Kabl/Evidence Audio shootout

DefaultM

Last year I had a Kabl made with 2 silent Neutrik jacks. I recently thought that it had stopped working so sent it to @RobDavies who repaired it really quickly. It turned out something had just come loose but he resoldered everything anyway, so very happy with the service.

During that time I got to borrow an Evidence Audio Lyric cable, and I've ended up with both of them at the same time so thought I'd compare.

Set up was a Fractal Audio Axe FX II, Matrix GT800FX, Zilla Fatboy cab all turned up very loud.

The result is that on a clean tone (using a Fender Twin model) I noticed no difference whatsoever. I added delay and reverb, still no difference. There was nothing I did where I could think "yes this is worth triple the price".

On a heavily distorted tone (using the Friedman brown eye model) I did notice a difference.
The Evidence Audio sounded ever so slightly thicker on single notes, and when playing full chords the tone was slightly clearer.

My preference overall is the Kabl.
I love the silent jacks, the cable is Van Damme and its very flexible and the tonal differences in a full band mix will be indistinguishable.
The Evidence Audio is a very stiff cable, to the point where when I was using it on stage I was unable to move properly and it was getting on my nerves. Apparently the Melody is a more flexible cable so I might have to try that.

guitarfishbay

I'd never heard of evidence audio. Just seen a 20 foot lead for £99.99, no thanks! Van Damme is good, sounds great and as you noted a good weight and stiffness for gigging.

robinbowes

Yeah, I have a Kabl lead with just the one silent jack. It also stopped working, but I solder myself so I opened it up and fixed it. It's been fine since.

R.

stickyfiddle

Just came here to say 

"YAY KABL!!"

Any more expensive cables are at best unnecessary, and at worst, a joke.

RobDavies

Thanks for the feedback and the info....  always appreciated.

DefaultM

You're welcome. I think the thing to remember is that with Kabl you can have custom lengths and jacks etc and I only paid £25, whereas the EA costs 4 times that new and it certainly doesn't sound 4 times better, it's arguable that it sounds 'better' at all. It's arguable that it even sounds different.

ICBM

There is no reason for paying more than about £50 for any guitar cable. (Or speaker cable.) There just isn't any way of using cable and construction that justifies more than that - that much will buy you robust cable with low capacitance and handling noise, decent jacks and good assembly, and there really isn't any other magical characteristic.

You can certainly pay more if you want, but it won't sound any better or be more reliable.

Kabl is selling direct so you cut out the dealer margin too.

Gassage

I have one of the Evidence guitar leads (it was free with my old DG strat)

It is, quite frankly, a piece of shit build wise and all the heat shriniked ends have come loose very easily but does sound OK.

Rob's cable's are great and have brought colour into my life.

DefaultM

Managed to borrow an EA Melody as well so will try that out. Doubt I'm gonna be able to hear much difference between them, think it's more one being more flexible than the other.

JohnPerry

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who replaced all their pedalboard cables with the Evidence solderless system and can vouch for whether it was worth the spend. I guess i am talking about a very large board here, so it would be significant cost. I have lots and lots of Hicon pancake jacks and such but they're still quite big and it all looks a bit untidy

Rocker

Hard to believe that the music industry is still using the "standard" jack plug & socket and that nothing better is offered.

ICBM

Rocker said:

Hard to believe that the music industry is still using the "standard" jack plug & socket and that nothing better is offered.

What is better, and why?

Hard to believe the hi-fi industry is still using phonos too, they're worse .

Actually both have the same main design flaw - the hot makes contact before the ground, so you get a loud buzz if you plug/unplug the wrong end first with the system on.

Apart from that they're pretty good. 1/4" plugs (Neutriks in particular) are robust, a good size for handling, and rotate themselves in use which avoids cable strain.

I agree they're not the best idea for speaker connections, and definitely not at above 100W/4-ohm currents, but for guitar purposes mostly because they then become interchangeable with signal cables.

stickyfiddle

Rocker;726907" said:

Hard to believe that the music industry is still using the "standard" jack plug & socket and that nothing better is offered.

For most applications they're fine. Certainly for guitars I'd rather have a non-locking simple connection than an XLR or something, and all you'd achieve by trying to change would be splitting the market down the middle and encumbering every studio in the world with the task of retooling. Noone's going to sign up for that!

DefaultM

I think that's what the friend I'm borrowing these cables from did and he loves them, but I'm sure that if you're coming from cheap cables to any non budget ones you will tell a difference.

Gassage

JohnPerry said:

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who replaced all their pedalboard cables with the Evidence solderless system and can vouch for whether it was worth the spend. I guess i am talking about a very large board here, so it would be significant cost. I have lots and lots of Hicon pancake jacks and such but they're still quite big and it all looks a bit untidy

It is utter crap. Top endy, falls apart. It is the biggest pile of crap in that 'solderless' market- only Lava is any good.

Get Rob to make for you or buy Belkin 8412 and a soldering iron.

KKJale

^ Do you mean only the Lava Tightrope is any good?

I have the Lava ELC and it's a complete pile of poo. 

Sassafras

I think jack plugs are fine for guitars. I just wish more guitars had top mounted sockets rather than the usual side mounted ones. Strat sockets are OK.

ICBM

Sassafras said:

I think jack plugs are fine for guitars. I just wish more guitars had top mounted sockets rather than the usual side mounted ones. Strat sockets are OK.

Use a right-angled plug, then it doesn't matter. Neutrik right-angle plugs are good, although I admit that most others aren't.

I also don't like any kind of solderless plugs. Just do it properly.

Brad

@JohnPerry The Evidence SIS kit is great. I'll have to respectfully disagree with Gassage about it being 'utter crap, top endy and falling apart' :-)

Make them properly and they'll last. Once you get the hang of it they're easy to put together. I've not had one fail after using them for a number of years swapping pedals out on a regular basis etc.

That's not to say you shouldn't go the soldered route if you want to though.

dindude

Also would disagree with @Gassage on the SIS - the best solderless kit I've yet used including George L and Lava. 

All have their place, George L's very very simple to make up but not robust if you disconnect and reconnect often and slightly thinner tone to my ears (but very marginal).

Lava sound great but can be a pain in the arse to make up.

Evidence SIS, pretty easy to make (in between Goerge L and Lava), and sound great. Very robust once made up.

JohnPerry

Thanks all. I've been down the George L route and sold the lot, opting for Hicons last year and soldering dozens together. But even they can be too wide or too big in my experience