guitar coaxial cables

John Robel · Post by **John Robel** » 27 Jan 2009 4:47 pm

I am curious, there are many "premium" guitar cords for sale but how much difference is there really? Certainly all the brands dont "roll they're own" coax, so whats the deal? I understand quality connectors and solder joints and wire # but I think theres a lot of hype going on. Dont mean to insult any one. John

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 27 Jan 2009 5:07 pm

The cord and cable marketing thing is way, way out of control. There is great truth in the fact that lower capacitance cable sounds different than high capacitance cable, but the prices that people want to charge for some wire these days is truly for the gullible.

George L's makes very good low capacitance cable for a fair price. Belden, Canare, Mogami, and others make very good cable as well. But he hyped marketing of some of these new "premium" brands is nuts. You can pay $50 to $150 for a special guitar cord if you want to, but know that anything over $25 of that went to pay for their marketing budget and their Mercedes.

IMHO

Brad

John Robel · Post by **John Robel** » 27 Jan 2009 5:12 pm

yeah man, thats what I mean. Belden is Belden no matter whos name is on the package and how much they pay the ad agency.

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 27 Jan 2009 7:05 pm

Belden makes a zillion types of cable. Some of their premium coax is designed for super high shielding but it also has super high capacitance and would roll off your guitar's high's quite a lot.

IF you want a cable that is both rugged, well shielded and low capacitance that would be George L's or a few select types of Belden cable.

Most of the premium cables I've tried, roll off the highs a lot and tend to be very bulky to store in addition to being overpriced.

There can be a huge difference in sound between different specific cables in terms of capacitance per foot and high frequency roll off. High capacitance can be good and it can be bad depending on what it does to your sound.

The cable hype is totally out of control and little of it is based on any solid engineering facts. George L's cable ad's actually have little hype and the reviews of their cable have been overwhelmingly positive.

Greg

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 28 Jan 2009 3:47 am

I'm an ex amp tech and used Belden for many years (Belden was considered the "cadillac" of electronic cable for years, including audio cable). I got some George L's when it first came out and I was amazed at the difference in sound. I've used George L's exclusively since then.

As Greg pointed out there can be a lot of difference in cables and even cables from one manufacturer, such as Belden. Size doesn't matter, other than possibly if it was used in an application that required "armor" jacketing. Capacitance is one item and George L's is 24 pf/foot (measured with a Sencore capacitance tester). The shield is another and some have a very minimal shield. Resistance per foot is another parameter but is probably not as important as capacitance since audio cable (Guitar cables) are kept to a relatively short length. The dielectric material around the inner conductor is also not a big issue since it's audio frequencies and very low voltage/power. A big mis-conception with audio frequency cables is the length, some think cables must be certain lengths or multiples of that length - that can be an issue in RF frequency cables but in audio cables, with the audio bandwidth frequencies it has no bearing.

Finally, my own requirements. A cable must be repairable and have a metal "shield" at the connector end. George L's is easily repairable and the connector is all metal. The high priced cables (dare I say Monster) that I've seen are not repairable since the ends are molded on.

There are cables, other than George L's, that will meet all the requirements. Just my personal preference is George L's.

Bari Smith · Post by **Bari Smith** » 28 Jan 2009 6:00 am

I'm using Core X2 cables.....and have some GeorgeL's too.........seem to like the ends better on the CoreX2,had a few problems over the years with the George L ends...............butt back to the basic question.........Borrow a GL for a buddy and A B it with say ..a horizon or proco cable......you Will hear an audible difference!After that it's up to your ears!!

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 28 Jan 2009 7:32 am

Bari,
I also have had good luck with the Core X2 cables.

John Groover McDuffie · Post by **John Groover McDuffie** » 28 Jan 2009 10:24 am

The part of cable marketing hype that most excites my B.S. detector is Monster Cable marketing cables specialized by musical style. Cables for "rock", "jazz", etc.

C'mon guys, what's up with that?

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 28 Jan 2009 10:34 am

B as in "B", S as in "S"!

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 28 Jan 2009 11:16 am

The one that floors me is the cables that promise proper imaging of all the instruments in a band. "Listen, you can actually hear the band's players as if they were standing in front of you left to right. No way cheap cables can allow for the correct panning of stereo sounds.

Greg

Jordan Beyer · Post by **Jordan Beyer** » 27 Mar 2016 5:32 pm

What's the difference between high end cables and low co ax cables? Are low cables not good for the high notes? I'm confused
Jordan

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 27 Mar 2016 6:05 pm

Low capacitance cable will have less rolloff of the highs.
Low end cable refers to cheap cable, which tends to have more capacitance per foot

Jordan Beyer · Post by **Jordan Beyer** » 27 Mar 2016 6:15 pm

So if I'm playing a lot of high notes them they are bad? Should I get george l low co ax cables or just go with the original? Does it really make a diffence in sound on pedal steel
Thanks
Jordan

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 27 Mar 2016 6:37 pm

Anything better than cheap cable with molded plastic ends should be adequate.
At the lower end, you kinda get what you pay for. I won't pay less than ten or fifteen bucks for a cable, but I won't pay more than 35.
Less than that and they tend to (but not guaranteed to) sound muddy. Above that, and I believe you're wasting money.

Matthew Dawson · Post by **Matthew Dawson** » 28 Mar 2016 1:05 am

FWIW, here is a comparison between a bunch of different cables. Put on some headphones and check it out. Obviously the compressed sound from youtube, differences in user setups, etc, will make a difference but it is a controlled comparison. YMMV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HJ3N_C82mI

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 28 Mar 2016 7:28 am

Tone is a journey, not a destination.

Seymour Duncan

Cables, like guitars and amps, have slightly different sounds. Therefore, where tone is concerned, the terms "good" and "bad" are nothing but personal opinions. However, it seems many players can't to get that simple fact through their heads. It would be a very boring musical world if all of us were seeking to have the same sound, regardless of what "that sound" was. Indeed, I hear a sameness to the sound of pedal steel today that did not exist decades ago, and I mourn that change.

You can pay big money for cables, if you want, but personally, I don't think pedal steels sound any better today than they did 50 years ago, when there were no fancy cords, boxes, or pickups. $:\$

.

Len Amaral · Post by **Len Amaral** » 28 Mar 2016 8:52 am

Sheepishly, I got sucked into the Monster cable for bass and jazz guitar with an arrow for the correct signal flow. They were on sale so I took a chance and find no difference in tone. I figured the worst that would happen is I would have an expensive good cable.

In any event, the George L and the Core X are great cables.

Gary Cosden · Post by **Gary Cosden** » 28 Mar 2016 9:13 am

FWIW Corex2 cable seems to have disappeared from the market or at least I'm unable to find them anywhere via a Google search.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 28 Mar 2016 11:20 am

Gary,
Those particular cables and ends have been superseded by the Bullet cable and ends.
I have some of those available if you are interested.
$2 a foot for the cable and $7.50 each for the ends, either straight or angled.

Paul Sutherland · Post by **Paul Sutherland** » 28 Mar 2016 11:23 am

I don't get it: you're willing to spend $3,000 to $5,000, or more on a steel guitar, and $2,000 to $3,000 on an amp, but you won't spend more than $25 on cables. Makes no sense!!

John Robel · Post by **John Robel** » 28 Mar 2016 11:49 am

It's great to know that some things are still made here.

George Redmon · Post by **George Redmon** » 29 Mar 2016 5:47 pm

Here yas go.
After ya open the link scroll down to the bottom where it says "*Cable Length". Then click on 30 Feet. See what price ya get. LOL Now that's one dandy cable.

http://nortoncable.com/index.php/instru ... -oval.html

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Cable marketing hype