Cable length in my rig question.

[mniel8195]

I am currently using two 20 foot cables in my effects loop as well as two 20 foot cables between my amp pedal board and guitar. Also throw in all the patch cables in my pedal board. I don'y have shorter cables to a/b with and i mostly play at home. I am using a the koko boost reloaded as my buffer and i also have the option of using my flint or strymon in buffered bypass in the loop of my 5150 III. The first thing my guitar sees is the isp decimator g string. Am i using allot of cable for just being at home?

 

[sixstringking713]

cable length is a big tone killer but if you're just at home practicing, it's not that big of a deal. If you want a "better" tone, typically less cable length can help. Use your highest quality cable as your guitar->pedalboard cable. 2nd of all, use a pedal with a decent input stage as your first pedal if possible. Your signal/noise ratio (among other non-linearities) are mainly determined by your guitar->pedalboard cable and your first pedal that sees the guitar signal.

Personally, I used to run a similar setup with guitar--(25'cable)-->pedalboard--(25' cable)-->amp--(25' cable)-->pedalboard---(25' cable)--->amp

What I ended up doing is removing my whole input section of pedals and now I just plug straight into the amplifier. My new setup is guitar---(25' cable)--->amplifier---(25' cable)--->pedalboard---(25' cable)--->amplifier. Thus, it saved me 25' feet on my input section. The preamp circuit in your amplifier is usually a lot better than what pedals can fit in their circuits. Not only can this help get a better tone but it's a more reliable rig if you're gigging alot. It sucks trying to trace cables and figure out what cable is busted while playing a gig.

The longer cable lengths do not matter as much once you get further from the first gain-stage/preamp seeing the raw guitar signal. Many other systems follow this same principle: stereo systems, pa systems, and even satellites..

 

[yngwiestrat]

Excellent answer by sixstringking713. I run a similar setup as well - 4 20' cables plus pedal patch cables. I use klotz cables in the front and monster cables for the effects loop runs. I use an RJM tone saver on to the front end of the amp and a suhr iso boost in the effects loop as my buffer and solo boost function.