I put a new phone plug on a Monster Cable

[Notes_Norton]

I have one monster cable. I needed a 30 foot mono shielded cable for a stage monitor quite a few years ago, and the only brand I could find was an expensive "Monster" cable. It did the job for many years and last week it failed by the phone plug - as they all eventually do.

 

I know I can send it back, but I keep a supply of 1/4" phone plugs with screw on connectors handy for just this kind of situation.

 

I found out why this Monster was so expensive.

 

1) Shrink wrap around the connectors at the plug end - nice touch

 

2) The shield was densely braided copper wire - I would guess if it isn't 100% shield it's the closest thing to it - This made it very time consuming to un-braid before twisting together to fit under the phone plug lug

 

3) Center conductor was twisted with a second, insulated solid conductor wire inside making it very strong (so that's why this cable is so hard to coil up)

 

They did put a lot of money into the manufacture of the cable.

 

On the other hand, I still think it's an overkill for what we are using the cable for - way past the point of diminishing returns. It failed like any other cable, and in the same place. I suppose if you were having interference problems, the better shield might be worth the money, but I'd also imagine if the interference was that strong you'd have problems with your pickups and other cables too.

 

​Notes

[jdgm]

They do have the biggest rep...

 

It's always interesting with cables - how far do you need to go? My most expensive is a Pete Cornish guitar cable (the only thing by him I could afford!) and that is so good it fault-finds, shows up how crap my Strat input socket is now. Other cables don't do this.

I am not so keen on Planet Waves cables which IMO are not so worth the money. As a gearhead I have occasionally compared cables and nothing, including the Cornish mentioned above, passes more treble than a standard thin George L's.

I don't believe in oxygen-free or cryogenic except with reference to valves....

[zigzag]

I don't gig often, so I don't go through a lot of cables. For that reason, I don't mine spending a little more. I spend around $60 on a 20' Mogami cable (with a 90 deg. plug) almost 5 years ago from GC. It is guaranteed for life. The last guitar cable I had was cut from a coaxial cable and plugs added by the little guitar shop that I frequent. Didn't care for it since it was not very flexible.

[quapman]

I believe the moral of the story here as Notes has so eloquently described is that

these expensive cables are not worth the extra money.

 

Its basic physics. Electrons moving through a conductor.

 

Yes you get a better build quality,, but nobody is ever going to hear the difference.

 

HDMI cables are the best example of this scam. For the most part these things lay motionless behind your TV forever.

You can spend 50 bucks on them if you want.. I will go to the dollar store and get the same quality picture for a couple dollars.

 

Cables have long been the biggest rip off of audio stores for many years.

 

Gauge and shielding. Nothing else matters to an electron.

[Ryan H]

Gauge and shielding. Nothing else matters to an electron.

 

And obviously distance/length of cable :P

 

-Ryan

[darling67]

I've been considering getting a couple good guitar cables. Mogami are top-knotch, too—the best, many would argue.

[Jimi Mac]

Lava Cables seem pretty high quality and are expensive ta boot...

 

I haven't tried one yet but I think I'd like to.

 

I buy cheap and good cables and rarely can tell the difference other than my cheapo braided cable makes all sorts of distortions and interference and scratching noise if I kick it across the floor while I'm playing... Some of my more expensive cables do the same thing, but I think my Monster Cable does not...

[Notes_Norton]

With everything manufactured there is a point of diminishing returns, where twice the amount of money do not equal twice the performance. And each step of the diminishing returns offer less and less for the same amount of money.

 

I tend to buy medium quality cables. I look for good plugs and decent wire, but IMHO the top of the line cables are an overkill for the kind of signal that a musical instrument puts out. I cannot hear the difference between the Monster cable and a medium priced cable.

 

Now if I was looking at a cable that is going to carry multi-channel radio frequency signals over a long distance I'd look closely at the shield, dielectric, center conductor, and the connectors. But audio doesn't need that much.

 

I bought the Monster because I needed 30' in a hurry, my local Ma & Pa store didn't have one and couldn't get one in a hurry (they needed a minimum order to get something shipped) and Sweetwater only had the Monster. Any decent 30' cable would have been fine.

 

I used to be able to buy raw cable and put the plugs on myself, but those days are gone.

 

Putting a Monster cable in your rig is like paying someone to weld a Mercedes-Benz grille on your Toyota Corolla - it isn't going to make it run any better - it's just for show. YMMV.

 

Notes

[zigzag]

Quality issues aside, the biggest issue I see with guitar cables is (mostly right angle) stress at the point where plugs meet cables. I'd pay more for a lifetime warranty that guarantees replacement if there is a failure. My space is kinda cramped around my amps, and I find myself regularly stepping on cables and putting stress at plug connections while I'm moving around.

[Drog]

Nvm