DO quality cables really matter?

  • Thread starter Thread starter amt7565
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amt7565

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Question: I am trying to decide in buying some 6" pedal patch chords. I am looking at some cheap brands as well as expensive brands. Considering the cables are only 6" long, did anyone ever notice a sound quality degradation while using cheap chords? Does it really matter? Wha brands do you suggest?

Thanks.
 
not sure about the cables, but for what its worth, its also important to not run your signal through too many pedals, especially digital-time based ones. also it really helps to get all right angle cables, from experience.
 
EVT said:
I recommend
bayou cables
http://www.bayoucables.com/index.html
evt
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Nice stuff, reasonably priced, in the scheme of things.

amt, about the only thing I would avoid for sure are those molded plastic pieces of crap, including Monster ones. Avoid Monster pretty much as a whole, but especially those. If you don't mount your pedals on a board, you will be fixing them at some point, so you want cables you can get into.

Anything with decent cable (Canare, Belden) and decent connectors (Neutrik, Switchcraft, G&H) is gonna work well. After that, it's how well it was put together. Even then, a few minutes with a soldering iron will fix all.

As long as they aren't complete bottom-feeder dogshit, they will be ok.
 
The better cables last a lot longer than the cheap junk simply because they don't oxidize over time and lose their conductivity....
 
Especially with pedal board cables, that get alot of abuse, you want good connectors, the Neutrik Right Angles are a little more than others but the best over time. Who cares if you spend a couple extra bucks, when you will have the cables for a VERY long time.

Check out www.livewiresi.com if they don't have them on the site just email and the will get you a quote, anything custom you could ever want, great prices for the quality!
 
The main thing is to avoid the cables with the molded palstic ends. Metal connectors are very important, as they will hold up better long term. The other factor is that cables with metal connectors can be fixed, but the molded plastic ones have to be thrown away once they go bad.
 
Yes.

But make sure your gear is good enough to warrent buying good cables before you do. No point having brilliant cables if your gear is recording badly.
 
Aren't Monster cables guaranteed for life or something. I thought I heard that. I think I paid 16 bucks at GC for a 3' one to hook up my rack, vs 7 bucks for a "livewire" piece of junk. Where do you guys find a good selection of cables online? I've heard George L's were good.....
 
goodbyebluesky said:
Aren't Monster cables guaranteed for life or something. I thought I heard that. I think I paid 16 bucks at GC for a 3' one to hook up my rack, vs 7 bucks for a "livewire" piece of junk. Where do you guys find a good selection of cables online? I've heard George L's were good.....
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Yup, guaranteed for life, which gets you exactly nothing Saturday night at your gig when one fails. Pretty good selling point, though.

This is the way I see it:

3 foot Monster Rock patch cable: $29.95, firm. Monster allows no discounting. Bulky Monster connectors, pain in the ass to fix cables, dubious claims of "time correction" and "phase coherence".

2 Bayou (for instance) 3 foot patch cables, $24.00 including shipping. Canare cable, Neutrik or G&H connectors, top of the line components. If properly made, they will last a lifetime. That gives me a spare, and they are easily field repairable, I have a soldering iron in my little tool box that goes to every gig.

BTW, I think George L. cables are great for instruments.
 
easychair said:
Yup, guaranteed for life, which gets you exactly nothing Saturday night at your gig when one fails. Pretty good selling point, though.

This is the way I see it:

3 foot Monster Rock patch cable: $29.95, firm. Monster allows no discounting. Bulky Monster connectors, pain in the ass to fix cables, dubious claims of "time correction" and "phase coherence".

2 Bayou (for instance) 3 foot patch cables, $24.00 including shipping. Canare cable, Neutrik or G&H connectors, top of the line components. If properly made, they will last a lifetime. That gives me a spare, and they are easily field repairable, I have a soldering iron in my little tool box that goes to every gig.

BTW, I think George L. cables are great for instruments.
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I think someone is just bitter.

You only ever have to buy a monster cable ONCE in your entire life. That, IMO, makes up for the extra 4 or 5 bucks you'd spend over something else. And where I live a 3 foot monster patch cable is WAAAYYY less than $29.95.
 
Zed10R said:
I think someone is just bitter.

You only ever have to buy a monster cable ONCE in your entire life. That, IMO, makes up for the extra 4 or 5 bucks you'd spend over something else. And where I live a 3 foot monster patch cable is WAAAYYY less than $29.95.
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What series of Monster cable? 500 series? $19.95 for a 3 footer? At the Studio 1000 level, it's $49.95 for a 3 footer.

I'm not bitter, just hate to see people waste money on marketing, and I'm a working professional who depends on his gear, and being able to make it work when I need it.

Spend the money, if you want. Monster cables are great for music store profits. Monster cable costs the store about 35% of the sticker price. I'm not against companies setting retail prices, it can help small stores. But with Monster, it covers up massive prices and profits for no increased value.
Any decent cable will last ten years or more, depending on use. And all the decent makers have warranties, many of them lifetime. Only a few as complete as Monster, but they are out there, and on products of equal quality, but much lower price.

I just won't spend two to ten times the money on a product I want, when I don't have to.
 
And how do you factor in the cost of going to get the replacement, keeping the original receipts, time down when it breaks?

Not to mention hoping they stay in business long enough to get a return on the investment.

And all that for a cable that, in the end, is OK, not great.

Thanks but no thanks, I'd rather make my own, or buy canare cables with neutrik conenctors. Much cheaper and imvho better .
 
what a bunch of bullshit. $30 for a 3' cable run! monster cable is full of shit. It is fine but the price is ridiculous. I've seen plenty of monster cable quit working and everytime I opened it up it was a cold solder joint. Crap! You'll get a hell of a run-around from them and banjo-center if you try to return it. It's always poor soldering just as is the case with most cables that fail. Pedal cables are unbalanced anyways. Just by some cheap ass hosa cables. You can buy an assload for the same price as 1 monster cable, if one fails just replace it with your multitudes of hosa. As far as pedal hookups for live performance go I am not a cable snob. You will hear absolutely no difference between hosa and monster at a 3' unbalanced (or balanced for that matter) run. Using batteries vs. adapters will make a much more noticable improvement. Get yourself some rechargeable batteries, pedals run much more quietly with batteries. Of course when it comes to cables wiring a studio is a different ball game.
 
I just ordered some cables from Bayoucables. 6 of them cost $60.00. I expect them to be good quality cables.
 
What you really need are some of these. Everyone knows that they will improve your sound more than anything else. ;) :p
 
amt7565 said:
I just ordered some cables from Bayoucables. 6 of them cost $60.00. I expect them to be good quality cables.
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cool
I'm sure you'll be happy with them. I have been using bayou cables and am really pleased with them. They look cool too in the different colors. I have a few blue guitar cables and patchcords for my pedalboard, and a couple of purple mic cables too. They're always easy to find!
evt
 
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