Using a 2 conductor (mic) cable as a guitar cable

L

larry_emder

New member
Went to my local electronics store today to get some single conductor co-axial cable, but they didnt have any. Spoke to one of the salesmen and he told me i could use a 2 conductor cable instead - by wiring the two inside wires to the hot connection.

He also said that this works even better than a single conductor cable, by reducing hum (in some way...he didnt explain it any further)

So my questions are:

Can i use the 2 conductor cable with a mono 1/4" plug, by wiring the 2 inner wires to hot?

And

Will it be less susceptible to hum, as Mr. salesman stated?

Thanks if you can help!
 
The cables I'm using right now are old mic cables for no other reason than I had some mic cable and needed instrument. As stated no difference that I can hear. They are beefy though.
 
"balanced" cables may hum less than "unbalanced" cables, and arguably, the TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) mic cable is balanced, while a TS (tip-sleeve) instrument cable is not. By resoldering the mic cable, I think you're turning it into an unbalanced cable, though, since the same signal is traveling through both wires (essentially just making the wire twice as beefy), so I wouldn't expect a difference in hum.
 
It will work fine, but if you had hum before, you will probably still have it. And it will *not* balance the signal, which might get rid of *some* kinds of hum, especially with long runs of cable.-Richie
 
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