Cable marketing gone too far..?

[virtualvisions]

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/prod...z-Instrument-Cable-StraightAngled-?sku=331649

They're making cables supposedly matching a genre now....

Anyone else think this is marketing BS?

/edit/ Oops, I guess its not a new thing looking at the dates of the reviews /edit/

 

[cusebassman]

I would venture a guess and say its crap.

But that's just a guess. You be the judge! Buy a Gibson L5 and a 59 Bassman 4x10, and try out some different cables

 

[Hard2Hear]

The jazz cable only has the ground attached on one end, where you plug into the guitar, to help quiet ground loops. The Rock cable has the ground connected to make it noisier, more "rock" sounding. And the Bass cable has a solid center wire for lower frequencies to travel faster on.

It may all be marketing, but if you cut the cables up you will see they are actually made differently.

 

[boingoman]

The jazz cable only has the ground attached on one end, where you plug into the guitar, to help quiet ground loops. The Rock cable has the ground connected to make it noisier, more "rock" sounding.

The pickup won't work if the negative is disconnected. Monster jazz cables are pretty high capacitance, which rolls off the high end.

 

[zbert]

Can anyone tell me the best cable for rap under a dollar?

 

[xstatic]

Yes, the best under $1 cable for rap is a peice of rope stolen from your neighbors garage tied in a noose.

 

[Soundmind??]

They make pills that make you loose weight while you sit on your couch and eat donuts too!

 

[dementedchord]

Can anyone tell me the best cable for rap under a dollar?

oh the best is to rap them around your forearm and cinch them tight... who needs that pesky shield anyway...

 

[tkingen]

In the last year I've used Mogami, Planet Waves, Monster, George L and Quantum guitar cables. IMHO they all sound different.

 

[danny.guitar]

Whoever hears an audible difference between cables...I want your monitors. And your ears. (Or do I? )

 

[Hard2Hear]

The pickup won't work if the negative is disconnected. Monster jazz cables are pretty high capacitance, which rolls off the high end.

you ever ripped one apart?

The shield is connected to the plug at the end you plug in to the instrument, but not connected to the end you plug in. Thats the reason there's an arrow on them. Its not because signal flows that way, its because its using a floating ground for the shield. They call it "semi balanced" using two conductors and a shield, the shield only terminating at the instrument side.

 

[Lt. Bob]

you ever ripped one apart?

The shield is connected to the plug at the end you plug in to the instrument, but not connected to the end you plug in. Thats the reason there's an arrow on them. Its not because signal flows that way, its because its using a floating ground for the shield. They call it "semi balanced" using two conductors and a shield, the shield only terminating at the instrument side.

Beat me to it!

 

[Lt. Bob]

In the last year I've used Mogami, Planet Waves, Monster, George L and Quantum guitar cables. IMHO they all sound different.

I can hear a difference in some cables so there's some kinda truth to it.
I bought one of those nice Monster cables and it did sound very clean and quiet but it's so freakin' stiff that it quickly ended up in my junk box. On the other hand, those cheap-ass 'Livewires' are noisier and have less clarity or focus but they're super flexible so that's what I mainly use. The audience sure can't tell the difference so all i care about is ease of use.

 

[cusebassman]

you ever ripped one apart?

The shield is connected to the plug at the end you plug in to the instrument, but not connected to the end you plug in. Thats the reason there's an arrow on them. Its not because signal flows that way, its because its using a floating ground for the shield. They call it "semi balanced" using two conductors and a shield, the shield only terminating at the instrument side.

Beat me to it!

So you are saying in these particular cables that there are actually two separate coated wires, and THEN a ground wire, and one of these three wires isn't connected on one end, and each end has a TS jack on it? I think the poster was confused when you said it was disconnected at one end, as I was, because I thought you were referring to a cable with one hot and one shield wire, and you weren't connecting the shield at one end. You need the send and return to complete the circuit, afaik

 

[mrface2112]

In the last year I've used Mogami, Planet Waves, Monster, George L and Quantum guitar cables. IMHO they all sound different.

in the last year i've used Planet Waves, Live Wires, Fender and Monster 500 cables, and they all sound different too.

i settled on the Monster 500. like LtBob said, it's stiff......but it also doesn't knot up and it stays put on the floor. plus, it's insanely quiet (even in front of a CRT monitor) and i don't notice any high end rolloff at all.


cheers,
wade

 

[Lt. Bob]

So you are saying in these particular cables that there are actually two separate coated wires, and THEN a ground wire, and one of these three wires isn't connected on one end, and each end has a TS jack on it? I think the poster was confused when you said it was disconnected at one end, as I was, because I thought you were referring to a cable with one hot and one shield wire, and you weren't connecting the shield at one end. You need the send and return to complete the circuit, afaik

yep .... you do need two connectors to complete the circuit but it needn't be a shield so there are, in fact, two conductors inside a shield which is only connected to the ground at one end.

 

[boingoman]

yep .... you do need two connectors to complete the circuit but it needn't be a shield so there are, in fact, two conductors inside a shield which is only connected to the ground at one end.

Which, I hate to say, is exactly the same as having a shield and no second conductor, on a TS cable. The shield is still connected to the pickup.

edit- I changed inner to second.

 

[Lt. Bob]

which is what I said even if I didn't spell it out completely. The shield is connected to the p'up but not at the other end. It's a shield but not a conductor.
You still have to have a second conductor of some kind that's connected at both ends to get signal to the amp. If you only have one wire running from the amp to the git you're not gonna get any sound.
If that's not correct then I should be able to go cut the outer shield/conductor of my git cord and still have sound. But I'm pretty sure I won;t!

 

[boingoman]

which is what I said even if I didn't spell it out completely. The shield is connected to the p'up but not at the other end. It's a shield but not a conductor.

My point is that this configuration is exactly the same as a regular cable. The noise still travels the same path as the audio. There is no reason this cable would be quieter than a regular one.

 

[Lt. Bob]

My point is that this configuration is exactly the same as a regular cable. The noise still travels the same path as the audio. There is no reason this cable would be quieter than a regular one.

Oh, I got you ..... you were talking about the noise issue, not the two conductor issue.

I've wondered about that myself ...... since at one end or the other the shield is connected to ground .... that'd feed any noise in the shield to the conductor and thus, to the amp.
Anyone know if a shield that's not connected at either end but is instead, basically a faraday cage would quiet things any?