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Bass cables different than guitar cables?
- Thread starter Acoustic356
- Start date
Capacitance and cable length makes a difference too.
I am an outlier in this conversation. For example, onboard preamps do a better job of driving long cables than can a passive instrument. Get a 50 foot el cheapo cable and compare sometime. You will hear a difference in the high end.
The biggest weakness in all instrument cables is the standard phono jack connection. Not exactly a solid contact, as compared to a spade lug on a barrier strip, for example.
I have used dozens of cables, and have some favorites based on how they sound, namely MIT. The I can clearly hear a difference, even with blind A/B testing. I know because I have done it with band members who, though hard of hearing, could also hear a difference.
Cables clearly make a difference in a studio setting. Ask any recording engineer if they use old skinny Radio Shack cables, or something different
The real test should be "Can it be heard in a live band mix?" Probably not, but I have not A/B tested that.
Similar discussions abound on TB, as in tone woods, cavity shielding, fire the drummer, power cords, size of a driver, yada yada. Still good fun to read other people's opinions.
I am an outlier in this conversation. For example, onboard preamps do a better job of driving long cables than can a passive instrument. Get a 50 foot el cheapo cable and compare sometime. You will hear a difference in the high end.
The biggest weakness in all instrument cables is the standard phono jack connection. Not exactly a solid contact, as compared to a spade lug on a barrier strip, for example.
I have used dozens of cables, and have some favorites based on how they sound, namely MIT. The I can clearly hear a difference, even with blind A/B testing. I know because I have done it with band members who, though hard of hearing, could also hear a difference.
Cables clearly make a difference in a studio setting. Ask any recording engineer if they use old skinny Radio Shack cables, or something different
The real test should be "Can it be heard in a live band mix?" Probably not, but I have not A/B tested that.
Similar discussions abound on TB, as in tone woods, cavity shielding, fire the drummer, power cords, size of a driver, yada yada. Still good fun to read other people's opinions.
I agree Monster is generally full of poo, and the idea of bass-specific cables is clearly just marketing ... but, when I played DB and EUB, high output piezo pickups, with no preamps, straight into various amps, that stupid gold-plated Monster cable really made a big difference. Less bad noise, more good noise, or something. And I still have the same one from 15 years ago, so they make a quality product.
Same with me. I drank the Koolaid for a while - until I saw that it was Their cables failing on me. No Monster for me these days.
The only thing Monster cables are good for is ruining input jacks.
Monster cable says:
15 years ago,I bought a Monster 90 degree angle cable.
Bought the hype.
The wiring in the angle kept breaking at the solder point.
It got to the point that I just threw it out and bought a cheap Planet Waves angle cord and never had a problem since!
15 years ago,I bought a Monster 90 degree angle cable.
Bought the hype.
The wiring in the angle kept breaking at the solder point.
It got to the point that I just threw it out and bought a cheap Planet Waves angle cord and never had a problem since!
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As a drummer I hate it when I use a pair of hihat sticks but as soon as I go to the ride, they burst into flames.
I thought Monster Cable is no longer a going concern - that it's basically just a house brand for BestBuy, now. Did someone acquire them?
I have a few I bought 10 years ago. When I opened them up to take a look at the insides, I noticed there wasn't much copper in them. Lots of "jacket" though. Also didn't like their "ends" and preferred Neutrik or Amp. In fact, the cheaper REAN stuff seemed better made.
I have a few I bought 10 years ago. When I opened them up to take a look at the insides, I noticed there wasn't much copper in them. Lots of "jacket" though. Also didn't like their "ends" and preferred Neutrik or Amp. In fact, the cheaper REAN stuff seemed better made.
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I had a Monster bass cable that someone left behind at a jam session so I took it home and tried it against other cables. It definitely had a different sound, almost like they had hidden an EQ inside it to scoop mids. 
As an electrical engineer myself, I was fascinated that they figured out a way to "voice" a cable.
This was around the time when GC came to town and were pushing Monster for it's no-questions-asked warranty. Some friends were talking about how they loved that they could take a bad cable to GC and get a new one. I asked them why an expensive cable they had used for 3 weeks would fail when garden variety ones last decades. To be fair, the cable itself was fine, Monster was having issues with the plugs failing, I guess they've fixed that by now
As an electrical engineer myself, I was fascinated that they figured out a way to "voice" a cable.This was around the time when GC came to town and were pushing Monster for it's no-questions-asked warranty. Some friends were talking about how they loved that they could take a bad cable to GC and get a new one. I asked them why an expensive cable they had used for 3 weeks would fail when garden variety ones last decades. To be fair, the cable itself was fine, Monster was having issues with the plugs failing, I guess they've fixed that by now
Wow! What a read!
I don't think I’ve ever seen anybody put their boot so far up someone’s butt as the guy who wrote that letter.
Monster didn't care if Ken replied or not. Monster is just protecting its TMs. TMs and patents have to be policed. If you let people infringe on your TM, you can "lose" it. So bigger companies have to go out and assert their mark on infringers, or even barely-plausible ones, to have that record of maintaining it (for the day a real matter comes along). They also have lawyers whose job it is to monitor for these things, whip out the cnd, and then advise the business if it's something they really need to act on. If Monster actually thought there was an infringement, anything other than a "we'll stop immediately" would have been followed quickly by civil complaint. And sadly, much of what Ken said was very very wrong -- if he thought it was his retort that made the matter go away, he really should make friends with a lawyer for better advice. That said, it was probably very therapeutic to send the letter off. I went through this with a family's printing business when they got a cnd from Kinko's. The lack of similarity between the signage was hilarious, but I explained that wasn't the point. A detailed one-page reply mostly let US know Kinko's wasn't treating it as a serious infringement -- which was a big deal because the cost of fighting a lawsuit probably would have wiped their business out. I wouldn't be shocked if they got a letter from BlueJeans Network some day in similar fashion.
I remember reading that long ago, possibly even around the time it was new news.
I have not purchased a monster product since, and I tell all of my students to buy "any quality cable that is not monster" because of how gross this made them appear, and how reliable the source of their gross-ness.
guitar cables are the same as bass cables. please don't buy this, guys...
Off the shelf VOX “curly cords” ... been using them for years
you might have missed the part where ken explains his career as an attorney. also, you may want to check into the history of 'monster' and their trademark/trade dress/patent enforcement. it's shkreli-like. the mere tip of the proverbial iceberg: Monster Cable Caves Again, With Oddly Worded Apology there's much more like that to be found.
Say WHHHHhhhhaaaaaaaaaaAAAATTTTTT?? ?? ? ? ??? ?? ? ??? ??
One of the local car dealerships phones people a year after they buy a car saying that the car they bought is in high demand and they'll give top dollar for it.
They never mention the model of the car.
Some people will do just about anything to get your $
One of the local car dealerships phones people a year after they buy a car saying that the car they bought is in high demand and they'll give top dollar for it.
They never mention the model of the car.
Some people will do just about anything to get your $
Yeah, I lost steam before I got there -- makes it much more interesting. I read another article about it, and the right word is "ballsy." And I took it to mean he thought MP HAD TO produce evidence in the letter before a business had to comply, but what he was really was saying was "you'd have to do all this to convince me." If I had gotten to the line "I would rather spend fifty thousand dollars on defense than give you a dollar of unmerited settlement funds" I'd have picked up on the tone hahaha All that said, it's still the case that businesses have to do some level of policing or they can lose their marks. Going after golf courses and clothing stores is bad (and does make for terrible PR) but they're not wrong when they say "the letter of the law that requires us to prevent the dilution of our mark risk losing it." I just think that gets lost in the shuffle. But I'm sure, now, that Ken knew this would be GREAT PR for his biz
Those are actually THE best cords for bass cause the curls cancel out noise (like twisted pair) for a cleaner signal into your amp.
I bet Monster didn't think about that!
I bought monster bass cables a bunch of years ago mainly for the lifetime warranty.
5 or so years later one crapped out on me.
I contacted Monster about it, I did not have a receipt so they wouldn't do anything for me, I'll never but anything they make again.
My 2 cents...
5 or so years later one crapped out on me.
I contacted Monster about it, I did not have a receipt so they wouldn't do anything for me, I'll never but anything they make again.
My 2 cents...
Cluless about Monster Cable all I know is what works for me.
