Use the right lead / cable!

    Bit of a schoolboy error on my part, just thought I'd share for any other users if similar issues.

    A recent thread on connecting the Kemper to amps etc emphasised using the correct cables. Fairly recently one of my guitar cables had broken, so I just grabbed a brand new TS cable I had in my drawer. I noticed I was getting a lot of static type noise on note decay and reverb tails, which was driving me mad, I was messing with noise gates and getting frustrated thinking something had gone wrong with the Kemper. After reading the aforementioned thread a dim bulb lit in my dim head..

    Looking at the cable it was a microphone TS cable. So, not all TS cables are equal!

    I dug out one of my old guitar cables I use for gigging - hey presto, don't even need a noise gate now for most profiles I use.


    TL;DR use the right cables / leads :S

    I've never heard of a difference between a TS cable and an Instrument cable except for the conductor size. I believe those two types are synonymous (TS vs Instrument). No?

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

    Is the noisy cable a coaxial cable?


    I imagine all "decent" guitar cables are coaxial. A center conductor surrounded 360 degrees by a second braid of conductor. This design helps reduce electrical interference noise.


    The lines inside your guitar going to the pickups are also coaxial usually.


    If the cable has a lot of resistance on the ground/shield/sleeve/outer wiring, it may not be effective also.

    A speaker cable doesn't need the shielding that a guitar cable does, since the signal is really strong. All of my speaker cables (even the ones with TS plugs) are thick, dual wire, so unlike guitar cables at all.


    Nice tip!!

    Quote from BayouTexan

    I've never heard of a difference between a TS cable and an Instrument cable except for the conductor size. I believe those two types are synonymous (TS vs Instrument). No?

    TS is the plug. My cable to my passive Kab is Monster speaker cable with a TS plug on it.

    Quote from BayouTexan

    I've never heard of a difference between a TS cable and an Instrument cable except for the conductor size. I believe those two types are synonymous (TS vs Instrument). No?

    As Finally said, speaker and instrument cable both share a TS plug but are totally different beasts. Don’t use an instrument cable for amp to speaker connections as you can fry it and cause damage to both amp and speaker.

    Quote from BayouTexan

    I've never heard of a difference between a TS cable and an Instrument cable except for the conductor size. I believe those two types are synonymous (TS vs Instrument). No?

    I thought the same, especially as most of my mic cables are XLR not TS. I grabbed a bunch of these TS ones when I was in the shop without even checking.