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Post by Phil on Nov 3, 2019 8:28:27 GMT -6
I learned something this week. My son came over with his Godin nylon string electric and his Fishman Loudbox Mini. He pulled out a new guitar cable he bought and said that it really improved his tone. He then told me it cost like $60!!!
Being the open minded guy that I am, I said, "Bull$hit, it's all in your head. A cable is not going to change your tone. You just wasted $60."
He then went back and forth changing the cables and playing. I was shocked. There was a very noticable improvement in tone with the expensive cable. So I tried it out with my cheap setup, an Ibanez AF75 and Mustang 1 amp. Again, there was a noticable improvement in tone. Don't know how to describe it - fuller, rounder, mellower are terms that come to mind.
Has anybody here experienced something like this? We think a lot about the quality of guitars and amps, but I never for a moment considered the importance of the cable that connects the guitar to the amp.
I guess you're never too old to learn something new.
On the musical front I'm still doing the Jazz thing and slowly working thru the rest of the Mickey Baker book. I'm also continuing working on the Johnny Norris finger style Blues book a few minutes a day.
Grampa, if you every want to take a shot at the Norris book again let me know. You mentioned that your copy came with a cassette that you can't play. I ripped the CD to mp3 and can hook you up with the audio files if you're interested.
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Post by joachim on Nov 3, 2019 9:44:06 GMT -6
Phil, I haven't tested cheap vs expensive cables, but I stopped using the cheapest cables because they always seemed to break very easily.
Practice-wise not much changed; I am alive and barely kicking. I am about to revisit Blues a la Chord with all the tremolo strumming.
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Post by jack1982 on Nov 3, 2019 11:30:18 GMT -6
Dammit Phil I spend enough money without you giving me more ideas!   I've had a couple of 6' cables for way too long to remember how much I paid for them, I think they cost quite a bit though. I've had plenty of cheap ones over the years and they quit working whenever they feel like it. All it takes is the cat stepping on them or something. I'm just kind of putzin' around with a lot of Christmas stuff on the classical guitar. Since "What Child is This" is also "Greensleeves" (which is about the only one I can occasionally play through without horrible mistakes), I also started practicing Jeff Beck's version of Greensleeves on the steel string acoustic. Silver Bells is another one I'm working on - and Frosty the Snowman lol. Sixty-two shopping days until Christmas - I may have been browsing a few guitar sites |
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Post by grampalerxst on Nov 3, 2019 11:55:21 GMT -6
I paid big money for a pricey cable once and A/B'd it with a $15-20 cable and couldn't tell a bit of difference. Stone ears maybe.
Thanks Phil, I'll holler if I ever even locate the book.
mostly the usual for me practice-wise. But I have started starting up the kicking around of a possible potential project that involves recording. I'll say more if it ever begins to amount to anything. For now the only relevance to this thread is that it's sapping about half my normal practice time, and only about half the time devoted to it at this stage features a guitar in hand.
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Post by Phil on Nov 3, 2019 14:43:43 GMT -6
Regarding this cable thing: the cable he was using is a 15' George L. I looked up my Musician's Friend buying history, because I bought that cable for him as a Christmas gift a 3 years ago. It was recommended by Steve Krenz. It turns out that it cost $50. So, it's not a cheap cable. The one he has now is a Mogami 18'. Apparently there's more to this than just the price. Now, my cable is a standard Fender so there's a significant price difference there. But the George L and the Mogami are similar in price, but quite different in sound. I hope I'm not turning into a gear head. Next thing you know I'll be talking about how an ebony finger board gives an electric guitar a different sound than a rosewood finger board.  |
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Post by cunningr on Nov 3, 2019 14:48:28 GMT -6
Well instructor has me working my licks still, he did say I am mixing major and minor licks ver well. He said i have some natural talent from the speed i was able to pick it up. Never been accused of that, but he wants to take advantage while i am progressing so well.
Cable could make a difference, the impedance could affect the tone, but alot depends on length. Ect...
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Post by jack1982 on Nov 3, 2019 17:44:21 GMT -6
Next thing you know I'll be talking about how an ebony finger board gives an electric guitar a different sound than a rosewood finger board. Many years ago a friend of mine had a Gibson Les Paul with an ebony fingerboard and oh...my...God...it was like heaven under my fingers. So a couple Christmas' ago I bought an Epi Les Paul with an ebony fingerboard and, um, really don't notice any difference between it and rosewood lol. I've heard that the length of a guitar cable can make a big difference as far as sound, the shorter the better. Luckily I never play outside of my little room here so anything over 6' is just a waste.  Rich that's great you can mix the major and minor stuff together well - that always gives me a ton of problems. Just not the way I hear things I guess. |
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Post by bluesbruce on Nov 3, 2019 20:04:28 GMT -6
Late to the game again, and another lousy report. Just been busy with lots of life and work stuff, and no guitar or music stuff. Hopefully this will all settle down some this week! Interesting discussion about cables - I've always been in the inexpensive, but not the absolute cheapest cable camp. Of course, you've probably got to have a decent guitar, have to be able to play well, AND have to have a nice amp before the cable connecting them becomes the weakest link.
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Post by cunningr on Nov 3, 2019 23:40:04 GMT -6
Next thing you know I'll be talking about how an ebony finger board gives an electric guitar a different sound than a rosewood finger board. Many years ago a friend of mine had a Gibson Les Paul with an ebony fingerboard and oh...my...God...it was like heaven under my fingers. So a couple Christmas' ago I bought an Epi Les Paul with an ebony fingerboard and, um, really don't notice any difference between it and rosewood lol. I've heard that the length of a guitar cable can make a big difference as far as sound, the shorter the better. Luckily I never play outside of my little room here so anything over 6' is just a waste. Rich that's great you can mix the major and minor stuff together well - that always gives me a ton of problems. Just not the way I hear things I guess. My carvin has an ebony fingerboard, love the feel. The issue of the longer cables you start getting signal loss, i have one long cable like 10 foot and it does drop the signal some. I now mostly use my wireless transmitters nice not having cables. |
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I've had a couple of 6' cables for way too long to remember how much I paid for them, I think they cost quite a bit though. I've had plenty of cheap ones over the years and they quit working whenever they feel like it. All it takes is the cat stepping on them or something.
