Keira-WitherKay
last night i was early to set up at the TJ's show run by Bob and fingerpicker was the sound guy , and fingerpicker mentioned he had bought a lot of top end cable , he can fill you in with details ........ and was making cables to high end spec.......
so we did what all muso's do and put it to the test ......... with A/B comparison
i was playing on my jazz box at the time going direct thru a 3m cable (planet waves) to my tube amp....... and for sure i liked the tone...... ? so we changed to one of fingerpickers high spec cables and the sound had a definite change.... it seemed to be less bassy and had way more pronounce mids....... .
i found this very interesting cos i was using planet waves cables which i thought were pretty good and it was enough of a change to make a significant difference........ it was not however louder in volume just the tone changed from a more bass heavy sound from my original cable to a more midrange and clearer sound from the new cable....... both sound i guess are perfectly usable at gigs...and i never saw one as bad and the other as good.rather i saw it as being different sounds .... but it will be interesting to see after using it for a while which i prefer in my sound
needless to say i have a cable on order from fingerpicker .... ?
Jack-Flash-Jr
Oooh. Dangerous ground ?
MikeM
More mids? Less bass? I struggle to believe that, I do believe that they have a direct effect on brightness though - which is easily measurable
Manfred-Klose
testing cables at a pub, mmmh ?
ParadoximA
Manfred Klose wrote
testing cables at a pub, mmmh ?
Hehe yup, the number of beers between cable changes needs to be taken into account ?
Seriously though, I can definitely hear the difference between a couple of my cables - but the difference is small enough to be destroyed by breathing on one of the tone knobs. It goes without saying that a poor quality cable can sound bad and give you problems, but once you get to a certain level of quality I don't think there's any point in spending too much extra on something fancy, unless you have really long cable runs, or really deep pockets.
[Edit - come to think of it, I gave away a brand new cable once 'cos I didn't like the sound, and I think it was a Planet Waves cable...]
Fingerpicker
This cable thing is interesting. I tested about 10 different cables last week that I had "pulled from service" where I have helped with the sound and done a comparative check on my SWR Strawberry Blonde acoustic amp through a Taylor 414CE. Huge difference between cables.
The comparison between cables last night was done a couple of hours before the show (and I don't drink). My cable was 6 metres length and the other 3 metres which would give the other cable the advantage. (A bad cable can lose as much as 1 dB per foot). The sound difference was obvious. In places where we have done comparisons with noise and booze the sound guy was able to turn his gain/volume down by as much as a third.
I bought some top end cabling up to R150/m and my cabling was as good, or better. "My" cables were bought from recommendations on this website and seem to be in use by most of the guys that assemble their own cables.
Having said this, I think that you should try different cables for your guitar. The combination of these cables on a bright acoustic for instance may be too bright. So just be aware of the combinations.
Attila
There is little doubt that not all cable are made equal - capacitance is the main culprit ....from 95pf/m for the better ones to 150pf/m for the less expensive.. This is, however, looking at the cable only.
Note that everything in the equation has an effect - Pickups >> Pots Resistance >>Guitar cable >> Pedal>> Cable>> Amp Input Resistance. be it good or bad electrically and depending on what your are setting up for.
The flawed assumption that we all make is that everything we buy is plug and play matched, So if you want to tune your rig scientifically.... get the grey haired men in white coats to help.
imprompto A/B comparisons are always going to be subjective, unless they are done in a controled environment with a fequency sweep
ET-Phone-Home
Just out of curiosity, what would you guys consider to be a high quality cable? I know absolutely jack about this topic and would be really awesome if I can learn more. ?
Gearhead
ET Phone Home wrote
I know absolutely jack about this topic
No pun intended? ?
ET-Phone-Home
Lol pun totally intended ?
Fingerpicker
ET Phone Home wrote
Just out of curiosity, what would you guys consider to be a high quality cable? I know absolutely jack about this topic and would be really awesome if I can learn more. ?
Mogami, Sommer, Monster to name a few.
Must be a few more out there?
Attila
George L. cable and connectors - Pro: you can fix a cable with a skrewdriver Con - should have soldered connections
I read that Cesar Diaz , "amp tech to the guitar gods", expressed his frustration with the fact that...after spending untold hours tuning-up SRV's amps, etc for recording sessions...SRV insisted upon using a Radio Shack curly cord for recording because of the capacitance, to tame highs.
Funny Quote : "Oh man, C'Mon
After all this time, search'n and practic'n, and play'n and doing open mics and gig'n and surfin the web, try'n to get a tone just like SRV I've bought his Fender named guitars, i bought the amps they said he used, I put the tubes in it like they say he had, I followed Diaz's suggestions that he gave Stevie and I even bought a black hat, wear cowboy boots and so much more........
when all the time it was simply the guitar cord!
Oh lord, the humanity!"
? ? ?
AlanRatcliffe
Mogami, Canare are the industry standards - both on stage and in studio. Both good sounding, flexible and durable cables. Evidence, Klotz and Belden are also excellent options. Yes, there may be slight sonic differences with long cable runs, but IMO not enough to worry about in most playing situations (and totally moot if you have a buffered, low-Z signal like after a pedal or with a pre-amped acoustic). Also, even with a longer run of a higher capacitance cable you mostly just lose a little high end (and presumably your amp as those tone control thingies?).
Having said that, I do like the Mogami, but it's a little thinner and stiffer and has more of a "memory" for kinks and twists from bad coiling, all of which make Canare a better stage cable IMO - but Canare has been difficult to get locally in recent years. I have a pair of 3m Carver cables for studio, which sound fantastic, but are thick, heavy and stiff as all hell, so I don't use them much.
Currently I also have a great sounding cable Gian from Guitartone lent me (with a Swart amp and Reverend Flatroc, but that's another story...) - made with Van Den Hul cable and Futuretech plugs. Sounds pretty much like my Mogamis, but is more flexible and has a woven nylon outer jacket. Not sure of the price, but if it's not too bad, I'll probably get a pair as my main stage cables.
Gearhead
Van den Hul = expensive ?
I have on more than one occasion easily resisted temptation to buy interlinks from them going for €120 a pair. Ouch.
needleshy
damn, thats a lot of dosh..... for a cable.
Jack-Flash-Jr
Based on what I've read the general consensus seems to be that high end cables are rip-offs (particularly monster) for the slight difference they make. I think reliability and ruggedness are what should be sought.
120 Euros for one cable, then a normal speaker cable in tha chain? Dunno.
But, as noted, don't know jack about the tech side. ?
vic
Attila wrote
There is little doubt that not all cable are made equal - capacitance is the main culprit ....from 95pf/m for the better ones to 150pf/m for the less expensive.. This is, however, looking at the cable only.
Note that everything in the equation has an effect - Pickups >> Pots Resistance >>Guitar cable >> Pedal>> Cable>> Amp Input Resistance. be it good or bad electrically and depending on what your are setting up for.
The flawed assumption that we all make is that everything we buy is plug and play matched, So if you want to tune your rig scientifically.... get the grey haired men in white coats to help.
imprompto A/B comparisons are always going to be subjective, unless they are done in a controled environment with a fequency sweep
Here's a good article on the topic
http://www.aqdi.com/cablecap.htm
slyd
Jack Flash Jr wrote
I think reliability and ruggedness are what should be sought.
+1 ?
You can always adjust your tonal qualities (on the amp or axe) to make up for the {minimal} losses incurred through other (cheaper, but quality) cables. :-[
MikeM
One decent buffer will also handle more cheap cable than most people are able to use.
Gearhead
slyd wrote
You can always adjust your tonal qualities (on the amp or axe) to make up for the {minimal} losses incurred through other (cheaper, but quality) cables
Completely disagree. No amp can make what the cable does not give. As long as you are talking heavy riffing it's fine, but in funky flanged chopping you need your sparkle. Yes you can turn up the presence but no it's not going to make up for what you loose.
