Cable Length

[WordIsBorn79]

Hey everyone. In a fairly recent issue of Bass Player Mag, it stated that for every 14 feet of guitar cable used, you lose a somewhat substantial amount of gain and high end on the bass. I have all kinds of brands, and all kinds of lengths, so i was curious what you guys thought. Bear this in mind: I have a small pedal board that uses a loooper, so i end up using 2 fairly long bass cables every time.

[haujobb]

If you have an active bass, it's mostly a none issue. If not, you can try placing a buffer somewhere near the beginning of the signal chain, but you need to decide for yourself if it's worth $100+ for a buffer or if you can eq the lost highend back in, or if the signal loss is even bad enough to bother fixing.

[Jazzin']

I don't really care about this issue, the lost gain can be compensated by just boosting the volume or high end on the amp.

[e.maynard]

It's a total non-Issue. Sure, in a long run of cheese cable you'll lose some high end. But at what frequency? 15K? 20K? So what? It may even help the possible harsh high end coming out of your multi-effects box

Use a decent brand cable, plug in directly and A/B between a short and long cable.

Enjoy

[gottawalk]

Originally Posted by e.maynard

Use a decent brand cable, plug in directly and A/B between a short and long cable.

Enjoy

How about a few name brands of decent cables? I've also heard that the better the cable, the less noise, too. (Not a lot, but anything helps... )

[specplyrz]

Monster Cable...anything with a larger core center wire and better materials.

[haujobb]

Monster is way overpriced for how fragile it is.

[JimmyM]

Monster...lol! If you say so, dude. I think they're overrated and unnecessary myself. I buy whatever's on sale. Sounds fine to me.

BTW, Albert Collins used to use a 100' cable and nobody ever complained about his lack of treble. I hear a noticeable difference with lengths of 30' or more, but like everyone else says, you can compensate with tone controls on the amp.

[e.maynard]

Originally Posted by gottawalk

How about a few name brands of decent cables? I've also heard that the better the cable, the less noise, too. (Not a lot, but anything helps... )

I really dig George L's cable. You can make any length you need. Buy a few extra ends (Straight or Right Angle).......solderless. Highly rated and sound as good or better than any cable I've ever used. Fairly priced too.

http://www.georgelsstore.com/home.html

[gottawalk]

Originally Posted by e.maynard

I really dig George L's cable. You can make any length you need. Buy a few extra ends (Straight or Right Angle).......solderless. Highly rated and sound as good or better than any cable I've ever used. Fairly priced too.

http://www.georgelsstore.com/home.html

"Build-your-own" sounds great! Been a few years since I've done that, but the "solderless" sounds like a great deal! Thanks!

haujobb: Monster is way overpriced for how fragile it is.

I've also heard that they spread the contacts in the guitar and screw things up for other cords. Anybody else heard any complaints about that? I know a guitar player that had to have his jack replaced because of it...

[Kael]

Monster cables have slightly oversized jacks that can wear out equipment. I am not a big fan of them. Just my $.02.

[specplyrz]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Monster...lol! If you say so, dude. I think they're overrated and unnecessary myself. I buy whatever's on sale. Sounds fine to me.

BTW, Albert Collins used to use a 100' cable and nobody ever complained about his lack of treble. I hear a noticeable difference with lengths of 30' or more, but like everyone else says, you can compensate with tone controls on the amp.

I always am amazed at how people laugh off or don't like Monster Cable. The designer of that cable in the early days of "High End Audiophiles" rewrote what they used back then and today. His white papers "Proved" you could see/hear/ measure differences in cables. Now it is a multi billion dollar industry with all sorts of engineers, artists, designers and such using it or simular designs.

You can hear the difference of any HIGH QUALITY cable. So, yes, It's worth the price.

[gottawalk]

Originally Posted by specplyrz

I always am amazed at how people laugh off or don't like Monster Cable. The designer of that cable in the early days of "High End Audiophiles" rewrote what they used back then and today. His white papers "Proved" you could see/hear/ measure differences in cables. Now it is a multi billion dollar industry with all sorts of engineers, artists, designers and such using it or simular designs.

You can hear the difference of any HIGH QUALITY cable. So, yes, It's worth the price.

Gosh! Microsoft has "engineers, artists, designers and such", but I still know a butt-load of people that use Mac, and claim that MS screws up more...hmmm

[FireBug]

Monster cable is way overrated. I bought one a while ago and everything was going fine until I lost sound. I unscrewed the end and the solder joint had come undone. I took it back and got my 50 bucks back. I don't waste time or money with crappy gear.

[specplyrz]

Originally Posted by FireBug

Monster cable is way overrated. I bought one a while ago and everything was going fine until I lost sound. I unscrewed the end and the solder joint had come undone. I took it back and got my 50 bucks back. I don't waste time or money with crappy gear.

Well, one time does not ruin my day. I have had a few faulty pieces of Ampeg gear and just bought a 1200.00 amp. I love it. Glad I gave them another try or I would of missed out.

The point I think I was trying to make is that Monster Cable gave a lot of technical advancement to the cable/wire industry and people rag on them. Oxygen free copper, long drawn copper,(sounds like a porn star) dielectric teflon formulas...etc, that are now used in our amps and speaker bottoms as well all came from in part, from Monster Cable research.

[Son of Bovril]

Get a wireless...

[specplyrz]

good point...

[billfitzmaurice]

There are measureable differences in cables. Unfortunately that's all they are, measureable, with extremely sophisticated equipment with resolution a hundred times more sensitive than your ears. Within the industry there's a technical term that's applied to anyone who pays more than a dollar a foot for wire: Suckers. Is the cable industry successful? Yes. So is the 'Natural Male Enhancement' industry. Some people will believe anything, and there will always be someone right there to take their money.

As to the question at hand, yes, cable runs of more than 20 feet or so from a high impedance source, ie, a passive pick-up, are subject to excessive signal loss, so either go to active pickups or use a pre, either on-board or on the floor with as short a cord as possible going to it.

I don't really care about this issue, the lost gain can be compensated by just boosting the volume or high end on the amp

True, but you're also boosting the noise level. If you run flat wounds without tweeters with your treble EQ off while wearing mittens then it won't matter a bit to you, but the more high frequency content you have in your sound the more the need to minimize cable losses.

[specplyrz]

Well Bill,

Gotta disagree with you on this one. You CAN hear the difference between cables. Now it may not be as apparent in the amps/speakers for pro audio, but I assure you, in the home stereo market, different interconnects and speaker wire has a big impact on the sound. Try a pair of Martin Logan electrostatics, with 12 guage, cheap speaker wire. Then hook up a good quality, ofc, cable. You WILL hear a difference.

As a speaker designer, you don't use cheap wire to wire up your cabinets do you? I bet you don't. Why? Because you can HEAR good quality. Same with wire.

[thejohnkim]

I use Mogami Studio Gold and Canare wire from online cable guys. I actually find them to be the same price if not cheaper than the usual 'middle-tier' stuff at retail places. I don't bother with cables from Monster, because they're more expensive and I don't like their jacks.