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Instrument leads


SteveXFR

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I mainly use the fender pro series , but I’ve also got a few of the festival hemp rainbow ones that I bought from someone on here, they seem  good quality , I did buy a cheaper one to leave down my summerhouse which was red plastic coated but it gets tangled easily ,and tbh , isn’t very good, I wouldn’t recommend that particular type 

Edited by Reggaebass
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2 hours ago, fleabag said:

There was a time when it was mentioned somewhere , here or on ze web, that a certain make of cable had jack plugs that were slightly over-size, and when inserting in the jack socket, actually widened it, so future cables of other brands ended up being a baggy fit and causing connection problems

 

Possibly Planet Waves or  Whirlwind, but i'm totally guessing, as i cannot remember their name

Monster cables were known for this too.

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4 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

My experience with instrument leads is that if they have a conductive plastic sheath inside the outer copper shielding they should be noise free.

 

Capacitance issues causing loss of highs are more affected by cable length than anything else.

I believe that (rather annoyingly) there are two types of connectors made by Neutrik nowadays. The proper ones are labelled ‘PRO’ and of their usual high standard. Their ‘budget’ range is called ‘ReAn’ and probably used by the cheaper cable companies so they can allude to them being of a better quality than they probably are. 😡

 

ClearTone cables definitely use the PRO stuff. 😊

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47 minutes ago, tauzero said:

I generally make my own jack to jack (Van Damme/Neutrik) and buy XLR cables. I've used Lynx Cables on Ebay a few times, they're good.

Yeah custom lynx are great and very well priced, all our xlr and gtr leads are made by these guys, no problems, lots of gigs

 

https://custom-lynx.co.uk/

 

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Mostly Fender and Stagg, which are good quality for the price with excellent jacks*.

 

Best lead I have was a noiseless one bought new around 1980 for £££ and still going strong, I bought one for my brother too, and he still uses it for gigging! Wonderfully limp and soft after all the years, the strain relief tails have long gone, but as the cable is held in a long collet that is tightened by the two-part body this doesn't matter. The jacks have 'WK' on them, does anyone know what brand it might be?.

 

 

*Except that loudspeaker cable.

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4 hours ago, casapete said:

I believe that (rather annoyingly) there are two types of connectors made by Neutrik nowadays. The proper ones are labelled ‘PRO’ and of their usual high standard. Their ‘budget’ range is called ‘ReAn’ and probably used by the cheaper cable companies so they can allude to them being of a better quality than they probably are. 😡

 

I use Rean as well as full-fat Neutrik. In fact, making up a cable to go from bass to a Line 6 G50 bodypack, I had to use a Rean at the bodypack end, and the switched jacks I've used (without problems) have been Rean too as they're a third the price of the Neutrik ones.

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9 hours ago, casapete said:

a) Whirlwind ( still got a couple that work great )

 

 

All my cables are OBBM, except a Whirlwind instrument cable that I bought in the late 80's!

 

I agree with all the guys who are saying, they'll be retired before OBBM's cables stop working. I had a traumatic event when I left one behind in a rehearsal room, earlier this year!! Thank goodness I have several!

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15 hours ago, Jonesy said:

 

I'm also pretty tempted by the Ernie Ball leads, mostly because they come in a bright neon pink!

Thats the colour I use, along with pink XLR leads for me preamp and mic - takes but a split second to figure out which leads are mine when oacking away.

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I use van damme / Neutrik jack cables from eBay, they don't cost much and I have never had them go wrong. Also they are a different colour so I can recognise them easily. I have never had a fender cable that hasn't failed, or knew of anyone else having them (the fabric covered ones), although they have the replacement thing, which is handy as I have used it, I have one at home, I wouldn't gig with it.

 

I also have a whirlwind cable from the early 90s 

 

Oh I have a planet waves cable with a switch on it. Works fine but I think it is one of the oversize things, as there are some sockets it seems too tight for.

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17 hours ago, Jakester said:

Every Planet Waves cable I've ever had has failed. I steer well clear of all of their stuff now. 

 

I have two MXR cables and they're going strong, and just bought an MXR 'PRO' cable (dunno what the difference is - was on sale) and haven't had any problems thus far (touches wood!)

i had regular failures with plannet waves cables until i replaced the jacks with neutrix ones. Same with Fender ones, the jacks look sturdy but Neutrix are much more reliable in my experience. 

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On 25/11/2021 at 15:13, fleabag said:

There was a time when it was mentioned somewhere , here or on ze web, that a certain make of cable had jack plugs that were slightly over-size, and when inserting in the jack socket, actually widened it, so future cables of other brands ended up being a baggy fit and causing connection problems

 

Possibly Planet Waves or  Whirlwind, but i'm totally guessing, as i cannot remember their name

It's also the type of d*ck move that would fit Monster Cable. At one point they tried to sue anyone who used "monster" in a brand name of some kind. They even attempted to sue Sesame Street because of Cookie Monster a.o., and Disney for the title to the movie Monsters Inc. to name but a few. FFS! 

 

I've been using Spectraflex cables for years, they make nylon braided cables in two thicknesses. I especially like the FatsoFlex cables, with extra thick braiding. Incredibly sturdy, and the braiding stops them from getting tangled too easily. Their lifelong warranty is nice too. I had a problem with one once, and walked into the store I bought it from, and they just replaced it on the spot without even asking for the receipt or any proof of purchase. I don't know if that was Spectraflex policy or the store owner being nice, but it was incredibly helpful! 

Edited by LeftyJ
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4 minutes ago, LeftyJ said:

It's also the type of d*ck move that would fit Monster Cable. At one point they tried to sue anyone who used "monster" in a brand name of some kind. They even attempted to sue Sesame Street because of Cookie Monster a.o., and Disney for the title to the movie Monsters Inc. to name but a few. FFS! 

 

LSD is a he'll of a drug. They must have had a lot!

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On 25/11/2021 at 14:33, SteveXFR said:

Thanks for the tips. Since there's no wild disagreement I've gone and ordered a couple from designacable. Van damme cable (in a nice shade of green) with neutrik plugs (in red for a horrible clash)

Yep, I've been buying Van Damme cable and Neutrik plugs to make my own leads for a long time and I've never had a moment's problem with them.  If Van Damme is is good enough for Abbey Road studios and some of the huge events they've cabled, it's certainly good enough for me.  Not too expensive either.

 

https://www.van-damme.com/case-studies/

 

https://www.van-damme.com/about-van-damme/#tour-tab

 

Edited by inthedoghouse
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On 25/11/2021 at 16:20, simonlittle said:

I’ve use various cables over the years and honestly I couldn’t tell a difference in sound. 

 

There generally wont be much difference unless something is faulty or seriously sub standard. Guitars on the other hand are much more sensitive to cable quality as they have a lower signal output and much more high frequency content.

Edited by bassman7755
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7 hours ago, Steve Browning said:

All my guitar/speaker cables are Evidence Audio now. If they're what David Gilmour uses then I'm taking that as a recommendation. Quite an investment, mind.

 

Have you cryogenically frozen your cables, as I believe Dave Gilmour did?

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6 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

Have you cryogenically frozen your cables, as I believe Dave Gilmour did?

I'm a bit confused by this - given that cables are flexible any effects on the structure brought about by freezing are going to be negated by them flexing when back to ambient. If you were to flex them whilst frozen you would almost certainly introduce stress fractures. 

 

Edit - so I had to research this. He apparently has solid copper bus bars in the power system of his floating recording studio which have had cryo treatment. Not cables though.

Edited by BreadBin
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From what I can find, cryogenic treatment of copper changes the crystalline structure and is often used as a pretreatment for electrical components used in cryogenic conditions such as space. 

It seems a bit pointless on instrument cables since the constant flexing will have an effect on the crystalline structure and probably end up somewhere near it's pre treatment state. 

I suspect the main purpose of cryogenic treatment of instrument cables would be to extract money from gullible people. Give them a standard cable, tell them it's treateates and then listen to them waffle on about the incredible detail they can hear with it.

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11 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

Have you cryogenically frozen your cables, as I believe Dave Gilmour did?

I haven't. I figure I'll stop playing when I'm dead (I wasn't aware of that development but I'll leave things as they are).

 

I am well aware that many think it's snake oil but Even I heard a clear difference when a/b'ing against other cables.

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