Good cables/bad cables

eatswodo · Post by **eatswodo** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 12:49 pm

+1 for Planet Waves - I have several, a couple of which are 3 years old. One has the circuit breaker switch, which at first I thought was a bit of a gimmick, but actually turns out to be really useful.

Oh, and while a 2-channel wireless sounds like a nice piece of gear, $700 is more than I paid for my 650D brand-new

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 1:54 pm

I will admit that my Tera Labs cable is around 10 years old!

Lost Coyotes · Post by **Lost Coyotes** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 2:01 pm

I've had good luck with a Planet Waves too, and thanks to the link above I just ordered from Bayou a 20' blue Canare...the price isn't bad at all considering the all top notch components.
Seems like an easy website to deal with too.

gray · Post by **gray** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 4:33 pm

Oliver- I knew they did, but I felt like it was just a good moment to give a different cable a go. Besides, I've heard of the plugs on Monster Cables being slightly too large and wearing out jacks. Lots of people had good things to say about Mogami, and my ROS box came with Mogami stuff, so I decided to give it a go.

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 5:24 pm

Even good quality cable can sound different, due to capacitance per foot. I tried a cable made from Canare L4E6S "star-quad" mic cable and it sounded okay. I then made one out of Canare L-4CFB 75 ohm SD video cable, which lost some highs. I compared the cpf spec for these cables, and understood why. Then I ordered Canare GS-6 instrument cable that had a lower cpf spec, and heard the difference. Even with a bass guitar, the roundwounds sounded clearer with that GS-6 cable. Worth the effort to find/get - Bayou uses it, as does Procables N Sound

qwezirider · Post by **qwezirider** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 7:39 am

So to play devil's advocate, how much of the sound improvement of an expensive cable or wireless unit is completely lost in the cacophony of variables playing with a live band in a bar? How much of the improvement will be noticed when everything else in the world that can mess with your sound will?

I have to admit that it's entirely probable I would see an improvement going more pricey based on everyone's experiences. But I can't say my sound with inexpensive cables and wireless units has been disappointing in the least over the years.

Just curious how much of the sound improvement translates in a live setting with everyone and everything else in the world stepping all over your own sound.

kcole4001 · Post by **kcole4001** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:15 am

The change in high end response would be the easiest to notice in a loud environment, but realistically, you'd just eq your amp differently if you noticed a lack of clarity.

I'd think that just using stage volume, it wouldn't be very noticable, but if you run a line out to the board, then you're also talking about a cleaner, more usable signal, so it would definitely be advisable in that situetion.

My experience with the cheap cable included buzzing, crackles, pops, & total loss of signal at times.

Recording is the most demanding, naturally.

My Planet Waves cables (non-circuit breaker type) only cost me $40 Cdn. each, pretty reasonable, which I really appreciate now!

qwezirider · Post by **qwezirider** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:17 pm

I agree regarding the recording aspect. I suppose I was being short sighted thinking only from the live angle.

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:44 pm

The high end roll off is noticable, and when the tone changes, eq'ing doesn't always bring it to the tone and clarity a low capacitance cable will provide by nature. I will also play devil's advocate and say it would be noticeable in a bar situation but with everyone drunk will they notice?! Or even care, when finding someone to go home with is the main concern??? Comes back to personal pride in your product.

beatlefreak · Post by **beatlefreak** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 2:09 am

No one's advocating going out and spending $100-$150 for a cable. But with the high dollar amounts we spend on our Rickenbackers, and the money we put into our amps - all in the name of tone, don'tcha think they deserve more than just a cheap cable or wireless unit?

kcole4001 · Post by **kcole4001** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 5:06 am

Spend $1500-2000 on this one, and $2000 on that one, but putting a $15 piece of gear in between doesn't make sense.

$40-$70 seems pretty reasonable, depending on features.

eatswodo · Post by **eatswodo** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 6:34 am

Couldn't agree more, Kevin - why spoil the ship for a haporth o' tar?

Over on the Line 6 Variax forum, you constantly see people moaning about the cost of the official Line 6 VDI cable (it's $40), and moaning just as much when they screw up their Variax by using some random piece of Cat5 cable they find lying around.

aceonbass · Post by **aceonbass** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 7:20 am

Don't believe all the cable hype out there. I don't think I've spent more than $20.00 on a custom made cable at Bayou Cables. By the way, in order to keep the gold plating on gold cable ends from coming off almost right away, it's got a thin plastic coating on it. So much for gold's superior conductivity.

kcole4001 · Post by **kcole4001** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:47 am

Like anything else, homework is essential, and word of mouth is the most believable.

One of the guys in my band has used Planet Waves for quite a while with no troubles, so that's why I picked them.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 5:02 pm

I have tried pretty much every high end cable out there and finally I came to the conclusion that I would just buy a whole bunch of these cables ...

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Musicians-Gear-Instrument-Cable-14-Straight?sku=333210

they work great and last as long as most of the $30 cables ... they are very flexible and I always have at least 3 of them so if one goes bad I have 2 more to use ...