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Cable impact on amp volume

GlennB

GlennB

Mar 25, 2017
39
17
#1
For years I have always re soldered my cables when a solder joint breaks and the cable stops working. I have a mix of "ok" cables , quality cables and a few DIY cables, So after searching this site without seeing anything related, I have a question.

One of my older favorite cables (commercial of decent quality) seems to impact my amp by reducing the volume ... a lot. I replaced it with another cable and the volume was much better. But I am not sure if I am still losing some volume. I think i am.

Not long ago I re-soldered the cable and noted the previous soldering was crap. Way too much solder and messy. So I cleaned and redid it. All seemed good.

Then I noted the fall off in volume. Can a cable brand/quality/age impact volume that much ? At first I thought it was an amp problem , stilll not sure.

What do you think ?
 
#3
Assuming the solder joints are good, the most obvious consideration is the capacitance of the cable itself, if you're using a passive bass. Cables with inherently high capacitance rolloff more high frequencies than cables with low capacitance.This could possibly be noticed as a loss of volume. Also very long instrument cables necessarily increase the overall capacitance of the cable.

Another consideration is the quality and age of the cable. Older cables, particularly those with substandard construction materials, can oxidize and center conductors can become damaged within the cable with use over time.

But basically if you compare two cables and one is producing a lower volume, it's time to replace that cable.

Today decent quality cables are just not at all expensive.
 
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#5
If you're running long cable lengths beyond 25 feet with a passive pickup (non active preamp), you can lose signal strength. If the shielding on the cables is damaged, you could get humm or hiss.
 
#8
a cable that makes your sound obviously quieter has a partial short between hot and ground bleeding off some of the signal. fix it or throw it away.

capacitance alone won't do that, it'll just make the sound duller, and you'd have to get to like hundreds of feet before actual cable length caused enough voltage drop.
 
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