinions? Any others I should be considering?

2. Would I be better off practicing my soldering skills and just make my own "traditional", if you will, patch cables?

I've purchased Hosa patch cables, and I'm pretty sure I hear some sound degradation (what can you expect for a couple of bucks). Any and all thoughts are welcome. Thanks!

Mike

I would improve my soldering skills if I were you. I used the Planet Waves solderless cables in the past and noticed that you get some unwanted noise with them. So I learned how to solder and bought Mogami cables and since then I never looked back.

While I've used the Planet Waves solderless cables (they're easy to repair on the fly WHEN they fail), and some people (like Eric Johnson) seem to like the George L's stuff, there's no doubt in my mind that properly soldered cables last longer, are less prone to intermittent problems, and sound better.

Soldering ¼" jack cables is EASY. There's plenty of room to work with (smaller connectors are trickier - XLRs aren't too bad, but 3.5mm minijacks are fiddly and DIN connectors are a nightmare), they're easy to assemble, and once you get the hang of it you can rattle them off in no time. I can cut, solder and assemble a new patch lead in 5 minutes easily... and by buying cable and connectors in bulk, you'll be saving a fortune. Particularly compared with so-called "premium" brands like Monster, who I wouldn't touch with a bargepole, as they're notoriously unreliable (that's why they NEED the lifetime warranty )

Outstanding. Soldering it is. I've found a nice source for the Mogami cable you mentioned... any opinions on plug ends?

There doesn't seem to be much of a selection from what my searches find; I'm guessing there isn't too much variability between brands.

I've been using Neutrik NP2X and NP2RX connectors since they introduced them. They're a bit thinner than the older versions, but just as rugged and easy to assemble.