I read this on another forum. Any comments on this information? Maybe my hearing is going from too many 1000 watt nights but I don't hear things like roll-offs of the highs when I switch from a 12 foot Monster to a 21 footer. I do believe the part about keeping loses down by minimizing the length of all cables. Is all of this stuff on the money? Are Monster Cables inconsistant? Here's his post...
Purchase the best quality cables you can afford. Period. This is what separates people with OK tone from people with BIG, FULL TONE. It's gonna cost some $$$. But in the long run it will be worth it. Many of the premium cables are quite heavy duty and will last you a long time. (BTW - just cause the packaging reads 'Premium Guitar Cable' does not mean so. You will have to look a little further than the sales/marketing B.S.)
AND YES, I HAVE A/B'ed MANY CABLES AND I WAS AMAZED AT THE SONIC DIFFERENCES!!!
Recommendations/Observations:
1) Monster Cable is very inconsistent.
2) I highly recommend using Canare 4s8 or 4s11 for your speaker cables. You will be amazed at how much of your tone is destroyed when using poor quality speaker cable. (NOTE: Never use an instrument cable in place of a speaker cable) I use 4s11. Wow. I also liked the 4s8. The low frequencies were very 'tight', no boomy-ness.
3) For instrument cables, use high quality shielded cable. I'd recommend Pete Cornish, Evidence, Canare just to name a few. These cables allow more of the 'tone' of the instrument to flow through rather than choking/filtering out certain frequencies. Make sure they have good quality plugs as well. YES, EVEN THE DAMN PLUGS AFFECT THE SOUND!!!
4) Also, always allow the cable to be played for at least a minimum of 10 hours (actually I think the dielectric takes about 40 hours or so) before judging it's sound. This is because the dielectric is being formed. Believe it or not, I swear this is true. Your cable will sound different after 40 hours of playing. You do not hear over the course of playing it as your ear adjusts moment by moment. I use a delay pedal to send signal through the cable overnight to 'burn them in'. Most premium cables are burned in already. If you're making your own from bulk stock - BURN THEM IN!!!
5) Keep the signal path as short as possible. Period. Longer cables destroy your tone. I can start to hear the high frequency rolloff around 8-10 feet. If you need to run long lines (20 feet or longer), USE A BUFFER. You can build your own or you can buy one. I'd recommend a buffer made by Pete Cornish, Axess Electronics or Skrydstrup R&D. They are the most musical. If you're building your own, I'd recommend using a TL072 opamp or other low noise, musical equivalent. (NOTE: When you use a buffer for the first time you will think it is adding high end frequencies to your sound. It isn't. It is revealing those high frequencies that your long cables OR non-buffered cables were rolling off. However, be careful when selecting opamps for your buffer as some do add high freqs.)
6) Rack wiring - most people like to use Mogami 2524. It's good cable. But compared to Evidence Lyric it sounds 'squashed'. Low frequenices sound boomy. I'd recommend buying bulk Evidence cable.
By the way, those of you reading this thinking I'm off my rocker should go try it and listen for yourself. This is one of those trade secrets/pieces of higher knowledge that the pro's and their techs are aware of and the general bunch of us are not.
