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Instrument cables rated and compared. A buyers' guide!

#41
Just a note on the Spectraflex Fatflex cables as I have a couple. They're a very high quality cable, but they're quite heavy- if you have a top mounted jack, they can actually loosen the nut over time, even when wrapped through your strap.
 
#43
Nice comparison, but it leaves out an important element in the supply chain. I have all my cables made to order, which is sort of like custom made, but not really. Canare cable and Neutrik connectors. There's lots of suppliers out there, I use Redco. I wonder how these quite stock cable ingredients just put together in the length I need would stock up against the various "brand" name offerings.

Also, I've never come across Neutrik connectors that were resin filled... sort of goes against the grain of what they stand for. Just my experience....
 
#44
Love it. I would love to see how the 'lifetime warranty' cables stack up against each other. One of the reasons I will go with something like monster, for example is because of this feature. As soon as it goes bad, I can replace it with a new one. I would love to see how these cables stack up against each other or at least an extra column for the lifetime warranty (yes or no) check. Just an idea. Of course, always a fan of the work you put into this stuff, Bongo. :)
 
#45
Bongomania,
Have you tested any Monoprice instrument cables? Their website is monoprice.com. Their Cloth series cables are their instrument cables. A 15-foot cable sells for $7.44! I've never bought one, but for such a huge price differential (Live Wire Elite is about $40 for an 18-footer), I have to wonder whether I should pay 5 times the price of the Live Wire Elite.
 
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#46
I haven't yet. Fwiw there was a recent thread saying the Monoprice cables are microphonic, and another thread saying their quality took a nosedive sometime recently. Best to look for recent reviews rather than older one.

Just as a general update to the thread, I haven't been able to budget time or money to keep this cable review project going. It's probably not dead... just resting. But either way I apologize for the outdatedness of some of the content, and the lack of new updates. Not going to do anything about it for a while though.
 
#47

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#51
My guitar player is one of those guys who pays $200 for custom made cables and swears that they sound "so much better than anything else".
I have been using Monster cables (I know, I know, everyone hates Monster) and have A/B'd against the $200 cables and honestly cannot hear a difference at all. None.
Incidentally, I have never had a Monster cable fail sooner than 2-3 years of hard use (really couldn't expect more than that) and even then gotten a new one for free, no hassle.
 
#53
I use a few different cables, but my favorite so far are the 10ft grey cables that come equipped with some of the Fender US RI models. They tend not to tangle as much and are fairly rugged and simple, taking up little real estate around the jack. I've been thinking about making my own since I happen to live in close proximity to two cable maker/ suppliers (Markertek and HAVE) and known some folks that work there that use them as a resource with great results and can get them cheap. Pretty much any type of wire or jack is available to choose from.

Anyone else sourcing their own cable components and putting them together that can recommend cable and jacks comparable to those used on Bongo's top 5?
 
#54
Just to throw my anecdotal evidence in regarding monster. I worked at an electronics store for a while and we had some monster guitar cables, while the shelf price was $50 they didn't actually cost us that much, my discount was the price the store buys at plus 10%. At $12 each I bought two cables and gave them to my guitarist, the first cable failed after a couple weeks and the second almost made it three months. By comparison all other cables he's used have lasted several years. Not impressed.
 
#55
In all my years of making up cables, I've only found a few that didn't work properly on high impedance device like guitars. The ones that work well tend to be the thicker types with decent screening. The ones that work, all perform fine. The ones that sound poorer are thinner and often have twisted screens rather than braided screens. I also had poor results with conductive plastic screens. Price didn't seem to have much to do with it. Very unscientific, but my umpteen year survey means that if somebody throws me a guitar cable, with Neutrik jacks and it's not stiff or has kinks in it - and is at least 6mm diameter, I'll use it and not be concerned. I don't see any point in wasting money on the really clever stuff, because I'm convinced a huge does of snake oil is on the go.
 
#59
All of the descriptions are explained on that page. Handling noise is noise that happens only when you move the cable or tap on it. Ambient noise is EMF in the room (eg from fluorescent lamps, fuse box, dimmer switch) that the cable shielding fails to block.
 
#60
bongomania said:
All of the descriptions are explained on that page. Handling noise is noise that happens only when you move the cable or tap on it. Ambient noise is EMF in the room (eg from fluorescent lamps, fuse box, dimmer switch) that the cable shielding fails to block.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks a lot for the reply! I still don't see any explanation of the noise parts on this page http://www.ovnilab.com/articles/cablechoice.shtml but maybe I'm just looking at the wrong place.

The reason I'm asking is that the cable I use (Klotz "La Grange") has got a really bad rating on the "handling noise" and I've never noticed any noise whatsoever with my cables. But anyway, thanks a lot for a great comparison!
 

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