Cable Snobs - there has to be some here??

imalone

EdGrip said:

The wankiest cable company

Can someone explain this to me:
"Semi-conductive insulation layer"
I know what those words mean on their own. I understand what the oxymoronic combination might mean. I'm not sure why it's a plus.

EdGrip

I think they just mean the second screen, the black carbon-y one.

Wanky because of the massive screen-filling, sell-the-sizzle-not-the-sausage video, and because what is a "reference cable", and the white-space website where you expect the words "interconnect solutions" to be lurking around every corner, and the fact that they list the individual members of the company as "Artist Relations", "Operations Manager" and "Business Manager". With portrait photos. Presumably none of them stoop to making cables, or maybe all of them, but no-one's listed as "Cable solderer". 

That's why. 

However, don't sack off the new website launch on my account, Rob.

EdGrip

In the interests of being bored, I ordered some Sommer "The Spirit XXL" cable and some Neutriks. I forgot the Neutriks and tried to add them to the order, as Thomann proudly proclaims you can do. But they don't tell you how. So by the time they responded, the cable had already been posted. They offered to post the connectors for free, which was nice. Can't fault their service, though both the cable and the two connectors arrived in boxes large enough to store a small family car - fucking stupid, to say the least.

Later that day, I mentioned the order to a friend, who asked me to make him an orange cable to go with his orange Gretsch and little Orange practice amp thing. So I ordered the bits and bobs. 

Here's a picture of the Sommer cable, next to the Van Damme Classic Instrument cable (orange).

The Van Damme is closer to the camera, but the most striking thing is the sheer size of the core of the Sommer cable compared to the Van Damme, which is what we're all used to. (out of focus here, but you can see the shadow). It's massive. You could totally use this for speaker cable. Weird. I can't tell you how it sounds yet (grrr), but I'll let you know. 

Dave_Mc

This is not scientific at all, but I didn't notice a massive amount of difference between sommer XXL and van damme (in terms of tone). They just both sounded like "good" cables to my ears. )

EdGrip

Phowaaaaar.

The outer jacket is the same kind of stiff polythene clear tubing that you might find transporting fuel from the tank to the engine of a Honda CB400N SuperDream, or transporting morphine from a hanging bag to the wrist of a hospitalised motorcyclist. It is tougher than the rubber jacket of the Van Damme cable and, though the Sommer doesn't flop about with the same spaghetti-like flaccidity, it's not really tricksy either. It just makes the Van Damme cable seem vulnerable by comparison. Also, the Sommer cable is shiny. This means that in a coil like this, it has a tendency to stick to itself if you try to slide it past itself. It would also mean that you could easily wipe all manner of sticky fluids off the cable with ease. 

So. I would recommend it for its greater toughness. I've no doubt that if you plug one end into your guitar, the sound of your guitar comes out the other end. 

strtdv

Also depends on the amp and guitar you're using. I love how the George L's bring out single coil sparkle on my Orange compared to the Klotz cables, but that same sparkle translates into harshness when plugged into my Laney. The reverse is true for the Klotz, the warmth and mid voicing really comes through on the Laney but sounds a bit wooly when plugged into the Orange.

fretfinder

I'm prepared to be educated but can a different amp really make 'the cable' sound different? How can you tell it's not the amp making it sound like you think the cable is making it sound? Just interested, that's all.

EdGrip

I suppose what he means is that if we accept that different cables have audibly different "voicings", then some cables could fit the characteristics of some amps better than others.

strtdv

fretfinder said:

I'm prepared to be educated but can a different amp really make 'the cable' sound different? How can you tell it's not the amp making it sound like you think the cable is making it sound? Just interested, that's all.

It's not that the amp makes the cable sound different, it's that one cable might suit the amps natural frequency response better than another.

fretfinder

strtdv said:

Also depends on the amp and guitar you're using. I love how the George L's bring out single coil sparkle on my Orange compared to the Klotz cables, but that same sparkle translates into harshness when plugged into my Laney. The reverse is true for the Klotz, the warmth and mid voicing really comes through on the Laney but sounds a bit wooly when plugged into the Orange.

Could you do an audio demo that shows this, both different cables into both different amps? I'd like to be able to hear the significant difference you describe.