Thread best guitar cables?

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greypoupon

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1 Posted on 04/21/2015 at 05:29:15

I would always naïvely get the cheapest cables. Now, I'm understanding the differences more.

I just got a new amp, and it's great sounding, but picks up wifi interference which I've heard can be because of the cable. In general, I think the cable doesn't have a strong connection with the guitar, so I'm wondering if there are go-to guitar cables (both for recording and gigging) that don't cost an arm and a leg but, ideally, avoid any sound aside from the amp's natural signal.

I've heard of vovox, mogami, etc, but would hopefully be able to find good cables for less than 40 bucks, thanks for any help

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Mike Levine

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2 Posted on 04/21/2015 at 08:51:01

I've had good luck with Monster Cables for guitar. You can get them for under $40. For example, here's the listing at Sweetwater: https://www.sweetwater.com/c786--Monster--Guitar_Cables

ericbailey

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3 Posted on 04/22/2015 at 02:26:03

take a look at George L's. You can find them for under 50 bucks, great cables in my experience

peaceinchaos

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4 Posted on 04/22/2015 at 02:42:53

Quote from greypoupon:

I would always naïvely get the cheapest cables. Now, I'm understanding the differences more.

I just got a new amp, and it's great sounding, but picks up wifi interference which I've heard can be because of the cable. In general, I think the cable doesn't have a strong connection with the guitar, so I'm wondering if there are go-to guitar cables (both for recording and gigging) that don't cost an arm and a leg but, ideally, avoid any sound aside from the amp's natural signal.

I've heard of vovox, mogami, etc, but would hopefully be able to find good cables for less than 40 bucks, thanks for any help

cables differ in many more ways than just durability. Capacitance in a cable affects how much high frequencies will be transmitted, much like capacitance in a guitar potentiometer would do.

Here's a great article on the subject. Take a look and research to find the cable that has the attributes you're after while still fitting in your budget.

SHOOTOUT!

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5 Posted on 04/22/2015 at 04:10:09

Yes guitar cables indeed make a significant difference to tone via capacitance and their effect on passive pickup resonant frequency with the associated hi end roll off just above that frequency, to noise via shielding type and ability to reject interference and triboelectric microphonic noise (handling), gig success via construction (including cable shield type due to tensile properties) using variable quality connectors with variable soldering quality and variable strain relief effectiveness regarding the chance of failure and affecting longevity.

These things and many more are described on many pages from here:

http://www.shootoutguitarcables.com/guitar-cables-explained/introduction.html

The guitar cable is a seemingly simple product that serves a very important function and is asked to do a great deal under less than ideal real world conditions. However very expensive cables typically go into highly esoteric realms borrowed from the hi-fi world and at that point cable makers and retailers are typically unable to provide sound empirical science based evidence and/or reasoning to support marketing claims.

'I would always naïvely get the cheapest cables. Now, I'm understanding the differences more.'

Good to see that you have seen the light! Look to science and engineering, avoid snake oil and you'll be OK!

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Marc, Director
Shootout Guitar Cables, UK

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