Best Guitar Cable ?

Here’s my thinking on cables:

1. Capacitance is important, especially from the guitar to the first buffered pedal, or of course, to the amp. Why? Capacitance rolls off high frequencies in unbalanced cables, and affects how long a cable run can be before your hear signal loss. You can start to hear signal loss with most guitar cables in less than ten feet.

This is because the high impedance signal coming off your guitar pickups is very low level (this is why buffers are important in longer cable runs, they convert high impedance signals from the guitar to low impedance, which is less affected by capacitance).

One reason the PRS/VanDamme sounds good is that its capacitance is very low, 25 picofarads per foot. This is among the lowest on the market; most highly regarded cables are close to 50 PF/foot.

What this means is a twenty foot PRS cable run sounds like a ten foot run of higher capacitance cable, such as Canare or Mogami. For reference a lower capacitance number is better at preserving highs than a higher number.

Here are some capacitance numbers of competitive cables; Mogami is 49 picofarads per foot. Canare is 49 PF/foot, Evidence Melody is 28.

No wonder that so many of us like PRS/VanDamme, or Evidence cables. Given your typical 15-20/foot cable, you’re losing less of the guitar’s high frequencies than you do with even the very good Mogami or Canare stuff. Unfortunately, Evidence’s solid core cable is very stiff, see my discussion below.

I should mention that my studio (both current and former) has been wired with Mogami for 30 years, and some of my cable runs are from 1990. None has failed. But I use Mogami for low impedance audio signals, mic cables, etc., not for guitar any more.

The lowest capacitance cable on the market is the German made Sommer Spirit XXL. It’s more expensive than the others, but the capacitance is only 16pf/foot. I have one of these, and it lets more high frequencies through, but it’s stiffer than the VanDamme, and tangles more easily. It’s fine for recording, but I wouldn’t want to do a show with it.

By the way, Van Damme is highly regarded. Abbey Road Studio is wired with it. Doesn’t get better than that.

2. Another big factor in cable choice is noise rejection. Cables that pick up noise from nearby electrical equipment, radio stations, etc., don’t help matters out. Also, some cables have mechanical handling noise problems, they crackle when moved. Good cables don’t have these problems.

3. Untangling cables, or tripping on them because they don’t lay flat on stage or in the studio are things that suck. The PRS cables are highly flexible, don’t easily tangle, and lay flat. This is a real advantage for cable runs of any length, such as from pedalboard to amps, etc.

Now, all that said, some players WANT cables that lose some high frequencies. Carlos Santana is one; the PRS Sweet Switch was designed to make Carlos sound like he was using a 100 foot cable, if memory serves.

What folks should not want are cables that fail because of poor design, or bad termination, or crap plugs.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the dissertation! ;)
Thanks @LSchefman ! Indeed, that was exactly the type of analysis I hope for from you. And I agree with all of it - well, the bits that I have experience with or have a theoretical understanding - I cannot agree nor disagree with your observations of hoopy stiffness that you noted in the follow-up post, but I am certainly amused at the visual in my head! :D

I should pick up a couple of the PRS cables, perhaps at Experience where I can touch and feel them. I use wireless for practice/gigging, and when recording I'm not as concerned, usually running 10 ft cables max, but it might be nice to get a couple for recording anyway, to see if it "ups my game". Or maybe I'll be like "ooh, these cables are all ice-picky, I need my high capacitance Guitar Center specials for smooth tonez!"

:p
 
I had a Deluxe Reverb RI amp stripped out and hand-wired by George Alessandro, which breathed some serious life into an amp that was only decent sounding prior. I was very impressed. Of course, George builds amps for the likes of David Gilmour, so I knew it would be an improvement but was surprised at how immediately noticeable it was.

While toodling around his site, I noticed he also had guitar cables. They start at the more basic cables and go up to a pro level, silver/Teflon version that cost $1999.95 for a single 20 foot cable. Listen, I loved the work he did on my amp. I’d buy one of his amps in a flash. But that cable just isn’t going to happen!

Buuuuut... if you want the ultimate, there you go. That $80 PRS silent cable is suddenly looking a lot more affordable!
 
$2000.00 guitar cables... OK
I'll never tell someone what to spend their money on, cuz it's none of my beeswax.
I can understand a very high end cable that is a very specifically known quantity/result in a recording situation. But in my situation of gigging a small room or practicing at home I can't see the benefit.
That being said, I'm old and my ears are likely too hooped to hear the difference anyway.:p
I'm happy with my G10 wireless at the studio, and one at home. They both sound exactly the same all the time.
 
Thanks @LSchefman ! Indeed, that was exactly the type of analysis I hope for from you. And I agree with all of it - well, the bits that I have experience with or have a theoretical understanding - I cannot agree nor disagree with your observations of hoopy stiffness that you noted in the follow-up post, but I am certainly amused at the visual in my head! :D

I should pick up a couple of the PRS cables, perhaps at Experience where I can touch and feel them. I use wireless for practice/gigging, and when recording I'm not as concerned, usually running 10 ft cables max, but it might be nice to get a couple for recording anyway, to see if it "ups my game". Or maybe I'll be like "ooh, these cables are all ice-picky, I need my high capacitance Guitar Center specials for smooth tonez!"

:p

In my studio setup, there’s the cable from guitar to pedalboard, ten or so pedal interconnects, a 15 foot cable from pedalboard to amp switcher, and cables to each of four amps from the switcher, varying in length from 10-25 additional feet. The cables need to lay flat. They need to not pick up noise from amp power c

When you’re driving these kinds of unbalanced cable lengths, and have to route cables around a room, the capacitance can really mess with high frequencies. So I pay attention to these details as best I can.
 
$2000.00 guitar cables... OK
I'll never tell someone what to spend their money on, cuz it's none of my beeswax.
I can understand a very high end cable that is a very specifically known quantity/result in a recording situation. But in my situation of gigging a small room or practicing at home I can't see the benefit.
That being said, I'm old and my ears are likely too hooped to hear the difference anyway.:p
I'm happy with my G10 wireless at the studio, and one at home. They both sound exactly the same all the time.
What do you use with you Silver Sky? I seem to remember my G10 not fitting in the jack? It definitely did fit in my Clapton Strat or Ibanez Jiva
 
What do you use with you Silver Sky? I seem to remember my G10 not fitting in the jack? It definitely did fit in my Clapton Strat or Ibanez Jiva
Interesting... G10 in Silver Sky no sweat. Don't see that there could be a diff on the guitars, so must be an issue with the G10. But I thought they were all the same.:confused:
 
Interesting... G10 in Silver Sky no sweat. Don't see that there could be a diff on the guitars, so must be an issue with the G10. But I thought they were all the same.:confused:
I must be mis remembering. I haven’t had the SS for well over a year.
 
I'm happy with my G10 wireless at the studio, and one at home. They both sound exactly the same all the time.

Wireless rigs have some wonderful advantages over cables, and some small disadvantages.

The advantages are negligible signal loss due to capacitance, and the ability to shape your tone a bit with some systems.

The disadvantages with digital systems are the level of A/D conversion and analog circuit quality - some are great, some not so great - or in the case of fully analog systems, the necessity of using companders to compress the signal one one end and expand it on the other means you have to go pretty high end to not have tone suck.

Personally, I think a good wireless system is awesome, but for me in the studio it winds up being, in essence, a $1000 cable. I can get a great sounding cable for $100-ish.

The less expensive wireless systems are great for live use, of course.
 
Wireless rigs have some wonderful advantages over cables, and some small disadvantages.

The advantages are negligible signal loss due to capacitance, and the ability to shape your tone a bit with some systems.

The disadvantages with digital systems are the level of A/D conversion and analog circuit quality - some are great, some not so great - or in the case of fully analog systems, the necessity of using companders to compress the signal one one end and expand it on the other means you have to go pretty high end to not have tone suck.

Personally, I think a good wireless system is awesome, but for me in the studio it winds up being, in essence, a $1000 cable. I can get a great sounding cable for $100-ish.

The less expensive wireless systems are great for live use, of course.
The G10 is about $250 CAD or so. Not stumbling around on stage is mostly the killer app. Recording not so much for sure.
 
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