Cables

[Nick man]

Well Im on your side. I dont think there is a real noticeable difference.

If there is who is to say its an improvement.

I think most audience members couldnt tell.

Peace
Nick

 

[The Golden Boy]

Apples and oranges. There are many variables that determine the best bass for the job, not just some marketing hype.

Not really, the "best bass for the job" is determined by the musician, not the audience. Regardless of how amazing your bass sounds, or how sweet your rig sounds, to 98% of your audience- it's the low boom boom thing. Even as bassists and music lovers you really can't tell the difference with recorded stuff. Tell me what kind of bass Tony Levin used on John Lennon's Double Fantasy. Not a guess, listen to the nuances in the tone and fluctuations of the crisp fingerstrikes, the sonic characteristics of what makes up that sound and tell me with any kind of authority what he's playing. So, unless you know Tony Levin and are exceptionally familiar with his history, it's a crap shoot. It's a good bass sound, beyond that, I could guess it's a two pickup bass, but it could be a Stingray, but...

It's fun to obsess on tone, as musicians we all do it. But to a majority of the audience even a "good" or "bad" tone is more or less beyond them. The song is what matters, everything else is secondary.

 

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

I've yet to see a high-end cable that didn't rely on snake oil marketing to propose that it solves some non-existant problem.

Many cable brands have lifetime warranties, not just Monster. But even better than being able to return it if it breaks is for it to not break at all--and be inexpensive enough to have spares not only for yourself, but for other emergencies, too, like when a guitar player forgets his cables.

Some have mentioned cable capacitance as a factor that could influence the tone of a passive instrument. While that is true, keep in mind also that the amount of capacitance in the cable is much smaller than that of the capacitor in the tone control. Therefore, unless you normally play with the tone control turned all the way up, you probably have more than enough range in the tone control to offset whatever effect the cable capacitance has on the tone.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Some have mentioned cable capacitance as a factor that could influence the tone of a passive instrument. While that is true, keep in mind also that the amount of capacitance in the cable is much smaller than that of the capacitor in the tone control. Therefore, unless you normally play with the tone control turned all the way up, you probably have more than enough range in the tone control to offset whatever effect the cable capacitance has on the tone.

Unless you're Buddy Guy and play with a 150' long coil cable!!

 

[sixontimber]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

This article is spot on, in my opinion. Signal cables do make a difference - that difference, however, is not necessarily better.

Once you've spent about £10 (the amount it costs me to make a decent Klotz and Neutrik cable), it really comes down to a matter of taste and, depending on your soldering skills, reliability.

The article also makes it plain, in no uncertain terms, that esoteric power cables are pointless. I'd be inclined to agree - if you have a good enough cable with a secure enough connection, a mains cable won't make a difference.

Douglas.

 

[Munjibunga]

I've yet to see a high-end cable that didn't rely on snake oil marketing to propose that it solves some non-existant problem.

Many cable brands have lifetime warranties, not just Monster. But even better than being able to return it if it breaks is for it to not break at all--and be inexpensive enough to have spares not only for yourself, but for other emergencies, too, like when a guitar player forgets his cables.

Some have mentioned cable capacitance as a factor that could influence the tone of a passive instrument. While that is true, keep in mind also that the amount of capacitance in the cable is much smaller than that of the capacitor in the tone control. Therefore, unless you normally play with the tone control turned all the way up, you probably have more than enough range in the tone control to offset whatever effect the cable capacitance has on the tone.

Bob, your post reminds me of the time that Captain Kirk laid down so much logic that it caused Sargon (a computer) to blow up.