manually phase reversing

[excellrec]

so i took a patch cord and flipped the wires on it in attempt to make my own manual phase adjuster. It was an unbalanced cord so i just flipped them and this should have worked..... right? I tried using it on numerous things... i.e. mixer out on patchbay to a/d converter. Compressor output into mixer line input, guitar into d.i. And i got nothing. I checked the wire on a multimeter to make sure the connections good, which it is, so what gives? Is there something ovious about why this wont work that i'm missing?

[gyraf]

Balanced will flip phase if you reverse cold/hot. Unbalanced will simply short.

[excellrec]

thanks, so much to learn...