Guitar Cable Brands

[Acousticraft]

I have asked this question on other forums and some people swear XYZ brand cable sounds so much better.

I use Planet Waves cables which are nice and flexible plus have the little ridge on the jack plug so they sit in really tight and don't fall out.

I have other cables I have made myself and I don't think I can distinguish between them and the PW cables myself.

There are cables out there that are made specifically for guitar or bass etc. so they must color the sound and not be transparent so to speak.

[Daniel Sorbera]

Here is a great article you should read to help you understand why some cables sound different.

I have a monster cable and there is indeed a difference between it and a cheap $5 cable. The difference is slightly increased highs. But thats it.

The reason I use the expensive cable is it's made well and I'm not worried about it going out on me.

[biliousfrog]

I also use planet waves cables & I can honestly say that I noticed the difference straight away which is why I switched all of mine. It's difficult to explain what I heard & it was a few years ago now but I seem to remember the guitar sounding a little more "Hi-Fi". Notes seemed clearer & less mushy which is surprising because I'm always plugging into something before my amp. Maybe that's when you notice the difference, with long cable runs & going through various pedals & the like. I've recommended them to lots of people but few have noticed the change as much as me & few have such a long cable run so maybe that's it? When I switched I was using a rack with several different units & a 20ft+ lead into the front, so in all about 30-40ft of leads. Now I have an amp & stomp boxes with 10ft lead into about 10 pedals & then 10-20ft into the amp...so probably about the same. If I can use shorter leads I will but at the time we were playing the odd outdoor stage with the amps seemingly miles away.

[Samba Pa Ti]

i use horizon cables mostly (because they have heavy duty jacks thick cable and heatshrink) pretty good quality and sound seems good.

im actually having some custom cables made (cant give the specs out though, just that they are over 30ft long and coiled cable)

[Southpa]

I've been buying Yorkville brand cables for the past few years. No complaints yet and they are within my budget.

[Acousticraft]

Hey Samba,

Are you going to use the long Brian May special type curly cord. Stops you falling off the stage but it bungies you back and slams you into your amp. LOL

[tim_ado]

planet waves are the way to go

durable and you can get them with kill switches on a nice 90 angle head

to bad i dont have any..........hahhaa

[Samba Pa Ti]

Hey Samba,

Are you going to use the long Brian May special type curly cord. Stops you falling off the stage but it bungies you back and slams you into your amp. LOL

somthing like that, im still waiting for the cable company to get back to me, they seem to be slow and responding : (

[Acousticraft]

Yeah the signal takes longer because it gets dizzy thru those curly things.

[IbanezFreak666]

the thing i look most for in cables is flexibilty and ruggedness. i have a cheap plastic cable that looks quite rugged..but if i turn around a few times it twists up on itself because its not very flexable.

i also have a fabric coated cable which i prefer because it tangles up less when i turn around while playing.

[gonzosc1]

just my 2 cents on this old subject.....

Whirlwind cables.... I have had the same 25' guitar cable for ""26"" years. thats "26".... LOL

never have I even heard a crackle out of it,,never had to resolder or repair..............

thats all I have to says about that!!!

[thegarehanman]

I do notice slight "tonal" differences between certain cables. However, I've not noticed any "improvement" in sound over high-end mass-produced cables (like monster) and high-priced boutique cables, like Klotz La Grange cables ($80 for a 20' cable). I only own the klotz because it was given to me by a customer; it's definitely well made, but it would be very hard to justify the 300% markup over monsters, which carry a lifetime warranty anyhow (which I've used and is very hassle free, might I add). In a studio setup, where you have to run hundreds of feet of cables for various components, I could see myself being led to think otherwise, but that's another story.

peace,

russ

[DougK]

I absolutely can tell the difference between between my real heavy gauge monster cable and my really cheap, almost broken anyways cables.

But between a variety of what would be consider "quality cables" I can't really tell much difference. Then again, I always hear the phone ringing for a couple hours after I play guitar anyways so Im probably not the best judge

[syxxstring]

For the guitar signal I can not tell a difference, however, for my patch cables on the pedal board George L's made a tremendous difference in clarity and noise level.

[Mickguard]

I had a monster cable, and don't let anyone fool you, there's absolutely no difference in sound over any other decent quality cable. Anyone who says they can hear a difference is just blowing smoke. Maybe with those cheap giveaway cables, but who seriously uses those?

I bought the thing for the lifetime warranty, then discovered that that doesn't work all that well when you bring the cable overseas.

The main weakness with the monster cable is the jack --mine had an angled jack, and the damn thing snapped within a matter of weeks. Not like it was manhandled or anything, just normal wear. The jack is actually very fragile, the construction is too fragile for real world use (because the jack isn't solid like a straight jack, the jack part is actually weakly stuck on to the housing).

In the meantime, the cable I normally use has worked for me for the last ten years. Don't know the brand, but it works just fine, even with all the abuse it has to take. Doesn't kink up either, which the monster was more prone to.

I have a planet waves cable I use too, for the angled jack (since I like top-mounted jacks) --cost half as much as the monster, has a lifetime guarantee, and so far so good, hasn't broken. It tends to kink up though, which gets annoying. But it's lightweight, and I appreciate that. The monster cable is pretty heavy.

I have a D'addario and a Fender cable, but both are really strangely (and uncomfortably) stiff, and the d'Addario especially will kink up if you just look it at it. I use those to run from my pedals to the amp, they're good for that.

So for me these are more important criteria...things like comfort (does it kink/twist up, how heavy is it), and reliability.

The sound? Well, I use anywhere from one to five different pedals between the guitar (single coils) and the (tube) amp...do you really think the cable is going to make any kind of audible difference?

[Daniel Sorbera]

I had a monster cable, and don't let anyone fool you, there's absolutely no difference in sound over any other decent quality cable. Anyone who says they can hear a difference is just blowing smoke. Maybe with those cheap giveaway cables, but who seriously uses those?

It's important to realize that during the course of our lives you will lose some of your hearing ability as you get older. This becomes more pronounced once you get over 28 and you really start losing a lot of the high end of the spectrum. Matters get even worse for musicians like us that regularly listen to loud sounds over 99db.

There is a test on the internet that plays different tones at increasingly higher hertz. You can then easily see how much hearing damage you've had over the years. I can hear the highest one (don't remember exactly what it was, been a few months since I did it) while my dad can only hear up to about half way up the chart.

So while you personally may not be able to hear the difference, that does *not* mean that someone my age can not hear a difference. I can hear a pronounced difference in a blind test, but it's not something that makes such a huge difference that you really need one when playing.

[Rick500]

I buy cables from Music Go Round because when they eventually go bad, I can just take them back and get them replaced at no cost.

[Mickguard]

It's important to realize that during the course of our lives you will lose some of your hearing ability as you get older.

This is true. It's part of the reason why the 'monster cables sound better' claims are just smoke. Think about it.

There's a company in England that has developed an anti-loitering system. It uses high-frequencies --there are certain frequencies that one can hear only up until the age 18 or so --after that, we lose the ability to hear them. Apparently those frequencies are irritating enough to chase kids away.

So maybe that's what you're hearing with your monster cable?

Like I said, my main complaint with the monster cable was that, for the price, the construction was shoddy--the damn thing broke nearly straight off. Hard to make comparisons with a cable with a snapped off jack. Try it with yours --give the jack a good tug, it'll come right off.

(Btw, my hearing tests in the normal range. A happy surprise!)