Lava Ultramafic Cable

[moltenmetalburn]

I haven't bought a new cable in years. Ive wanted to try these forever and finally grabbed one. I love it. Stomps all over the monster I compared it to and I prefer it over the colossal modern classics Ive been using for years.

I bought it solely because IMO silver plated copper sounds better and for the lower than my current cable 23pf capacitance.

 

[maddnotez]

Good to see this.

I actually bought a B-stock kit from them last month that is sitting in the bag until I get my board situated haha.

Just a patch cable kit. It was 10 ft of Mini ELC with a bunch of the soldier less plugs for like $50 (40%)

Have been curious to hear the difference. Not sure how it would compare to the Ultra that you got though.

 

[moltenmetalburn]

Im loving it, musicians friend has a sale right now, i had gotten a right angle to straight 12' and last night grabbed a straight to straight 15'.



https://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessor ... Type%5EPLA

Looks like the 15' i got was last one. Still some assorted available though. Its wierd the 12' right anfle is sellig for less than the 10' straight... odd pricing, must be closeout.

 

[lespaul6]

I had the Ultramafic at one point years ago... I don't remember it being under 23 pf/ft? Did you measure it yourself?

 

[nevusofota]

I've Lava cables and bought directly from Mark for the last 10 years. Haven't tried this cable but have always really liked his ELC line.

 

[SpiderWars]

Have you compared the Ultramafic to Ultramafic Flex? They appear to have all the lengths of Flex.

 

[Alex_S]

I haven't bought a new cable in years. Ive wanted to try these forever and finally grabbed one. I love it. Stomps all over the monster I compared it to and I prefer it over the colossal modern classics Ive been using for years.

I bought it solely because IMO silver plated copper sounds better and for the lower than my current cable 23pf capacitance.

Interesting! I am a huge fan of the colossal I've used for years now. How do they compare? What do you like better about the Lava?

 

[moltenmetalburn]

I had the Ultramafic at one point years ago... I don't remember it being under 23 pf/ft? Did you measure it yourself?

My wording is odd, i meant that it is lower at 23 than what I was currently using. I habe NOT measure it, didn't think i needed to...

 

[moltenmetalburn]

Have you compared the Ultramafic to Ultramafic Flex? They appear to have all the lengths of Flex.

No, this is my first ultramfic, was thinking about getting one of those also to conpare.

 

[moltenmetalburn]

I haven't bought a new cable in years. Ive wanted to try these forever and finally grabbed one. I love it. Stomps all over the monster I compared it to and I prefer it over the colossal modern classics Ive been using for years.

I bought it solely because IMO silver plated copper sounds better and for the lower than my current cable 23pf capacitance.

Interesting! I am a huge fan of the colossal I've used for years now. How do they compare? What do you like better about the Lava?

I got colossals when they were a new company. I have "modern classics" which were replaced by "sweet fats". I asked Brian, the cables I have are no longer available, he told me they were different wire.

As for liking them better, the brightness is similar but the ultramafic does something to the feel that I like. (Yes feel is partially frequency dependent).

Ill play them more and come back to the thread with a better articulation.

 

[SpiderWars]

I just got a 20' Ultramafic Flex with Neutrik connectors and there might be something wrong with it. It sounds horrible. Muffled highs and almost a blurry cocked wah midrange. It's not subtle either. Tried it both directions just to be sure. It has one of those silent-switch doohickeys on the 90* end. I'm just going to return it.

 

[moltenmetalburn]

I just got a 20' Ultramafic Flex with Neutrik connectors and there might be something wrong with it. It sounds horrible. Muffled highs and almost a blurry cocked wah midrange. It's not subtle either. Tried it both directions just to be sure. It has one of those silent-switch doohickeys on the 90* end. I'm just going to return it.

Weird, must be messed up. I never had those silent switch things, try a replacement before giving up. Muffled highs is the last thing id say about these cables.

 

[SpiderWars]

I just got a 20' Ultramafic Flex with Neutrik connectors and there might be something wrong with it. It sounds horrible. Muffled highs and almost a blurry cocked wah midrange. It's not subtle either. Tried it both directions just to be sure. It has one of those silent-switch doohickeys on the 90* end. I'm just going to return it.

Weird, must be messed up. I never had those silent switch things, try a replacement before giving up. Muffled highs is the last thing id say about these cables.

Yeah, it just can't be the cable. Must be a connector/joint. I was going to swap it out but it is pretty fat and the connectors are big...I'm just so accustomed to George Ls.

 

[Oblivion DC]

I just got a 20' Ultramafic Flex with Neutrik connectors and there might be something wrong with it. It sounds horrible. Muffled highs and almost a blurry cocked wah midrange. It's not subtle either. Tried it both directions just to be sure. It has one of those silent-switch doohickeys on the 90* end. I'm just going to return it.

Weird, must be messed up. I never had those silent switch things, try a replacement before giving up. Muffled highs is the last thing id say about these cables.

Yeah, it just can't be the cable. Must be a connector/joint. I was going to swap it out but it is pretty fat and the connectors are big...I'm just so accustomed to George Ls.

Is 20' long enough to where you start losing highs? Or does it have to be longer to get that effect??

 

[SpiderWars]

All my other cables are George Ls and are 20' and even 25' and that's pretty much all I have to compare it to. I can hear the difference between a 2' George L and a 20' George L which is why I tried the Lava.

 

[moltenmetalburn]

I just got a 20' Ultramafic Flex with Neutrik connectors and there might be something wrong with it. It sounds horrible. Muffled highs and almost a blurry cocked wah midrange. It's not subtle either. Tried it both directions just to be sure. It has one of those silent-switch doohickeys on the 90* end. I'm just going to return it.

Weird, must be messed up. I never had those silent switch things, try a replacement before giving up. Muffled highs is the last thing id say about these cables.

Yeah, it just can't be the cable. Must be a connector/joint. I was going to swap it out but it is pretty fat and the connectors are big...I'm just so accustomed to George Ls.

Is 20' long enough to where you start losing highs? Or does it have to be longer to get that effect??

Its a little more involved than that. The capacitance of the cable shifts the resonant peak of the pickup lower (less highs) and also decreases the energy (volume at resonant peak). This means that it is case dependent. The cable length, capacitance and pickup all play into the equation.

The longer the cable the more noticeable the effect but if measured ANY longer cabke length will have less highs to some degree.

 

[Oblivion DC]

I just got a 20' Ultramafic Flex with Neutrik connectors and there might be something wrong with it. It sounds horrible. Muffled highs and almost a blurry cocked wah midrange. It's not subtle either. Tried it both directions just to be sure. It has one of those silent-switch doohickeys on the 90* end. I'm just going to return it.

Weird, must be messed up. I never had those silent switch things, try a replacement before giving up. Muffled highs is the last thing id say about these cables.

Yeah, it just can't be the cable. Must be a connector/joint. I was going to swap it out but it is pretty fat and the connectors are big...I'm just so accustomed to George Ls.

Is 20' long enough to where you start losing highs? Or does it have to be longer to get that effect??

Its a little more involved than that. The capacitance of the cable shifts the resonant peak of the pickup lower (less highs) and also decreases the energy (volume at resonant peak). This means that it is case dependent. The cable length, capacitance and pickup all play into the equation.

The longer the cable the more noticeable the effect but if measured ANY longer cabke length will have less highs to some degree.

 

[dfrattaroli]

My boards are all wired up with George L's stuff. I use self made cables with good stuff, Mogami, Canare, Neutrik, etc. Even planet waves. But I want to try some of these Lava cables just to say I did. Just to see if I surprise myself having no expectations.

 

[Oblivion DC]

How would one go about measuring the capacitance of a given cable?

 

[moltenmetalburn]

How would one go about measuring the capacitance of a given cable?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OkeUKk_gy2Q