Analysis Plus Cables

[bassistloaded21]

Anybody use these? Is it worth the price? I know people says its snake oil and all that, but there has to be more to it than that. They cant just slap a price on them and not have them do something. Any info would be appreciated

[bassistloaded21]

nebody?

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by bassistloaded21

Anybody use these? Is it worth the price? I know people says its snake oil and all that, but there has to be more to it than that. They cant just slap a price on them and not have them do something. Any info would be appreciated

actually slapping a price on any old thing pretty much defines snake oil....perhaps audiophiles can measure differences in the lab,but for gig/teardown/gig/tear down good quality is more about solid construction than any differences in sound you may or may not notice

[engedi1]

you won't find much love on this forum for expensive cables. For example, I use proco guardien 8 guage speakon cables which cost a lot! The audio engineers and electrical engineers will tell you I would get just as good as results with coat hangars. The cable DOES make a difference, especially if you are using a passive bass, since it can alter the impedance, therefor acting like another tone control. With a good active bass, it should have less of a difference. Richard Bona uses passive basses only so he is a good choice to endorse (and a monster bad***)

[cnltb]

I am using a pro oval studio instrument cable.
It is distinct from all other cables I have tried.
On active instruments the difference may not be quite so audible but using it with my passive bass is quite an interesting experience.
No problems with "built quality "either.
The only downside is that it is quite stiff when compared with ,for example, a Vovox sonorus which I also use -and like a lot.

...pretty much +1 on the post above :-)

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by bassistloaded21

Anybody use these? Is it worth the price? I know people says its snake oil and all that, but there has to be more to it than that. They cant just slap a price on them and not have them do something. Any info would be appreciated

No, there doesn't, and yes, they can.

[bassistloaded21]

Are you gonna elaborate a bit or just stake a claim?

[engedi1]

Originally Posted by ggunn

No, there doesn't, and yes, they can.

I told you....He probably twisted some bailing wire together a few years, attached a jack to it and plugs it into his amp (which is connected to his speakers with a coat hanger)

You can check out the most PHD'D, expensive speaker cord hater on TB, and they will still admit that for PASSIVE basses, the cord can indeed make a difference-simply due to the impedance issue. That is why an active bass will have a broader sonic spectrum (not always a better sound to many) even if the eq controls are flat, because the impedance will match better to that of the amp. I don't know much about the analysis plus cables. I use mogami cables myself, and have been pretty happy with them. Of course I mostly play an active Sadowsky, but they still sound pretty good when I am in passive mode!
I am looking at moving over to passive basses only, getting a vintage p and a vintage j. Will I buy an analysis plus cable, probably not. I'll mostly likely stick with my mogamis

[251]

Originally Posted by bassistloaded21

Anybody use these? Is it worth the price? I know people says its snake oil and all that, but there has to be more to it than that. They cant just slap a price on them and not have them do something. Any info would be appreciated

Fact, you will treat the expensive cable better. Plus, the strain relief built into the connectors has gotten more thought than a spring & some heat shrink tubing. The wire is not going to be "military specification", just 1st quality coaxial cable. I have several cables that are going onto their 10th year + one that got one new jack a year ago. How much extra per year over 8 years, for that cable you think has the quality to go with your gear? We both spent that much to be Supporting Members here. You deserve to treat yourself right!

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by bassistloaded21

Are you gonna elaborate a bit or just stake a claim?

I've never heard of Analysis Plus cables, but there doesn't have to be anything special about a cable for it to have a high price tag. No, there doesn't have to be anything to their claims, and yes, they can just slap a high price on them. Personally, I've never heard a cable difference on any instrument, active or passive, guitar or bass, but whatever floats yer boat. A high price is no guarantee of anything, though.

And in a related story...

I read an account of a wine tasting where the folks running it hid the labels but showed the prices, and they asked the tasters to rank the wines. The higher priced wines nearly always won. Then they tried it again, but hid the prices. Wanna guess what happened?

[cnltb]

Originally Posted by ggunn

I've never heard of Analysis Plus cables, but there doesn't have to be anything special about a cable for it to have a high price tag. No, there doesn't have to be anything to their claims, and yes, they can just slap a high price on them. Personally, I've never heard a cable difference on any instrument, active or passive, guitar or bass, but whatever floats yer boat. A high price is no guarantee of anything, though.

I have.
No there doesn't, but that doesn't mean there isn't x2,
Yes of course they can,
I have ,
Yup whatever does...
No it isn't:-)

[fdeck]

Originally Posted by engedi1

You can check out the most PHD'D, expensive speaker cord hater on TB, and they will still admit that for PASSIVE basses, the cord can indeed make a difference-simply due to the impedance issue.

No, I don't think we will say anything about the relationship between speaker cords and passive basses.

I don't think I am the most PhD'd expensive speaker cord hater, but still, it's not something to "admit" but simply a statement based on knowing how electricity works. The capacitance of instrument cables affects the response of passive basses. Still, none of the high-end "audiophile" cable makers will actually tell us how much capacitance their cables possess. The lowest capacitance instrument cable that I know of with a published rating is George L. Mainstream cables, including Monster, are around twice this amount. You can also reduce cable capacitance by using a shorter cable.

[fdeck]

Originally Posted by ggunn

I read an account of a wine tasting where the folks running it hid the labels but showed the prices, and they asked the tasters to rank the wines. The higher priced wines nearly always won. Then they tried it again, but hid the prices. Wanna guess what happened?

Ah, but there are expert wine-tasters who can tell the difference in a blind test, which there aren't for speaker cables. And, you can see differences in the composition of wines under chemical analysis. AFAIK there are even blind testing contests for wine lovers.

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by fdeck

Ah, but there are expert wine-tasters who can tell the difference in a blind test, which there aren't for speaker cables. And, you can see differences in the composition of wines under chemical analysis. AFAIK there are even blind testing contests for wine lovers.

I'm not that sure that even "expert" wine tasters can do all that well in a blind test, and even though chemical analysis can show different makeups in wine, a gas chromatograph cannot discern what tastes "good". Taste is very subjective, the same as hearing.

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by fdeck

No, I don't think we will say anything about the relationship between speaker cords and passive basses.

I don't think I am the most PhD'd expensive speaker cord hater, but still, it's not something to "admit" but simply a statement based on knowing how electricity works. The capacitance of instrument cables affects the response of passive basses. Still, none of the high-end "audiophile" cable makers will actually tell us how much capacitance their cables possess. The lowest capacitance instrument cable that I know of with a published rating is George L. Mainstream cables, including Monster, are around twice this amount. You can also reduce cable capacitance by using a shorter cable.

Sure, lower capacitance is better, but only up to a point. If you are moving the low pass rolloff point up into the hundreds of kHz or higher, who cares?

[bassistloaded21]

I actually talked to a sound engineer friend of mine who does most of Shures clinics and is a sound guy for pretty much every major artist, hes on tour with john mayer right now. He said he did a clinic where monster and quite a few other cable companies sat him and 5 other audio engineers down and had them listen to see if they could hear a diference in cables. He said they all did, and that it was a very noticeable difference in the sound of all the cables. I can notice a difference in the sound of a cable also. I actually tracked down an analysis plus cable that a friend of mine had, and though it wasnt a big difference, there was a difference in tone, but not $100 worth.

[fdeck]

Originally Posted by ggunn

Sure, lower capacitance is better, but only up to a point. If you are moving the low pass rolloff point up into the hundreds of kHz or higher, who cares?

Quite agreed. However, consider this situation: A low impedance source with a 250k volume pot on its output, dialed halfway, into 20 feet at 40 pF per foot, which is typical ProCo cable that I happen to use. Under this condition, the source impedance is 63k Ohms. The corner is around 3 kHz.

Now I have obviously made some gross assumptions, and may even have made some mistakes. But it shows that the effect is at least worth considering. If more detail is desired, the overall response curve of the bass and cable together can be measured without too much trauma.

Of course I deal with it like most players with passive basses: Plug in, adjust the EQ knobs to suit, and play.

[fdeck]

Originally Posted by bassistloaded21

I actually talked to a sound engineer friend of mine who does most of Shures clinics and is a sound guy for pretty much every major artist, hes on tour with john mayer right now. He said he did a clinic where monster and quite a few other cable companies sat him and 5 other audio engineers down and had them listen to see if they could hear a diference in cables. He said they all did, and that it was a very noticeable difference in the sound of all the cables. I can notice a difference in the sound of a cable also. I actually tracked down an analysis plus cable that a friend of mine had, and though it wasnt a big difference, there was a difference in tone, but not $100 worth.

Sounds like you've got the info that you need.

[Febs]

Originally Posted by bassistloaded21

I actually talked to a sound engineer friend of mine who does most of Shures clinics and is a sound guy for pretty much every major artist, hes on tour with john mayer right now. He said he did a clinic where monster and quite a few other cable companies sat him and 5 other audio engineers down and had them listen to see if they could hear a diference in cables. He said they all did, and that it was a very noticeable difference in the sound of all the cables. I can notice a difference in the sound of a cable also. I actually tracked down an analysis plus cable that a friend of mine had, and though it wasnt a big difference, there was a difference in tone, but not $100 worth.

Let me guess. These were sighted tests?

[bassistloaded21]

NEgative. Why would you hire audio engineers to look instead of listen?