Hard to find quality cables these days....

[vchizzle]

Canare is what I'm using. After breaking a ton of Monsters within about 4 years, I got fed up and started making my own. when I rewired everything, my guitar tone was much more open and clear sounding. Make your own and pick whatever ends you want. You will spend about 1/2 the money if you would if the cables were premade and bought in a store.

http://www.redco.com/shopexd.asp?id=543
http://www.fullcompass.com/product/340942.html (cheaper if buying over 50 ft)

 

[guitarslinger]

I think it's crazy not to learn how to make your own.

Get a Good soldering station.

Go to redco.com

buy some of each of the cable in your pricerange. (I have settled on Canare GS-6, and Canare GS-4)

Then buy a couple hundred feet of your favorite.

buy 100 neutrik ends.

you're set for a while.

 

[Qweklain]

I use Monster. Great cables!!!

I have to disagree on this statement. I had to replace quite a back in the day. That and they sounded like crap when I compared them to Voodoo 50/50 series cables.

My preference is the Voodoo 50/50. They actually DID make a noticeable difference over the Monster in every aspect. I actually should order another speaker cable right now...

 

[mboogman]

I think it's crazy not to learn how to make your own.

Get a Good soldering station.

Go to redco.com

buy some of each of the cable in your pricerange. (I have settled on Canare GS-6, and Canare GS-4)

Then buy a couple hundred feet of your favorite.

buy 100 neutrik ends.

you're set for a while.

I have to agree totally here. I have been making my own cables for years, and have not had a cable go bad on me since. I refuse to use switchcraft ends now, as I continually had to re-solder them after the strain relief let go. Not so with the neutrik ends. As for cable (heresy coming) - I use whirlwind Accusonic +2 MIC cable. It has extremely low capacitance, and I get two 22ga conductors running the length of the cable, and a very tight braided shield. I get better tone through 15" this cable than through my Canare 10" cable, and it is way less expensive. Just my two cents.

 

[Nigel]

I LOVE my Solid Cables 12' Arc Ultra.

 

[guitarslinger]

I think it's crazy not to learn how to make your own.

Get a Good soldering station.

Go to redco.com

buy some of each of the cable in your pricerange. (I have settled on Canare GS-6, and Canare GS-4)

Then buy a couple hundred feet of your favorite.

buy 100 neutrik ends.

you're set for a while.

I have to agree totally here. I have been making my own cables for years, and have not had a cable go bad on me since. I refuse to use switchcraft ends now, as I continually had to re-solder them after the strain relief let go. Not so with the neutrik ends. As for cable (heresy coming) - I use whirlwind Accusonic +2 MIC cable. It has extremely low capacitance, and I get two 22ga conductors running the length of the cable, and a very tight braided shield. I get better tone through 15" this cable than through my Canare 10" cable, and it is way less expensive. Just my two cents.

where are you buying bulk whirlwind cable????

I've used the same Whirlwind Leader 18' cable at every gig, acoustic and electric since 1994.

They are indestructable, and they sound great.

 

[mboogman]

I think it's crazy not to learn how to make your own.

Get a Good soldering station.

Go to redco.com

buy some of each of the cable in your pricerange. (I have settled on Canare GS-6, and Canare GS-4)

Then buy a couple hundred feet of your favorite.

buy 100 neutrik ends.

you're set for a while.

I have to agree totally here. I have been making my own cables for years, and have not had a cable go bad on me since. I refuse to use switchcraft ends now, as I continually had to re-solder them after the strain relief let go. Not so with the neutrik ends. As for cable (heresy coming) - I use whirlwind Accusonic +2 MIC cable. It has extremely low capacitance, and I get two 22ga conductors running the length of the cable, and a very tight braided shield. I get better tone through 15" this cable than through my Canare 10" cable, and it is way less expensive. Just my two cents.

where are you buying bulk whirlwind cable????

I've used the same Whirlwind Leader 18' cable at every gig, acoustic and electric since 1994.

They are indestructable, and they sound great.

The company I work for is a whirlwind dealer. I basically buy it direct.

 

[guitarslinger]

The company I work for is a whirlwind dealer. I basically buy it direct.

Can you buy the accusonic "Leader" cable in bulk?!?!?!?!

 

[Gainfreak]

I'm loving the fact that this guy was trolling and you guys are keeping the thread alive!!

 

[stratotone]

I'm tellin you guys, G&H ends and Gepco cable. Here's something interesting for those of you that track capacitance (higher capacitance, more highs are lost... and it's measured by feet. So 10 feet of 50pf cable means you are adding a 500pf load to your tone...)

Gepco XB20UB is 22 pf a foot
Canare GS6 is 49 pf
George L's are 25 pf

Not saying that pf rating is EVERYTHING, but I prefer cables with a lower value. It does make for a brighter tone, but I'd rather attenuate at the amp than try to add it... I always liked the tone of the GLs, with the Gepco I can get that but with the security of soldered ends.

Just my opinion.

Pete

 

[mboogman]

The company I work for is a whirlwind dealer. I basically buy it direct.

Can you buy the accusonic "Leader" cable in bulk?!?!?!?!

Yep. It would be about .40/ft + shipping.

 

[mboogman]

I'm tellin you guys, G&H ends and Gepco cable. Here's something interesting for those of you that track capacitance (higher capacitance, more highs are lost... and it's measured by feet. So 10 feet of 50pf cable means you are adding a 500pf load to your tone...)

Gepco XB20UB is 22 pf a foot
Canare GS6 is 49 pf
George L's are 25 pf

Not saying that pf rating is EVERYTHING, but I prefer cables with a lower value. It does make for a brighter tone, but I'd rather attenuate at the amp than try to add it... I always liked the tone of the GLs, with the Gepco I can get that but with the security of soldered ends.

Just my opinion.

Pete

Gepco also makes great cable. They're one my favorite cable companies to deal with directly.

 

[moltenmetalburn]

I love my Colossal cables. they sound f'n great are pretty tough and are reasonably priced.

here is my review:
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=57513

I do see how you could have spent thousands on cables, I would have spent about $1800 to get the full complement of Van Den Hul cable I was originally looking at.

Those who think cables have little or no effect are wrong. (though the correct test conditions must apply.)

Study up on the effects of capacitance on the resonant peak of your passive guitar pickups and you'll find that added cable capacitance can entirely change the resonant peak of your pickup, therefore entirely changing the sound.

This only applies to the high impedance direct connection from guitar to amp, if you have active pickups or a buffer in your chain after the guitar, even your bypassed tuner, then the difference will not be heard, your low impedance buffered signal will not suffer the same effect.

A really good example of this is the Duncan pickup booster. That pedal adds capacitance to the signal changing the resonant peak of a single coil to a lower peak like a humbucker. extremely simple pedal with a profound effect on the tone that perfectly illustrates the effect.

for better or for worse is your call, tone is subjective.

 

[DumbleTone]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Let's say I just put a huge dent in my Credit Card with some of the suggestions you have given! I will be posting my results soon, sort of a "Cable Shootout" if you will!

 

[stratotone]

Study up on the effects of capacitance on the resonant peak of your passive guitar pickups and you'll find that added cable capacitance can entirely change the resonant peak of your pickup, therefore entirely changing the sound.

Just so I'm reading this right... a tone control, which is a capacitor... adds a resonant peak to your tone? I thought it just rolled off highs. Help me understand this.

Pete

 

[moltenmetalburn]

OK, the tone pot in a guitar is a different circuit altogether. you are not simply adding capacitance across the signal and ground via a capacitor. remember the pot is a variable resistor. apples and oranges.

I would explain the resonant peak but its long winded,here is good reading to learn about resonant peak (long read but worth it

http://buildyourguitar.com/resources/lemme/

as for the tone controls:

The capacitor and tone pot are wired together to provide a variable low pass filter. This means when the filter is engaged (tone pot is turned) only the low frequencies pass to the output jack and the high frequencies are grounded out (cut) In this application, the capacitor value determines the "cutoff frequency" of the filter and the position of the tone pot determines how much the highs (everything above the cutoff frequency) will be reduced. So the rule is: Larger capacitors will have lower cutoff frequency and sound darker in the bass setting because a wider range of frequencies is being reduced. Smaller capacitors will have a higher cutoff frequency and sound brighter in the bass setting because only the ultra high frequencies are cut.

Keep in mind that the capacitor value only affects the sound when the tone control is being used (pot in the bass setting) The tone capacitor value will have little to no effect on the sound when the tone pot is in the treble setting.

 

[mixohoytian]

I used to use whatever cable I could get that was cheap

until I heard Zaolla silverline cables
the only cables I've heard that I'm happy to pay extra for
silver conductor instead of copper like the rest

more over tones
more volume
more bass, more highs
more tone

 

[ejkennedy]

I love my Colossal cables. they sound f'n great are pretty tough and are reasonably priced.

here is my review:
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=57513

I do see how you could have spent thousands on cables, I would have spent about $1800 to get the full complement of Van Den Hul cable I was originally looking at.

As for those who think cables have little or no effect are wrong. (though the correct test conditions must apply.)

Study up on the effects of capacitance on the resonant peak of your passive guitar pickups and you'll find that added cable capacitance can entirely change the resonant peak of your pickup, therefore entirely changing the sound.

This only applies to the high impedance direct connection from guitar to amp, if you have active pickups or a buffer in your chain after the guitar, even your bypassed tuner, then the difference will not be heard, your low impedance buffered signal will not suffer the same effect.

A really good example of this is the Duncan pickup booster. That pedal adds capacitance to the signal changing the resonant peak of a single coil to a lower peak like a humbucker. extremely simple pedal with a profound effect on the tone that perfectly illustrates the effect.

for better or for worse is your call, tone is subjective.

This post is annoying. I thought I was set with all Evidence and now I'm checking out Collosal thinking I'm missing something. Tell me I'm not.

 

[headlessdeadguy]

Yeah this whole thread is annoying to me. I'll never be good enough nor have nice enough gear to give a shit about tonal differences in a cable.
I can tell the difference from a $2 cable to a... say $50 but beyond that, there is no way MY ears could tell a difference. Let alone from 12ft to 5ft.

 

[hunter]

Vovox for me