Guitar players , ever do a Instrument cable shootout? I have.
mantis
Posts: 17,201
So yeah call me mental or what have you but when I noticed a tonal difference between instrument cables , I had to dig in and figure this thing out.
Growing up playing guitar I didn't think to much about the quality of my guitar cables. I did get introduced to Whirlwind cables as my uncle swore by them as they lasted forever and retained sound quality better then all others.
So I would get a Whirlind cable when I needed to replace whatever I was using and never studied the differences until just recently.
What happened is I went from a Multi effects unit which is all Buffered( Boss GT-100) and went back to effects pedals. I have a total of 11 pedals and I noticed a Tonal loss in the high end.
So I researched what I did and discovered that all the cable lengths and patch cords where causing some signal loss. So this quest isn't about this cable sounds better then this one, it's about this cable retains my signal better then this one at these given lengths total.
So I have Planet Waves Stage series, Live Wire Advantage , Live Wire Elite, Mogami Gold and Whirlwind the Leader cables all to figure out which brand and series allows me to retain the best over all sound quality meaning the least amount of high end loss.
If you take a 10 ft guitar cable , plug it directly into the front of your guitar amp no pedals or anything in the effects loop and listen to your tone.
Then start adding pedals in front and in the effects loop and watch your tone change. What happens is the high end response goes flat and your loose the sparkle of your guitars natural tone. I hate it and have been on a quest.
Growing up playing guitar I didn't think to much about the quality of my guitar cables. I did get introduced to Whirlwind cables as my uncle swore by them as they lasted forever and retained sound quality better then all others.
So I would get a Whirlind cable when I needed to replace whatever I was using and never studied the differences until just recently.
What happened is I went from a Multi effects unit which is all Buffered( Boss GT-100) and went back to effects pedals. I have a total of 11 pedals and I noticed a Tonal loss in the high end.
So I researched what I did and discovered that all the cable lengths and patch cords where causing some signal loss. So this quest isn't about this cable sounds better then this one, it's about this cable retains my signal better then this one at these given lengths total.
So I have Planet Waves Stage series, Live Wire Advantage , Live Wire Elite, Mogami Gold and Whirlwind the Leader cables all to figure out which brand and series allows me to retain the best over all sound quality meaning the least amount of high end loss.
If you take a 10 ft guitar cable , plug it directly into the front of your guitar amp no pedals or anything in the effects loop and listen to your tone.
Then start adding pedals in front and in the effects loop and watch your tone change. What happens is the high end response goes flat and your loose the sparkle of your guitars natural tone. I hate it and have been on a quest.
Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
Comments
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I got a good one off amazon pretty cheap recently.
GLS audio 20 footer for 12.99
For an occasional player it is really nice and replaced an even chincier one I gave away and thought I wouldn't need and didn't until I got a pedal to counter the effects of age on an old hybrid amp and the heavy button (ole Crate 10 incher)
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91zKtLJHdNL._SL1500_.jpgOnkyo TX-NR636
Main - polkaudio Monitor 60's
Center - polkaudio CSI A6
Sub - polkaudio PSW10
Sub2 - polkaudio PSW505
Surrounds - polkaudio Monitor 40 series II
Front Height - polkaudio Monitor 40's
Audio Outdoors
Pioneer VSX 406 - polkaudio Atrium 5
Shed
Sony junker str-dn2010 with Sony bookshelf floor models and polkaudio R150's
Shed 2
Nakamichi soundbar -
With Guitar chords , it's all about loss and the worse cable you use and how long they are.
With my shootout and I added a Live Wire Elite 10 footer to it , I found the Mogami Gold's overall to be the best cables to use. Length and retaining clarity and definition the Mogami Gold's won hands down.
The Whirlwind The Leader cables came in strong close 2nd followed close by the Live Wire Advantage series.
Funny the Higher end Live Wire Elite cables sounded the worse at longer lengths and really lost a lot of High end response. I didn't experience this with any of the other cables at the degree that the Elite's did.
Needless to say, took the Elite cables back and got more Mogami cables. My entire Rig is going to be fully wired with Mogami Gold's.Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
