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Do you use coiled or curly cables?


skilsaw

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To practice, I sit in the corner of my room about 4 feet from my amp.

A regular cable gets tied up in my feet, or the legs of my chair.

It's one of those petty little annoyances.

 

I think a curly cable may be the answer.

Do they get twisted and knotted?

 

Or is it cool to have about 25 feet of cable all over the floor?

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I often used coiled cords in my first playing years. During a recording session in March, 1983, I did it for the last time. That's how it came:

 

On the first picture during soundcheck you may see the cable barely clearing the stand with the Neumann U87i microphone.

 

The second pic already shows contact.

 

Moments after a bandmate took the third one, I still heard drums and bass from the Studer A80 24-track recorder through my headphones. My Gibson S-G, however, blown through my Acoustic G60T, vanished in slow motion, followed by a loud bump. I had knocked that dearly expensive mic over with my guitar cable [crying]

 

Fortunately the U87i had survived, but I switched to using straight cords immediately. I had some of them with me, too, in the yellow Adidas bag on the seat beside me.

 

U87i-bump_1_zpswqfzv5bo.jpg

 

U87i-bump_2_zpshuib7etd.jpg

 

U87i-bump_3_zpsrdieaepf.jpg

 

The sticker on my amp adequately said "I'm a bad boy" :)

 

Anyway, the first take of my wicked fast rhythm guitar recorded minutes later ended up on the record, and then I added a slide guitar with an open E tuning. Those were crazy days... [biggrin]

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A good demonstration of why the wretched things should be avoided or banned.

 

Curly cables are evil. They take jobs away from perfectly good straight cables too.

 

 

 

Cap - I hope you have kept the SG....but not the trousers. [biggrin]

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A good demonstration of why the wretched things should be avoided or banned.

 

Curly cables are evil. They take jobs away from perfectly good straight cables too.

 

 

 

Cap - I hope you have kept the SG....but not the trousers. [biggrin]

[biggrin] The SG is still here, the trousers are long gone. Corduroys were nice for late winter, and all of my clothing was selected for being noise-free. I had lots of vocals to do then, too, and didn't want to sing them in the nude [lol]

 

As for clothing, you wouldn't even know me on the videos [scared] :P All kidding aside, they did none of us, and I also don't have copies of our TV appearances from October 2nd, 1982. [unsure] They nearly electrocuted me in the TV studio on September 29th, 1982, but I posted about it in the past.

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Coiled was the first cable I had for my first electric guitar which was a harmony piece of junk in the 95-96 era. I also had one of those crappy fabric-wrap-around capos lol. I hated the coiled cable because yes it tangled and got that weird phone cord syndrome. Also there were two tiny screws on each 90 degree jack that always came loose and I'm pretty sure it was the least shielded/insulated cable ever made. I also remember hating the tension it created when id bemoving about.

 

Since then it's been nothing but straight cables. From hosa to fender to spectraflex to planet waves and everything in between. I most recently bought the new gibson cables which are by far the most impressive cables I've ever owned.

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I often used coiled cords in my first playing years.

 

When I started playing electric guitar (Richard Nixon was President of the USA), all I thought was available was coiled cords. They were/are a serious PIA for the various reasons stated above. As soon as I learned to solder, I started making my own straight cords out of industrial grade Beldon wire and Switchcraft connectors.

 

What I do now, as most of my playing is sitting 2' away from my amp in jazz orchestras, is buy a high quality 20' guitar cable, cut it in half, and solder Switchcraft right angle plugs on the cut ends. This makes two 10' cords, so I always have a spare. Each cord has a straight plug on one end and a right angle on the other, so you can just flip the cord around for the various requirements.

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Billy allured to it correctly. Curly leads weren't very well shielded and so actually added to the inherit 50-60- cycle hum. Straight are much better. But in my younger days, I didn't know better and so used curly leads just like everyone else.

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... Curly leads weren't very well shielded and so actually added to the inherit 50-60- cycle hum. ...

Modern curly leads usually have state-of-the-art shields. They also have good capacitance specs. Mine in the early 1980s were of excellent electric and sonic qualities, too, but those were expensive and rare then. Most were of much worse quality in the average than straight ones of similar price.

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two words for you mate

 

Go Wireless!

 

might sound over kill but the freedom of not being tethered is hard to beat.

 

Wirelss units have come a long way,, the don't really kill your tone like they used to.

 

I've been running a line 6 relay G30 since my X2 died.

 

I use it at jams/on gigs, sometimes yes,, even at home. Cables are a pita.

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two words for you mate

 

Go Wireless!

 

...

 

+1

 

It's cost will turn over! I spend so much time repairing my cables...it's driving me insane!

 

I use quality cables, still, they brake time to time. It's a pity, considering I only play at home, seated!

 

Cheers... Bence

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I've always used straight cables, to the best of my knowledge.

 

I am considering a short coiled cable for home use, having read some of the comments, here. It would make more sense than having 20' tangling around my ankles...!

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two words for you mate

 

Go Wireless!

 

might sound over kill but the freedom of not being tethered is hard to beat.

 

Wirelss units have come a long way,, the don't really kill your tone like they used to.

 

I've been running a line 6 relay G30 since my X2 died.

 

I use it at jams/on gigs, sometimes yes,, even at home. Cables are a pita.

 

Hi kidblast, I've never used a wireless system, always used striaght leads by Whirlwind, had the same leads for 20+ years, never failed me but I still get tangled up.

Does the wireless system ever pick up any interference?

As this sounds like an ideal piece of kit.

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The G30 and G50 by line6 are great. No interference in two years of constant use. The battery door is a bit annoying on mine, but a small piece of gaffers tape has solved that problem. I actually tried going back go my Planet Waves cable and found it to be frustrating both in having a cable and in how it messed with the eq on my tone. I'm a p90 guy, so I'm a bit used to noise, but I'm also sure that the G50 didn't add any noise either. The advantage to the G30 is that it also keeps a short 1/4" cable to the hip pack, but Ive like the G50 a bit better with its metal casing.

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To practice, I sit in the corner of my room about 4 feet from my amp.

A regular cable gets tied up in my feet, or the legs of my chair.

It's one of those petty little annoyances.

 

I think a curly cable may be the answer.

Do they get twisted and knotted?

 

Or is it cool to have about 25 feet of cable all over the floor?

Yes: it IS cool to have a mess of cables all over the floor.

 

Truthfully, regardless of what cable you use, you are going to have to get the hang of not getting tangled up. Because eventually, you will move onto situations where you won't be right next to your amp. Then you might be on a stage, where you have more important concerns than where you get to have cables. And then there are OTHER peoples cables they don't want you tripping on.

 

Not knocking wireless, even though it does not sound as good as a cable. But even those that use them are already familiar with dealing with cables. (That's kinda why they use them).

 

Better to learn to keep your cables neat, learn to keep track of where they are, and learn to be aware of there presence. You will never escape.

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Yup. Leads and cables are just something your going to have to get used to.

 

You maybe dancing around the stage in your wireless getup, but everyone else isn't. There's leads from the gits to the live rigs. Then the rigs to amp heads, and then to cabs. And then the leads from re-micing to heads and cabs, and then all the PA system. Then from there to the sound lizards consoles on the sound stage out in the crowd. And then the monitors. And then all the power leads to juice these systems up. Backstage and on stage is just one mess of leads and cables going everywhere. You've got to learn to not only keep an eye on yours but everyone elses as well.

And don't get me started on those bloody lights! (LOL).

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The G30 and G50 by line6 are great. No interference in two years of constant use. The battery door is a bit annoying on mine, but a small piece of gaffers tape has solved that problem. I actually tried going back go my Planet Waves cable and found it to be frustrating both in having a cable and in how it messed with the eq on my tone. I'm a p90 guy, so I'm a bit used to noise, but I'm also sure that the G50 didn't add any noise either. The advantage to the G30 is that it also keeps a short 1/4" cable to the hip pack, but Ive like the G50 a bit better with its metal casing.

 

Hi brantobrien, thank you for replying. Definitely going to check these two models out. :)

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