If your FX board is buffered, does the quality of the patch cables matter?

fretfinder

Sorry if this is a daft question... I appreciate that if your board is all true bypass then you'll want the best quality patch cables you can get. But if you use a buffer (eg Klon style) does the quality of the cables matter or will there be no effect on the tone even if you use the cheapest patch cables? Thanks.

Gassage

Yes. Even more so as now you've a very accurate, very focused and powerful signal driving through. Your question is rather like saying can I use a cheap hosepipe if I'm using a water cannon to put the water into it.

TimmyO

Based on what i understand of buffers and low output impedance, I'd have said no it doesn't matter much.

fretfinder

@ICBM or other experts, can you settle the dispute above?!

Sporky

It will make less difference with a buffer (assuming that the buffer is at the start of the chain) - the buffer presents a high input impedance, so that it is easy for the pickups to drive it, and a low output impedance, so that it can easily drive the cable that follows it.

For any reasonable patch leads a buffer means that sound differences become vanishingly small. There's still a question of longevity and so on.

John_A

In reality the 'quality' of a patch cable is down to build rather than audio quality, a 50p ebay patch cable will sound exactly the same as an expensive one, maybe you might notice the difference if you had 30 of them but it would still be minimal.  It would however be more likely to break.

TimmyO

Summary: No

Rocker

John_A said:

In reality the 'quality' of a patch cable is down to build rather than audio quality, a 50p ebay patch cable will sound exactly the same as an expensive one, maybe you might notice the difference if you had 30 of them but it would still be minimal.  It would however be more likely to break.


Nonsense. Of course the cable quality matters. No idea why but it does. Consider cables as you do with guitar strings. Cheap strings are usually rubbish.

Sporky

Rocker said

Nonsense. Of course the cable quality matters.

Prove it.

ICBM

fretfinder said:

But if you use a buffer (eg Klon style) does the quality of the cables matter or will there be no effect on the tone even if you use the cheapest patch cables?

Not unless the buffer or the cable is exceptionally bad, and even then you might not notice unless both are.

Assuming the first pedal is buffered, anyway.

Modulus_Amps

Sporky said:

Rocker said

Nonsense. Of course the cable quality matters.

Prove it.

  I do think they are more prone to picking up noise as the shielding is often not as good, especially if you don't use a pedal board and the cables can move when you step on a pedal, on really cheap cables you can hear them moving when plugged into a cranked amp....

saying that...I use cheap patch cables and few effects....

Sassafras

I think the answer is to use medium priced decent cables rather than the cheapest tat you can find or the most expensive cables with dubious technological claims and outlandish prices.
Mad Professor Red Cable springs to mind for the latter category.

Danny1969

These are £7.50  for a six pack from CPC 



You won't hear any difference between these and brands costing more than 10 times the price. Longevity wise I used them in a studio patchbay patching headphone feeds for 5 years

ICBM

Danny1969 said:

That's what I use too.

Sassafras

I haven't had much luck with those. A few turned up DOA and some of the others didn't make good contact with the sockets.

fretfinder

So I think I glean from the above that the buffer needs to be first in line after the guitar and before any other pedals, right?

meltedbuzzbox

I've got cheap cables, lava cables and kabl made stuff. It all sounds the same to me...

capo4th

I love a good buffer thread. 

Sporky

fretfinder said:

So I think I glean from the above that the buffer needs to be first in line after the guitar and before any other pedals, right?

Usually that's a good place; it'll make it slightly easier for the guitar to drive the first cable (a buffer in the guitar is better for that, but can be a faff to deal with), and the buffer will then drive any other cables until the first pedal that's either on or buffered.

However, quite a few fuzzes (and a few simple overdrives) don't sound the same with a buffer before them. Some people think wahs sound different with a buffer before them - I don't hear that but it could well vary by individual wah and guitar and cable combo.

There's also an argument for having a buffer at the end of the pedalboard to drive the long cable to the amp, but a lot of this depends on exactly what your setup is.

ICBM

fretfinder said:

So I think I glean from the above that the buffer needs to be first in line after the guitar and before any other pedals, right?

Yes, unless the first pedal is a vintage-style fuzz pedal or sometimes a wah - these often don't like having a buffer in front, it can make them sound shrill and spiky. It's not an issue to put the buffer after them.

pj310

Is a dedicated buffer pointless if you have buffered pedals on your board? As in would the impedance effect of the buffer be negated as soon as it hits a non true bypass pedal?