Do Expensive Guitar Cables REALLY Sound Better?

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    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

  • I have two and one have more bass and less treble than the other. So I recorded and listened to see if it really was true or not and yes it was. It wasn't just my imagination. Does it really matter that much? No of course not. If I want a tad of more bass I can always raise it and the same is true with treble.

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

  • Just thinkin´ ..... How "fun" it would be to put those silk and "exoskeleton" cables

    back in your case after giggin´ on a real rock club with beer and broken glass

    all over the stage floor ........ :rolleyes:   ;)


    Cheers !

    The adjective for metal is metallic. But not so for iron ... which is ironic.

  • Some of those guitar-oriented youtube channels really do everything they can to distract people from actually playing guitar. How about focusing on the real stuff instead of on the variables that matter the least. You'll lose your precious cables soon enough as soon as you start having actual gigs.

  • There is no snake oil. The reason cables sound different (yes they do) is that with low analog signals (passive guitar pickups for example) their capacitance is not negligible. They basically act as filters. So the observations like 'more clear high end' etc is basically related to capacitance difference. Of course length also matters. If you change the length, you change the capacitance. If you want more highs, try to keep the length short.

  • Some of those guitar-oriented youtube channels really do everything they can to distract people from actually playing guitar. How about focusing on the real stuff instead of on the variables that matter the least. You'll lose your precious cables soon enough as soon as you start having actual gigs.

    No one is forcing you to watch man. ^^ I like to see different things when it comes to music and not just about playing. There's enough of youtubers for that.

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

  • There is no snake oil. The reason cables sound different (yes they do) is that with low analog signals (passive guitar pickups for example) their capacitance is not negligible. They basically act as filters. So the observations like 'more clear high end' etc is basically related to capacitance difference. Of course length also matters. If you change the length, you change the capacitance. If you want more highs, try to keep the length short.

    Snake oil? What has oil to do with cables? :huh::/:wacko:

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

  • only practise sounds better

    Cry Baby Slash Classic Wah -> KPA -> main to FOH ->KRK6 -> Monitor out DXR10 -> EXP DVP3 -> Remote: Guitars: Slash Gibson Les Paul Custom Shop - James Tyler Variax JTV59 - Epiphone Les Paul with EMG 81 - Furch GN2 Nylon -> Maybach Lester 60 -> Kemper Powered Cab -/ Focusrite Scarlett

  • You cant argue with the laws of physics, the capacitance of the cable and the inductance of the pickups creates a filter,

    the higher the cable capacitance the lower the frequency of the filter cut off, the same goes for higher inductance pickups,

    higher output (more windings) pickups will do the same, so it will be more noticable with higher output pickups/low quality cable.

    But and its a big but, its all down to what we prefer to hear and as musicians we all have different preferences, i think it

    was Brian May who used to use a 50foot long curly lead because he prefered the sound (high end loss) and some of the makers

    of wireless systems have cable emulation options. So its really down to what we prefer to hear. Also i think it only really matters

    for the first cable to amp or first buffered pedal as everything after is driven by a low impedance source. I would go for well made

    reliable instead of getting too caught up in this.

  • Eddie Van Halen had 100s of feets of cable runs for his tone. Don't knock it.


    I bought a medium expensive cable on the advice of guys on this forum after using some really cheap ones for a while and wondering why my tone sucked. And guess what, it was because those cheap cables were sucking the tone out of my signal.


    Yes, it was the cables, I assure you :D

  • Years ago I bought 50’ of Mogami 2524 cable and a dozen Neutrik connectors for less than the cost of a premade retail 15’ Mogami cable, using the same material. I made 2 15’ cables, a 10’er, and a few patch cables. They have held up wonderfully over the years.

  • Years ago I bought 50’ of Mogami 2524 cable and a dozen Neutrik connectors for less than the cost of a premade retail 15’ Mogami cable, using the same material. I made 2 15’ cables, a 10’er, and a few patch cables. They have held up wonderfully over the years.

    Ditto... I make all my cables.