High-End Guitar Cables

[josh74]

Cables . . . do you think it's worth spending extra money on high-end patch cords? How much of a difference do you think it makes?

[Cunamara]

Patch cords? As in a foot-long or less to connect pedals together? Or are you talking a 10 to 20 foot cord to connect your guitar to your amp or pedalboard?

With really short cables, no I think you would not hear any difference until you have a fair number of them strung together. And if there is a buffer in the pedal, which is often the case, it makes even less difference for everything after that pedal.

With longer instrument cables in a high impedance situation like a pickup to an amp, on the other hand, yes there you do hear a difference. The capacitance of the cable affects the resonant frequency of the pickup which in turn affects the tone. Hendrix used high capacitance cords to achieve his marvelous clean tone with a Stratocaster. I prefer a very low capacitance cord as it sounds clearer and "breathes" more. Jerry Garcia had onboard preamp buffers in his instruments which converted the signal to low impedance out to his effects board to preserve the high end. There are many ways to work this out.

[marcwhy]

Welcome to the Forum, Josh!

I have Rattlesnake patch cables on my pedal board, and I like them. I know of other patch cables that are three times as expensive, and I doubt if I could hear three times better "me" coming from them.

Marc

[fep]

Patch cables are too short to make a lot of difference. Just run a buffer or a pedal with a buffer in it at the beginning of the pedal board, that's much more effective than expensive patch cables.

[sgosnell]

True. Put any Boss pedal at the front of your chain, and you don't need to worry about cable capacitance. The pedal doesn't even need to be engaged, it buffers regardless. Some other brands do the same, just make sure it's not advertised as "true bypass".

[citizenk74]

Cables . . . do you think it's worth spending extra money on high-end patch cords? How much of a difference do you think it makes?

Always get the best you can reasonably afford. Well-built stuff performs better and lasts longer. Not having to replace things at random intervals saves a lot of psychic wear and tear. *

*FWIW, I use long guitar cables specifically for their effect on tone. Not in every single application, mind you, but I do have a coil cord that weighs a good four pounds and sounds absolutely ace.

[citizenk74]

Patch cables are too short to make a lot of difference. Just run a buffer or a pedal with a buffer in it at the beginning of the pedal board, that's much more effective than expensive patch cables.

Kudos for the "That pedal Show" cite! An invaluable resource with great entertainment value. Also a major impetus to impulsive wallet-drainage.

[fep]

True. Put any Boss pedal at the front of your chain, and you don't need to worry about cable capacitance. The pedal doesn't even need to be engaged, it buffers regardless. Some other brands do the same, just make sure it's not advertised as "true bypass".

And for that, I would say put the boss compressor at the start of the chain as that is where most folks put compression.

Maybe best to have one pedal like the boss compressor that has a buffer at the beginning of the chain and the rest of your pedals true bypass (if you can).

[sgosnell]

I don't own a compressor, just a GE-7 EQ. I don't use it a lot, but when I do, it's the first in the chain in the rare case where I have multiple pedals. I like it for use as a boost pedal, or alternatively, as a way to reduce volume. Sometimes it works better with the output lowered, to EQ the rhythm and use the off position as a higher volume lead. Either way can work. But mostly I just go direct to the amp, usually wireless so there is no capacitance issue anywhere. But there are an almost infinite number of ways to skin this cat, and most work.

[sicourtjon]

I use Whirlwind cables.

Quality cables make a difference.
One of my Whirlwind cables lasted for 28 years!

[Litterick]

My Van Damme/Neutrik is twenty-four years old, and used twice every day.

[rpjazzguitar]

We just had a thread on cable capacitance. Apparently, it can be heard in a long enough cable.

But, if you're already adding capacitance by rolling off your tone control, as far as I can see, the cable capacitance makes no difference. It might change your favorite tone control setting by a trifle.

I roll off treble so I don't need a low capacitance cable. If I played a Telecaster in a country band, I would probably feel differently.

OTOH, I can't stand broken cables, so I think it's worth spending money on a well constructed cable. I've also had good luck with Whirlwind.