cables...always floor me

[uOpt]

Re: cables...always floor me

wow really I had no idea cables made that big of a difference. I just what I got I do have a road hog cable for my guitar but I have el cheapos from my local music shop as far as my send and receive and connecting all my pedals. I have to look into this. I have a friend from LA that thinks its got to be a mogami or nothing. will having the cheapo cables for send and receive make a difference or is the input signal the most important?

The question is whether it is just the capacitance (assuming no weak connections) or something more complex.

If it is just capacitance then obviously using a cable half as long will have half the capacitance. So a cheaper high-capacitance shorter cable should have the same capacitance than a more expensive low-capacitance longer cable.

That's why I recommend that people who are interested in this get a capacitance meter. It's cheap and then you know what's going on.

 

[the toad]

Re: cables...always floor me

Or this...

How To Build A Better Instrument Cable: http://youtu.be/smg68qgJa-I

 

[Sleepy]

Re: cables...always floor me

I use the 6 ft long Mogami Platinum cables for "intimate" tone/playing... They're wonderful.

Any longer and I use cheap stuff because I'm too clumsy and will inevitably trip over/damage the tangled ball.

 

[SHOOTOUT!]

Re: cables...always floor me

Harsher highs, darkness/mud, and loss of low end. I beefed up the bass control. Every time I plugged in, I shut down within a couple minutes. ick. Complete opposite of how I had felt previously.

So I ran over to GC after work and picked up another big name expensive cable that generally gets high praise in all areas. It is an improvement on my backup, but it's way too clear....it's bright...and clear. Tons of high end. Like I put a much higher k volume pot in and/or ran the pickups straight to the jack.. The highs are not warm at all now. Not musical. Ear piercing clarity. Thin. And no improvement in lows. Still need the inflated bass control setting on the amp. Tweak settings for an hour. Yuk.

Back it goes. My favored cables may be undurable, but essentially I have built my rig around the signal they pass through.I'm always amazed at how certain small things can make such a big difference.

Total cable capacitance before the first buffer is very significant. Your pickup/s peak resonant frequency has shifted as high output impedance inductive passive pickups form a tuned circuit with total distributed cable capacitance and the input impedance of the first pedal or amp. The lows are still there but the psychoacoustic perception of the resonant shift to harsher frequencies probably in the 3k-5k area due to more or less capacitance makes it sound like there is less bass. Your peak is your problem and it sounds like you have ventured into ice pick territory with a peak where our ears are most sensitive.

Guitar Cable Capacitance and Resonant Frequency

If you can find out what capacitance your old cable was, as has been suggested, then you can indeed match it and your problem will be solved.

Here are the manufacturer specified capacitances of bulk guitar cables:

Guitar Cable Capacitance Chart

Someone has also measured some popular jack plug capacitances (though I cannot comment on their accuracy):

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=1116847

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Marc.

 

[Hank-]

Re: cables...always floor me

^Interesting stuff in those links. The plug related one wws suprising to me. Neutrik straight ones measuring 66pF something might be the ones with gold plating, seems unusual otherwise, still fun to know. I use amphenol plugs myself for the pedal connections. Have tried the neutrik full gold plated ones, oddly enough they did add to the total capacitance when using 8 of those plugs, i noticed that went put the amphenol regular nickel plated ones in their place.

For cables i like planet waves american stage series, still using one from last year or before that maybe, sounds balanced and clear