What brand cable do you use?

CantoX

CantoX

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Mar 10, 2006
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Man, one of the cables that I've been using for 2 years has finally died and I really want a new one.

It was a Fender Vintage Voltage, I thought that it was decent for the price and it worked but I did notice that the tone never did shine through it.

Recently I purchased a Horizon speaker cable for use with my pedal but now I'm using it for my guitar cable because the last one died. I notice a big difference in tone. The distortion gain seems lighter and everything seems brighter than usual.
With the Fender Vintage Voltage I noticed more gain but there was more noise and less sustain with my notes.

Anyways, point is I'm looking for a new cable and would like one to be recommended. I'm looking for something that is 18ft+ and will not kill my wallet.

I'm looking at those red Dimarzio cables, and even those Planet Waves cables. But please, suggest away!!

Also, feel free to discuss cables and tone in general. I for one think that cables make a big difference in tone.
 
I use Planet Waves Monster cables. They're more expensive than your "average" cable, but I'm the kind of person who breaks things easily. I haven't yet broken either of the monster cables I bought a long time ago. And the replacement policy is excellent: lifetime warranty, even if I cut it in half myself with scissors, they'd replace it no questions asked, once at least. Haven't needed to invoke it yet.
 
Do NOT use speaker cables as instrument cables & even more so, NEVER use instrument cables as speaker cables, you'll definately screw up your amp/cab/combo. Monster cables do rule, and Whirlwind (don't know if they still exist...) also had the a lifetime gurantee. I think I'm using a Dub-made cable currently, if it isn't a home brewed, its either a monster or an old whirlwind...
 
I make my own. It's cheaper and they're way better if you buy the right parts. And if you can do basic soldering. I'm sure that Ken and J-Dub can.

Monsters are shit for a number of reasons that my drunk ass doesn't feel like going into. Ken, get at me on MSN tomorrow and remind me?
 
I'm too lazy to make my own. :lol: Well, I did when I could steal parts from the lab when I was still in school. We made all kinds of crap: cables, switches, power boards for footpedals...
 
I have a Fender cable between my guitar and first pedal, then shorter PW monster cables between the pedals and the amp.

They were just first ones I saw jobs, cause frankly, any difference in tone isn't really going to concern me at this stage. The fender one has already been "fixed" once.
 
I have a top end whirlwind curly I bought in '87 Im still using, I paid alot for it comparitively at the time, so its been worth the price. However it did have a long vacation but it still has a solid 10 years of use. Im old old school and I still prefer curly cords to the guitar, never under your feet or getting walked on and that in itself may aid in endurance as well as the 90* plug at guitar end and running it through the guitar strap. It can be hell on guitar tuners through.... lol. I cant speak for tone or "power", I havent played through anything else and have plenty of power and eq.... its a very heavy duty lifetime cable. I was checking whirlwinds site last year and it seems they dont make them anymore, so I dont know if someone determined they were inferior or that no one bought them anymore.
 
There's a big article in this month's Guitar Player magazine doing a shootout between cables in different price ranges. You'll get some good info there.

Here's a link, click on the images at the right for detailed charts.

http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/49-guitar-cables/apr-08/34729

I don't really buy into that whole girth and shimmer nonsense...I don't believe too many people have an ear trained enough to hear any difference. I want low noise and durability...a lifetime warranty tells a lot about a company.

Here's the whirlwind instrument cables...they always were great. I had the curly ones too...I think they just lost popularity...they were kinda bulky.

http://whirlwindusa.com/inst01.html
 
Various Fender cables. These days I use some electrovolt but I'll buy better ones as soon as I have problems with these.
 
I just don't buy ones that look shit. Chances are that if they've taken the effort to make them look nice then they will actually be nice. It also helps to take a look at the quality of the solder joint.

Its not as important as choosing something for a high frequency system, so i'm not too worried about what I choose. HF stuff gets really complicated :S. Like the bus lines in a computer for example..... you have to take into account the length of the line, because if its the wrong length then the signal will reflect back on itself and fuck things up. Guitar cables are nice in comparison :).
 
Sounds more like an impedance mismatch causing a reflection in the wire.. With higher frequencies, you will need to pay attention to coupling within any wires that may increase inductance, which could greatly affect the passband of the new circuit you just created by putting a loop in the wire.
 
the best sounding cable I ever had was a planet waves one. It ended up crapping out on me after a couple weeks...seemed more like I got a defective one rather than it being a bad product. I've currently got a monster, a George L's, and an array of the cheaper planet waves ones that I'm using. The cheaper planet waves ones I have are alright...nothing steller but they've held up for a good while now and aren't too pricey. The George L's sound great, but they don't hold up as well as some of the pre-made cables I use. I love them for pedal boards though. The monster is also good, probably my favorite that I have at the momeny. Once I get some spare $$ to blow, I want to check out some mogami cables. The are very well-reviewed and I've got a friend who's been raving about them.
 
I'd love to do a blindfold test to see if people can pick out differences in instrument cables...I highly doubt it. Take the Pepsi challenge.

Hmm...I like vibe of "A"...but "B" has more shimmer and girth..."C" has more punch. Come on.
 
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