Instrument cable preferences.

[pauldo]

The last few years I have been playing along with recordings, and doing track work for various creators.
No live gigs, been using the same cables for many years.


Bass plugs into a Sans Amp with Monster Cable, then a patch cable into a Zoom H4. 
Been having issues with noise/ distortion. 
Recently replaced battery in bass as well as in the Sans Amp.  Zoom is plugged into power supply.
Input level to Zoom is not clipping.
Yesterday I bypassed the Sans amp and went direct into Zoom with 3’ Monster Cable, still had noise, switched to a 12’ Monster Cable (only other cable) and noise persists.


I have exercised volume and tone knobs.


I believe this is an old, tired cable(s) situation. 
Is there a means of verifying cable integrity?
Is there anything else to troubleshoot/test?


Pretty sure ‘just buy a new cable’ is the answer, so curious about who likes which cable(s) and why.


*Currently living paycheck to paycheck (almost), hence the frugality of this situation.

[cozmik_cowboy]

Put a continuity tester on each pair of contacts.  Or just open it up and eyeball it.  Unless Monster seals them on; in that case, buy new plugs, cut off the old ones, and spend a few minutes with the soldering iron.
I am a firm believer in never buying new cables; they can be fixed!

Peter (who in his youth spent untold hours at the band house kitchen table with a Mickey's malt liquor, a Sneak-A-Toke®, and an iron)

[StephenR]

I bought one of the Monster bass cables many years ago. Since it came with a lifetime warranty I kept the sales receipt. They replaced it for free at least two times when it failed. Not my favorite cable, I keep it for a spare, but it turned out to be a good deal over time. Not sure if they still offer the same warranty.

The 1/4" cable I use these days came from Bayou Audio. If you haven't tried "exercising"your pots it is worth giving it a shot. Does moving the cable generate noise or distortion? Is the noise constant?

[xlrogue6]

Monster cable is difficult to solder due to insulation stiffness and in some cases cable diameter. I wouldn't recommend trying it unless you have a temp controlled iron and lots of experience.

[adriaan]

I seem to remember there was an issue with the plugs on Monster cables being just a bit more over 1/4" than within specs, which would cause some problems with  jacks.

[xlrogue6]

That was an issue quite a while back, but there's probably some of those problem children still out in the wild.

[gtrguy]

I have a collection of cables that I use. My experience is probably like many others.
1) all cables eventually go bad or wear out.
2) I always carry several backup cables
3) don't mix up speaker cables with instrument ones (I bet we might have all done this at one time or another)

I typically use Monster cables. I think the earlier ones had a thicker gold plating on the ends and didn't always fit into instrument or amp all that well. I am sure they fixed this issue by now. However with time they seem to fail also. Years ago some company sold skinny cables that you could just screw the ends into. They were 'Bill Lawrence' or 'Dan Armstrong' or some other name. I love them and still have some. When the ends went bad you could just remove the instrument plug (slot head one easy screw) and cut an inch off them and reinstall the plug.

Anyway that's my 2 cents worth. Additionally, every time I see an instrument cable at the Goodwill Outlet store I buy it at 79 cents a pound (US Dollars)

[JimmyJ]

I so wanted to believe in Monster cable when they first crossed over to MI from the audiophile world.  They gave Lee Ritenour one of their early super-expensive guitar cables but he didn't like it because it was about 3/8" in diameter and the weight made it too awkward for his uses.  I saw it at his studio and he said "yeah ... you want it?"  So I took it and made a few short connecting cables out of it.  PITA to modify the Neutrik plugs to accommodate the size of that cable.  And yes, I had to melt the lacquer coating off of each individual copper strand before it could be soldered.

But they are still working...

Then they made the classic error of gold plating existing 1/4" plugs which caused problems for many folks (as Mica can attest).  But where Monster really lost me was when they began marketing "genre specific" cables.  We were expected to choose between a rock cable and a jazz cable.  I mean ... REALLY???  All credibility immediately lost.

Sorry for the highjack.  Pauldo, there is nothing in the cable itself which can add distortion.  Cables should either pass the signal or not.  There can be issues with capacitance affecting the tone with a long cable (mostly with passive instruments) but I don't think that is something that should change over time.  Unless the actual insulating material is somehow breaking down...  Are the cables microphonic?  Meaning, can you hear noise if you step on them or shake them around?  If so, they definitely need to GO.

As everybody said, exercising pots and switches is the first thing to try, and I not just on the bass.  Try pots and switches on your Zoom and SansAmp too.  I use REDDI boxes and they have an input level control that occasionally needs to be shifted or it can start to add a little fur to the tone.

Same goes for plugs and jacks in your chain, twist them, plug and unplug them, see if you can find the troublemaker.

Let us know how it goes.

Jimmy J

[pauldo]

Lots of great advice.  Thanks everyone. <— this is why this community rocks!

I will try / check a few more items as suggested above.
If I understand correctly, typical cable ‘failure’ is near the jack and generally the cable length itself is still solid.

Should have time this weekend to dive into things - will report back.

[cozmik_cowboy]

If I understand correctly, typical cable ‘failure’ is near the jack and generally the cable length itself is still solid.

In my almost 60 years of messing with this stuff (Really? Can that be true??), that has been the case 100% of the time.

Peter

[jazzyvee]

In my experience the worst cables i've had for failing at the jack ends are Planet waves with the moulded jacks. I bought a load when I was touring as the shop gave me a good discount. However I was returning them regularly for replacement under warrantee so they refunded me for them but didn't want them back so I bought a load of Neutrik jacks and replaced the moulded ones. Problem solved.

[cozmik_cowboy]

I forget where or why(probably a MF Stupid Deal Of The Day) I acquired a pair of 15' cables with yellow-molded ends.  Cut one in half, soldered on regular plugs, and presto - manageable cords for my Conn strobe & test amp by the bench.
Given the option, I prefer to make them myself.

Peter

[pauldo]

Palm to the forehead moment.

Sincerely appreciate the tips.  Checked continuity, holding each cable end and multi meter, then wiggling and no fluctuations (analog meter, needle remained pegged).  The two Monsters I have measure .248” for plug diameters.

Exercised pots on Sans Amp and Distillate, over 200 rotations on bass as well as exercised the switches- interesting to notice considerably different ‘tension’ on the switches, even exercised PU selector switch.  Zoom has no pots on it.  Took off back cover of bass and got some photos, also took photos of small hairline cracks around the Distillate’s input jack.  Nothing looked amiss to these eyes.

Plugged directly into Zoom, still had distortion at current settings… then the light bulb went on.

Current tracks I am working with are very hot, I like the bass up front when working on tracks so bass output (on Zoom) was increased.  As mentioned, the input on the Zoom is not clipping…. however, the output on the bass channel WAS clipping. 
Brought down the Master tracks output so I could also lower the bass track output - TADA!

Thanks again!

[JimmyJ]

Ha!  Good catch.  We've all done some version of that.  Glad you tracked it down and have regained (pun intended) your clean tone.

Jimmy J

[cozmik_cowboy]

Glad it got sorted - but too bad you didn't get to solder anything; bummer!

Peter