A couple of evenings ago I decided to rearrange the way I set up my pedal board. I do this every few years, and it usually involves some fiddling with the George L's cables I made about ten years ago, changing the lengths, etc.
This time, for some reason, not one of my George L's would pass signal after I modified them. I think the connectors somehow became compromised after too many connections and re-connections, as I've had no problems with them in the past. In any event, it was time to replace them.
So I figured, "Why not try the PRS pedalboard cables?" I ordered some. They came this morning, and as it happens, I had the day to myself. I'm waiting for video to be finished on a new project and can't postscore without picture, so had planned this as a "studio fix-up" day. I immediately got to work on the pedalboard.
Background:
I've been using the same pedals in my chain for several years, with the George L's. I'm very familiar with the sound I was getting.
I was using the George L's because they're bright sounding cables, and my former Two-Rocks seemed to prefer brighter signals. Also, I could make them up to keep my pedals where I needed them on the pedalboard, and with some cables, it's a struggle.
Before that I'd been using Canare cables, and before that, Monster. Prior to that I can't remember what I was using, but I was probably too tired from the daily Dinosaur Roundup to get to the guitar much...
The Cables:
You notice two things when you take the PRS cables out of the boxes: First, the connectors are very well-made and the plugs are nicely plated. Second, the cable itself is very, very flexible. More so than any high quality cable I've ever used.
The flexibility comes in handy when connecting the pedals together at different angles, etc. You're not fighting the cables in order to put the pedals where you want them. These cables are your servants, not the other way around!
Once I had everything connected up, I plugged my 408-equipped guitar in because it seems to have the widest frequency response and would make a good test. I flipped the standby off the HX/DA, and strummed a chord.
When the chord rang out, I literally said, "Whoa!" out loud! I'm serious. The high frequency content was still there, but the mids and lows had more amplitude and there was greater clarity.
The effect wasn't subtle. I'm sure that anyone would have agreed as to the improvement. In fact, I found I had to back off the gain on my amp just a touch, because there was simply more oomph.
I'm still using Mogami cables to and from the pedal board. I'm going to try the PRS cables for these purposes as well, and am just waiting for my December Thank -You package to arrive (ahem) at which point I'll get another PRS guitar cable and do another comparison test.
Anyway, I'd have felt I got good value simply because these things are so flexible, but they are definitely passing a more balanced sounding signal than anything I've used in the past. Good stuff!
This time, for some reason, not one of my George L's would pass signal after I modified them. I think the connectors somehow became compromised after too many connections and re-connections, as I've had no problems with them in the past. In any event, it was time to replace them.
So I figured, "Why not try the PRS pedalboard cables?" I ordered some. They came this morning, and as it happens, I had the day to myself. I'm waiting for video to be finished on a new project and can't postscore without picture, so had planned this as a "studio fix-up" day. I immediately got to work on the pedalboard.
Background:
I've been using the same pedals in my chain for several years, with the George L's. I'm very familiar with the sound I was getting.
I was using the George L's because they're bright sounding cables, and my former Two-Rocks seemed to prefer brighter signals. Also, I could make them up to keep my pedals where I needed them on the pedalboard, and with some cables, it's a struggle.
Before that I'd been using Canare cables, and before that, Monster. Prior to that I can't remember what I was using, but I was probably too tired from the daily Dinosaur Roundup to get to the guitar much...
The Cables:
You notice two things when you take the PRS cables out of the boxes: First, the connectors are very well-made and the plugs are nicely plated. Second, the cable itself is very, very flexible. More so than any high quality cable I've ever used.
The flexibility comes in handy when connecting the pedals together at different angles, etc. You're not fighting the cables in order to put the pedals where you want them. These cables are your servants, not the other way around!
Once I had everything connected up, I plugged my 408-equipped guitar in because it seems to have the widest frequency response and would make a good test. I flipped the standby off the HX/DA, and strummed a chord.
When the chord rang out, I literally said, "Whoa!" out loud! I'm serious. The high frequency content was still there, but the mids and lows had more amplitude and there was greater clarity.
The effect wasn't subtle. I'm sure that anyone would have agreed as to the improvement. In fact, I found I had to back off the gain on my amp just a touch, because there was simply more oomph.
I'm still using Mogami cables to and from the pedal board. I'm going to try the PRS cables for these purposes as well, and am just waiting for my December Thank -You package to arrive (ahem) at which point I'll get another PRS guitar cable and do another comparison test.
Anyway, I'd have felt I got good value simply because these things are so flexible, but they are definitely passing a more balanced sounding signal than anything I've used in the past. Good stuff!
