hautbois16
Member
When I saw last night the Line 6
Relay G10S device, I noted that one of its features is that it it is said to be able to emulate cable lengths of ten feet and thirty feet. I have been working with electronics and guitars for years, starting in the days when in Oklahoma we talked about "jack cords." I know that, especially when very long cords are used, the tone will be affected because of the resistance of the wire and the capacitance distributed over the length of the cable. I know the effect of capacitance on tone because the simple tone control on a single-pickup guitar is generally a rheostat and capacitor connected in series between the hot and shield sides of the line; that network "short-circuits" high-frequency tone to ground so that it does not reach the amp.
But my question is how much does the tone change whether you have a ten-foot cable or a thirty-foot cable between your guitar and your amp? Will this effect be noticeable to anyone with reasonable hearing and skill on the electric guitar? I have always thought that the goal is to use as short a cable as you can while still doing all that you need to do in your performance. Maybe a thirty-foot cable would be desirable if you were going to dance around the stage or perform all kinds of acrobatics during your act (hopefully without tripping over the extra cable); but I have used ten-foot cables in my recording studio because that is enough for me.
The reason I used the words "snipe hunt" in my title is that I wanted to advance the possibility that a feature claimed to emulate a couple of different cable lengths might be somewhat like the mythical snipe hunts sometimes done at night in boys-type camps to have them out in the dark - perhaps for storytelling - but ultimately not to hunt for anything, certainly not snipe because they don't exist as real animals. I admit that I don't know here; that's why I posted this message - in hope of starting a thread to explore the real effect of cable length on guitar tone and whether you would deliberately introduce a significant amount of extra cable solely for the purpose of getting a particular tone. Certainly, it is claimed that this cordless link between guitar and receiver/amp will let you emulate two cable lengths; I just wonder why would you care about cable length as long as it is enough for your performance needs? I might be missing something here, but I question whether that feature is of any value, and I doubt that it would influence my decision in selecting a cordless link between my guitar and amp. I invite discussion on this matter.
Relay G10S device, I noted that one of its features is that it it is said to be able to emulate cable lengths of ten feet and thirty feet. I have been working with electronics and guitars for years, starting in the days when in Oklahoma we talked about "jack cords." I know that, especially when very long cords are used, the tone will be affected because of the resistance of the wire and the capacitance distributed over the length of the cable. I know the effect of capacitance on tone because the simple tone control on a single-pickup guitar is generally a rheostat and capacitor connected in series between the hot and shield sides of the line; that network "short-circuits" high-frequency tone to ground so that it does not reach the amp.
But my question is how much does the tone change whether you have a ten-foot cable or a thirty-foot cable between your guitar and your amp? Will this effect be noticeable to anyone with reasonable hearing and skill on the electric guitar? I have always thought that the goal is to use as short a cable as you can while still doing all that you need to do in your performance. Maybe a thirty-foot cable would be desirable if you were going to dance around the stage or perform all kinds of acrobatics during your act (hopefully without tripping over the extra cable); but I have used ten-foot cables in my recording studio because that is enough for me.
The reason I used the words "snipe hunt" in my title is that I wanted to advance the possibility that a feature claimed to emulate a couple of different cable lengths might be somewhat like the mythical snipe hunts sometimes done at night in boys-type camps to have them out in the dark - perhaps for storytelling - but ultimately not to hunt for anything, certainly not snipe because they don't exist as real animals. I admit that I don't know here; that's why I posted this message - in hope of starting a thread to explore the real effect of cable length on guitar tone and whether you would deliberately introduce a significant amount of extra cable solely for the purpose of getting a particular tone. Certainly, it is claimed that this cordless link between guitar and receiver/amp will let you emulate two cable lengths; I just wonder why would you care about cable length as long as it is enough for your performance needs? I might be missing something here, but I question whether that feature is of any value, and I doubt that it would influence my decision in selecting a cordless link between my guitar and amp. I invite discussion on this matter.