let's talk cables...

mystixboi1

mystixboi1

Kick Henry Jackassowski
so what do you think about spending more money on cables? do you spend more money on expensive cables?

even my hero, Nuno Bettencourt, says he uses the same 20 foot cable he bought cheap 20 years ago.

what do you think?
 
As long as it's a decent durable cable with good plugs on it, I don't care what brand it is. I just keep it as short as I can get away with.
For most stages a 10 foot is more than enough imo.

The Monster cables and similar snake oil is just bullshit and not worth the money they're asking.
 
I use these Planet waves cables...

x02_146528.jpg


Really cheap cables tend to break or get noisy quickly. Really expensive cables are just silly.

These have nice reinforced ends and a built in cable tie when you coil them up. I ususally get them in the 20-30 range.
 
I'm ready to be that none of the first 3 replies have actually used anything better than average cables.


I have a moderately priced Lava tweed cable, the improvement throughout the sound spectrum is very noticeable. More clarity throughout, more lows, more highs.

At home, the difference is good enough that if it were damaged (unlikely, that thing is VERY well built) I'd get another one I'd pay for myself if the lifetime warranty didn't cover it.



In live environment, I'm not sure how much benefit you'd get from them though.


The bottom line though, is that whilst they are good (well, my lava is anyway), I was very happy before my planet wave cable broke. (Planetwave honoured their lifetime warranty) It's just that the lava cable I have brings that little extra to my ears. Bear in mind it's not night and day - but still noticeable enough.


I've had my Lava for 2 years now, probably will have it for 20 +, so the £40 price tag isn't much in the long run too. I find it better than invoking the PW warranty every other year and going through that hassle. YMMV
 
any cable with good, reinforced ends will do you well. yes, there will be a difference in the cable you buy for $5 and the one you buy for $20. but from there, just like any boutique item, there's diminishing returns. buy good, solid cable from Whirlwind, Spectraflex, and Quantum; and you'll sound great.
 
Yeah, I generally get cables that are 15-20 feet in length for about $20-$30. Like the others said, as long as it has good ends I'm generally pretty happy with it.

I've had good luck with Pro-Co cables and more recently with Live Wires. Don't know if they are the same company, but the cables seem to be exactly the same.
 
Les Paul Lover said:
I'm ready to be that none of the first 3 replies have actually used anything better than average cables.


I have a moderately priced Lava tweed cable, the improvement throughout the sound spectrum is very noticeable. More clarity throughout, more lows, more highs.

At home, the difference is good enough that if it were damaged (unlikely, that thing is VERY well built) I'd get another one I'd pay for myself if the lifetime warranty didn't cover it.



In live environment, I'm not sure how much benefit you'd get from them though.


The bottom line though, is that whilst they are good (well, my lava is anyway), I was very happy before my planet wave cable broke. (Planetwave honoured their lifetime warranty) It's just that the lava cable I have brings that little extra to my ears. Bear in mind it's not night and day - but still noticeable enough.


I've had my Lava for 2 years now, probably will have it for 20 +, so the £40 price tag isn't much in the long run too. I find it better than invoking the PW warranty every other year and going through that hassle. YMMV
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You see, that's the thing. With a guitar in a mix (live or in the studio) you don't want low and high frequencies really. The guitar is a mid freq. instrument - and it's scary how many guitar players don't realise that. And with the rest of the chain in order, with a short decent cable there shouldn't be a clarity issue.

A sidenote - everytime I run across a guitar player with the scooped eq thing, that player automatically gets a lesson in how a mix works. With a bunch of profanity thrown in for good measure. :grin:

Fwiw, I do have a Monster cable that I never use. :wink:
Can't remember where I got it from, as I most certainly didn't buy it. :grin:
 
And I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but I use these mic cables, both live and at home when I'm recording. They have actually held up really well, and I don't notice them sounding any different than my 'better' mic cables. In the 3 or 4 years I've had the 10 or so that I have, I haven't had one crap out yet.

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Musician's-Gear-Tweed-LoZ-Woven-Mic-Cable?sku=330076

I got mine when they were on sale for like $6.99/20 foot cable.

It also helps that I'm the only person I've ever run across that has gold tweed mic cables, so at jam sessions and gigs, it's really easy to tell which cables are mine when it's time to pack the stuff up.
 
Most of my cables are in the middling price range. Several are over 5 years old and have never caused any problems. I also have a nice Lava cable that I use at home (too stiff for live stuff) and I can hear a difference, just not a big one. I also have (unfortunately) a Monster Cable I overpaid for before I found out that the company likes keeping the court systems busy with stupid lawsuits. I will never buy their products again.

I do like the Whirlwind and Pro-Co stuff....
 
I picked up a couple of cheap Samson cables a few years ago that had that had the straight>right angle connection and they've held up wonderfully to daily use and abuse. I have a Monster Cable that I was given for Christmas 5 or 6 years ago, and I actually have a Spectraflex that's about 12 years old and still works.

My studio cables OTOH, are Mogami wire with Neutrik jacks that either myself or a friend has hand-soldered.
 
I've owned some really high end cables and I'm also a ProCo dealer. I think that for playing gigs expensive cables are a complete waste of money. Some of the nicer cables will give you a little different sound but once again it's not important enough to me to spend the money anymore. Just nothing cheap.
 
I use Monster cable right now as the cable is very durable. I went to the monster because of there durability and I get a great signal from the cable. I use the 21 footer that costs about $50 and own 3. My teenage son has one that I gave to him for Christmas and he used for Mark's blues class as well as his High School Jazz Band rehearsal and performance. My oldest cable is now 3 years old and going strong.

I have used ProCo Live Wires in the 80's and found that they eventually break and were not worthy of my continued use. I discovered Canare Cable and have fallen in love with the cable and have just recently found a source to buy it from again. I prefer to build my own cables with Switchcraft or Neutrik plugs.

The Canare cables that I built around '86 sound great today and I use them more when I have the time to mess with recording.
 
Les Paul Lover said:
I'm ready to be that none of the first 3 replies have actually used anything better than average cables.
Click to expand...

Flamencology said:
You'd lose that bet.
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+1.

I've done the audiophile thing including designing home installs with everything from B&O systems to 6 foot high carver ribbons.... it's just with the imperfect world of guitars, we're working within a noisy, imperfect world with a very narrow band of frequencies. Any audiophile differences between a $30 Planet Waves cable and a $180 Zaolla will be rendered moot on a stage as soon as the drummer starts bashing his kit.

At that point, it's more about durability and reliabilty.
 
I´m embarrased to say it, but I use only Fender Vintage Voltage cables today, cause they fit my tweed Fender Blues Deville. My linen jacket is the icing of the cake. :embarrassed:

vintage voltage.jpg
 
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I use planet waves and they sound fine.

My pedalboard is a complete mishmash with some of those really cheap multicoloured patch cables to hand soldered w/ neutrik jacks.

I should probably invest in some proper patch cables or george L's at some point.
 
I had a Planet Waves cable once. The damned thing was microphonic. Never had that happen before, but you could hear static every time the cable moved. Not the connectors...the cable itself. If you bent the cable, it would create static. If you slid the cable across the floor, it would create static. It was HORRIBLE.
 
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