What qualities do you need from a guitar cable ?

[JSanta]

I'm lucky to live in the same city as Whirlwind, and I've been using the same cables I've had from them for as long as I can remember. They have lasted through rock gigs as a high school student and still work great today, some 20 years later.

[achase4u]

I recently got some Rattlesnake cables. Made by a small company in Montana. Very durable. That's basically all I need in a cable. Durability. Having them crackle or go out on a gig is what I try to avoid. They really have one job. Sometimes two. I sat in with a friend who was the artist in residence at the Bohemian Caverns in D.C. around 2015. After the gig our friends tailgate wouldn't latch. So I used my spectraflex to tie it shut so we could make the drive home.
As far as amp and guitar, all my guitars, teles, archtops etc into my Muleskinner Tweed 7 watt amp.(Princeton clone with a 12" speaker)

[citizenk74]

!. Physical durability. 2. Electro/mechanical integrity. 3. Low handling noise. 4. Easy to clean (much as I like cloth-covered cables in my studio, actual playing environments tend to accrue crud. I always wipe down my cables with dis-infecting wipes before putting them back). 5. A certain amount of tone-sucking capacitance. Allow me to explain:

The first thing I discovered in my use of a wireless system was how nice it was to be free of the cable leash. The second thing was how god-awful a well-buffered signal could be: ear-searingly, painfully saturated highs reminiscent of a masonry saw - ugly, brittle and harsh. I ended up taping a coiled up 40' cheapo cable to the guitar strap in order to make it work. It didn't take me long to return to the leash and its' lush tonal richness. I can watch where I'm going, if I have to.
All that said, I like a 12' rubber/vinyl clad cord well enough. I like my 50' coil cord even better. For Jazz, the 12' gets the nod.

Oh, and a cheapo in the bag for the guy who's gear is chronically failing. Also strings, picks, batteries, what ever. The Show Must Go On.

[sgosnell]

I don't use a cable very often these days. I prefer wireless. If there is too much treble, I have a control for that on the guitar, and another on the amp. It's easy to remove it, harder to get it back if it's lost in the cable, and I've had some really, really bad sounding cables in the past. Plus I got really tired of the cable getting in my way. But I still have several cables I made using George L cable and Neutrik plugs. They work, never failed me, and I keep at least one handy just in case the wireless dies, as all electronics can and will. I don't want to give up my Line6 Relay G10 system, though.

[Herbie]

I like George L's cables. They are among the lowest capacitance cables one can buy, although capacitance seems to affect some guitars more than others. I think it is more noticeable with clean rather than distorted tones. And some people like the sound of a higher capacitance cable; Hendrix's clean tone, for example, was at least partly due to the high capacitance of the coiled cables that he favored. Cable capacitance shifts the resonant peak of the pickup which changes the sound. I find that a low capacitance cable results in an audibly clearer sound which is easier to adjust and EQ for the tone that I want. Cable length is also an issue in this; if your cable's only 6 feet long, it really doesn't matter what its capacitance rating is because the distance is so short; if you're using a 25-50 foot cable, capacitance becomes more of a pertinent issue.

In addition to that though, cables need to be tough. If the conductor or shield become easily damaged if somebody steps on it, for example, that's a bad thing. Plugs need to be securely attached to the cable; George L's plugs are solderless and easy to repair if the connection becomes damaged. Some cables are prone to picking up noise if the cable is moving around on the stage or is stepped on. I have other cables which have problematic noises and signal dropouts that I've never been able to solve, so the damage is somewhere in the cable itself rather than at the ends. My George L's cable has been trouble free for 10 years.

All that being said, there are a lot of really good cables on the market these days compared to 40 years ago. The D'Addario/Planet Waves cable is also quite good and is inexpensive, for example. Capacitance is a bit higher than with the George L's but lower than with the much more expensive Mogami.

In my case, my primary amplifier is a clone of the Fender 5E3 tweed Deluxe circuit. I have several other amps that I use as well, including a Polytone Baby Taurus, Acoustic Image Clarus 2r through a Raezer's Edge 12 inch cab, Roland Cube 60, Egnater Rebel 30. Guitars include carvetop with floating Classic 57, GB10, Tele, a sort-of Strat-like partscaster, semi-hollow with humbuckers, nylons strings with piezos...

I have some George L’s too at home studio. With the soft but delicious treble of 5E3 their brightness is an advantage, makes the guitar a bit more present.

[Gabor]

...now I learned, that silent plug exists :-)

[AllanAllen]

You think ANY of the greatest players gave a shit about cables? They used the one that the guitar came with and focused on PLAYING THE THING. Forget about the gear, play the thing.

[Herbie]

You think ANY of the greatest players gave a shit about cables? They used the one that the guitar came with and focused on PLAYING THE THING. Forget about the gear, play the thing.

Well, err, did ANY of the greatest players give a shit about internet forums about guitar gear? No, so forget about the trolling in the gear discussion forum and PLAY!

(Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude but the question was so funny that I felt that I have to try to write something as humorous!)

This question ”did any of the greatest give a shit about …” could be asked in every thread in JGF.

Maybe it is a good point of view to remember but maybe most of us wants stil to give a shit about cables, amps, picks, guitars etc. That’s why we are here!

YMMV.

[MarkRhodes]

[QUOTE=Cunamara;1143536

In addition to that though, cables need to be tough. If the conductor or shield become easily damaged if somebody steps on it, for example, that's a bad thing. .[/QUOTE]

Amen! I used to have a practice chair on wheels but I ruined too many cheap cables by rolling over them and turning them into Rice Krispie impersonators. Got rid of that chair and bought better cables. But since I'm a bedroom player nowadays, my cables are only 6 ft long, so I never thought much about what difference capacitance might make. I just wanted no crackling. ;o)

[AllanAllen]

Fair enough Herbie.

[Spook410]

What I like in a guitar cable is it's absence. These work fine so far. Don't know about long term durability or reliability but lots of good reviews from those who have used them over time. And I can't hear any loss relative to a cable.

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[rpjazzguitar]

300 picofarads in a typical cable.

The cap in a Gibson circuit is somewhere around .05 microfarads.

1 million picofarads in a microfarad.

So, a Gibson cap is about 50,000 picofarads.

I looked at a typical wiring diagram. The tone cap is in between the hot lead to the output jack and ground. There's a variable resistor in series with it. If you twirl the knob to the point where the resistance is zero, then you have 50,000 picofarads to ground.

The capacitance of the cable is also, electronically, between hot lead and ground. It's parallel to the cap inside the guitar. It doesn't make any difference whether the capacitance is in the cable or in the cap within the guitar.

Total capacitance when the caps are in parallel is the sum of the two. So, the cable adds about 300pf to the 50000pg in the guitar.

That's if the tone control is rolled all the way down (bassy type sound).

At the other end of the rotation most of the capacitance in the circuit may be the cable, 300pf (since the resistance isn't infinite, you get some current through the cap in the guitar, but I'm not sure how to calculate that). If you get really low capacitance cable, you may be able to bring that down to 100pf.

If you roll off the treble at all, you're intentionally adding capacitance to the circuit. And, I'll guess that most classic jazz players would be adding more capacitance than they could get from a low quality cable.

A Tele player in a country band may want all the highs he can possibly get. Presumably, he's got the tone control full up. He may be able to hear the difference between a low capacitance cable a higher capacitance cable.

I might be wrong. If so, I hope somebody who understands the electronics better will chime in.

I've had microphonic cables and lots of cables that fell apart. But I've never had one I thought sounded bad. Maybe if I had a low capacitance cable I'd end up rolling off more treble in the guitar.

[sgosnell]

I almost always have the tone control fully open, and on some guitars there is no tone control at all. I can definitely tell the difference in tone between different cables. Just as I can tell the difference between having the tone control fully open and partially closed. Not everyone likes the sound of a blanket over the amp. If that's your preference, then the capacitance of the cable probably makes little if any difference. I prefer to have all the treble possible get to the amp, and I can reduce it there if necessary. YMMV.

[rpjazzguitar]

I almost always have the tone control fully open, and on some guitars there is no tone control at all. I can definitely tell the difference in tone between different cables. Just as I can tell the difference between having the tone control fully open and partially closed. Not everyone likes the sound of a blanket over the amp. If that's your preference, then the capacitance of the cable probably makes little if any difference. I prefer to have all the treble possible get to the amp, and I can reduce it there if necessary. YMMV.

From what I gather, the treble control inside the amp is not typically a cap in parallel with the one in the guitar - or the capacitance of the cable. So, turning down the treble at the amp would, presumably (because I'm not an expert) be different.

But, the cable and the guitar's cap are in parallel in a typical setup. So, in that case, it makes no difference, afaik, whether you add capacitance with the cable, the cap, or a combination of the two, bearing in mind that the cap is vastly higher in pf.

That said, if you want all the highs you can get, it may work best to remove the cap from the guitar entirely. Or, maybe, with the usual resistor in series with the cap (and maxed out by the pot) people can't hear any difference anyway. I don't know. In that all-possible-highs case, I am assured that the difference is audible with longer cables so, the capacitance of the cable becomes a real issue for those players. I say it that way, because I can't hear it. My only additional comment is, you young people, protect your hearing.

But, for those of us who are rolling treble off with the cap in the guitar, it's different. The cable's capacitance might change how far you rotate the tone control to some tiny degree, but what real difference is that?

If I'm wrong about this, hopefully somebody who understands the electronics will explain why.

[sgosnell]

The only thing that matters to me is that the tone be acceptable to me. How that occurs isn't important, but the usual way I get it is to have the tone control fully open, or missing, and adjust the tone at the amp. My cables are 10' long, although some are shorter, and I have tried various cables over the years, and I can hear a difference between those with relatively high capacitance and those with lower capacitance, even with the tone rolled back some, changing nothing but the cable. Keep in mind that my ears are old (I'm 74) and while I think my hearing is still good, having taken care of it all my life, it's not what it was when I was young. The argument is moot for me anyway, since I rarely use a cable. My wireless system obviates the capacitance issue, among other advantages.

[rpjazzguitar]

My thought was about this situation:

You've rolled back the treble to where you want it.

If you then switch to a different capacitance cable, you can move the treble knob a bit and get the same tone that you got from the other cable.

[sgosnell]

That's true. That's what the tone control is for. As I said above, if you usually roll the treble off, then the capacitance doesn't make much, if any, difference, depending on the tone you're going for. You can also roll off the treble on the amp and get pretty much the same effect. But not everyone seeks that tone, and cables can make a difference for them. TBH, I don't hear a lot of professional players who have the tone rolled way back, most seem brighter than that to me. But tone is highly subjective, and whatever gets it for you is fine.

[rpjazzguitar]

That's true. That's what the tone control is for. As I said above, if you usually roll the treble off, then the capacitance doesn't make much, if any, difference, depending on the tone you're going for. You can also roll off the treble on the amp and get pretty much the same effect. But not everyone seeks that tone, and cables can make a difference for them. TBH, I don't hear a lot of professional players who have the tone rolled way back, most seem brighter than that to me. But tone is highly subjective, and whatever gets it for you is fine.

Agreed. I usually play with the treble rolled part-way down (on all my guitars), so, in my application, low capacitance cable is of no value, as far as I can tell.

For someone who plays with the treble wide open (or no cap in the guitar), it's different. In the no-cap case, the capacitance of the cable is all the capacitance you have in front of the amp, so, you may want to minimize it.

[frankhond]

You think ANY of the greatest players gave a shit about cables? They used the one that the guitar came with and focused on PLAYING THE THING. Forget about the gear, play the thing.

This is a myth.

I recommend Cory Wong’s interview with Sco (Wong’s podcast). Very funny Jim Hall cable story. No I won’t spoil it.

[marcwhy]

Just resurrecting this thread ... cuz it's about gear!

Happened to try a Runway Audio cable recently for fun (after reading about them on another forum), and I like them! Similar materials as Rattlesnake, so nice and sturdy, with a "clear and open" sound. If you're chasing the dragon, try them out!

[Hammertone]

This kind: