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I was reading an advertisement in Vintage Guitar magazine from a guitar cable company that promised huge increase in tone with their cables.

I am familiar with the George L cables and other high end cables and I dig the idea, but I can't imagine hearing any significant tone difference by switching cables. Granted if your cable has been duck taped in 10 spots or has a shorts it'll sound like crap, but do the boutique cables sound better than the plain ol cables?


Originally Posted by B Bentdo the boutique cables sound better than the plain ol cables?

If you think it will, and you fork out the money, you will hear a difference. If you think it won't, and you fork out the money, you will not hear a difference. If you think it won't and you don't fork out the money, you won't hear a difference.

Aside from really cheap cables, I believe cable claims are quot;snake oil.quot;

The problem with those boutique cables is, that they have 100000 features they don't really need which make em extreme expensive to produce. There are certain things which are important for guitar cables, and others for speaker cables for example... You don't need all that stuff in one cable.

for speaker cables i only buy 12 gauge. bigger the better and only as long as you need.

as far as guitar cables it depends on the rest of your rig. if you use a very simple guitar - cable - good tube amp, i think you will hear a difference with some cables. if you have a cluttered pedal board with a digitech death metal i doubt you will

i tried mogami and i didnt think there was much improvment at all. i like monster jazz cables and george l's

For speaker cable, i use dual core speaker cable (cant remember the brand, its in my car), it runs about $8 a foot.

As for instrument cable, i need a new favourite, cause I'm gonna need to wire a pedal board soon.

Have you seen this recent thread?

YES! Cables make all the difference (I was once young and naive and thought that cables were hype... boy was I wrong ). My entire rig is wired up with 15' Bayou cables and Bill Lawrence patch cables (they're both very low capacitance, a sign of a quality cable) and a lot more highend shines through (I simply roll back the treble on my amp to compensate, but it's nice knowing that a lot more of my signal is going through). There is a definite change in clarity and dynamics with a better cable.

Yes they freakin' make a difference. You either have to spend on the materials to make your own or put out an arm and a leg to get a commercial one but they matter.

Thanks guys. It seems that different ears hear different things like in any other tone situation.

They do make a difference, making it one more piece of the option nightmare that is electric guitar.

I mostly use either a Monster cable or a Spectraflex. The Spextraflex was cheaper, but gives me more of a crunchy sound, for some reason. The Monster makes my sound a little more clean and open, but less aggressive. It's slight, but noticeable when doing an a/b comparison. Weird.

I think they make a huge difference. Was down in a friends and he got new cables and the improvement was amazing I was just like whoo I gotta get me some of them. Gold plated connectors, thicker than normal. The funny thing is they'r bout the same price as the old cables.

I too was skeptical of higher priced cables, but after trying the George L's, I was sold. My entire rig is now wired with Georgle L cables and I have noticed a considerable difference, so much so, that I now carry the George L line in my store. Believe the hype

May I jump in here and ask, Guitar cable size: 0.155 or 0.255? What do you guys use?

.155 for pedals, .255 for guitar cable and connections from effects to amp


Originally Posted by Guitar ToadMay I jump in here and ask, Guitar cable size: 0.155 or 0.255? What do you guys use?

From the George L site:
Q: What is the difference between .155 or .225
diameter cable?
A: .155 Diameter Cable is The Original High-End
Cable! Use it for home, studio, stage – wherever! Many
players use it for pedal boards racks, sequencers,
keyboards and electronic drums. This is the same
cable that we use in our effects kits! .225 Diameter
Cable was created for the player that enjoyed the feel
and weight of traditional instrument cable. It utilizes
the same cable interior than the .155 but has a larger
core. The sound quality is exactly the same as the .
155. It remains a popular choice for players running
stage lengths as well as snakes for your guitar rig.

I should'a checked the George L site. Thanks for the info.

Another thread mentioned that lower output SC pups are more likely to be affected by cable quality that higher output HB's. Do the rest of you concur with this?


Originally Posted by Guitar ToadAnother thread mentioned that lower output SC pups are more likely to be affected by cable quality that higher output HB's. Do the rest of you concur with this?

It makes sense. With the lower output pups, your signal-to-noise ratio would be lower (assuming everything else stayed the same). Therefore, the clean part of the signal would be harder to discern.

Think of it this way. Imagine you had a giant water pipe. At some point on that pipe you are adding 1 gallon of red dye every hour. If you just have a small stream of water flowing through the pipe, the water coming out may look almost like wine. If you had a giant rush of water flowing through, you may not ever see the red tint in the water. It's oversimpified, but if you think of the dye as the noise and the water as the signal coming from your pups, it sort of explains it.

I hope I didn't completely confuse you.


Originally Posted by JacksonMIAIt makes sense. With the lower output pups, your signal-to-noise ratio would be lower (assuming everything else stayed the same). Therefore, the clean part of the signal would be harder to discern.

Think of it this way. Imagine you had a giant water pipe. At some point on that pipe you are adding 1 gallon of red dye every hour. If you just have a small stream of water flowing through the pipe, the water coming out may look almost like wine. If you had a giant rush of water flowing through, you may not ever see the red tint in the water. It's oversimpified, but if you think of the dye as the noise and the water as the signal coming from your pups, it sort of explains it.

I hope I didn't completely confuse you.

No confusion here. I agree with the assertion. I was curious how noticeable the difference is. It must not be a big difference otherwise we would hear/ read more about it than we do.

Cables do make a difference and that is why I started making them.

Premium cables are horse****.