Question what to look for in a cable?

[billy carr]

Wanting best tone possible, what should I look for when buying a guitar cable?

 

[rutgart]

It's all horses and courses (as everyone hears things differently) but check out Klotz

Low Capacitance, Hand Soldered and tonally tailored to the preferences of guys like Joe Bonamassa, Matthias Jabs, TM Stevens and the choice of many more.

 

[Larry]

One that is not shorted out.

 

[AnotherNoob]

One that is not shorted out.

This. Anything decent does the trick for me.

 

[Astrofreq]

Color.

 

[mikeller]

Personally I have been using Mogami gold cables whenever/wherever possible. I gig regularly and although I try to take good care of them, they get walked on and abused.

I purchased two 18' cables to go from guitar to pedalboard (when I am not wireless) and pedalboard to amp, years ago. I had one develop a short last week, took it back to the store and walked out with a new one - lifetime warranty, no questions asked.

 

[Razzle]

Color.

+1

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

I always use Planet Waves. They are reasonably priced, don't crackle and seem to last.

I think hi-fi cables are a waste of money for the most part. The only person who can hear the difference is the person who bought it!

 

[DrKev]

Low capacitance. After that, it's Goldilocks all the way...

Not too cheap, not too expensive, just Goldilocks right.
Not to thin and flimsy, not to thick and heavy, just Goldilocks right.

I like Ernie Ball cables, and DiMarzio, and Klotz. But I usually use what ever I find lying around. Amazing what people throw away that is repaired in 5 minutes with a soldering iron.

Oh, yeah and Monster Cable are to be avoided at all costs for their BS marketing that if true would win them a Nobel prize for changing how mother nature really does electromagnetism. And yet it's not illegal. Shame.

 

[ksandvik]

One could spend months researching the best cables. Most are good and with the lifetime guarantee you can't really go wrong with most 15-40$US or so cables today. I prefer as short as possible cables, more issues with long cables. 15 feet max, if I need more I really need a wireless unit.

 

[beej]

In terms of sonic qualities, you're mainly concerned about capacitance. With passive pickups, the high impedance of the circuit is affected by capacitance, resulting in a roll-off of high frequencies. The longer the cable, the more highs you loose. Great if you're playing with a lot of distortion, not as desirable if you're going for bright, clean sounds.

Beyond that, you're looking for something rugged and well-soldered that doesn't crackle. There are also cables with connectors that cut out when they're unplugged, helping to avoid popping noises.

I'm partial to the Bill Lawrence cable. Low capacitance, solderless. $80 for 50' of cable and 10 ends. I use it for leads, pedalboards, etc. You can solder it if need be. But whatever ... there are a zillion kinds of cable and everybody has a favourite.

 

[guitardan]

I always use Planet Waves. They are reasonably priced, don't crackle and seem to last.

I think hi-fi cables are a waste of money for the most part. The only person who can hear the difference is the person who bought it!

+1

I have a 20ft. Planet Waves cable for ~ 3 yrs, and it's been great. Well built, lays flat when you need it, doesn't bind or curl on you. Nice heavy duty connectors, quiet, reasonable $$.

I have a few higher end cables too, I can't tell the difference in tone. If there was any diff in tone, it can be easily adjusted at the amp : ) -

 

[Larry]

I always order Mogami cable instrument cable from Redco.com and a few Nuetrik silentPLUGs fire up the soldering iron and bingo.

On a side note, the silent plugs are really cool. They have a magnetic autoshort so when you unplug no more pops and noise. Pretty awesome stuff.

 

[Benji Peterson]

I love my lava coil cables. They feel great, sound great, feature lifetime warranty and American made parts and built in Oklahoma. Pretty neat stuff.

 

[Eric O'Reilly]

I have had the same 10 ft monster cable for 10 years and it has always worked and sounded great, but then I bought a newer monster a few years ago and its thinner and flimsy, and coils up not like my old thick trusty 10 ft, the new one is 15 or 20 I think. No comparison in quality.

 

[Spudmurphy]

one other thing .... I had bought for me (many years ago) a braided guitar cable - - cloth covered. Great looking cable and performs well. However, playing in places where the floor is uhhhh mucky, means that the cable gets dirty and is not so easily wiped down. So that's another (possible) thing to keep in mind?

 

[ksandvik]

Black cables are the best.

 

[TNT]

When you compare cables (at the same time!!!) through your amp, you WILL hear differences in tone!! With that said, you need to consider reliability, thickness, and cost.

I personally use 2 different brands, both superb quality:Older Monster top level cables are #1 on my list - they HAVE the rock tone!! Mogami's are "clean" and are easily managed, I use them for the i/o's.

 

[Fastfingers83]

George L's for the patch cables and Mogami gold everywhere else works for me.