questions

[SiReZ]

maybe noobish but oculdnt find any answers to my questions.

1. do diff brands of instrument wires really matter in terms of tones?

2.do the gauges of the wire matter??

3. whats a good in-ear monitor?(next gig has a PA system)

 

[walterw]

by "wires", you mean "cables"?

it matters less with active instruments than passive ones.

the ultimate ears UE-11 is a good in-ear monitor.

 

[JimmyM]

All that matters is you get cables that work and are built decently. Thicker gauges are fine but you don't need to go ridiculously thick. The only thing you have to worry about with cables is getting too long a cable. After about 25 ft you will start getting a little high end reduction. Most folks don't notice it so much, some do.

No clue on the IEMs.

 

[SiReZ]

what about on wireless systems????the farther you go would you lose high end???

 

[groooooove]

the differnce between quiality cables does exist. weather its enough or not for you to care, thats another story.

i'd stay away from monster cables, theyre not worth the price. the cable i'd reccomend is a brickhouse instrument cable- available only from www.mcfrost.com

those are the only cables ive ever REALLY noticed a tonal differnce, and ive had the same one for about 2 years now, and it still works great.. other cables dont last that long..

a cheap alternative would be planet waves, ernie ball, ext.

 

[DBTOYS]

Mogami cables will produce 6dB more sound and will be fuller hate to say it but its true

 

[TimmyP]

Cables do sound different in an ideal situation, but not necessarily in every situation. IME, a good rule of thumb is to avoid cables who's makers spend a lot on marketing.

Speaker cables should be as heavy as is practical, 12 gauge or 4mm2 being the most common for PA use. For a 3' run on a guitar rig 16 gauge or 2.4mm2 should be just fine.

I find the M-Audio IE-10 to be a very good sounding earbud. Replaceable cables and only $100. Were I to go with custom molds, my first try would have been http://www.fidelitycustomearphones.net, but the seem to have dropped their 30 day satisfaction guarantee :-(

As to the electronics (if you want to go wireless), I prefer the Sennheiser over the Shure (better audio performance, better RF frequency agility).

 

[JustDavid]

what about on wireless systems????the farther you go would you lose high end???

No, no, no, no, no.

What causes the high end loss isn't distance, it's that an increase in distance creates an increase in the factor of a cable that causes the high-end loss. Namely, capacitance.

 

[JimmyM]

Mogami cables will produce 6dB more sound and will be fuller hate to say it but its true

Yeah, and they'll also cure impotence and wash your dishes.

 

[Munjibunga]

Yeah, and they'll also cure impotence and wash your dishes.

This is very true. Mogami is better than the blue pill, and they really do get the dishes sparkling clean.

 

[AlembicPlayer]

Yeah, and they'll also cure impotence and wash your dishes.

hmmm...I find the mogami just the opposite for me, it works as an effective birth control...ya see, when I'm playing my mogamis I'm not getting girls pregnant. It works every time!
YMMV

 

[konodl18]

Yeah, and they'll also cure impotence and wash your dishes.

HA!

PS. back on track with the OP's question, Making sure you are using the right cable for the right connection is very important. Not all 1/4" cables are the same. Instrument and speaker cable are very different. And then there is the issue of long instrument cables vs. balanced xlrs for sending signal to PA components. And some 1/4" cables are balanced too, TRS.

 

[MNAirHead]

IEM..

Way open question to be getting info from a generic question. We'd have to know details about you, your band and your room.

DO NOT blindly go out spending money... if you do it will be thousands or fail.