Bass cable

[Honch]

Top Ten Signs an Audio Cable Vendor is Selling You Snake Oil


Watch out if a Cable Vendor or Manufacturer:

1. Promotes that their product allegedly eliminates audio related Skin Effect and/or "Strand Jumping" problems.
2. Claims revolutionary breakthrough in cable technology by polarizing or biasing the dielectric using a battery.
3. Promotes that their products eliminate "Audiogenic", "Diode Rectification" or any type of non linear distortions. See Invalid Link Removed
4. Physically places (+) and (-) wire leads in separate dielectrics not closely spaced in a common jacket. See: Calculating Cable Inductance of Twin Feeder Cables
5. Claims vast improvements in sound by inserting "Cable Elevators" to raise the cables off the floor and minimize electron misfiring or static energy fields.
6. Claims that cryogenically freezing cables improves fidelity or measurably changes electrical properties after the cable is restored to room temperature.
7. Claims that their cables require a "Break In" period.
8. Claims that measurements cannot quantify why their designs are superior and often misapply engineering principles in their reasoning but abandon the associated governing laws and metrics that establish them.
9. Claims audible differences exist between stranded and non-stranded wires of same gauge rating, geometry and conductor spacing.
10. Claims audible differences between silver and copper cables of equal design geometry and gauge.

Bonus Scams

• Sells speaker cables or interconnects costing more than a plasma TV or a lease on a new Infinity G35 sports coupe.
• Claims wire is directional.
• Slaps RLC boxes on their cables.
• Claims of Speaker Cable Resonance at Audio Frequencies

 

[monkeyfinger]

From the number of likes on this post, obviously Talkbass all agrees. $1500 pricepoint cables are your best bet to get off the ground with your first bass and amp.

And don't forget about the $2000 deluxe power cable. Your amp won't sound the same without it!

 

[chadds]

And don't forget about the $2000 deluxe power cable. Your amp won't sound the same without it!

Wait! What?

 

[Killed_by_Death]

this thread is fast approaching:

meanwhile the OP is MIA

 

[beans-on-toast]

If you play any 60's rock, consider a curly cable. Neutrik connectors are good.

 

[Honch]

Hey, what's the point of this thread anyway? If it's an Ibanez SR800 it looks like this:

Which means it has a battery department, thus, makes it an active bass, and any cable will do, really. That's the main advantages of active basses that once fired up in active mode, you don't need to think of long or short cables, or posh ones. Just buy ANY cable that is mechanically sturdy enough, and doesn't act like an antenna picking up stray RF noise. Thus, whatever you choose is actually ok. 12 ft or 20 feet? Couldn't care less. Avoid fancy plugs, silent plugs, spring plugs, solderless, and - especially - directional cables.

Any regular run-of-the mill cables will do. Buy spares. Totally sealed with lifetime warranty will do good enough. Now close thread.

 

[BurningSkies]

Hey, what's the point of this thread anyway? If it's an Ibanez SR800 it looks like this:

Which means it has a battery department, thus, makes it an active bass, and any cable will do, really. That's the main advantages of active basses that once fired up in active mode, you don't need to think of long or short cables, or posh ones. Just buy ANY cable that is mechanically sturdy enough, and doesn't act like an antenna picking up stray RF noise. Thus, whatever you choose is actually ok. 12 ft or 20 feet? Couldn't care less. Avoid fancy plugs, silent plugs, spring plugs, solderless, and - especially - directional cables.

Any regular run-of-the mill cables will do. Buy spares. Totally sealed with lifetime warranty will do good enough. Now close thread.

I may or may not have pointed this out way back upstream a bit.

 

[Honch]

I may or may not have pointed this out way back upstream a bit.

Yes, you most certainly did...

Since the SR800 is an active bass the signal is buffered, so cable length should be a non-issue.

But it didn't seem to help, so it's justified to keep nagging about it anyway...

 

[beans-on-toast]

...but a cable isn't just a cable, it has to look cool. Just like Bill's basses.

 

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

Top Ten Signs an Audio Cable Vendor is Selling You Snake Oil


Watch out if a Cable Vendor or Manufacturer:

1. Promotes that their product allegedly eliminates audio related Skin Effect and/or "Strand Jumping" problems.
2. Claims revolutionary breakthrough in cable technology by polarizing or biasing the dielectric using a battery.
3. Promotes that their products eliminate "Audiogenic", "Diode Rectification" or any type of non linear distortions. See Invalid Link Removed
4. Physically places (+) and (-) wire leads in separate dielectrics not closely spaced in a common jacket. See: Calculating Cable Inductance of Twin Feeder Cables
5. Claims vast improvements in sound by inserting "Cable Elevators" to raise the cables off the floor and minimize electron misfiring or static energy fields.
6. Claims that cryogenically freezing cables improves fidelity or measurably changes electrical properties after the cable is restored to room temperature.
7. Claims that their cables require a "Break In" period.
8. Claims that measurements cannot quantify why their designs are superior and often misapply engineering principles in their reasoning but abandon the associated governing laws and metrics that establish them.
9. Claims audible differences exist between stranded and non-stranded wires of same gauge rating, geometry and conductor spacing.
10. Claims audible differences between silver and copper cables of equal design geometry and gauge.

Bonus Scams

• Sells speaker cables or interconnects costing more than a plasma TV or a lease on a new Infinity G35 sports coupe.
• Claims wire is directional.
• Slaps RLC boxes on their cables.
• Claims of Speaker Cable Resonance at Audio Frequencies

Also, if the vendor touts any "transmission line" BS.

 

[mikeoso]

I'm pretty much an acoustic guy, but here's what I know: I plug one end of a 20' Monster into my Martin B-1, and the other end into my Behringer mixer. Then I plug one end of a 10' Monster into my mixer, and the other end into my Fender Rumble. Then I turn on the power. If I put the plugs in the right jacks, when I play the Martin, sounds come from the Rumble. They appear to be louder than the Martin is when played without the cable. I infer from this that the stuff I have works. Is there something more I should know?

 

[Honch]

I'm pretty much an acoustic guy, but here's what I know: I plug one end of a 20' Monster into my Martin B-1, and the other end into my Behringer mixer. Then I plug one end of a 10" Monster into my mixer, and the other end into my Fender Rumble. Then I turn on the power. If I put the plugs in the right jacks, when I play the Martin, sounds come from the Rumble. They appear to be louder than the Martin is when played without the cable. I infer from this that the stuff I have works. Is there something more I should know?

 

[Deleted member 165050]

If you play any 60's rock, consider a curly cable. Neutrik connectors are good.

View attachment 1140890


View attachment 1140891

I want another curly instrument cable, they are so cool Can't think why I threw my old ones out, oh hang on I remember now it was because they sounded like a radio with the antenna unplugged whenever I moved...

 

[johnpbass]

If you play any 60's rock, consider a curly cable. Neutrik connectors are good.

View attachment 1140890


View attachment 1140891

That is certainly a VERY cool cable!
Love the Hendrix pic too! There are rumors (I read this on the Internet) that Hendrix' Marshalls were empty cabs and fake heads with just lights in them and that he had a Princeton Reverb amp behind them actually amplifying his guitar.

 

[beans-on-toast]

That is certainly a VERY cool cable!
Love the Hendrix pic too! There are rumors (I read this on the Internet) that Hendrix' Marshalls were empty cabs and fake heads with just lights in them and that he had a Princeton Reverb amp behind them actually amplifying his guitar.

They are expensive as well.

According to his brother, Jimi used to get out his soldering iron and fix his cables and guitars on the kitchen table. He was a tinkerer.

He could make anything sound good.

Marshall in this studio

Ampeg with 8 string bass

Fender

 

[Fishheadjoe]

I fell for the snake oil some years ago, having bought and paid far too much for a fancy cable. It is not functional in a live playing environment. It's stiffer than a honeymooner's, uhm, resolve!
Bought a house brand cable for cheap, no problems in the last 8 years and it looks like toaster cable!
Fishheadjoe

 

[BassmanPaul]

Why do you give Jimmy so much credit? He didn’t even know how to hold the Guitar or Bass.

 

[Al Kraft]

Claims wire is directional.

While I laugh at the basic premise and have yet to hear one scientific fact that I could even begin to find potentially believable, there are some "instrument/amplifier marked cables" that are done that way for a useful purpose. Two examples are cables with a special feature to mute them when they're being connected or disconnected from an instrument. The second is where the shield is not connected at one end (usually the instrument connector) and there are technically valid and believable pros and cons to designs like this. However, I contend that a cable with a single core wire and good shield that is properly terminated at both ends should work fine for most any application.

 

[BadB]

I thought this debate was settled a long time ago. A guitar playing friend of mine spends an enormous amount of money on cables, claiming he can clearly hear a difference between any cable. Audio cable, instrument cable, speaker cable, everything. Of course, he can't differentiate between two different guitar parts in a song, soo...there you go.

 

[Al Kraft]

I thought this debate was settled a long time ago. A guitar playing friend of mine spends an enormous amount of money on cables, claiming he can clearly hear a difference between any cable. Audio cable, instrument cable, speaker cable, everything. Of course, he can't differentiate between two different guitar parts in a song, soo...there you go.

There is a benefit to focusing on this stuff up to a point, and it's not a very big a point! Few if any people are at a level where their instrument cable, power cord or speaker port location is truly holding them back from recognizing their full potential as musicians. Interestingly enough, the finest players I've known sounded as impressive with what many would classify as mediocre equipment as they did playing high-end boutique stuff.