What length guitar cables are we using?

HAL9000

I’ve always used 3m cables for home use and jams but having recently joined a band I’m finding I’m constantly feeling that little tug that reminds me I’m wandering a little too far away from my amp. I’m thinking 5m is probably about right but am wondering what other people use. I don’t want ridiculous amounts of cable piled up behind me but need enough to move around a little. I’m talking pub gigs and the like.

Danny1969

3 to 4 m for pubs is fine generally, 5 to 7 metres for theatres and bigger stages if on IEM's  ... if not on IEM's then timing is going to get a bit funky after 6 metres or so. My guitar cable also carries my IEM stereo signal so I'm ok 

lustycourtier

3M. Even on big stages, I dont go walk about

HAL9000

I forgot to mention that I don’t use a pedalboard so I’m talking about the distance to my amp. Also 3m of cable doesn’t mean I can actually walk 3m because of the bit of cable tucked through my strap. 

ICBM

Anything over 6m/20' and you're likely to notice some treble loss unless you're using active pickups or an onboard preamp.

I use 20' mostly, I prefer the freedom of movement it gives without worrying about it pulling tight.

darius

6m
Plenty for all pubs and potential annoying placement of amp relative to you and a bit of freedom to move. 

Don’t believe all the shite about tone suck. 

TheMarlin

For bright guitars, about 30ft. Attenuates shrill highs well. 

ArchtopDave

I gave up on using cable between guitar and amp/pedalboard for rehearsals and gigs several years ago, and use my trusty Smoothhound wireless system. I do always carry a spare 5m cable just in case.  At home I use a cable.

urban_winter

3 to 4 m for pubs is fine generally, 5 to 7 metres for theatres and bigger stages if on IEM's  ... if not on IEM's then timing is going to get a bit funky after 6 metres or so. 

Not looking for an argument, just curious. Why does timing become a problem over 6 metres or so? Speed of sound being ~300m/s - 10 metres would give ~3ms. Is that enough to matter? How did anyone manage on big stages before IEMs?

Danny1969

urban_winter said:

3 to 4 m for pubs is fine generally, 5 to 7 metres for theatres and bigger stages if on IEM's  ... if not on IEM's then timing is going to get a bit funky after 6 metres or so. 

Not looking for an argument, just curious. Why does timing become a problem over 6 metres or so? Speed of sound being ~300m/s - 10 metres would give ~3ms. Is that enough to matter? How did anyone manage on big stages before IEMs?

Well you will hear the sound a little later than you actually hit the guitar. It becomes more difficult to play very tight. 

IEM's aren't / weren't essential as long as the wedges had the guitar in it. On a big stage there could be 10 wedges plus the drum fill  all carrying a mix with your guitar in it so it's not a problem. 
If you only have your amp as a monitor though and no IEM's or wedges then you will hear everything a little late. Not a lot but you can certainly feel it. Above 10M is basically unplayable. 

It's an effect that's easily demonstrated in the studio. Musicians who don the cans who stand more than 6M or so will still be bang on with the drums. Those who take the cans off for the vibe and stand the same distance away with the drums will be slightly late on everything as they are hearing it later. You can see this effect just by looking at the waveforms on the grid. For a laid back blues session this might be fine but for anything that relies on tight syncopation it's a problem. 

I ran a professional recording studio for 5 years and saw / heard this effect all the time and our live room was only 14M by 8 

digitalscream

3m from guitar to board, 6m from board to cab (or amp, in most people's cases).

fretmeister

5M or wireless.

guitarfishbay

darius said:

6m
Plenty for all pubs and potential annoying placement of amp relative to you and a bit of freedom to move. 

Don’t believe all the shite about tone suck. 

It’s not shite if you’ve got passive pickups but 6m is still fine live IME. 

I like 6m cables for live and 2m for recording

Lestratcaster

When I did play live I'd use a wireless into the pedalboard with the first pedal being my tuner from the receiver.

Then it'd be a 5ft cable from the board to my amp. Worked fine for all the venues I played in as the stages weren't overly big and the few festival shows with bigger stages I did it was long enough.

DavidRees

the most recent cable I bought was 4.5 metres so that is what I shall be using ...

rze99

short for home and recording long for rehearsals and stage

CaseOfAce

Was using 3m cables but now use 5m for guitar to board and board to amp. 
Reason: - on a reasonably big stage I like to get my amp slightly tilted and as far back from me as I can so I can hear it properly.

I also want to get as far away from my drummer's cymbals as I can(!).

A 5m cable also allows me to have a half decent listen to how my amp sounds out front in the rare event we have a soundcheck.

Of course I rapidly discovered the limiting factor is my amp's footswitch not being 5m. 

At tomorrows gig (where we've played before) the amp will be 2 foot behind me on a table pointing at my waist (tiny stage).
Terrific.

Moe_Zambeek

I only have imperial cables 10ft guitar to board, 20ft board to amp, and a 30ft spare just in case of big stage…which has not been used for ages but as noted above, is useful for not making you look like a doofus when you can only get halfway back to your amp on a bigger stage!

Roland

3m is my limit. I used to find than more than 3m started to take off the upper frequencies. It probably still does, unless the laws of physics have changed, but nowadays I can’t hear it. Yet I still have my cables made at 2m for recording and 3m cables for pubs. Actually I use wireless in pubs. It’s easier to step forward and deal with the punter who is stealing a guitar/pulling the PA /dancing on my pedalboard.

ICBM

Moe_Zambeek said:

I only have imperial cables 10ft guitar to board, 20ft board to amp, and a 30ft spare just in case of big stage…which has not been used for ages but as noted above, is useful for not making you look like a doofus when you can only get halfway back to your amp on a bigger stage!

Yep, got caught out like that the first time I played on a big stage where my pedalboard was nearly 20' from the amp... no problem I thought, I'll just swap leads - normally I use 20' from the guitar, and 10' to the amp - until I needed to adjust the amp .

robinbowes

darius said:

6m
Plenty for all pubs and potential annoying placement of amp relative to you and a bit of freedom to move. 

Don’t believe all the shite about tone suck. 

There's a lot of bollocks talked about "tone suck", but treble loss in long cables is a real thing that needs to be taken into account.

R.