Do expensive cables make a difference?

[skipscada]

When I started gigging as a guitarist, I bought myself an expensive "quality" guitar lead. It's one of those oxygen free Whirlwind's. 25 years later and I'm still using the same lead ... quality tends to last.

It's surely pretty easy to make a good cable, but as with everything, there will always be someone trying to make the cheapest sellable cable possible to earn some money. Brand cables at least want to stay in the market in the future and are likely to make the minimum effort necessary to make a sturdy cable. I rely on some cables I got for free with some microphones for recording, and they still work fine years after. However, when it comes to guitar cables, I bought a well known mid-priced brand after having several cheap guitar cables give up on me, and having used it a lot for many years, I feel I have a cable I can rely on. That's worth more than the few extra € I paid for it.

The worst cables I have had were the ones I soldered myself. Terrible workmanship.

[hibidy]

See, that's why I don't make my own I recently put some new pups in my guitar and I did an "ok" job, but I HATED doing it I'm just not a DIY guy......please build it for me........I'll gladly pay

[thecontrolcentre]

I recently put some new pups in my guitar and I did an "ok" job

Looks like this one has escaped ...

[Meffy]

Can it play "Hound Dog"?

[whyterabbyt]

Ah, now its 'Im part of the sensible elite and everyone else is a nazi about it'. On the back of a straw man.

[Dean Aka Nekro]

Expensive cables won't sound better. If you can hear any difference then just do not expect you're friends to do the same, I mean of course the expensive one will sound better as you paid through the nose for it!

Most expensive I'll go depends on a few things but £20 - £30 max for most cable (obviously a drum/cable snake different but it has to equal about £15 - £20 per cable or its just over priced nonsense) and for that price they have all come with one of those lifetime guarentee things which I've used a few times, Best was when my Dog was a pup and chewed through a planet waves job...They replaced it no questions The £5 job will be just as good sounding but won't have the guarantee which is fine and if its for say my pedal board or something that won't get unplugged often (if at all) then I am all over the cheapest I can get

Its all just audiophile phoolery spilling over into the real world, Don't fall for a word of it my 2 pence FWIW

Best to all as always

Dean

[Dean Aka Nekro]

I feel that:

Analog XLR and patch cables offer no audible difference in quality. You are paying extra for craftsmanship, materials (Mogami/Belden/Canare cable, Neutrik/Switchcraft connectors) and often a lifetime replacement warranty.

Agreed, It really is that simple

However instrument cable is another ball game. I have found that quality cable can definitely make a difference, especially with electric guitar and plugged-in acoustic guitar (during live shows). Not so much for bass guitar although it couldn't hurt right? My personal fave instrument cables are Mogami Platinum and George L's .225 .

Now I am confused If it were the case as mentioned then you would hear a difference in the bass guitar sound also since it covers the same frequency range pretty much as the acoustic guitar (electro acoustic) and certainly more than an electric guitar. Also extends down lower than an electro acoustic and electric guitar does...The difference was not and the cable (Unless it was defetive in some way). I urge You to look elsewhere than the damned cable

Unless you were joking and I missed it?

[aciddose]

the capacitance of the cable has an influence.

the pickup and cable form an RLC circuit, which is a lowpass filter. it's peak is usually from 3k to 10k, and from 0db to +10db!

what you'll get in most standard configurations is a 5k, +3db peak.

check the inductance and resistance of your pickup. check the volume and tone pot, and the tone capacitor and any hf bypass cap for the volume. check the cable capacitance - a cheap, standard cable will have about 30p per foot. that's 600p for a 20ft cable which is pretty long.

what happens is the cable length adjusts the frequency and adjusting the volume pot will decrease the peak.

that said, there is no such thing as a "better" cable. it's like arguing about what makes a "better" eq setting on your amp. that's ridiculous.

ideally, the "best" cable and component values would be the ones which give you the most linear frequency response. then anything you adjust with eq is completely up to you.

how can you get this? best thing you could do is use a buffer which would eliminate the issue completely. the cable would have zero influence.

[yairhol]

Expensive cables won't sound better. If you can hear any difference then just do not expect you're friends to do the same, I mean of course the expensive one will sound better as you paid through the nose for it!

Double blind tests performed with expensive and cheap cables say your statement is wrong. No audible sound difference at all. More expensive does not always equal "sound better" as you say. You can find such examples in the plugin world. Some free plugins are miles ahead of other plugins you need to pay for.

[BertKoor]

Expensive cables won't sound better. If you can hear any difference then just do not expect you're friends to do the same, I mean of course the expensive one will sound better as you paid through the nose for it!

Double blind tests performed with expensive and cheap cables say your statement is wrong. No audible sound difference at all.

Wrong in what way? I think you have to re-read what Dean aka Nekro wrote, since it sounds to me that the two of you agree 100%

[yairhol]

What I was referring to was in Dean's sentence was that in the beginning he said:

Expensive cables won't sound better.

and in the next sentence he said:

I mean of course the expensive one will sound better as you paid through the nose for it!

so which one is it?

[cosmicdawn]

What I was referring to was in Dean's sentence was that in the beginning he said:

Expensive cables won't sound better.

and in the next sentence he said:

I mean of course the expensive one will sound better as you paid through the nose for it!

so which one is it?

I think it's the latter, it's sometimes called irony too.
It's a kind of metal, very much like iron, but you add the y at the end because of an extra added unknown component. Usually that component is sarcasm or a mild form of confusion and extreme bitterness.

[trimph1]

Dean is being sarcastic in that comment.

It's like the old argument about which DAW sounds better and all that.

[yairhol]

oh o.k.
Now I get the irony.
Couldn't spot it before.

[hibidy]

Ah, now its 'Im part of the sensible elite and everyone else is a nazi about it'. On the back of a straw man.

proof