Cable Snobs - there has to be some here??

ICBM

Yes, it's mostly those enclosed plastic PCB-mounted types with small flimsy terminals which get knackered - which includes some made by Switchcraft. Open-frame Switchcrafts don't - and even if they did, you can re-tension them.

RobDavies

Thanks for the kind comments.  

I don't have any idea if KaBL gear sounds the best but if someone wants to do an independent blind test, I'm happy to send one over.  

What I can be sure of though is that my stuff is pretty damned reliable.  If you're playing Hellfest in front of 100,000 French metal heads, you don't want yer wires letting you down.  I'm pleased to say that KaBL didn't let anyone down on that articulate occasion...

allicio

57Deluxe said:

That pretty much sums up my house!

ToneControl

allicio said:

57Deluxe said:

That pretty much sums up my house!

can  you repeat that please? I was playing with my amp too loud earlier on...

Misty

EdGrip said:

It would make sense that exclusively using PlanetWaves cables doesn't lead to a problem, because the socket has deformed to the new size and so jack and socket function normally. It would only be when you re-introduce a normal jack that you might notice a problem, but it would be dependent on the type of jack socket involved; the Switchcraft guitar jack socket has such a long, looping terminal for the jack tip that I can't imagine it would readily deform just because of a slightly wider jack, regardless of how long it was connected. Some of the enclosed amp and pedal jacks have very short terminals so I would expect them to be more affected.

Yes, what you and ICBM say certainly makes sense, and when I plug everything in at home I generally just use the Whirlwind cables I have lying around, so not exclusively PW, although I do always use the PW cables on gigs, I haven't noticed any problems with any of the sockets in my pedals, amps (Dr Z and old Fender, so no PCB mounted jacks) or guitars. Admittedly I don't use a pedalboard, preferring to just use a few pedals connected together just for the duration of the gig, and maybe that's another reason why I've had no problems, no idea really.

So what actually are the alternatives? I might be interested to try some, and a popular choice seems to be Van Damme cable with Neutrik connectors, (eg. Kabl), but then hyweig says above that his Strat lacked sparkle with Van Damme/Neutrik so he changed to George L's. Evidence Audio have a good reputation, but one cable could cost the same as a couple of instrument cables and a set of patch leads from Kabl. Seems a bit of a minefield out there, which is another reason why I have stuck with my Planet Waves.

EdGrip

Just go with Van Damme (I'm sure KaBL is great, but there are other guys making up good cables using Van Damme or Proel or others with Neutrik jacks - Award Session for one, and he gives you the option of the slimline Neutrik jacks, which I prefer.) The Van Damme cable will be at least as good as the Planet Waves cable. Maybe KaBL or somebody could steal Cornish's market buy buying a reel of that cable mentioned above?

timmysoft

I've had a lot of PW cables and although they've been fine for home use, out live they haven't survived. I have one of their 2m moulded plug ones that i've had for a good 6 years at home and its still great, i only retired it in december when i had a load of new leads arrive, so its now a good spare.

Misty

Hmm....maybe I'm too careful with my PW's or something, but I must have been using them for at least ten or twelve years now, maybe more, and they're still going strong after hundreds of gigs. I should also say that one of them has the switching jack on one end, and it's never given any trouble, always works fine. 

In the light of this thread I checked all the sockets on my guitars, pedals and amps this afternoon, and they're all fine, and that's with both the PW and the Whirlwind jacks. I'm thinking I might try some others now though.....

RandomGecko

It's not about how expensive a cable is to me, but cables definitely sound different. That's the only thing worth considering. Just find ones you like the sound of and you're golden.

Guitarse

Never understand these 'gold plated' jack plugs on cables. If the theory is that gold gives a better signal, then gold to gold maybe, but how many of us have gold plated input sockets on our guitars?

ThePrettyDamned

I'm going to get some Van Damme Pro but I wasn't sure what jacks to get! Neutrik have loads...

I'll probably get one of the ones that ground themselves, but for the rest, what do I want?  Is there a 'best' jack for longevity?

Also, bigger connectors are better to help me solder nicely  

crunchman

If you want longevity I'd steer clear of those self grounding jacks with switches in.

ThePrettyDamned

crunchman said:

If you want longevity I'd steer clear of those self grounding jacks with switches in.

They're darn handy, though.  They do fail more often (well, I've had one fail, my second is still going strong but since stepping on the cable, there can be a wee crackle when the cable moves... Probably knackered the solder join).  

But it's so useful that I'm happy to buy a few and keep spares.  But for the others, I'd rather have a 'set and forget' jack, if that makes sense.

EdGrip

The idea with gold is that gold doesn't corrode, so it prevents any oxidation from mucking up the connection. Sadly, this only works for connectors that are just plugged in and left. Guitar cables are plugged and unplugged lots, so the gold just wears through down to whatever metal would be underneath the much sturdier plating on the normal jacks. Logicfail.

mike257

I've got to chime in with my generally positive experience of Planet Waves. I've used them for years now and only ever had one failure which the UK distributor replaced immediately for me under the lifetime warranty. I was surprised to read the post near the start of this thread from someone who'd chucked out and replaced a faulty one as they will provide you with a like-for-like replacement for the cost of posting your broken one back.

I'm not knocking any of the other options at all but I'm sure there's plenty of happy PW users out there with the same experience I have. I've got the obligatory drawer full of broken cheap leads that I'll "get round" to fixing eventually but I haven't needed to worry about it for about a decade now.

On the pedalboard side I've got a bunch of George L's which seem great so far - about 12 months in with them and no issues yet. I've even got one or two of those nasty moulded plastic ones on very short pedal to pedal runs but as they're only a couple of inches and don't get moved around they're holding up fine!

There's a fine gent who goes by the name of OBBM over on Basschat who makes cables at bassic-bits.co.uk - I've had stuff from him in the past and, similarly to the feedback Rob at Kabl gets here, he's ace. If anyone asks about cables on Basschat he's the first name that gets recommended.

JXG

Used Van Damme / Neutrik for decades, bought an expensive (£60 for 10') Pete Cornish Silver series which was a fair bit brighter and quite a bit louder but sounded a bit flat and lifeless. Using Cordial now and gradually replacing Neutrik with Switchcraft plugs - I've had a few of the slim, modern Neutrik plugs break, and I prefer the solder connectors on Switchcraft. Very happy with the Cordial stuff, works out less than 20 quid for 5m lead too

EdGrip

The wankiest cable company

RobDavies

EdGrip;170943" said:

The wankiest cable company

Phew.

 Why are they wanky?

RobDavies

.

strtdv

ossyrocks said:

I'll hold my hands up. I've tried all sorts of cable with varying degrees of success.

The most disappointing cables I've used were Klotz La Grange with Neutik jacks, hated them, they had a mid range character I didn't like at all and a very hazy top end.

The ones I liked the most and have been using for years now are George L's .155 with Master Series Jacks. I also use this cable on my pedalboard with the standard right angle jacks. On pedalboards this stuff is hard to beat as it's really easy to re-configure and make just the right length of cable needed as well as orienting the jacks correctly for the various pedals.

Rob.

Funny, I really like what the Klotz La Grange do to the mids and top end through my Laney, but hate it through my Orange, which I prefer George L's for.

I find the solderless contacts on George L's to not be 100% reliable though, I prefer the Neutrik ones on the Klotz.