How much do cables effect tone?

[Laureato]

Other than excess length degenerating the sound, I believe cables perceptibly affect tone only through marketing.

 

 

 

I have to kindly disagree.

 

Cables behave as a subtle EQ control.

 

With a good GTR cable, 12ft or less in length, compared to a cheap cable, same length, u will notice a slight improvment in clarity, speed, depth, and focus in the mids as well as improved treble response.

 

If u want to really "hear" the difference, then just record 2 seperate brands of cables, direct into the board, on the same track, same guitar, one after the other.

You'll hear it.

 

Cables matter, but not as much as practice.

[crashclc]

I have to kindly disagree. Cables behave as a subtle EQ control. With a good GTR cable, 12ft or less in length, compared to a cheap cable, same length, u will notice a slight improvment in clarity, speed, depth, and focus in the mids as well as improved treble response. If u want to really "hear" the difference, then just record 2 seperate brands of cables, direct into the board, on the same track, same guitar, one after the other. You'll hear it. Cables matter, but not as much as practice.

 

 

Utter baloney. Run a signal generator through both cables and measure the resulting signals on a decent oscilloscope. Not only will you not "hear" the difference, you won't see it on the scope either because there isn't any meaningful difference. Certainly not within the frequency range of human hearing. YMMV.

[boxorox]

No cable will have an effect on the acoustic sound of an acoustic guitar. Electrically speaking, wire should be at least 14 gauge, and connectors should be mil-spec or better, and no longer than necessary. I make my own, I fix my own. Anyone with a soldering iron can do it. Easy as Pah.

[OldGuitarPlayer]

How much do cables effect tone?

They don't.

[0rbitz9]

If u want to really "hear" the difference, then just record 2 seperate brands of cables, direct into the board, on the same track, same guitar, one after the other. You'll hear it.

 

 

Yes, that how I did my cable comparison, directly into my mixer, and

monitored with my trusty pair of MB Quart reference headphones. I was

able to hear a slight improvement in the high frequencies. On the other

hand, if I take the same two cables and plug them into one of my electric

guitar amps where the high frequency response of the speaker drops off

pretty sharply above 5 or 6khz, I can't tell one cable from the other.

[guildfire]

Cables have no impact on tone.

[RogueGnome]

How much difference you are able to detect is just depending on the width of the brim of your cowboy hat to capture the sound and deliver it properly into the ear canal.

[guildfire]

How much difference you are able to detect is just depending on the width of the brim of your cowboy hat to capture the sound and deliver it properly into the ear canal.

 

 

Divided by the square root of the bridge pin mass you have on your guitar.

[Laureato]

Utter baloney. Run a signal generator through both cables and measure the resulting signals on a decent oscilloscope. Not only will you not "hear" the difference, you won't see it on the scope either because there isn't any meaningful difference. Certainly not within the frequency range of human hearing. YMMV.

 

 

 

 

I can hear it.

A lot of players can hear it.

and when u say "there are not any meaningful differences on the scope" , You have proved why many of us can hear it., coz, "not any meaningful differences" is subjective, fella.

There is your beeloni.

 

silver solder, density of wire, type of wire....length......yep, it all matters if you are someone that notices the small details in sound reproduction.

Not everyone does, and not everyone cares.

[Laureato]

No cable will have an effect on the acoustic sound of an acoustic guitar. Electrically speaking, wire should be at least 14 gauge, and connectors should be mil-spec or better, and no longer than necessary. I make my own, I fix my own. Anyone with a soldering iron can do it. Easy as Pah.

 

 

 

You are not listening very closely.

Cables indeed do have a slight eq effect on the translation of a Pickup that is installed on a guitar.

They have even more eq effect on the translation of a condenser mic when recording an acoustic guitar.

[OldGuitarPlayer]

I can hear it. A lot of players can hear it. and when u say "there are not any meaningful differences on the scope" , You have proved why many of us can hear it., coz, "not any meaningful differnces" is subjective, fella. There is your beeloni. silver solder, density of wire, type of wire....length......yep, it all matters if you are someone that notices the small details in sound reproduction. Not everyone does, and not everyone cares .

Trust me...this guy cares...oh dear...does he ever care...

[YOUTUBE]PGrtGQ_0-m0[/YOUTUBE]

And here is what he does best...and he is extremely anal about his tone....

[YOUTUBE]WtRk1YSpcKU[/YOUTUBE]

[JasmineTea]

I think it's a marketing ploy. Yes, expensive cables tend to feature higher quality components and craftsmanship, but I seriously doubt you would hear the difference.

I bought what was/is called a Monster cable some years ago and I just hated what it did for the tone of my electric. It added a lot of bass and lowmid. This was an expensive cable.

 

I knew a bass player who swore by a very old and cheap cable...

 

I go for midpriced stuff that looks like it'll last.

[JasmineTea]

Wire matters in tube amps. Boutique amps gotta have solid core copper wire, none of this multi strand suff. Some even swear the clothe cover makes a dif because the wire used in the signal chane to and from the tubes lays close to the chassis, and the closer the better.

Output transformers is another hot one because the old OP trans' were made with a paper bobbin, paper sperating the leaves, and dipped in shalack (sp?). Newer replacement versions use all plastic. I've A-B'd some of these and the difference is most obvious.

It would'nt suprise me to see people saying they can hear the dif in cables.

[DarkHorseJ27]

I do hear a difference between my Fender cable and my Planet Waves cable.

There is a guy locally that is known to have a good set of ears, and he says high end cables (or most cables for that matter) don't sound better, just different, and that its personal preferences for which sounds best to you.

[seagullplayer77]

I can hear it. A lot of players can hear it.

 

 

If you want to hear a difference, you're going to hear a difference. If you honestly believe that your Monster Cable is going to make you sound like a guitar god, then you're going to notice a substantial difference between your Monster Cable and your standard, run of the mill cable.

 

But I'll bet that if you did a blind A/B test---one in which you don't know which cable is which---you won't notice a difference at all. And in fact, you might actually say that the cheaper cable sounds better.

 

People's predispositions about things have a profound effect on the way they perceive them.

[daklander]

Wire matters in tube amps. Boutique amps gotta have solid core copper wire, none of this multi strand suff. .....

 

 

That's just because the solid wire is stiffer so it'll hold the cute little bends better. :poke:

[JasmineTea]

If you want to hear a difference, you're going to hear a difference. If you honestly believe that your Monster Cable is going to make you sound like a guitar god, then you're going to notice a substantial difference between your Monster Cable and your standard, run of the mill cable. But I'll bet that if you did a blind A/B test---one in which you don't know which cable is which---you won't notice a difference at all. And in fact, you might actually say that the cheaper cable sounds better. People's predispositions about things have a profound effect on the way they perceive them.

Exactly. And the same is true for all acoustic guitars. They all sound about the same. Strings too. All about the same. No point in talking about guitars thread after thread when one single post will sufice.

[Grant Harding]

OK - this one isn't a subjective "bridge pins from virgin chinchillas" thread.

If you take a Strat with the usual high impedance pickups straight into a good amp and A/B a long cheap cable with a long Planet Waves you will notice the cheap one sounds "darker" or that the Planet Waves sounds like "a blanket was pulled off the speakers".

Take an acoustic with a preamp in it or an electric with active pups and I doubt you'd be able to notice the difference in sound.

[DeepEnd]

. . . there isn't any meaningful difference. Certainly not within the frequency range of human hearing. YMMV.

The 5th fret harmonic on the high E string is around 1320Hz, which is pretty high as frequencies produced by a guitar go but only in about the middle of the human hearing range (nominally 20Hz-20KHz last I heard Sorry). Specifically, it's the fourth harmonic of that open string's fundamental (330Hz). Theoretically, there would be harmonics out close to infinity but in practice the amplitude (volume) of the higher harmonics would be smaller with frequency until they were negligible. In other words, you'd have to produce a considerable effect to change the sound of an acoustic guitar noticeably. An electric with lotsa effects, maybe but not an acoustic.

[Brokepick]

Tying knots in your cable can enhance the lows.

 

Coiling the cable around a broom handle will increase brilliance.

 

Wrapping the cable with aluminum foil will prevent alien subspace transmissions from interfering with your solo.

[jrd]

I've heard them go back and forth on this topic in the electric forum, but I would like to know what you guys think. Myself, I think there is a difference, as my Fender cord doesn't get as clear a sound as my Planet Waves , everything else equal. But I don't know if expensive cables are better or just different.

 

 

Here's my $0.02: I haven't noticed a big difference in cable SOUND thoughout my years. The $5 cable you pick up at Walmart typically sounds 'good enough'. Unless you're running it through some hi-fi mixers and listening through a pair of monitor cans.

 

However... I quickly abandoned the thought that 'all cables are equal', when I started going through those bottom-feeder cables (the generic 'guitar cable' that I picked up at my local big-chain music store...) at a rate of about 2/month. Now I shell out the extra cash for any cable that has a 'lifetime warranty' - I haven't had to send any back, but none of those cables have given out on me, either.

[Grant Harding]

I've done the Strat ==> Cable ==> Amp blind A/B for at least a dozen people and have never had a situation where they couldn't tell the difference between an average cable and a Planet Waves. Try it yourself.

[Grant Harding]

I do hear a difference between my Fender cable and my Planet Waves cable. There is a guy locally that is known to have a good set of ears, and he says high end cables (or most cables for that matter) don't sound better, just different, and that its personal preferences for which sounds best to you.

I've had several people comment that they like the treble roll-off that you get on an electric with a long, cheap cable. My personal strategy is to get as much of the pure signal to the amp as possible, then roll off the treble at the amp.

[JasmineTea]

I've had several people comment that they like the treble roll-off that you get on an electric with a long, cheap cable.

Gosh I'm glad I came back and read your post. I like that idea.

[Grant Harding]

Gosh I'm glad I came back and read your post. I like that idea.

Thanks, but it's not my thing. If you lose the sparkle due to the cable you can't put it back in on the fly.

 

Of course this is an acoustic forum and the cable makes sweet jack difference in most cases because the preamp is usually on the upstream side.