• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

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

#21
Planet Waves' American Stage (by D'Addario) sounds fantastic to me. And yes, they make a right-angle cable.

For the record, I had Monster Cable's "super-duper, especially made for electric bass guitar" cable... and it sounded like I had a blanket covering my amp. When I picked up the American Stage, I A-B'd the two and the results were night and day. The American Stage simply yields a natural, true sound.

Thankfully, the Monster Cable was at no expense. I received it for free from a friend who used to work for them. Actually, ended up selling it on eBay to someone who buys into their snake oil. :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: LiquidMidnight, Joebone, pkevinb and 1 other person
#22
Based upon my own (subjective) opinion and my own experience*

-right angle connector will make no difference

-very cheap cables tend to be microphonic, have poor sheilding and hold up poorly.

-with decent quality cables, you're not likely to hear much, if any, difference if the cable length is under 20'.

-over 20' the various capacitance differences between decent quality cables start to become audible. At this point, "better" becomes very subjective and you should just pick something you like the sound of.

*and an electrical engineering degree
 
  • Like
Reactions: LiquidMidnight, Joebone and Eric_71
#23
One of my first jobs after grad school was working in a lab that performed, among other things, impedance spectroscopy on various dielectric materials. In those days, we had a LOT of research eqiuipment. The bread and butter tool was an HP 4192 Impedance Analyzer, which measure the complex impedance of materials and devices. You can google it to see what it does; but, it is very accurate in our frequency range. I used to go in on weekends and put various bass related components on it - pickups, cables etc.

It was fascinating to note the differences between pickups; which were readily observed, because of the capability to see both inductive impedance and resistive impedance components at the same time.

Cables were a different story; generally having indistinguishable capacitive and transmissive properties at lengths I looked at, up to about 30 feet. Boring. Durability of cables and their ability to retain their as-manufactured performance with prolonged gig use is a different thing. For those kind of issues, I have always preferred using good solid Belden cabling and Switchcraft connectors, which are readily repaired when they fail. Though in recent years, I have reverted to just using the budget cables from Amazon, since they work well enough, and I don't beat them up so much anymore. YMMV.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lo-E, LiquidMidnight, Al Kraft and 3 others
#25
Cables are cables, it's not going to affect your sound or tone. What matters is the construction of the terminals and quality of soldering to the wire, then if the cable is shielded or not. Generally, cheaper cables break at the terminals and solder can fail, that's all you really need to watch out for. Buy cables with decent, serviceable connectors, and a soldering iron; you're set.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Josh Kneisel
#27
There's a thread around here somewhere with capacitance ratings of various cables and their frequency attenuations. My takeaway was that length, followed by capacitance (which is mostly a function of length when conductor material and gauge are roughly equivalent), were the main factors in sound - not brands or price tags.

I suggest you get the length of cable you need. Don't get the 50' cable if 15' is the furthest you'll ever get from your pedalboard or amp. Check out build materials, sturdiness, stiffness, and connectors. Get what best suits your needs. I personally like build and feel of the Spectraflex braided cables.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LiquidMidnight, Clark Dark and ShadowImage
#28
This is one of those issues I don't sweat, especially since there is a high probability that you won't be able to tell in the mix at all. The genre cables from Monster are hilarious...like other cables are unaware that you're playing Jazz, but the Monster Jazz Cable IS aware *smh*. All I worry about with cables is:

1) Does it crackle and cut out?
2) Is the plug sturdy?
3) Does it cost a reasonable amount?
4) Is it long enough?
5) Can it double as a whip for "motivating" the drummer to stay on-time


;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: LiquidMidnight, anotherhomeysan and Josh Kneisel
#29
Godswarrior31 said:
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?
Click to expand...

Full disclosure: I manufacture and sell cables

1) Straight vs right angle should not affect sound quality unless one is not up to the same manufacturing standards (such as diameter of terminals being too small or inconsistent causing intermittent contact). In a word, I would say "no" it won't affect sound quality. I personally prefer right angle connectors at my instrument end and straight connectors at the amp or DI end. I also prefer gold plating on plugs to prevent oxidation (and I like how it looks).

2) This is highly debatable, but as others have stated likely only matters for passive basses due to higher output impedance causing a rolloff of high frequencies.

3) I believe in using cables that don't purposefully color the tone of what is passing through them.

I would be happy to answer any questions you might have. Feel free to contact me

Thanks
 
#30
KevInDaBassment said:
This is one of those issues I don't sweat, especially since there is a high probability that you won't be able to tell in the mix at all. The genre cables from Monster are hilarious...like other cables are unaware that you're playing Jazz, but the Monster Jazz Cable IS aware *smh*. All I worry about with cables is:

1) Does it crackle and cut out?
2) Is the plug sturdy?
3) Does it cost a reasonable amount?
4) Is it long enough?
5) Can it double as a whip for "motivating" the drummer to stay on-time


;)
Click to expand...
and
6) Does the color match the bass?
 
  • Like
Reactions: LiquidMidnight, dalahorse and Thor
#31
if active bass it doesn't matter. if passive bass then the longer a given cable is the more highs roll off however cables are different and have different capacitance ratings so cables that are "long" but of the same length may have different amount of roll off due to their capacitance at that length.

My understanding is that Jimi Hendrix would sometimes use a very long cable to roll off the highs a bit when recording parts where he wanted that effect. Also as others have said some folks have done things like putting a really long cable in a certain spot of their signal chain because they want those highs to roll off a bit.
 
#33
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.

This is as bad as the guys on audio forums hyping their speaker wire, get a life!!!!!!!! Pay attention to the above post!
 
#37
There's definitely a difference in cable length, to me. I switched from using a 25ft cable to using a wireless, and it certainly made a difference in overall brightness.

Beyond that, the only difference I've noticed is in robustness of the parts. I have some cheap (like, $10 a cable) Redco cables that I bought at the local music store probably 10 years ago, and they still work fine.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back