ESP MusicCord

[Robin Ruscio]

Again, his tone with the ESP cord was a result of playing harder, not the cord. It's the old before/after trick...take a picture of someone looking really sad for the before, and smiling and happy in the after, and it'll sell any beauty product. Made me a little sad...Michael Rhodes is very well-respected, and now he's put his reputation on the line for a product like this. Money talks.

I completely disagree with your assessment of the video. The tonal difference is not attributable to "playing harder". Since when has playing harder gotten people a better sound? Overplaying usually makes people sound worse. In any event, he demonstrates playing two amsp and for long enough before after with each that I doubt even a bassist of his caliber could do so flawlessly as to account for the obvious tonal difference. This is a ridiculous hypothesis.

Jimmy, I think you're going out on a limb here, questioning Michael's integrity and suggesting he intentionally deceived us by changing his playing in exchange for a paid endorsement. That's a very serious accusation.

 

[Robin Ruscio]

Robin, what I heard in the video was more presence and clarity, no volume gains.

It's hard to describe what it's doing to the sound maybe not volume is the right construct. At least you are acknowledging that it's doing something, although that's been scientifically disproven through rigorous research of people who have not tried the cord.

 

[JimmyM]

I completely disagree with your assessment of the video. The tonal difference is not attributable to "playing harder". Since when has playing harder gotten people a better sound? Overplaying usually makes people sound worse. In any event, he demonstrates playing two amsp and for long enough before after with each that I doubt even a bassist of his caliber could do so flawlessly as to account for the obvious tonal difference. This is a ridiculous hypothesis.

Jimmy, I think you're going out on a limb here, questioning Michael's integrity and suggesting he intentionally deceived us by changing his playing in exchange for a paid endorsement. That's a very serious accusation.

And I stand behind it 100% and would say it to his face. Of course playing harder changes the tone. The whole amplitude of the string changes. It's easily measurable. When he plays the standard cable, he plays quietly and acts unenthusiastic. When he plays the ESP, his demeanor changes and all of a sudden he's into it.

Michael Rhodes is a well known accomplished player. That doesn't mean he knows dick about science. And that proved nothing except if you believe a power cord does something for you, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that it does not, you will be more enthusiastic about playing.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

I think the biggest question is how could it be possible that a power cord could change tone and a lot of TB'ers on this forum are proving it can't.

Jimmy tried one and he said that he didn't notice a difference in tone.

Who are the other tb'ers who tried one and came up with similar end results?



Again no one who uses the ESP power cord is or has been paid for their use of the product.

 

[Febs]

I completely disagree with your assessment of the video. The tonal difference is not attributable to "playing harder". Since when has playing harder gotten people a better sound? Overplaying usually makes people sound worse. In any event, he demonstrates playing two amsp and for long enough before after with each that I doubt even a bassist of his caliber could do so flawlessly as to account for the obvious tonal difference. This is a ridiculous hypothesis.

I'd like to see a similar video (or actually, preferably, professionally recorded high quality audio clips), prepared by playing a pre-recorded bass part through an amp and cabinet using both the stock power cord and the ESP power cord, and then recording the output of the cabinet. This would elminate variations in the performance as a confounding variable. Perhaps Mark Reccord could prepare something along these lines as part of his testing.

 

[Robin Ruscio]

Of course playing harder changes the tone. The whole amplitude of the string changes. It's easily measurable.

I didn't say it didn't change the tone, I said it usually doesn't make it sound "better".

 

[superbassman2000]

the real question is what else can this cable do when plugged into other things? will this cable also make my computer run different? maybe make the soundcard sound better?

 

[Paullee01]

Who are the other tb'ers who tried one and came up with similar end results?
Again no one who uses the ESP power cord is or has been paid for their use of the product.

Jauqo

I believe there are a total of 4 hands on users.

JimmyM - Negative did not hear any changes
Robin Ruscio - Positive
Cybersnyder - Positive Liked the cord so much he purchased another
Willgroove2 - Positive, said he heard difference in the amp response

 

[billfitzmaurice]

Robin Ruscio - Positive
Cybersnyder - Positive Liked the cord so much he purchased another
Willgroove2 - Positive, said he heard difference in the amp response

All anecdotal, as they lack any data to back up their opinions. By the same token they could each drive two cars and have opinions as to which had the faster acceleration and top speed, but without a stop watch and a speedometer to back up said opinions that's all they would be, unsubstantiated opinions. Show me the measured top speed and 0-60 time and I'll know which car has higher top speed and faster acceleration without having to drive either.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

Jauqo

I believe there are a total of 4 hands on users.

JimmyM - Negative did not hear any changes
Robin Ruscio - Positive
Cybersnyder - Positive Liked the cord so much he purchased another
Willgroove2 - Positive, said he heard difference in the amp response

Well I've been using one for close to two years.

I have never posted my hands on thoughts in any of the tb threads on the ESP power cords. But hey why not.

I use a ESP pro power cord.

And I can definitely hear a difference. I personally feel that it adds a little more presence to my sound. Opens up the overall highs and mids while smoothing the low end out a little. And it doesn't add any brittleness to it.

In the studio where every little sound nuisance can come under scrutiny the tonal sound qaulity is taken up a few notches.



I have a friend who's a fellow bass player, who felt that the ESP power cord was nothing more than hype. One day while hanging out at my rehearsal spot we where playing through a Ashdown LG 1000. So while he's playing I asked him to stop and that I wanted to check something out. Well what he didn't know was that I was changing power cords. So he starts playing again and after about four bars of playing he says "hey what happen to the sound?" I asked him if the sound was different and he told me that it was and that the sound was better. Then I told hm that I had switched power cords. From there he couldn't deny that he himself heard a difference in tone. A difference that he felt sounded better with the ESP power cord being used. And I could see that he didn't want to believe his own ears.

From there I swapped the power cords back and forth and he kept saying that he liked the tone with the ESP power cord in use.




And for the record this is my experience with the ESP power cord. And my experience and any one else here who use the ESP power cord with results that work for them should not come under attack.


I could see if this was a thread about how one string companies strings sound so much better than insert other brand. When their made in the same exact factory and are the same exact gauges but with the only difference being the brand label.















ESP power cords and Ashdown amps and cabs endorser.

 

[scotch]

Normally, I'm pretty open-minded about trying things out. This ESP MusicCord is definitely an exception. I've started to ask myself "why", and I think it has to do with the following:

It's just really hard to dismiss known physics based solely on anecdotal evidence of people who have demonstrated enough pre-determined faith in a product to purchase it. It's that the whole 'emperors new clothes' scenario that is simply far more likely for me to believe than that the MusicCord is about to change the laws of conservation of energy.

It's not calling people "liars" or "crazy", either. Just that the willingness of a consumer to purchase a product demonstrates at least some expectation. So far the only reviewer who couldn't hear the difference was the guy who had nothing invested.

At this point, I highly doubt I could trust myself to give the ESP MusicCord a fair shot. I've already demonstrated a bias. Unless my amp showed far more difference than the videos on the website (which are subtle, but definitely audible), I would suspect that it was my playing attack, excitement and/or expectation at work. (Which is what I suspect on the website too.)

 

[Robin Ruscio]

Well I've been using one for close to two years.

I have never posted my hands on thoughts in any of the tb threads on the ESP power cords. But hey why not.

I use a ESP pro power cord.

And I can definitely hear a difference. I personally feel that it adds a little more presence to my sound. Opens up the overall highs and mids while smoothing the low end out a little. And it doesn't add any brittleness to it.

.

Thanks for sharing your long standing personal experience and your blind test you subjected your unwitting friend to.

Unfortunately, your qualitative experience is not valid. This board only uses quantitative data, since in science no one uses qualitative research.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

Thanks for sharing your long standing personal experience and your blind test you subjected your unwitting friend to.

You're welcome.

Unfortunately, your qualitative experience is not valid.

I know. And I will not be using any sleep at all .

 

[scotch]

I don't think "validity" of experience should come into play.

I understand, accept and believe that those of you who bought the cord & hear a difference truly believe that you do!

Surely you can also understand why a lot of people are skeptical, right?

 

[Spencer!]

Jauqo

I believe there are a total of 4 hands on users.

JimmyM - Negative did not hear any changes
Robin Ruscio - Positive
Cybersnyder - Positive Liked the cord so much he purchased another
Willgroove2 - Positive, said he heard difference in the amp response

I have one. There's no difference in sound.

 

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

Normally, I'm pretty open-minded about trying things out. This ESP MusicCord is definitely an exception. I've started to ask myself "why", and I think it has to do with the following:

It's just really hard to dismiss known physics based solely on anecdotal evidence of people who have demonstrated enough pre-determined faith in a product to purchase it. It's that the whole 'emperors new clothes' scenario that is simply far more likely for me to believe than that the MusicCord is about to change the laws of conservation of energy.

It's not calling people "liars" or "crazy", either. Just that the willingness of a consumer to purchase a product demonstrates at least some expectation. So far the only reviewer who couldn't hear the difference was the guy who had nothing invested.

At this point, I highly doubt I could trust myself to give the ESP MusicCord a fair shot. I've already demonstrated a bias. Unless my amp showed far more difference than the videos on the website (which are subtle, but definitely audible), I would suspect that it was my playing attack, excitement and/or expectation at work. (Which is what I suspect on the website too.)

Well said.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

I have one. There's no difference in sound.

If you purchased it. You should send it back for a refund.

 

[Robin Ruscio]

Normally, I'm pretty open-minded about trying things out. This ESP MusicCord is definitely an exception. I've started to ask myself "why", and I think it has to do with the following:

It's just really hard to dismiss known physics based solely on anecdotal evidence of people who have demonstrated enough pre-determined faith in a product to purchase it. It's that the whole 'emperors new clothes' scenario that is simply far more likely for me to believe than that the MusicCord is about to change the laws of conservation of energy.

It's not calling people "liars" or "crazy", either. Just that the willingness of a consumer to purchase a product demonstrates at least some expectation. So far the only reviewer who couldn't hear the difference was the guy who had nothing invested.

At this point, I highly doubt I could trust myself to give the ESP MusicCord a fair shot. I've already demonstrated a bias. Unless my amp showed far more difference than the videos on the website (which are subtle, but definitely audible), I would suspect that it was my playing attack, excitement and/or expectation at work. (Which is what I suspect on the website too.)

If you had one and used it over a long period of time, like I have, this would increase the reliability that your experience is stable and not affected by factors such as expectation or excitement. That's basic test theory in psychology:

Test-retest - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The only reviewer, Jimmy, who found no effect did not use the cable more than a few times, and not on any gig. It is more likely that his experience was biased than mine. If he consistently tried the cable and found no difference, than we would be making a similar comparison.

Also, as noted before, he's using a different version of the cable than I am. The manufacturer recommends the PRO version for bassists.

 

[ElMon]

Thought on doing some testing:

The tester should pre-record themselves on a looping device so that there is a constant in the testing. Maybe some fingerstyle followed by slapping. Then simply turn off the amp, switch the power cords, fire it back up, and we'll see/hear what difference there is.

Plus, I'd use a video recorder like the Zoom Q3 to ensure that there isn't any secret knob-fiddling between samples.


my .02 cents anyways

 

[Robin Ruscio]

If you purchased it. You should send it back for a refund.

If it's too late to return it, you can send it to me. I'll pay postage.