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06-07-2006, 02:31 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Urbana, IL | | | Why can I HEAR the physical movement of my cables???
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Whenever I move my cables around, they make actual noise through an amp. Hitting the cable against itself makes a noticeable dull thud, Squeezing a different cable between my fingers makes a crackly noise. It drives me nuts.
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06-07-2006, 02:34 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Fort Atkinson, WI | | | Sounds like the connection between the cable and the amp might not be very good. Maybe try new cables?
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06-07-2006, 02:35 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Urbana, IL | | Quote: |
Originally Posted by invader3k Sounds like the connection between the cable and the amp might not be very good. Maybe try new cables? | No, tried different cables. It's the movement of the cable itself, not the jack.
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06-07-2006, 02:40 PM
| | ...Bluesin' and Funkin' | | Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada | | | Buy a new brand of cables? More expensive cables?
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06-07-2006, 02:54 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Urbana, IL | | | I have a very very nice carver professional cable that does this. It's really crazy.
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06-07-2006, 03:14 PM
| | Registered User
General Manager, Roscoe Guitars | | Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: Greensboro, NC, USA | | | Your cable/s are microphonic - the cable itself is picking up the noise and sending it along to your amplifier. Usually, the only cure is to toss it and get a new cable.
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06-07-2006, 03:16 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Urbana, IL | | Quote: |
Originally Posted by Gard Your cable/s are microphonic - the cable itself is picking up the noise and sending it along to your amplifier. Usually, the only cure is to toss it and get a new cable. | I was wondering if being really close to the front of the speakers made any difference. Or being partly coiled. You know, magnetic eddy currents and whatnot (I have no idea what I am talking about, do I?)
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06-07-2006, 03:17 PM
| | Notes we play > Gear we play them on | | Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Wisconsin | | Sounds like you need Monster cables.
Or maybe Tara Labs.  |
06-07-2006, 03:22 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Urbana, IL | | Quote: |
Originally Posted by SuperDuck Sounds like you need Monster cables.
Or maybe Tara Labs. | BURN HIM!!!! 
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06-07-2006, 03:32 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: May 2006 Location: London, UK | | | Lots of perfectly good instrument cable makes a noise when flexed or hit. It doesn't mean that the cable is faulty. Guitars (passive ones, anyway) are high impedance devices. When connected to the amp, they make a circuit in which voltage is significant but very little current flows. Movement of the cable actually generates a small signal within the cable itself that is heard as static when amplified by the system.
You can buy expensive 'premium' cables which are constructed so as to minimise this noise. However, the special cushioning materials within these types of cable tend to increase its capacitance, which has the effect of rolling off the treble frequencies a bit.
Unless the noise is actually noticable while playing (unlikely), I wouldn't worry about it. |
06-07-2006, 03:34 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Deep E Texas | | | The jack in the amp may be faulty.
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06-07-2006, 03:37 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Urbana, IL | | Quote: |
Originally Posted by Espidog Lots of perfectly good instrument cable makes a noise when flexed or hit. It doesn't mean that the cable is faulty. Guitars (passive ones, anyway) are high impedance devices. When connected to the amp, they make a circuit in which voltage is significant but very little current flows. Movement of the cable actually generates a small signal within the cable itself that is heard as static when amplified by the system.
You can buy expensive 'premium' cables which are constructed so as to minimise this noise. However, the special cushioning materials within these types of cable tend to increase its capacitance, which has the effect of rolling off the treble frequencies a bit.
Unless the noise is actually noticable while playing (unlikely), I wouldn't worry about it. |
You know what? I did notice it with a purely passive bass, I only have one. The rest are active, and they don't do this. Wow, great advice!
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06-07-2006, 03:42 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Urbana, IL | | | Yep, Espidog is right. Tried it with my passive bass, and they all make some sort of noise, tried it with my actives, and no noise at all.
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06-07-2006, 05:43 PM
|  | In case you missed it, I work for QSC Audio!
Applications Engineer, QSC Audio | | Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Costa Mesa, Calif. | | A buffered (active low-impedance) output can make all kinds of cable artifacts such as triboelectric phenomena (noise due to changes in the cable's capacitance as it is flexed) simply vanish.  |
06-07-2006, 06:04 PM
| | Notes we play > Gear we play them on | | Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Wisconsin | | Quote: |
Originally Posted by Bob Lee (QSC) A buffered (active low-impedance) output can make all kinds of cable artifacts such as triboelectric phenomena (noise due to changes in the cable's capacitance as it is flexed) simply vanish. | Pft. You made at least three of those words up. |
06-07-2006, 06:30 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Glendale, CA (LA County) | | | I tried and tried, but I can't replicate your problem, with my passive bass. I guess my home-made Canare/Nuetrik cables are worth the effort.
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06-07-2006, 09:12 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Brooklyn | | | I'm so psyched Bob is a fan of my new band, The Triboelectric Phenomena. We'll send you some stickers right away.
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i have heard of cables being microphonic. even very good ones. it does sound like it has something to do with capacitance, which the signal from a passive bass will be more sensitive to than the signal from an active one.
some high quality cable uses dielectric material (insulation) that has a lot of air in it, to minimize capacitance. it's basically a kind of foam (often made of teflon). it's there to increase high end response, not decrease it. but i can imagine it being sensitive to bending and squeezing, since you'd be compressing it.
i wouldn't be surprised if cheap-o cables are less microphonic. the highest quality cables are made for stereos and studios, where getting squeezed and banged isn't much of an issue.
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