*Takes deep breath* Need 1/4" bass cable advice...

[Godswarrior31]

I've read several of the posts debating cheap vs. expensive cables etc. That seems to quickly become a war of words. For my own purposes, I bought an Asterope cable and a/b'd it against Livewire premium, Mogami Gold, and some old Monster cable, and I couldn't tell the difference. I really wanted to, but I couldn't. But I liked feeling special about having something that said "Mogami" on it, so I did keep that one...

But I need a new cable primarily because I need something of greater length than 10' (all I have at the moment) and I need at least one angled jack due to how my pedal board is set up. What are people's thoughts on:

1. Does an angled jack reduce sound quality over a straight connector? Asterope told me that it does, but I'm not sure I believe them about anything now...
2. Is there a noticeable loss of sound quality in the 15+ feet range? There seems to be some consensus that the answer is yes...
3. Is there ANY reason to buy a "bass"-specific cable?

I won't be recording with these cables; they'll be used live only.

 

[seamonkey]

Active bass is won't matter at all.
With passive maybe, just maybe, you can hear a difference but it's nothing a little tweak of the eq wouldn't correct.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Long cable overloads passive pickups and thickens the sound. After pedalboard shouldn't matter.

Right angles don't matter.

Watch out for Monster oversize 1/4 plugs. They may have quit that trick by now but they used to oversize them so they made a ''more manly'' connection. Trouble was that stretches out the socket making it loose for a standard 1/4. Asshats.

 

[LiquidMidnight]

Monster cable, and I couldn't tell the difference.

I've spoken to a couple guitarists who actually don't like Monster cables because they supposedly hear a brittleness in the top-end solely attributable to the cables. That's obviously not scientific evidence at all, so take it for what you will. There's a lot of snake oil when it comes to cables, so I understand your skepticism. I've never heard that a straight angle plug has better tone than an angled plug, but my intuition leads me to think that's BS. You probably won't notice any cable capacitance at 15 feet, but you may if you start getting closer to 25 feet. At that point, I'd probably just suggest investing in a wireless system.

 

[mngnt]

Cables have a capacitance rating per foot. Do the math. The higher the capacitance, the more high end you lose, like a tone knob.

Some guys like it, especially guitar players. Dumble players often have a loop of cable sitting on their heads in the FX loop because they like the tone. Apparently Santana used long coily cables for a similar reason.

There are several videos online of cable length & quality comparisons. There's an especially good one by "Texas blues alley". I'm on my phone, or I'd find it for you.

Long story short, decide if you want the cable to affect your tone or not. Based on that, choose a capacitance.

Then, find something well built that won't give fall apart.

Edit: found it.

 

[BusyFingers]

Cables can have an effect upon tone. This is especially apparent with really long cables, which can suck the high end off your tone. Guitarists are often really picky because of the loss of treble frequencies.

Over the years, I've done the Mogami, the George L., and cheapo Livewires. I've found that the more expensive cables did not necessarily sound better, but, in fact, sounded worse to me as a guitarist seeking to preserve their treble tone. For some reason, the more expensive ones seems to change the tone in an undesirable manner making it thinner. That's just my opinion.

For me, the other factor which makes all cables sound crappy is unnecessary length. Figure out what your needs are for your rig, and keep your cable length to a minimum. This will make a big difference especially if you're running a passive bass into your rig.

If money isn't an issue, and you have time and a soldering iron, buy as many feet of Belden cable from your local Sam Ash or online, get some decent quality cable ends online, use some shrink tubing, and custom cut and solder the cables you need for your rig.

If you use a pedalboard, this can be especially nice to do to make things neat and minimize cable length overall. You can get some nice flat pancake angle jacks for between pedals, too.

 

[beaglesandbass]

1) No
2) I believe for any noticeable degradation in quality (to the highly trained ear) you have to get near 50 feet.
3) No, it's a gimmick. IME anyway.

I've also stopped buying cables, way too much money over time. If you know how to solder you can do it yourself. You can get 25 feet of Mogami cable and 2 Neutrik connectors for ~$28 from redco.com. That same cable at GC is $55.

 

[mngnt]

1) No
2) I believe for any noticeable degradation in quality (to the highly trained ear) you have to get near 50 feet.
3) No, it's a gimmick. IME anyway.

I've also stopped buying cables, way too much money over time. If you know how to solder you can do it yourself. You can get 25 feet of Mogami cable and 2 Neutrik connectors for ~$28 from redco.com. That same cable at GC is $55.

Can hear a difference at far less than 50ft.

The video above is worth the watch. He doesn't get into the math, but generally more expensive = lower capacitance.

It's simple physics. The snake oil is when the marketing takes over. Buy based on capacitance and reliability and you're safe.

EDIT: Here's the useful part of the video, starting at 17min 16sec:

 

[BusyFingers]

1) No
2) I believe for any noticeable degradation in quality (to the highly trained ear) you have to get near 50 feet.
3) No, it's a gimmick. IME anyway.

I've also stopped buying cables, way too much money over time. If you know how to solder you can do it yourself. You can get 25 feet of Mogami cable and 2 Neutrik connectors for ~$28 from redco.com. That same cable at GC is $55.

It's probably harder for bassists to tell because the frequencies you lose are typically treble ones, but in my experience with guitar rigs anything over 20 of total length will begin to rob you of high frequencies.

A lot of guitarists will use a buffer at the beginning of their pedalboard, which kind of acts like an active preamp you would find in a bass. It give the signal that oomph it needs to preserve the high end frequencies.

For bassists? I dunno... My guitar cord and pedalboard rig keeps my tone great for my guitar and sounds great with my bass with no need of a buffer or a preamp. I bet I would notice if I lost my high end on my bass.

 

[beaglesandbass]

Can hear a difference at far less than 50ft.

The video above is worth the watch. He doesn't get into the math, but generally more expensive = lower capacitance.

It's simple physics. The snake oil is when the marketing takes over. Buy based on capacitance and reliability and you're safe.

I believe it. I don't have any experience with cables that long. If I need more than 10 feet I just go wireless.

 

[BusyFingers]

What irks me is when you go into a music shop and you're trying out an expensive guitar or amp that's known for it's tone and they give you the 40 foot cable which no one will walk out the door with. They should know better, but most don't seem to know that could kill a sale because it's a tonesucker.

 

[interp]

Get Vovox and be done with it.

 

[TomB]

Mogami Gold 18' right angle / straight and you're set for life (or until you leave it somewhere).

 

[pedroims]

I would like to recommend sonic nuance, the owner is TB member and cables are high quality.

Cables – Sonic Nuance Electronics

 

[andruca]

There's just 2 classes of both shielded cables and connectors: those that are in working order and those that aren't. Most cable snobs who swear by overpriced cables are aither a) those who were already cheated into paying more than reasonable for a cable or b) those who sell such overpriced cables with the lamest of arguments. My advice is to spend the time studying and playing instead of focusing on a cable/connector. If you suck, it's not because of a normal cable's "mere mortal" properties, look elsewhere.

 

[sikamikanico]

Using a passive bass and headphones, I hear a difference in cables with different capacitance, but I think it would matter more for studio than live. In other words, differences are subtle...

I'd also pay attention to other factors for live playing, as you don't want it to fail or introduce other noises. Right angle plugs, according to some, tend to fail if they aren't good quality (but hey don't sound different).

And no, I don't buy into the "bass" cable thing - i imagine they're higher capacitance to "thicken" the sound...

Here's a useful link to read about cables: Audio Cables Compared and Recommended

 

[TomB]

There's just 2 classes of both shielded cables and connectors: those that are in working order and those that aren't. Most cable snobs who swear by overpriced cables are aither a) those who were already cheated into paying more than reasonable for a cable or b) those who sell such overpriced cables with the lamest of arguments. My advice is to spend the time studying and playing instead of focusing on a cable/connector. If you suck, it's not because of a normal cable's "mere mortal" properties, look elsewhere.

Which is why I buy a good-quality cable. Dunno capacitance but do know durability and have experienced the benefits of a lifetime warranty.

 

[guy n. cognito]

1) No
2) I believe for any noticeable degradation in quality (to the highly trained ear) you have to get near 50 feet.
3) No, it's a gimmick. IME anyway.

I was going to type this exact answer.

 

[Madhouse27]

Sound? I thought we were talking about black or tweed.

 

[snarebear]

I bought a Mogami cable and A-B 'd it against a Whirlwind and could not tell any difference except the price. I have been using Whirlwind for years and am very happy with them. I prefer right angle into the bass, and straight into the amp. and I hate tweed because they are a pain to keep clean especially if you play a lot outdoors or dive bars.