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How much difference does a cable make?

#42
wideload said:
cnitb:
Sorry if I ruffled feathers. My disagreement was at the basic works/doesn't work level. Again, so sorry. Remember, I'm just another idiot on the internet, so I must know everything and always be right, right? Have a great day! :)
Click to expand...

Nooooo you did not ruffle feathers at all!

We do agree, don't we?
A working cable is better than one that doesn't work.
But since to me that goes without saying I went on to my take on answering the question.That's all.:)
 
#44
When i went to the Musician's Institute i remember the day that Ernest Tibbs came back from the Monster CEO's House with a crap ton of cables. We did a cable shootout for the class and found that the two best sounding cables to the class were the monster bass and the monster jazz. Yes, the cables sounded different, and Ultimately i believe he chose to use the jazz cable.
I have had two of them for ten years and haven't had a problem. Id buy one again if i had to.
 
#45
So Low Bass said:
Does cable LENGTH effect sound?
Click to expand...

in passive basses more cable length = more capacitance, which can roll off some highs. In active bases this is not an issue.

in fact, given working condition, *all* sonic cable differences
come down to capacitance : how does it filter the sound?
Perceived sound quality is not really about transparency
as much as the listeners preferred 'filter' frequencies -taste in other words.

Same goes for all the electronics,really.
 
#46
So Low Bass said:
Does cable LENGTH effect sound?
Click to expand...

Isn't capacitance measured by foot?
the longer the cable, the higher the capacitance.
And isn't capacitance one of the factors at play when talking about signal loss etc?

...now I notice how much I have forgotten about all that stuff...:)

A friend introduced me to these cables yesterday...Invalid Link Removed

Not bad.
 
#50
I had bought some cheap $12 cables as I need some longer than the one I currently had and thought a cable was a cable. My existing one was a Rodam pro series cable that I had paid about $30 for and the new ones I picked up were no name ones. With the cheap cables, I was getting a lot of hum and noise and thoght it was just my single coils feeding back to my amp or bad connectors. Switched it out with the Rodam and all the noise I was experiencing magically vanished. Now I am in the market for a pro series cable from a top brand. JMHO
 
#51
Capacitance for cables is typically in pico farads... which is a really small unit of capacitance... i.e. not enough to 'roll off' your highs in any way the human ear can pick up, unless the cable is really poorly designed.
http://www.guitarnuts.com/technical/cords/index.php
I work in Marketing, and know enough physics to be dangerous and can tell you that high end cables rely on marketing as much as Bose stereos (with their $.80 speaker drivers).
People have done cable shoot outs where they stack high end audio interconnects up against crudely soldered metal coat hangers and every time the tests are completed in a scientific fashion you'll see the same result: the differences are so small that the human ear is incapable of picking out the high end stuff in a true blind comparison.
Get cables that balance price / durability and keep a spare 1/4" plug and a set of wire strippers in your bag. Leave the unobtanium coated, 100% pure, oxygen-free marketing hype for people that need to spend money to feel good about their purchases and keep the money in your pocket for strings or for a pro set up.
 
#52
Kmonk said:
I've had the same Monster Cable for 12 years and never had a problem. I guess its like anything else. Sometimes you get a good and sometimes you get a bad one.
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I've had some monster cables for about 10 years with no problems. Good news is, if you ever do have a problem it's replaced for free.
One of the other posters on the thread mentioned a replacement process is useless if the cable goes bad on you during a gig. I'd suggest the player and his band mates are useless if no one has a spare cable with them at a gig.
FWIW - I have noticed a difference between a 20ft monster cable and the cheap crap 10ft freebie cable that came packaged with a strap and allen wrench on my last Fender Jazz bass purchase. The freebie was probably half the diameter it looked like an iPod headphone cable compared to my monster bass cable. Guess not all cables are equal, although they both worked.
 
#54
Wagz said:
Capacitance for cables is typically in pico farads... which is a really small unit of capacitance... i.e. not enough to 'roll off' your highs in any way the human ear can pick up, unless the cable is really poorly designed.
Click to expand...
To be clear though, the loss of highs described is for passive guitars/basses, and is caused by an LRC filter comprised of the cable, the pots/switches/wiring harness, and the pickups. So it is not about the pF of the cable by itself. And yes, with a passive guitar/bass and a longish cable, the amount of rolloff (as well as the hump of boost just below the cutoff frequency) can be heard by ordinary ears. That is "the other reason" people hear cables as having different tones, aside from placebo effect, expectation bias, and so on.
 
#56
Turock said:
"From the straight razor, to the safety razor, to the injector system, amd finally the highly acclaimed twinblade cartridge. Almost perfect, yet not quite the superlative groom. Introducing the Triple-Trac. Not just two blades in one system, but three stainless, platinum teflex-coated blades melded together to form one incredible shaving cartridge, easily fitted into your old twinblade holder. Triple-Trac's triple-threat cartridge, with more close shaves than ever before...Triple-Trac's third blade, a finely-honed bonded platinum instrument, cuts cleanly through the whisker at its base, leaving your face as smooth as a billiard ball,

The Triple-Trac. Because you'll believe anything."
Click to expand...

Hilarious!
People really fall for advertising. That's why they keep doing it:)
You all promote it here. Where's the independent thinking?
"Everybody uses an SVT.":)
"All you need is a P.":)

Hey, why don't TBers go on the offensive when someone sees the adds, buys their favorite bassist's exact bass and rig and tries to duplicate his sound? It's subjective maybe even fantasy. :)
 
#57
I'd imagine the quality difference wouldn't be very drastic between a cheapo and a top of the line cable. But if you were running a 100' cable in place of a 10', You'd probably get some tone and signal loss. It wouldn't drop your signal -20db or cut your mids to a monstrous level. If it works, use it. If it doesn't, get one that does.
 
#58
I paid out for some Van Den Hul cables because, sadly, I would never keep track of my cheapo cables. They would walk off after shows. I guess spending needless $$ on cables is what it took for me, 4 years now with the same cables.
Discipline through spending. Wait, what? :hiding:
 
#59
An astute tube amp builder repairman guitarist said once that everything matters. Just to different degrees. What doesn't happen in the dble blind test is the reaction of your touch with your bass your strings your cable your pre/amp your settings your cab etc.

No one says this strap works for me and a bunch a folks start telling him it's the placebo effect. :):):)
"A strap is a strap". Etc.:):)

The cables we are using aren't that far apart in price to have to steer the unenlightened from spending too much on bad science.
 

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