Guitar Cable Guy

[Gnasty]

I found out i had a bad Planet Waves cable tonight. I have a monster cable that never gave me problems and people are buying $100 cables(getting ripped off IMO) but i wanted to scope out a different brand and found this vid.

It makes sense to me. What you think?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHKt8j6vVy4

[Geir]

Makes perfect sense !

[Farrell Jackson]

I have both cheap 20 ft. Hosa guitar cables and one expensive 20 ft. Monster cable. I can't tell the difference in sound or longevity. The Monster cable appears to be heavier duty but I've had some of these Hosa cables for 15 years and they still work and sound fine. I do take care when coiling them up for transport but they've been stepped on onstage and rolled over by amp casters throughout the years and and they still work fine.
Once I did have a problem with a 30 ft. cable not carrying the proper signal (sounding thin) when connected between the house mixer and my A/E guitar. I remedied that by placing an active DI inline. I never liked the bright blue color of that cable anyway 

Thanks Gnasty for putting up the informational video on cables. Another good reason to buy the $15 to $20 cables instead of the $50 ones.

Farrell

[Flash Harry]

Cheap cheap, where cheap light conductors are used, can be noisy, crackly when they are flexed, but most failures occur in the plug, good quality plugs with decent cable strain relief are worth having. It's not worth having very expensive guitar leads. Get mid priced leads with good plugs.

Or one of these:

[fenderbender]

 
Must say that over the years,I always felt ripped off buying guitar leads(OK cables )
spending over 12 to 15used to be pounds -now that we are Europeans 
15 Euro -jaaaaz it's only a guitar lead -always have a couple of spares that I gathered up through the years-
Many's the hours spent re soldering broken jack plugs -many's the curses that I had to sweep up off the floor when I was finished -but the pleasure when the leads that were re soldered worked-
When I started off we were so poor- (That's another story for another day) we used thick co-axiel cable
that was used for connecting your TV roof ariel to the back of your TV-
The worst part of buying a new guitar lead(cable ) is that you never buy one -it's always 2/3
==========================
Ok I became convinced that expensive cable was the way to go on Hi-Fi -gold tip mini jacks etc -and yes the difference in the sound -well all the reviewers in the mags said so-so yes we believed them
-----------------------
Guitar leads(cables ) naw dont believe the hype -if the cable does'nt make noise -it's a goody-
just my 2 cents(we Europeans use cents too )worth.
Tommy

[T.C. Elliott]

I always bought the cheaper versions of the cables. Not the ultra cheap, but the inexpensive ones. And i always got the sparkly blue or the deep, deep red ones. I knew which ones were mine and they last long enough. Always have a spare. Last year, I bought some slightly more expensive but still not bad cables. I splurged and got the end that mutes the cable when it's unplugged. They've lasted a while and I like them. Good stuff.

[BAG]

I have a stack of different guitar leads and lots of xlr's etc for the PA.

I'll usually buy something a bit below middle price when buying cables (around $20-$30 Australian) but I do own 4 top-of-the-line-bloody-expensive Elixir leads. I was given them by the Australian importer when they first started bringing them in around 8 years or so ago as he wanted my opinion on them from both a roadie's and guitar player's perspective. I was very shocked to find that the retail price for them in Australia was around $120 each!!!

My initial thoughts from a roadie's perspective was that I wouldn't have used them brand new as the way they were packaged and the fact that they were quite thick meant that they would have posed a trip hazard on stage. A few months down the track (hanging them from curtain rods at home) straightened them out and they were excellent. From a players' perspective i could actually hear a slight increase in top-end compared to a cheaper lead using a budget guitar and amp. Playing better guitars through much better amps gives a bit more obvious difference however nothing that couldn't be gotten around with a little EQ.

8 years or so down the road and we still use these leads as our main guitar leads. They are brilliantly made and completely noiseless and have never let us down. Would I pay $120 for them?......... ahhhh.... no! Obviously not many other people would either as they stopped importing them (and I think they have even stopped manufacturing them).

In saying that, I can't recall the last time any of my cheaper ones let me down either as I am very particular about rolling leads properly (inside-outside method) and even my wife and two young daughters also know how to roll them properly. This is probably the most important part of taking care of leads and having them last.

To sum up...... buy decent (not completely cheap), roll them properly and have velcro tabs on all leads to tie them when rolled.

[IanR]

I watched the vid.

I like this guy.

He makes sense and he cuts through the crap that we are all susceptible to.

I have half a dozen leads at home.  I use the cheap ones that look like old electrical flex from the 1950s.  They help me to get into character when I'm playing.  No-one else would notice the difference.

I hardly ever play clean, so why bother. As he says, if you don't like your tone, then fiddle with the knobs until you do.

Ian