Best cable for the money?

[shai-ga]

Only CoreX2.
Best cable I've used.
Sounds great, very heavy duty.

 

[uglymutt]

Some cables (due to poor isolation etc.) do sound different, just make sure it isn't some random brand, e.g. they have a good reputation or make other products for guitar/bass instead of them making cheese and instrument cables

 

[ashtray9]

I use Monster Jazz cables exclusively. Those lydian dominant runs just don't sound the same through anything else.

 

[cnltb]

in terms of value for money I like Vovox.
They are very flexible and comfortable to use.
Mostly though they "sound" good.

 

[unbridled]

Cloth covered cables from SLM. Retail at less than 20 bucks with a good, heavy tip and cloth over-braid. Hope I can still get them with the problems Loud Technologies (parent company of SLM) has had.

 

[Ozonbass]

Bayou Audio Cables...reasonably priced, great materials and service.

 

[KJung]

Hello all,
Looking for atleast two instrument cables that will provide a strong and solid connection from my bass, to a Korg pitchblack pedal tuner, to my amp.

I know Monster is what everyone goes to but it seems rather expensive to be spending $50 on a cable. Then again I'd rather spend the extra cash and get the best sound possible than have my playing suffer for a minor issue like the cable I use.

What do you think? Drop the money on two Monster cables? Or should I just go for any random brand with a lifetime guarantee?

Thanks,
Ryan

I use the premade George L cables sold by Musician's Friend (15' from bass to tuner, 10' from tuner to amp). They are wonderful quality, reasonably priced, and the 'micro wire' takes up hardly any room in your gig bag.

 

[BurningSkies]

Bayou Audio Cables...reasonably priced, great materials and service.

Butch's cables are great and not very expensive, given that he make them and will do special orders.

I've recently taken to buying quality cable and connectors in bulk then making my own. Hit redco.com and order up the stuff and make your own. You can pick your own length, gauge and the end pieces you think will work the best. I then double heat shrink the connections (inside and out) and I know that they'll be around for a very long time.

Mine have a life time guarantee...if they ever go wrong, the guy who made them will remake them at no cost!

 

[bullshark]

I've recently taken to buying quality cable and connectors in bulk then making my own. Hit redco.com and order up the stuff and make your own. You can pick your own length, gauge and the end pieces you think will work the best. I then double heat shrink the connections (inside and out) and I know that they'll be around for a very long time.

Mine have a life time guarantee...if they ever go wrong, the guy who made them will remake them at no cost!

+1 on making your own, that way you'll have the exact length you need, you know they're well made and it's cost efficient.

And another +1 on Redco.com, best service on the net.

 

[jonotronic]

Klotz cables are great, nice rubber sheaths (????) over the jacks and very difficult to break.

 

[themarshall]

On soapbox.
For the love of God, don't run through your tuner. Unless you have some extra tone you need to get rid of, there is no reason to. Do you tune more than 1x a set? If so, look into why your bass isn't staying in tune. If your amp has an out, put the tuner there.
Off soapbox.

Sorry, I just had to say it.

 

[PJSShearer]

I highly recommend Whirlwind cables - I used one daily for five years + and never got a crackle out of it. All others I tried ended up getting getting the 2" cut and shut treatment after a few weeks.

BTW, I'm 100% with themarshall - use the shortest cable run you can get away with - above 20' you start losing tone and over 30' it drops away considerably. Besides, the more cables you have in the circuit, the more you have to go wrong!!

 

[RJC1811]

Check your local shop brand. Ya know, the generic ones that folks scoff at because they aren't pretty. Here in the 'Ville I buy a local shop's brand. Good cable, Neutrik ends, guaranteed for life, no questions asked. Same reason I buy Craftsman hand tools. Ran over it with the lawnmower? No problem.

+1

I sometimes question how much of a difference pickups or even your amp make in your tone in live situations let alone instrument cables. I have heard guys sounding good live playing squires through beringers and nothing but mud with a guy playing a spector through a LMII. I'm not advocating beringer and dissing MarkBass, I'm just saying there is so much more to the equation I question the influence of each part individually.

At home you can hear the difference of everything and in the studio it is more critical but live??? Just my $.02

 

[pmaraziti]

I haven't paid a lot of attention so far to them, but i'm happily using Fender Gold bass cables at the moment.

 

[ulrich]

Canare GS6 cable, with Nuetrik, and or G&H plugs. Hand soldered by me. No hype, just good quality parts.

Monster are complete D-bags. Lucky for them, they've got another customer born every minute.

 

[amroach]

Every seems to think Neutrik jacks are the Dogs B*llocks and i thouogh they were all right untill the tip fell off inside one of my pedals and i would have bought another one but it was like nearly 10 pounds for a patch lead so i was bit like F*ck That.

 

[bhass]

Please, can anyone explain to me why expensive cables are so good? To me a cable is a cable...

 

[bullshark]

Every seems to think Neutrik jacks are the Dogs B*llocks

Neutrik used to be the dogs b*llock, but I've gotten quite a few bad one recently. Don't know if they're letting QC slipping, or if I was just unlucky and just got a bad batch, but I've got some on which the plastic collar broke with next to no force at all applied, then one plug which was internally noisy and a couple of XLR with bad contact point.

Looking for replacement at the moment, but haven't found any in which soldering and assembly was as easy as Neutrik.

 

[JohnnyPustular]

Cable quality will be a function of the quality of the plugs, wire, and solder. All three can vary in quality adding resistance and noise to you signal. Also, resistance will vary according to the gauge (thickness) of the wire used and the distance the signal must travel. In the olden days, we had to shout into the telephone during long distance calls to provide enough signal for copper wire to carry our voice to the next repeater. Now that long distance phone calls travel largely through fiber optic (a medium with no resistance), we can talk at normal volume. This is an extreme example of the principle.

Secondly, cables vary in the quality of craftsmanship/materials that effect eventual breakage. Some wire is more brittle than other, leading to broken wires inside the cable. Some connectors have better protection where the wire meets the plug (the most typical area of breakage).

I don't know that I can hear a difference among good quality cables, but I can between a poor quality cable and a good quality cable. Good quality cables will also last longer.

 

[bullshark]

Please, can anyone explain to me why expensive cables are so good? To me a cable is a cable...

A good cable is well shielded, flexible and of the proper gauge for the run you need. Then there's the assembly, meaning good quality plug and good solder joint. Anything past that is religion.