Cable recommendations.

[itu]

...and underplating is usually nickel (Ni). Still in a place like plug and jack the wearing resistance should be substantial. If the base material is hard, it helps the coating a lot (and the other way around). Otherwise coating a piece of cheddar with diamond like carbon (DLC) results like it was coated with carbon like diamond. No support, no hard surface. 

[Norris]

I've had my lead for quite some time now and it's done a lot of gigs... and the jacks are still gold 😁

[kiat]

Perhaps it depends on the use case? For cables that get reinserted a lot I prefer the best quality jacks Neutrik or HiCON. If they are static in a pedal board it matters little IMO and a lesser known brand of reasonable quality is perfectly fine if it can transit the signal without loss or interference, whilst providing the perfect form factor for the job.

[Lozz196]

I decided after many years of playing to treat myself to a Whirlwind lead. Plugged in, played, didn’t make 2 minutes, it’s going back, sapped loads of top and bottom from the sound. Gonna stick with my fairly cheap Fender Professional leads, which sound the same as my BOSS WL20L wireless kit.

[chris_b]

2 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

I decided after many years of playing to treat myself to a Whirlwind lead. Plugged in, played, didn’t make 2 minutes, it’s going back, sapped loads of top and bottom from the sound. Gonna stick with my fairly cheap Fender Professional leads, which sound the same as my BOSS WL20L wireless kit.

 

That's a strange one Lozz. I've been using the same Whirlwind instrument cable since the late 80's and the sound has always been fine. Maybe something was wrong with the cable?

[Chienmortbb]

5 hours ago, kiat said:

Perhaps it depends on the use case? For cables that get reinserted a lot I prefer the best quality jacks Neutrik or HiCON. If they are static in a pedal board it matters little IMO and a lesser known brand of reasonable quality is perfectly fine if it can transit the signal without loss or interference, whilst providing the perfect form factor for the job.

This is generally true. If you need to move a cable and insert/remove it often, you need quality connectors. For patch cable the connectors and cable is less important.