Special power chords for your amp improves sound?

[mellowinman]

I play rock and roll. We like a little bit of noise in our power cables. In fact, we buy special Dee Dee Ramone Power Cables that have little bits of the insulation knocked out of them right at the factory, and we use Shock brand amps. If you're not willing to take some risks, you just aren't worth it.

 

[ggunn]

I play rock and roll. We like a little bit of noise in our power cables. In fact, we buy special Dee Dee Ramone Power Cables that have little bits of the insulation knocked out of them...

Wow. reliced power cables. You may be onto something!

 

[Steveaux]

Wow. reliced power cables. You may be onto something!

You wouldn't ...

 

[Robroy]

http://www.essentialsound.com/SFNT.html

Saw this on facebook went to their site and there is a whole clip of famous people who use this special power cable for your amp to improve sound. Has anybody used this? Is it true can you really notice a difference? Just wondering let me know

I belong to a "hi-fi" sound site. You can get in trouble there just for bringing this subject up. I'm not kidding. There are people there that are thoroughly convinced that $100 a foot speaker cable audibly improves sound - and anyone who argues otherwise, even showing spect to the contrary, can get banned. It's considered "devisive".

Truth be told, it's because a lot of these "snake oil" products are advertised at the site.

Bottom line, I wouldn't give it a second thought. Get a power cord at the hardware store if you want. Frankly, there is so much ambient noise at a gig that even if it DID make a difference, you'd never notice it there. It's marketable for hi-fi because there are people that have more money than sense. Also, many of these people, after buying $50,000 mono block amps and $50,000 turntables, think nothing of paying three figures for a foot of cable.

People who have to work for a living tend to take a more "sane" approach and understand the concept of diminishing returns.

 

[F-Clef-Jef]

I always put a couple of loops in my power cable before it gets to the amp. That way the electrons have a little fun and excitement along the way, and I can really hear it in my amp. It just sounds "brighter" and "sparklier".

Of course, you "average" people would never be able to hear it.

 

[Downunderwonder]

A long enough cable with enough loops could possibly be audible. Someone really more cleverer than me can explain magnetic induction.

 

[Humbled]

Yes. Grubby orange Edison cords with lots of kinks and knots make you sound vintage.

While we're at it... If you bring me a fresh virgin on every new moon, I will see to it that the seasons continue to change.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

Oh boy...this thread again


Yeah everyone has pretty much said everything already. I'm just here to reinforce what Smeet said:

No, YOU are getting it, they aren't. People by and large are easily fooled. This includes your idols, and mine. I'm willing to be fooled for money or free stuff. So are they.

Perhaps the money/endorsements are what motivates them, but I honestly think that artists get waaaaaay too much credit for gear know-how lol. I'm certain that there are some who take a serious dive into the finer points of their gear and crafting their sound using reasonable, sound means. Thing is, those people seem few and far in between. I've lost a LOT of respect for some bassists when listening to them try and talk about the finer points of gear. That, or some of them doing gear reviews for endorsements come off as reading the product description from off the website while on camera. Of course if I had guitar and amp techs to handle the dirty work for me, I doubt I'd spend a whole lot of time doing it either.

 

[hover]

Even their baseball hat is overpriced, and doesn't come in double-extra-fat (head).
I'm not buyin, no Sir.

Ska-roooo them sideways.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

If you're springing for the 'Magic' cable, you'll also want to maximize your sound with these - http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina31.htm

Man these guys have GOT to be joking.... http://www.machinadynamica.com/index.html

This list literally looks like somebody or some people went "Ok, lets dig through this junk drawer, see what's in there and sell it off as 'high-tech acoustic treatment devices' to idiots!" For those that don't feel like skimming through, this is pretty much what they call it and what it looks like:



Particle Accelerator Ion Gun (Hair Dryer with strange attachment end) $125

Dark Matter CD Optical Coating (Your sister or daughter's green apple scented body spray) $99/3oz bottle

Super Intelligent Chip CD treatment (Broken SD card) $29

Cryo Baby Promethean Mini Isolators (Metal springs...seriously, just small metal springs) $16

Tru Tone Duplex Outlet Covers (Regular outlet cover...oh, but it's slightly thicker than normal!) $30

White Poppy Acoustic Resonators (Rubber feet for couches glued to a single piece of tile) $99 each



Soooo muuuuuch faaaaaaiiiil

 

[Steve Dallman]

If you drop $200 for a power cable, you betcha you'll convince yourself the amp sounds better. That's an awful lot for a placebo though.

 

[walterw]

...I honestly think that artists get waaaaaay too much credit for gear know-how lol.

i've argued before that famous players, especially really good ones, might be the worst folks to get gear advice from!

aside from the whole "i dunno, my tech handles all that" angle, we have to acknowledge that part of what makes a great player great is that they can make anything sound good.

couple that with the fact that the bigger the stage (and thus the PA) the less relevant a "bass rig" becomes to the proceedings, and you gotta be careful whose advice you take.

 

[ddnidd1]

Plus you can be sure that the artists (opportunists) have never paid a penny for these cables and more likely have been paid for the use of their names. Everybody has to make a buck.

Do you think Shaq actually uses all the crap he hawks. Musicians are no different.

 

[walterw]

after talking about those mercury magnetics red 14g cables, on a whim i decided to look for them directly, and lo and behold i found these:
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$10 each, 8 feet long, bright blue (because why not?) and 14awg! you can tell too, they look the same thickness as all too many of the 18awgs with the fake thick jacket, but you pick them up and they're heavy.

(they're also available inInvalid Link Removed)

 

[jjk2007]

I love me some Michael Rhodes....but this is too much for me!

 

[fokof]

I don't trust that video.
That's an enormous difference that I can hear on my cheap , CPU speaker.
Not my real life experience with normal cord.


If it's really true that they haven't altered the sound @ the source or on post prod , I'm very curious to know what was the other power cord gauge…..
The only reason I can think of is that the other one is a 24 or less gauge power cord.

 

[smeet]

I'm convinced by Mr. Rhodes' video!!! Send me a cord and if it works for me I'll send you full payment immediately!!!


Wait, you don't trust me?

 

[ggunn]

I don't trust that video.

[…]

If it's really true that they haven't altered the sound @ the source or on post prod...

And if you believe that they haven't I've got a real nice bridge that connects Brooklyn with Manhattan that I'm ready to part with for an excellent price.

 

[smeet]

Either that, or Mr Rhodes unconsciously altered the sound with his fingers because he expected the sound to be better. I would love to have one of those cables. I would record myself playing direct and pipe the recording into the amp, recording the results using both normal and supercalifragilistic power cables. I know that logically they couldn't possibly improve the sound, but I would still like to record it with no player bias entering into it, and then present the unlabeled recordings for TB to hear and judge. I just don't trust their money-back guarantee enough to try. Does anyone own one (or know someone that does) that I could borrow for testing?

 

[walterw]

I don't trust that video.
That's an enormous difference that I can hear on my cheap , CPU speaker.
Not my real life experience with normal cord.

whereas playing it through my big home stereo system they didn't sound any different!

i even went back and forth between that same 5 second lick over and over, there was no obvious difference outside the normal human variation from one performance to the next.

If it's really true that they haven't altered the sound @ the source or on post prod , I'm very curious to know what was the other power cord gauge…..
The only reason I can think of is that the other one is a 24 or less gauge power cord.

look at it close when the assistant swaps the cables; the "brand X" cable might be the tiniest IEC cable i've ever seen