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What's the difference?

Hi.

If You feel that a topic may be controversial, it's always best to do a search.

The Monster cables, Behringer products and perhaps the "best bass for metal" are the most relevant ;).

As for voicing a cable, that's entirely possible, cheap to do, and doesn't make any sense what so ever.
Except for a sales pitch aimed at ignorant buyers.

Regards
Sam
 
Monster stuff is very highly overrated. I've had many occasions to AB Monsters with other cheaper cables, and there's no difference in tone that I've ever heard. Plus their marketing claims are based on voodoo. They do have a lifetime guarantee, and on the surface that sounds like a good deal, but there are cheaper cables out there with lifetime guarantees, too.
 
Expensive cables are a scam. Buy based on durability and price. The claims of enhanced tone are a pile of dog mess.
+1. Cables can't add anything to a signal, they can only remove. The Monster 'Bass' cables don't add bass, they remove highs. That's because that cable has very high capacitance. So high that IMO any reputable and honest manufacturer wouldn't sell them at all, deeming them to be defective.
 
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That's what I thought. I didn't think that a length of copper wire called "Jazz" would be any different from a length of copper wire called "Acoustic".

Are there any cables meant for Bass guitar that differ from normal instrument cables. What's the difference? Does it really matter which cable I buy as long as I get sound to my amp?
 
There is no such thing as "bass cables". If someone is claiming that there is you should spend your money somewhere else. Cables is not a complicated thing. It is simply copper cable with ends. It can be argued that different ends make better cables because they last longer or are easy to replace but I wouldn't make too much of it. An inexpensive instrument cable will do just fine until you are a touring act.
 
An inexpensive instrument cable will do just fine until you are a touring act.
That's going to the other extreme, as cheap cables can suffer from both high capacitance and insufficient shielding, which can be especially problematic with passives. The middle ground is best. Buy only cable made with Switchcraft or Neutrik connectors and name brand wire. But not expensive; a dollar per foot plus ten dollars for connectors is all you have to pay for the highest quality. Any more than that is money down the drain.
 
billfitzmaurice said:
+1. Cables can't add anything to a signal, they can only remove. The Monster 'Bass' cables don't add bass, they remove highs. That's because that cable has very high capacitance. So high that IMO any reputable and honest manufacturer wouldn't sell them at all, deeming them to be defective.

+1. This is really bad.

It's one thing to claim improvements from products which don't really do anything (like expensive power cable replacements and power conditioners), and quite another to deliberately make a suboptimal product purely with an eye toward tricking an unwary consumer.

No cable should affect your tone. At all.