Hard to find quality cables these days....

[Dallas Marlow]

OK this jackass has spent "thousands of dollars on cables". I think we are being bamboozled. Wonder if he has found the holy grail of straps yet?

I like this guy alot.

Haha good point, but lets be honest cables add up over the years... I've probably got ehh... $500+ on guitar cables and speaker cables through out the past decade, hell most of that in the past 5-6 years or so, it all adds up over time!!!

As far as the strap thing goes, EVERY thing that touches your rig, whether it's your guitar or your amp, it's going to change your tone to some degree, different objects have different resonance no matter how minor it might be things do change the tone, when different objects absorb vibrations it is going to change things. Now how much of this really matters at the end of the day, in my opinion it doesn't matter all that much, to me a great player is going to sound great through damn near anything, and a shitty player the same, a great player will sound better with better stuff sure but it all starts with the fingers and goes from there, the rest of it just becomes an extension of your expression and how detailed you want to get is up to the player but focusing on strap type for tone to me is a pretty big waste of time and there are much more effective ways to improve your sound.

My 2c, take it for what you will.

 

[H Golf Sport]

OK this jackass has spent "thousands of dollars on cables". I think we are being bamboozled. Wonder if he has found the holy grail of straps yet?

I like this guy alot.

Haha good point, but lets be honest cables add up over the years... I've probably got ehh... $500+ on guitar cables and speaker cables through out the past decade, hell most of that in the past 5-6 years or so, it all adds up over time!!!

As far as the strap thing goes, EVERY thing that touches your rig, whether it's your guitar or your amp, it's going to change your tone to some degree, different objects have different resonance no matter how minor it might be things do change the tone, when different objects absorb vibrations it is going to change things. Now how much of this really matters at the end of the day, in my opinion it doesn't matter all that much, to me a great player is going to sound great through damn near anything, and a shitty player the same, a great player will sound better with better stuff sure but it all starts with the fingers and goes from there, the rest of it just becomes an extension of your expression and how detailed you want to get is up to the player but focusing on strap type for tone to me is a pretty big waste of time and there are much more effective ways to improve your sound.

My 2c, take it for what you will.

oops double post

 

[H Golf Sport]

OK this jackass has spent "thousands of dollars on cables". I think we are being bamboozled. Wonder if he has found the holy grail of straps yet?

I like this guy alot.

Haha good point, but lets be honest cables add up over the years... I've probably got ehh... $500+ on guitar cables and speaker cables through out the past decade, hell most of that in the past 5-6 years or so, it all adds up over time!!!

As far as the strap thing goes, EVERY thing that touches your rig, whether it's your guitar or your amp, it's going to change your tone to some degree, different objects have different resonance no matter how minor it might be things do change the tone, when different objects absorb vibrations it is going to change things. Now how much of this really matters at the end of the day, in my opinion it doesn't matter all that much, to me a great player is going to sound great through damn near anything, and a shitty player the same, a great player will sound better with better stuff sure but it all starts with the fingers and goes from there, the rest of it just becomes an extension of your expression and how detailed you want to get is up to the player but focusing on strap type for tone to me is a pretty big waste of time and there are much more effective ways to improve your sound.

My 2c, take it for what you will.

I remember the big strap and tone thread on tgp. I think some of them really diddn't know it was a joke. Anyway the whole resonance thing of straps Is a bunch of BS as far as I am concerned.
Just try a simple test. Play your guitar standing up normally with guitar against your gut and forearm hanging over the body. Now lean over so the guitar hangs off the strap not touching your gut at all. Pick or strum the same without your forearm touching the guitar. I can't hear any difference at all. Your gut /forearm combo will effect resonance a hell of a lot more than the difference between straps. Now if your talking something like pick material, fingers, frets, any thing that will effect the vibration of the string, that will make a big difference. An acoustic or hollow body maybe different as the tops are thin and you could probably push down hard enough to dampen those vibrations.

Of course my axis has a floyd so I guess my whole argument is moot as it doesnt have any tone to begin with.

Cables meh, some are slightly brighter than others. I would worry more about durability than anything else.

I totally agree with Dallas that there are much more effective ways to improve one's sound, like practice.

 

[killertone]

I have broken 4 Moster cables in 9 years. That isn't too bad seeing as how they probably got 1,000 gigs on them. Usually it was the tips breaking off, that is a stupid design, not sure if the newer ones still utilize that. Hope not. I will be going to GC and swapping them for new ones in the next day or so.

When I am on the road teching, I make all of my cable looms with Canare GS-6 and G&H or Switchcraft Jumbo silencer ends. They suffer tons of abuse (stage hands) and always work. They sound great, too.

 

[stratotone]

I roll my own - G&H ends, Gepco Xband currently, but used Canare before and it was pretty good. The Xband is pretty amazing and not expensive at all - under a dollar a foot. I used to use neutrik or switchcraft ends, the G&H is nicer imho.

Pete

 

[nbarts]

Shit .... custom order them, buddy!

Here, these guys do a great job

NYPROAUDIOCABLES.COM

 

[Dallas Marlow]

OK this jackass has spent "thousands of dollars on cables". I think we are being bamboozled. Wonder if he has found the holy grail of straps yet?

I like this guy alot.

Haha good point, but lets be honest cables add up over the years... I've probably got ehh... $500+ on guitar cables and speaker cables through out the past decade, hell most of that in the past 5-6 years or so, it all adds up over time!!!

As far as the strap thing goes, EVERY thing that touches your rig, whether it's your guitar or your amp, it's going to change your tone to some degree, different objects have different resonance no matter how minor it might be things do change the tone, when different objects absorb vibrations it is going to change things. Now how much of this really matters at the end of the day, in my opinion it doesn't matter all that much, to me a great player is going to sound great through damn near anything, and a shitty player the same, a great player will sound better with better stuff sure but it all starts with the fingers and goes from there, the rest of it just becomes an extension of your expression and how detailed you want to get is up to the player but focusing on strap type for tone to me is a pretty big waste of time and there are much more effective ways to improve your sound.

My 2c, take it for what you will.

I remember the big strap and tone thread on tgp. I think some of them really diddn't know it was a joke. Anyway the whole resonance thing of straps Is a bunch of BS as far as I am concerned.
Just try a simple test. Play your guitar standing up normally with guitar against your gut and forearm hanging over the body. Now lean over so the guitar hangs off the strap not touching your gut at all. Pick or strum the same without your forearm touching the guitar. I can't hear any difference at all. Your gut /forearm combo will effect resonance a hell of a lot more than the difference between straps. Now if your talking something like pick material, fingers, frets, any thing that will effect the vibration of the string, that will make a big difference. An acoustic or hollow body maybe different as the tops are thin and you could probably push down hard enough to dampen those vibrations.

Of course my axis has a floyd so I guess my whole argument is moot as it doesnt have any tone to begin with.

Cables meh, some are slightly brighter than others. I would worry more about durability than anything else.

I totally agree with Dallas that there are much more effective ways to improve one's sound, like practice.

People take that shit really seriously, but at the end of the day as we both said there's much more effective ways to improve your sound haha. Trying to analyze everything that touches your guitar is just to much thinking for me right now, there's already a billion things that I KNOW effect tone, strings, picks, cables, tubes, amps, guitars, pick ups, and that's just the tip of the iceberg...

 

[Dallas Marlow]

I have broken 4 Moster cables in 9 years. That isn't too bad seeing as how they probably got 1,000 gigs on them. Usually it was the tips breaking off, that is a stupid design, not sure if the newer ones still utilize that. Hope not. I will be going to GC and swapping them for new ones in the next day or so.

When I am on the road teching, I make all of my cable looms with Canare GS-6 and G&H or Switchcraft Jumbo silencer ends. They suffer tons of abuse (stage hands) and always work. They sound great, too.

There's no question that the monster cables aren't AS durable as standard construction and esp not as good as G&H ends, plus the monster cables can't be repaired, so as far as when on tour I don't disagree that your custom are probably better for road worthiness and no dealing with trading stuff in etc. I think the sound quality is all of preference though.

 

[verderacer]

You could not give me Monster Cable... To each their own, but with the way the Monster conducts business, I couldn't ever use them.

That said, I make my own cables using Mogami or Canare with quality ends.

Good short link for the "differences" between the two.

http://www.thecablefactory.net/differences.php

+1 The only 2 cables I have ever used.

 

[tom_h]

Do yourself a favor and check out Colossal Cables.

Seriously the best cables I've ever used. I'm still amazed by just how great these are. Makes everything else seem like Hosa in comparison.

They're relatively inexpensive as well.

 

[MARK1970]

I use both Two-Rock crystal clear cables and Analysis plus yellow oval. Those are my favorites.

Two Rock is an excellent cable. Are they making them again ?

 

[luxxtone]

Do yourself a favor and check out Colossal Cables.

Seriously the best cables I've ever used. I'm still amazed by just how great these are. Makes everything else seem like Hosa in comparison.

They're relatively inexpensive as well.

+1000

The only cables I'll use at the shop, my favorite by far. Plus Brian is cool as hell. Can't beat the price either. The tone matches that of the Evidence Lyric, if not better, and much better outer casing and flexibility....and cheaper!

 

['63-Strat]

I totally agree with Dallas that there are much more effective ways to improve one's sound, like practice.

Yep, this has the biggest effect on making us sound better. That said, I hear a difference between cables and definitely didn't like how the monster sounded, if anything it was really bright/harsh so maybe it was a case of me liking the capacitance of other cables. I also think its all relative to the rest of your setup. If your setup sounds a little dull you may like a really transparent cable to add some extended highs or vice versa if your setup is bright, IMO. I'm using a combination of some planet waves and mogami, and sometimes a george l.

 

[merlop]

I use both Two-Rock crystal clear cables and Analysis plus yellow oval. Those are my favorites.

Two Rock is an excellent cable. Are they making them again ?

They did a short run a while back and I snagged one. I am kicking myself for not buying two.

 

[Giga]

Thanks for the replies. I have a few of the Mogami Platinum cables but unfortunately I cannot find any under 12 feet. I really prefer 5 foot cables... (should have added that in my original post) I wonder why more companies do not make 5 foot cables.

Monster Cables, no offense, I would rather not even play guitar than use those. They sound like tin cans to my ears, JMO.

Honestly if that is how you feel about cables then I think you are reading WAY too much into it. SRV and Jimi used cheap radio shack coil cables, and your comment saying that most cables rob you of your "smoother high end tone" is a little backwards. Cheaper cables tend to have higher capacitance (generally) and therefore sound darker, making your high end smoother. This is why SRV and Jimi used the coil cables, very high capacitance, nice rounded high end.

So my recommendation is to take a step back and not think about gear so much.

That's exactly what I thought after reading the openingpost...

Giga

 

[headlessdeadguy]

OK this jackass has spent "thousands of dollars on cables". I think we are being bamboozled. Wonder if he has found the holy grail of straps yet?

I like this guy alot.

That's why I send all my straps out to this old, wise tech that does strap mods. He puts some type of audio fibers in them that compensates for any tone-robbing cable that I might be using.

 

[Mudder]

Monster cables may be really good, but their owner has a business plan that includes suing anyone with any product similar to Monster, and anyone who uses the term "monster" in their business name, whether it has anything to do with Monster cables or not. They force a licencing deal or litigate, it's spurious in most cases, but many small businesses simply can't spend the money to defend themselves and stay in business.

It's scummy and needless.

 

[smdb]

Lava cable.com

 

[jabps]

Lava cable.com

Boom. Yes Lava Cable...he offers a ton of different cables/brands from affordable to the ridciulous and in different sizes custom to your specs...jacks as well.

If your looking for 5 footers Lava is the way to go.

 

[buddaman71]

I really like the Elixir cables.
Great performance without the stupid prices.