favorite cables

[slagg]

so whats your fav guitar cable mine is spectoflex any opinions?how good are the george l's for instance

[copper1281734000]

Spectraflex are my favorites. I have one with the silent plug in end. I've heard george l's are some of the most best sounding cables ever, but have never tried them.

[brad1]

One that works.

[rafaelh]

My main guitar cable, and favorite, is a roadhog pro-m-twin. Never heard of them before getting mine and actually never really cared....use to just load up on spares. Anyhow I was looking for a 20' foot cable and just stumbled upon it. The only reason I got this particlar one was just cause of the price...little did I know. I've been using the same one for almost 10 years now. Thank God they seem to last cause I can't find the fricking things anymore.

 

No experience with geoerge l's, but have read quite a bit of good reviews on them though.

[OldskoolD]

Has anyone heard of or used Whirlwind cables?

[bwaysteve]

I have been playing for decades and have always thought I was pretty up on gear.I read a post on another forum by a player who spent $50 on a 12 ' cable and how it completely changed his sound.I have used several different types of decent budget cables like the ones with a woven outer covering and liked them because they were really flexible.A couple weeks later I purchased a Monster Cable .I couldn't believe how much tone it brought out in all of my instruments regardless of body and pickup type.I heard highs , lows and punch I was not aware my instruments had in them, especially punch. I have A/B tested these many times to prove I wasn't hallucinating and I wasn't.

Getting a top quality cable is the best investment you can make in tone because it enhances everything else in the chain.

[volt1281734017]

I read a post on another forum by a player who spent $50 on a 12 ' cable and how it completely changed his sound.........

He must have been using resistive spark plug wire previously. LOL

 

It's almost impossible for the guitar cord to change the sound/frequency response of a guitar.......unless you're using wire that is a semi-conductor rather than a conductor. LOL

[Notes_Norton]

I still like those coily, springy, cords that were popular in the 1970s.

 

 

Why?

 

Because if I step on them, they don't yank at the plug.

 

I've had enough electronics to know that wire is wire.

 

As long the conductor is big enough to handle the current (and there ain't much current from guitar pups) and the shielding is good enough to keep the interference out, it really shouldn't make a difference in the sound of your guitar.

 

From my pedal to my amp I use Planet Waves because they have 8 "banana-like" compression springs in the shank of the plug compress, making excellent contact while providing additional mechanical holding force.

 

 

I keep the plugs and jacks clean, and from time to time put Caig Pro Gold on them. I live in a corrosive climate (near the ocean in Florida) and the Pro Gold keeps them from corroding and is supposed to enhance the electrical connection.

 

If things do get corroded, I use Caig DeOxit on them before applying the Pro Gold.

 

As you can see, I think the connection between the jack and the plug is much more important than the wire.

 

But that is just my opinion - could be right - could be wrong.

[Rockin_Dude]

Whirlwind cables

Ya i got some around here ,i think a couple of them must be twenty years old by now ..

Most of my gig cables are Pro audio..

Now the sound system completely dofferent wind lifetime cables on all the mics

i use over twenty of them on the main board ,monitor board that`s in and outs about sixteen

more .lots of quater inch patch cables too

[antwhi2001]

I've been using curly cables for gigging recently because we play a lot of small pub gigs and I don't want yards and yards of cable around my feet. A few weeks ago I was practising at home with my Marshall TSL122 turned up to gig volume, and I noticed a distorted buzzing sound following the notes, especially at low frequencies. I guessed it was a speaker issue, and as the amp is only about 6 months old I took it back to the local retailer. He diagnosed it as interference coming from the coils in the cable, and his advice was don't use curly leads if you're playing at high gain...the curly lead I had was good quality, but now I've gone back to straight the buzzing has cleared up.

[Dave]

I use air...Well, not really...AKG wireless.

 

When I have to, I use Horizon cables. A 6 foot Horizon connects my wireless receiver to my amp. They are made well, last forever, and don't introduce noise in the chain. Bad cables can make good cables sound great when you change over. My amp doesn't care if I use oxygen free copper, it just wants me to dig in and make funky sounds.

 

Both the amps I use have noise gates so I don't know if there is noise or not unless I turn the noise gates off. And, my old ears can't hear the difference in a $50 cable and a $19.95 cable.

 

When you use expensive cables, you still compromise them when you plug up all those stomp boxes with dirty chrome jacks.

 

If we really wanted excellent connections on our instruments, we would demand that manufacturers go to an optical interface...and I expect they will one day.

[Nickblues1]

Any Cable with good braided shielding, connectors, and good soldering will work and not introduce interference.

 

As a side note electric currant is conducted around the outside of the wire, on the metal surface. The more wire strands the better the flow, and less resistance.

[Notes_Norton]

I've been using curly cables for gigging recently because we play a lot of small pub gigs <...snip...> I noticed a distorted buzzing sound following the notes' date=' especially at low frequencies. <...snip...> He diagnosed it as interference coming from the coils in the cable, and his advice was don't use curly leads if you're playing at high gain<...> [/quote']

 

Thanks for sharing that with us. It's very interesting, and I'll remember that if I ever need it.

 

I play a Casino, with P90 pickups. I choose that because I like the sound of the P90s better than humbuckers. In most places there is a little noise picked up from whatever interference there is in the room.

 

If there is a little buzz trailing the notes due to my coily cord (I can't hear it) at the volumes I play, I'm sure the rest of the music will cover that up.

 

I learned in school if the difference between the signal and the noise is 35db or more, the noise will not be heard. We normally play at sound levels between 85db and 100db (I bring a sound level meter on stage) and the noise my guitar makes is usually too low to register on the meter. YMMV In fact, most rooms I play in have an ambient noise level of 70db or so before we ever play our first note of music.

 

If I am in a recording studio, I do care about the noise, if I am playing in a pub, club, restaurant, yacht club, country club, wedding, private party, or anywhere else where there is an audience, I don't worry about the noise. Why? At the volume levels I play, the noise is really not loud enough to be heard over the ambient noise of the room, and certainly not evident once the music starts.

 

I could probably play a guitar with humbuckers, as the audience doesn't know the difference in tone. Also, what is good guitar tone anyway? It is a personal taste thing. But I like the sound of the P90s and while I am there to please the audience, I am also there to please myself.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

[smokestack]

SRV swore by cheap curly leads ! Reckoned they lost unwanted highs and sounded better ! [...and because Hendrix used them]

 

Not as daft as it sounds.

 

We shouldn't be surprised that different cables sound different. They are an electronic component in the signal chain, with their own electrical properties.

 

After that it's all subjective and down to taste in the context of a given rig. Some folks will advocate the many fancy cables with their origins in high end audio ...whilst others, like SRV, prefer the sound of the cheaper cables with less transparent highs and earlier roll off.

Audio cables are an industry in themselves these days...with guitarists seen as a whole new market for the product !

And why not. The differences are audible... and we can buy what we choose, spending as little or as much as we want or are able to justify.

 

If you've used the same old bit of wire for years, it might be worth investigating a couple of new instrument cables, You might be surprised .

 

It must be said however that the main thing with a guitar cord is that it be suitably robust and terminated with mechnically sound plugs.

 

It's worth listening to cables both ways round too. Some cables are audibly and noticeably "directional". The reasons for this are variously explained by the "experts"... but the evidence is in your own ears.

 

Not convinced ? Try it :-

[jcwillow777]

I really like George Ls for my pedal board, and from pedal board to my amp. I don't like them from by guitar to the pedal board because they are too stiff. I used to use the Fender cords on my pedal board at first, I swithced to the George Ls and I could defintely hear a big improvement. I have a coiled Whirlwind cord that I bought back in the late 70s or early 80s and it is still working great for me. I just had to fix it, but it is still kicking. (The thing weighs a ton though.)

[lostindesert]

One that works.

 

Same overhere,

 

Peter

[RSDx]

One that works.

Same here

[Nickblues1]

"Directional Cables" ??? Never heard of that for guitar cable. Just two straight pieces of wire surrounded by braided shielding.

[slagg]

i have heard of directional cables,have been told they make a differance but are quite expensive.don't know if its really worth it for just jamming tho.

[rafaelh]

Thats what that roadhog I have is...maybe uni-directional?...beats me. One end says amp and the other instrument. Anyhow I can't tell a difference.

 

As a matter of fact I've been using it for quite a bit before we noticed. Naturaly I had the end labeled instrument into the amp and amp into my guitar.

 

It has been a very durable and quiet cable....maybe that means it does make a difference?? Like I said I can't tell, was just looking for a 20' cable and that was the cheapest.

[Nickblues1]

Directional cables are purely so because one end has the outer shield grounded and the other end does not. The inner 'shield' is, of course, connected through at both ends. The purpose of this is to keep any interference currents out of the inner conducting pair. There is no magic going here. Whether or not it makes any difference in a given system depends on how much and the type of noise in the environment (and the length of the cable).

[smokestack]

That's a different issue Nick. That idea is to provide better shielding... and may consequently have a tonal effect too.

But I'm talking about ordinary single shielded coaxial cable. It may be down to the extrusion process, the alignment of cystals in the copper[whatever theory you want to believe] ...but it's there.

We're not talking about huge differences. You'll mostly hear a subtle difference in the high end transparency and sparkle. One direction may sound a bit "harder" or "softer" than the other.

 

[Not just coax either...speaker wire is often tonally directional too !]

 

And for folks who just don't believe that cables can sound different...do they believe that a 10 foot cord sounds the same as a 100 foot cord ?. Same thing. You've altered the electrical properties of the cable and it sounds different.

 

[ If anybody is wondering whether I'm employed by Eric Johnson to listen to 9v batteries...the answer is no :- ]

[Nickblues1]

Smoke that's news to me. I am used to network cables, having run miles of it over the past 28 years. I know the length of cable or a spiral cable introduces more resistance and signal loss. But I have never heard of a copper wire directional audio or guitar cable.

 

You sure it's just not marketing BS or a bad solder joint.

[smokestack]

Nick,

I spent many years working in the high end audio industry....a field even deeper in "snake oil" than this one ;^)

A lot of "snake oil" ultimately turns out to be well grounded in science...we just hadn't figured it out yet.

[There is also a lot of total bollocks and quasi scientific nonsense].

 

Audio cable directionality is real though. Very many high quality interconnecting and speaker cables have a "right" and "wrong" way round. It's quite easily heard too. Pop into your local high end audio dealer and ask him to show you.

[make sure he doesn't sell you anything though !...I don't want the blame for that ;^) ]

 

It's more noticeable with some cables than others and in some rigs more than others...but after listening, I've marked up my regularly used cords so I can easily see which way they go. They aren't fancy exotic stuff either.

[Dave]

At home I use a cable to connect to my amp and my 32 track Korg studio recorder. I'm constantly stepping on cords and re-routing them. They are a necessary pain. I've gotten spoiled playing wireless on gigs and really enjoy being able to walk anywhere in the room and still have a good connection. On breaks, I just flip the backpack transmitter on my belt off, unplug from the guitar and stick the plug in my pocket.

 

If you haven't tried wireless for live performances, you really ought to. Yes, with some frequencies there can be interference, but there's a squelch control and some have multiple frequencies like a cordless phone. I'm sold on mine. I've used it for a year and a half and no outside interference yet.