Why are guitar cables so stinking expensive?

[Lt. Bob]

that's pretty cool.
I've actually gone to using extension cords for speaker cords although I clip off the ends and solder 1/4 jacks on them.
I can get a 120' cord for about $10 at WalMart ...... 14 gauge and it's bright lime green too!
Never get my cables mixed up with anyone elses'.


A couple of those converters would be handy to have around for emergencies.

 

[boingoman]

that's pretty cool.
I've actually gone to using extension cords for speaker cords although I clip off the ends and solder 1/4 jacks on them.
I can get a 120' cord for about $10 at WalMart ...... 14 gauge and it's bright lime green too!
Never get my cables mixed up with anyone elses'.


A couple of those converters would be handy to have around for emergencies.

LOL. That company was forced to stop making those. They violate a LOT of laws. That was for humor!! Sorry, man! They appeared at NAMM '96 and disappeared that same weekend!!

I use 2-conductor electrical wire for speaker cables, too, much cheaper.

 

[Zaphod B]

It's a novel concept to most musicians, that's for sure. And lots of Full Sail grads, too.

Well, dammit. I've always just done "over-over", being careful to turn the cable towrds me and not twist it, and that works fine for guitar cords and other cables that are short.

But I had a sound man years ago that had a very neat trick in packing our 100' snake, and I could never remember how he did it - I think I recall that he laid it out in a series of "S" shapes and then folded it all up. Whatever he was doing, that snake never kinked and never tangled.

 

[Tadpui]

I have a ProCo MusicMover that I've had for about 16 years. I've wrapped it around my forearm every time I've wrapped it up for all that time. I no longer hold the belief that its bad for a cable. Unless you're giving it the old steroid jerk and putting it under lots of tension or something.

But simply wrapping it around your forearm, between your elbow and palm of your hand shouldn't do any damage to a cable. there are probably 10 other things that cables are regularly subject to that would do more damage.

 

[boingoman]

Well, dammit. I've always just done "over-over", being careful to turn the cable towrds me and not twist it, and that works fine for guitar cords and other cables that are short.

But I had a sound man years ago that had a very neat trick in packing our 100' snake, and I could never remember how he did it - I think I recall that he laid it out in a series of "S" shapes and then folded it all up. Whatever he was doing, that snake never kinked and never tangled.

Over-over is fine, like ggun pointed out. The technique that guy used ends up the same as an over/under. All the esses get piled up, it looks like a figure-8, and it gets folded over. Gotta pile 'em right, though.

 

[boingoman]

I have a ProCo MusicMover that I've had for about 16 years. I've wrapped it around my forearm every time I've wrapped it up for all that time. I no longer hold the belief that its bad for a cable. Unless you're giving it the old steroid jerk and putting it under lots of tension or something.

But simply wrapping it around your forearm, between your elbow and palm of your hand shouldn't do any damage to a cable. there are probably 10 other things that cables are regularly subject to that would do more damage.

I gaurantee it is twisting on it's own, if you let it flow through your fingers while wrapping it. The tension is the thing, you are right in a sense. If you did that a few times with a 50' 12 gauge speaker cable or mic cable or extension cord, it would never coil well again. That much cable can't self-correct as you wind it. It's too heavy.

 

[boingoman]

there are probably 10 other things that cables are regularly subject to that would do more damage.

I gotta admit, if you are rough on gear, many of your cables won't last long enough to get twisted!

 

[ggunn]

Here's a stocking stuffer for next year!!

JCon

Damn! I knew I should have patented that when I invented it 25 years ago!

EDIT: Oh, yeah. Electrical code violation. I knew there was a reason I kept it to myself!

 

[boingoman]

Damn! I knew I should have patented that when I invented it 25 years ago!

EDIT: Oh, yeah. Electrical code violation. I knew there was a reason I kept it to myself!

It might be cool to plug a really rugged subwoofer into a wall. At 8ohms, that's what, 1800W @60Hz?

 

[ggunn]

It might be cool to plug a really rugged subwoofer into a wall. At 8ohms, that's what, 1800W @60Hz?

P = (V^2)/R = ((120)(120))/8 = 1800

but 120 VAC is V(p), not V(rms)

V(rms) = V(p)/ SQRT 2

120/SQRT 2 = 84.85

P(rms) = V(rms)^2/R = ((84.85)(84.85))/8 = 900 watts

 

[Light]

The roadie wrap is slower, too.

Not in this universe or any other, dude. I bet you any amount of money you want that I can over-under any cable faster than you could do it your way, count on it. It takes a little practice, but once you've got it, you can beat ANY other method of cable wrapping.

Of course, I've probably coiled 250,000 cables in my life, but that's besides the point.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[travelin travis]

It might be cool to plug a really rugged subwoofer into a wall. At 8ohms, that's what, 1800W @60Hz?

I plugged a speaker into an ac socket when I was a kid. It blew up. Loudly at that. nntttPOWWW! It was the first time I remember my ears ringing. I advise not to do such things unless you're 8 and don't know any better.

 

[ggunn]

Not in this universe or any other, dude. I bet you any amount of money you want that I can over-under any cable faster than you could do it your way, count on it. It takes a little practice, but once you've got it, you can beat ANY other method of cable wrapping.

Big talk. ;^)

 

[tdukex]

I plugged a speaker into an ac socket when I was a kid. It blew up. Loudly at that. nntttPOWWW! It was the first time I remember my ears ringing. I advise not to do such things unless you're 8 and don't know any better.

I did the same thing, only I talked some other kid into doing it.

 

[gibson59neck]

Why has noone here mentioned monsters? I've had the same monster cables for a LONG time, and if they DO ever fail, all I gotta do is bring them back to Daddy's and get a new one, FREE! I thought that was common knowledge???

Not that it isn't cool that many of you out there make your own. It is, I'm just not a tinkerer. I can and have tinkered and soldered before, but I don't look for reasons to. I'd rather just play....!

 

[Lt. Bob]

I have a Monster guitar cable and it does sound good and quiet and seems very durable. But it's not flexible enough for me so I tossed it in a box and use it around the house. Stiff cables drive me crazy!

 

[boingoman]

Stiff cables drive me crazy!

Me too. That's one problem I have with CBI, they never seem to use the same Belden stuff twice. One will be nice and supple, the next will be unusable.

As far as Monster, for me they were too expensive up front, other companies have similar warranties, and for the same price I could have spares. Now I just make my own anyway.

 

[Flangerhans]

I plugged a speaker into an ac socket when I was a kid. It blew up. Loudly at that. nntttPOWWW! It was the first time I remember my ears ringing. I advise not to do such things unless you're 8 and don't know any better.

When I was a kid, all I wanted to be when I grew up was a mad scientist. Bubbling retorts filled with dry ice, jacob's ladders and a hunchbacked servant who could get body parts for cheap. Unfortunately, there were no courses in mad science when I went to school. I have come to believe that recordists are all of a similar mindset, their arcane lore and complicated apparatus the result of a deep longing to practice splicing limbs onto cadavers and laughing maniacally. Now, I have the WRITTEN ADMISSION that Travis is one of us! Soon, there will be many, and we will be strong...

 

[cephus]

Stiff cables drive me crazy!

The mic cable that I use for my vocal mic that's probably 20 years old is a stiff one. I wish I knew what brand that one is. Once it was trained, it practically rolls itself up.

It kinda sucks the way you have to unroll it so that it doesn't look like a razor wire fence. It is an impressive cable as far as durability, tho.

I actually hate the thin cables more. You can't train them for shit. I also get bent about people who walk on the cables. This central ohio bluesman douchebag walked up to me once wearing pointy toed cowbly boots. Walked up my cable like he was one of the flying wallendas. I was like "Mother fucker. You should know better." Fucking greaser.

 

[ggunn]

Why has noone here mentioned monsters? I've had the same monster cables for a LONG time, and if they DO ever fail, all I gotta do is bring them back to Daddy's and get a new one, FREE! I thought that was common knowledge???

Not that it isn't cool that many of you out there make your own. It is, I'm just not a tinkerer. I can and have tinkered and soldered before, but I don't look for reasons to. I'd rather just play....!

I don't and never will use Monster Cables. In the first place they are (IMO) grossly overpriced and their claims are (IMO again) snake oil. In the second place, their practice of suing the pants off anyone who uses the word "monster" in any sort of commercial venture (google "monster litigation") disgusts me.