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

[holdfast]

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.

Yes. My thoughts exactly. Cable 'voodoo' is just another way to separate you from your money.

 

[CaseyJ]

$619 for a 20' cable. Must be quality!!!

That price made me laugh. Beyond ridiculous.

 

[Novarocker]

I'm too lazy to read through everything, but in my experience Livewire. The only reason is that they seem to be rugged and hold up well, they aren't expensive and they're simple. Oh and the lifetime no BS warranty. I had a 8x10 cab crush and bend the plug of a speaker cable once. Brought it into the shop and they gave me a brand new one off the shelf. No receipt, no questions, just 'here ya go, enjoy.' Honestly my best GC experience hahaha. I admit I'm a little rough on my cables, been trying to get better, but none of the livewire's have given out. I don't buy their top end ones, just the regular ones.

 

[CaseyJ]

Best cable I've ever owned:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I like my Line 6 wireless. I even use it at practice.

 

[Strung_Low]

I started with a livewire, worked good until it got took. Tried a planet waves (not the american stage) which i thought sounded noticably better.. Until it died, plugged it in one time and got loud feedback/hum, not sure what happend there. Threw it away and got a mogami, pricey but sounds good, seems durable. I also bought an american stage which sounds the same as the mogami as far as i can tell. I like it, but yes, the ends come unscrewed.

 

[Joebone]

So the hi-fi guys go way overboard with this cable thing - thousands of dollars for interconnects and speaker cables…lots of blather about materials (wire, insulator and cover), solid-core/big strands/small strands, lots of talk about capacitance and inductance, you name it. I'd been around some of this stuff at some point, and concluded that with extreme designs, you could use cables as tone controls, changing the timbre, generally by way of rolling off the top or the bottom. I'd also buy the notion that extreme designs can screw up the envelope of notes, so that micro-time can get weird.

For bass guitar, the critical frequency ranges are far less broad, and with one or two exceptions, I doubt anyone in the crowd is possibly gonna appreciate any of these differences….that said, here's my piece, generally based on using 20' foot lengths.

Zaolla silver wire. Pricey, but a fell0w I know who has guitar-teched for Fogerty, Slash, DiMeola, the Stones and many others swears by it. It seems to present a real even balance from bottom to top, and there is no smearing of attacks - notes just happen. But probably only worth it in the studio, and the effect is more apparent on guitar than on bass.

Monster. Absolute dreck -- they did something to roll off the highs and make their bass cables more "bass." They sound like muffled crap.

LiveWire. My sweet spot - you get a good sounding, durable 20' cable for $30-35. Currently using these all the time.

Fender! I have an 18' Fender cable that I keep with my out of state rig; it was like $30, it is very well built and sounds fine to me.

I have no doubt that Mogami and Planet Waves make product similar to the LiveWire and better Fender product.

So I'm not gonna go with the "wires make no difference" crowd…but also am skeptical of the notion that you have to drop a C-note or more for entirely presentable cables - the difference is not cost-effective.

 

[Nickweissmusic]

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.

Absolutely no reason to buy anything special other than build quality. There's an article on sf guitar works that confirms everyone's suspicions that the price of cable has no effect on frequency transmission. Even if there were a minuscule difference in a recording setting, it would never in a million years make a difference on stage. I do like somewhat upscale cables mainly because they are shielded with better braid and more flexible, and don't have the weird slimy rubber, but that's my only criteria. A couple years ago I bought 100ft of canare cable, made a couple cables which are still going strong, and have plenty to spare when I need more. If you just need 1, splurging on a $50 cable that's made well and has a lifetime warranty wouldn't be the dumbest idea on earth, but sound wise, it won't make a bit of difference (as you already found out for yourself).

 

[GK Growl]

LiveWire. My sweet spot - you get a good sounding, durable 20' cable for $30-35. Currently using these all the time.

Big +1. I have used these for the past several years and they do exactly what I expect them to do at a relatively affordable price. I always chuckle to myself when I see my guitarists with their premium Mogami cables. Of course they have $3000 guitars too so that is another good chuckle.

 

[sonicnuance]

Active bass is won't matter at all.

For the majority of the time this is true. I didn't realize it until a few years ago when AgedHorse explained it to me but some onboard instrument preamps use a passive volume control *after* the low impedance buffer stage. Impedance goes up as the volume goes down in this arrangement so you can get some high frequency rolloff depending on the capacitance of the cable and output impedance of the instrument as volume is turned down.

If I'm not mistaken me this is done to mimic the behavior of passive instruments.

 

[seamonkey]

One thing that makes wireless work so well is there's a little buffer right there on the transmitter. If you're really thinking you have tone suck from the cable, then add a little buffer. They're common, but way to expensive for what they do. People with all the pedals usually do this as serial true bypass pedals do as much tone suck as a long cable.

 

[walterw]

15' spectraflex or dimarzio braided with a right-angle end on it is as good as you'll ever need to get, for $30-40.

USA-made, decently low capacitance (all that matters for tone, and even then only with passive instruments) and plenty durable to being stepped on.

they also have lifetime warranties, though you'll probably have better luck finding replacement spectraflex cables in music stores.

 

[Al Kraft]

IME, other than handling noise, shielding effectiveness and durability (all related to the design/manufacture/assembly of cable and connectors), there isn't a lot more that distinguishes one cable from another other than capacitance. As capacitance increases (and "impedance out and in" vary between source and destination) you can measure and possibly hear a slight attenuation in higher frequencies (typically with a slight bump/spike in the frequencies right before the roll-off starts, at least from the tests I've seen). Lower frequencies are virtually unaffected by the capacitance difference.

Looking at a cable's capacitance per foot spec, it's obvious to see how capacitance differences become more of a potential concern with longer cable lengths. In the 6-12 foot range or even 15-18 foot I would expect the difference between most cables would be lost on most people UNLESS one cable had an exceptionally high capacitance and the other exceptionally low and we were comparing longer lengths.

All that said, I've owned and listened to cables in the under 18 foot range that had capacitance specs of less than 10 to almost 50 pF/ft. With bass guitar, to my ear, the differences were quite subtle and other than in a studio or lab environment would be quite likely lost in the mix. For many active basses the on-board preamp buffering and impedance matching/optimizing between the bass output and input there would be no measurable difference between cables, and clearly not an audible one regardless of cable length (within reason for stage use).

While these effects are definitely there with a passive bass and pick-ups, there are in fact certain preamp/active circuits that use a passive volume control that can be similarly affected by varying cable capacitance. As a final thought, "cost" within reasonable bounds (i.e. excluding $2 a piece 18 foot cables) is not even close to a surrogate for higher or lower capacitance, or even durability/quality. My best luck over the years has been with mid priced cables that are from name brand cable makers with name brand connectors. In terms of live sound in a band mix, I'm not sure I could tell you which cable is which out of those mid-tier priced products simply by listening. YMMV!

 

[Lo-E]

I saw a Youtube video where Carlos Santana's guitar tech showed how they purposefully use 50ft cable to roll off highs if memory serves me.

I believe Albert Collins did the same - shocking when you consider how bright his tone was.

I never thought I'd be saying this, but I now mostly buy the Fender brand cables right off the rack. They wear well, they're not microphonic, no sound quality issues (active or passive), and they're reasonably priced.

I'm so not a Fender Fanboi. But based on repeated experiences, I'm sold. And they come in bright colors.

(As much as I love the functionality of right angle cables, I've had bad luck with durabilty, way too easy to break. The exception was an old switchcraft solid brass one, but that's something of a special order. )

Fender doesn't make cables, they re-brand them. Therefore, Fender cables can vary quite a bit, depending upon who manufactured them, and to what specs. I've had plain ol' OEM Fender cables that came with an instrument last for years and years with no issues. I've also bought a couple of Fender cables (a two-pack of "fancy" cloth-covered cables) that were absolutely the bottom of the barrel. Microphonic, very capacitive and didn't last long at all.

You can get 25 feet of Mogami cable and 2 Neutrik connectors for ~$28 from redco.com.

Nice company to deal with, in my limited experience with them.

 

[Lo-E]

15' spectraflex or dimarzio braided with a right-angle end on it is as good as you'll ever need to get, for $30-40.

USA-made, decently low capacitance (all that matters for tone, and even then only with passive instruments) and plenty durable to being stepped on.

they also have lifetime warranties, though you'll probably have better luck finding replacement spectraflex cables in music stores.

My Spectraflex 18-footer has been in my gig bag for close to 20 years. Countless gigs, no issues. I replaced one end with a 90deg about 10 years ago, not because of a failure, but because I prefer them at the instrument end.
The backup, a DiMarzio 15' that lives in the crash kit has been equally bomb-proof.

I think we have a consensus here that once you get beyond the cheapest of the cheap you're likely to be okay. Really, Pro-Co or Planet Waves or Conquest... they're likely to hold up just as well as the better-known Belden, Canari, Mogami and Monster, etc... in most situations. Just buy quality and don't worry too much about who's name is on it.

 

[tekhedd]

Fender doesn't make cables, they re-brand them. Therefore, Fender cables can vary quite a bit, depending upon who manufactured them, and to what specs. I've had plain ol' OEM Fender cables that came with an instrument last for years and years with no issues. I've also bought a couple of Fender cables (a two-pack of "fancy" cloth-covered cables) that were absolutely the bottom of the barrel. Microphonic, very capacitive and didn't last long at all.

I guess I've just been lucky many times over the last decade or so, then. I also tend to avoid the cloth-wrapped cords because it's such a pain to get the cloth into the clamp if you have to replace a plug-so maybe I dodged a particularly failworthy product.

NB I don't know if "rebrand" is the right word here. Everything is contract manufactured these days; the end product depends on the specs and how vigilant the brand is with quality control. Very few of these manufacturers make anything, they just do the final assembly and sometimes testing.

 

[Lo-E]

I guess I've just been lucky many times over the last decade or so, then. I also tend to avoid the cloth-wrapped cords because it's such a pain to get the cloth into the clamp if you have to replace a plug-so maybe I dodged a particularly failworthy product.

You make a good point. I may have bought their only dud. And their OEM cables have all been fine.

 

[Godswarrior31]

So, ironically, I ended up buying a Monster bass cable. I had actually decided that I wasn't going to give Monster or anyone else charging that kind of money MY money...but I happened to call Sweetwater and the deal they offered me was so good, I literally couldn't say no. As long as the cable sounds like all the others do...who the heck cares now? Haha.

 

[Al Kraft]

So, ironically, I ended up buying a Monster bass cable. I had actually decided that I wasn't going to give Monster or anyone else charging that kind of money MY money...but I happened to call Sweetwater and the deal they offered me was so good, I literally couldn't say no. As long as the cable sounds like all the others do...who the heck cares now? Haha.

It'll work fine and you'll probably pass it (or a free replacement) on to your grandchildren! With cables, once you exclude the obvious lesser quality stuff, the decision on what to buy from the remaining brand name options can usually safely be made based on convenience, availability and/or cost. Enjoy!!

 

[58kites]

In 1975 I was one of the 5 people at a music cable company Whirlwind Music that made all kinds of cables, splitters, combiners, impedance matching boxes, stock and large custom PA snakes, etc, etc.
We came before all the others, Rapco, Pro-co, Horizen, Monster, Canare, Mogami, etc.
The company has 150-200 people now and is still in Rochester New York, they are adding another addition on their factory building as I write this.
For about the first 12 years of the company I did all of the purchasing, which included specifying everything that went into the products.
I bought many millions of feet, of 30-40 different cables, and many millions of connectors of hundreds of types every year.
I spent an awful lot of time talking to the engineers at a dozen cable manufacturers (Belden being the first) about how to make the best stuff and also making sure that it handled well in the hands of a roadie and felt good hanging off the mic or off the guitar to the musician.
There is tons of snake oil, and a little bit of truth in what you read from some companies trying to ask for high prices for cables.
What is so funny about it is, you can do any fancy stranding of cable you want, with all the oxygen free copper or fancy silver or whatever, then at each end you are going to connect it with a blob of solder!
Then you are going to use a 19th century designed 1/4" telephone plug to go into a guitar with a very primitive pick up device and then you are going to run it through an amp to a paper coned reproduction speaker device to make electric amplified music to add volume to what an acoustic wood box stringed instrument once made.
On top of that, most electric music instruments go through a half dozen effects devices half the time.
Most of the time when somebody makes a better amp or pickup or instrument, musicians are not happy because it does not sound like the past recordings from their favorite star musicians, hence the still overwhelming popularity of the Precision, Strat, Tele, Les Paul, SG, Marshall or Ampeg SVT stack, etc.

So, the whole thing is kind of a joke and is totally subjective.

Good cables should be designed and made to be durable and handle well in your hands and have reasonably good electrical specs.

Given the limitations of all of the other devices they interface with, that is plenty to get the job done.

 

[TomB]

In 1975 I was one of the 5 people at a cable manufacturing company Whirlwind Music that made all kinds of cables, splitters, PA snakes, etc, etc.
The company has grown to around 150 people and is still in Rochester New York, they are adding another addition on their factory building as I write this.
For about the first 12 years of the company I did all of the purchasing, which included specifying the cables and what went into them.
I bought many millions of feet of dozens of different cables and many millions of connectors of hundreds of types every year.
I spent an awful lot of time talking to the engineers at a dozen of cable manufacturers (Belden being the first) about how to make the best stuff and also making sure that it handled well in the hands of a roadie and felt good hanging off the mic or off the guitar to the musician.
There is tons of snake oil, and a little bit of truth in what you read from some companies trying to ask for high prices for cables.
What is so funny about it is, you can do any fancy stranding of cable you want, with all the oxygen free copper or fancy silver or whatever, then at each end you are going to connect it with a blob of solder!
Then you are going to use a 19th century designed 1/4" telephone plug to go into a guitar with a very primitive pick up device and then you are going to run it through an amp to a paper coned reproduction speaker device to make electric amplified music to add volume to what an acoustic wood box stringed instrument once made.
On top of that, most electric music instruments go through a half dozen effects devices half the time.
Most of the time when somebody makes a better amp or pickup or instrument, musicians are not happy because it does not sound like the past recordings from their favorite star musicians, hence the still overwhelming popularity of the Precision, Strat, Tele, Les Paul, SG, Marshall or Ampeg SVT stack, etc.
So, the whole thing is kind of a joke and is totally subjective.

Thank you for an informed perspective. I still believe that high-quality materials put together with care and guaranteed to work is the real reason it's wise for the working musician to pay a little more ...not snake oil more, but more than the cheapest available. As noted earlier in the thread, that criterion allows for a pretty wide selection of products.