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What instrument cables do you use?

#141
esa372 said:
$20-$25 (after tax, mind you) for a 20' cable is not "over-paying", IMO; I don't care about the warranty; With the SwitchCraft ends, the cable is virtually indestructible... That's the point. :)

It's pretty simple, really:
I bought a Monster Cable; I saw that the stress relief with their stock ends was terrible, so I replaced the ends with with something of better quality. That was 20 years ago, and the cable is still in use today.

:bassist:
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Fair enough. The way your post was written led me to believe that you bought Monster Cable with the intention of replacing the plugs just to get at that sweet recipe between the ends.
 
#142
gregmon79 said:
WHAAAAA??!! Seriously, Belden?? I never heard of that before. I work at Napa too so I could get a great discount on the stuff. How are you doing this good sir? What connectors are you using?
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The cable is Belden 9271 and the connectors will be Amphenol TM2R B AU for the angled version and TM2P B AU for the straights. I got the cable off eBay a year or so ago for around $40 and just haven't gotten around to the project.

I'm using 2 conductor plus shield cable so that I can tie the shield in on the instrument side only. It also makes it cheaper to buy 1 type for both balanced and unbalanced cables.
 
#146
For a long time, I used to make my own. Used classic Switchcraft connectors and whatever high quality cable I could find. Last set I made had the GH connectors. Really like those as alternative to Switchcraft.

My gigging cables now are the LiveWire Elites from GC. I use one straight/straight, one straight/right angle. Neutrix connectors, nice looking cable. If they're made by Mogami, even better. Warranty is hard to beat and there are 3 GCs within 15 miles of where I live and gig.

Have an old tweed Spectraflex braided which has GH connectors. It's been a solid, reliable cable and always coils nicely. Have a really nice Quantum cable, their top of line Q-2300 series. Also has GH ends but I stopped using it on gigs and now just in my home studio because the cable is so stiff!. Never sat flat on stage. To the credit of the company, one of the ends starting making noise and I sent it back and they repaired it for $10 in shipping years after it was out of warranty.

A friend of mine has an Asterope cable, the ones that Bob Babbit used to endorse. I never thought cables made a difference but I AB with my Elite cable and it really did sound better. What I noticed is that the upper mids were so much more clear and open. If I were ever recording something important, I'd probably bit the bullet. About $80 on ebay for 10 ft.
 
#149
mkandolf said:
Pro Co Lifelines.

I like the ease of coiling them up, the first ones I bought are still in use after 5 plus years, and I like that the ends are different colors. That has to do with a little electrical engineering bit about polarization of the signal cables (means a lot in computers, not sure how much for instrument cabling). White end goes toward the instrument, black end towards the speaker.
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Lol.. There aren't any semi conductors in a cable, so polarity really doesn't matter. Yet another marketing ploy along the lines of "breaking in" cables. Why people are attracted to these claims is a mystery to me, but people obviously do.
 
#158
I have a pair of Monster cables (performer 500 series - 12 ft & 21 ft) They must be at least 15+ years old by now. They have never given me any problems ever and I feel I've gotten my monies worth. Will they last another 15 years? I dunno. It could happen. ;)
 
#159
blowinblue said:
The small outside diameter of the 'thin' cable is half the fun. Many times musicians have looked at my instrument cable with that condescending, down-the-nose expression. You know what they're thinking. "Look how thin it is. It can't be any good".
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Yup. A keyboard player looked at me like I was dissing him when I lent him a spare GeorgeL: "Ummm, don't you have a better one?" I just smiled and said "Trust me, it's a good cable" and showed him I was using one too. Fortunately that reassured him (not that I cared much; I was doing him a favor).
 

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