Do Different Cables Really Make A Difference?, Vovox Vs Lava Vs Bullet Vs Mogami Vs Ultex Options

[Cosmin Lupu]

Very interesting Never heard about this brand and also if the cable is thick, it's pretty much not that easy to get it tangled up. I am seriously thinking to buy this thing this year tho, as I like to move a lot onstage:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/instrument-...s-guitar-system

Have you guys had experiences with wireless units? What do you think of these?

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[klasaine]

For freedom of movement they are great. I've used Shure and Sennheiser units.

Be prepared to have to re-tweak your sound/tone. All cabling - or lack of it - has an affect on your tone. I'm not saying good or bad ... just a little different.

*Change the batteries every gig.

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[Mertay]

Every friend who used wireless complained about the lack of dynamics. One of them was playing a white jem on stage I remember finding such complaint interesting since the pickups on those where high-output.

By pure luck once I watched a program on TV about this and an electrician was giving info about the system in general, he also commented about the dynamics issue and said unless the tech changed it cannot be eliminated.

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[Darius Wave]

I've tried a few times//a few different devices. I usually use a full gain on my amp (not a high gain amp!) and do a lot of guitar volume knob adjustments...getting almost pure clean tone while dist channel is on. But...I found that wireless devices were having troubles to handle very low guitar output without adding their own noise or just act like a noise supressor (not regular signal breaks). After a few times I've checked those...I decided to stay connected via cable. But for some reasons I think of trying to buy one someday. While playing pop/cover bands I use regular clean/dist channel and not as much wide dynamics range from the guitar volume. In this particular case the wireless could have more profits than bad sides...

BTW (You can ban me for saying this) I think at least a 50% of professional cables are not worth the price. I mean...yep they are great cables but the price is takes from...other world. As long as work in a music shop and I had opportunity to sell either ready cables and the unmounted raw cables + plugs I can tell only one thing. If You have a good soldering skills it's always waaaay cheaper to make very descent cable by yourself from exactly the same parts which are included in those extra expensive ones. I don't want to mark the trademark but I had exactly the same cable and plugs (neutrik plugs) and the ready packed cable on the desk. It was 3 times more expensive!

Also...the cable prices and quality are a topic of endless discussion between electronic engeneers that are musicians as well. I think it is possible to make a descent 6m (20 ft?) cable with descent plugs for not more than 20 $

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[Todd Simpson]

Well said Paying $100 per cable for example is just not something I"m into. I'll go about half that tops.

I've tried a few times//a few different devices. I usually use a full gain on my amp (not a high gain amp!) and do a lot of guitar volume knob adjustments...getting almost pure clean tone while dist channel is on. But...I found that wireless devices were having troubles to handle very low guitar output without adding their own noise or just act like a noise supressor (not regular signal breaks). After a few times I've checked those...I decided to stay connected via cable. But for some reasons I think of trying to buy one someday. While playing pop/cover bands I use regular clean/dist channel and not as much wide dynamics range from the guitar volume. In this particular case the wireless could have more profits than bad sides...

BTW (You can ban me for saying this) I think at least a 50% of professional cables are not worth the price. I mean...yep they are great cables but the price is takes from...other world. As long as work in a music shop and I had opportunity to sell either ready cables and the unmounted raw cables + plugs I can tell only one thing. If You have a good soldering skills it's always waaaay cheaper to make very descent cable by yourself from exactly the same parts which are included in those extra expensive ones. I don't want to mark the trademark but I had exactly the same cable and plugs (neutrik plugs) and the ready packed cable on the desk. It was 3 times more expensive!

Also...the cable prices and quality are a topic of endless discussion between electronic engeneers that are musicians as well. I think it is possible to make a descent 6m (20 ft?) cable with descent plugs for not more than 20 $

Happy to help Let us know what you end up buying and how it compares

I've eliminated Bullet cables from the list (eliminated, LOL, what a rather strong word )

I'm left with Spectraflex, Mogami, Ultex and Lava. I need cables with very good shielding, that's my main concern.

I'm going to check out those, Todd. I've heard really good stuff about Spectraflex as well. Oh and also, having a dealer here in Europe helps my decision a lot...

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[miguelbatalha]

I tried some Spectraflex and really enjoyed their cables quality (and design)! Thank you, Todd.

GUYS, I consider myself very lucky!
In the middle of a conversation with a really nice guy from their team... I got an endorsement with them.

I ordered a bunch of these




PINK IS THE WAY!

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This post has been edited by miguelbatalha: Jan 9 2014, 07:34 AM

[klasaine]

I dig the pink!
I might need to get one of those - Cow, Lamp cord or Toaster.

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[Cosmin Lupu]

I tried some Spectraflex and really enjoyed their cables quality (and design)! Thank you, Todd.

GUYS, I consider myself very lucky!
In the middle of a conversation with a really nice guy from their team... I got an endorsement with them.

I ordered a bunch of these




PINK IS THE WAY!

Haha! Looks amazing - do they accept other folks as well? Or how can I try some and see if I like them? There's no distributor selling Spectraflex in here.. Miguel Can you please tell me more?

I've tried a few times//a few different devices. I usually use a full gain on my amp (not a high gain amp!) and do a lot of guitar volume knob adjustments...getting almost pure clean tone while dist channel is on. But...I found that wireless devices were having troubles to handle very low guitar output without adding their own noise or just act like a noise supressor (not regular signal breaks). After a few times I've checked those...I decided to stay connected via cable. But for some reasons I think of trying to buy one someday. While playing pop/cover bands I use regular clean/dist channel and not as much wide dynamics range from the guitar volume. In this particular case the wireless could have more profits than bad sides...

BTW (You can ban me for saying this) I think at least a 50% of professional cables are not worth the price. I mean...yep they are great cables but the price is takes from...other world. As long as work in a music shop and I had opportunity to sell either ready cables and the unmounted raw cables + plugs I can tell only one thing. If You have a good soldering skills it's always waaaay cheaper to make very descent cable by yourself from exactly the same parts which are included in those extra expensive ones. I don't want to mark the trademark but I had exactly the same cable and plugs (neutrik plugs) and the ready packed cable on the desk. It was 3 times more expensive!

Also...the cable prices and quality are a topic of endless discussion between electronic engeneers that are musicians as well. I think it is possible to make a descent 6m (20 ft?) cable with descent plugs for not more than 20 $

Very good points here Darius - that's exactly what I heard from other folks as well - they may eat up signal, case in which the dynamic range is diminished. I have a bunch of friends that play in metal bands and they use the Line 6 unit. They are very happy with them, but guess what .. they mainly use one or two tones: distortion and BOOSTED distortion for the leads But on the other hand, things are complementary - a fusion player doesn't need to run onstage, so a wireless unit does not justify for him.. I guess there's balance in everything in the end, ain't it?

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This post has been edited by Cosmin Lupu: Jan 9 2014, 09:29 AM

[miguelbatalha]

Haha! Looks amazing - do they accept other folks as well? Or how can I try some and see if I like them? There's no distributor selling Spectraflex in here.. Miguel Can you please tell me more?

PM me on Facebook.

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[Cosmin Lupu]

PM me on Facebook.

Thank you

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[Darius Wave]

Ha ha - yeah that's right I got a lot of friends using distortion / boosted distortion only ...occassionally they use delay in fx loop. Most of them would not feel much difference between cable and wireless. At least not a huge difference

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[miguelbatalha]

Ha ha - yeah that's right I got a lot of friends using distortion / boosted distortion only ...occassionally they use delay in fx loop. Most of them would not feel much difference between cable and wireless. At least not a huge difference

Not every guitar player is a guitar nerd.

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[Cosmin Lupu]

Ha ha - yeah that's right I got a lot of friends using distortion / boosted distortion only ...occassionally they use delay in fx loop. Most of them would not feel much difference between cable and wireless. At least not a huge difference

These friends of mine, they also use delay as well now, the thing which I have in mind is to try the device on the next gig that I have with Domination - I hope it won't kill my leads or something..

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[Todd Simpson]

You may want to contact them directly through their web site. I have contacted them before and they are really cool folks. They featured one of my vids on their facebook page a bit back. (The six demon bag/strictly 7 review was done using their cables)

Todd

Thank you

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[Darius Wave]

Not every guitar player is a guitar nerd.

I do believe so I'm not throwing all metal players to one box

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[Cosmin Lupu]

You may want to contact them directly through their web site. I have contacted them before and they are really cool folks. They featured one of my vids on their facebook page a bit back. (The six demon bag/strictly 7 review was done using their cables)

Todd

Thank you Todd! I will definitely write them, once I comb my CV a bit

I do believe so I'm not throwing all metal players to one box

Here's a metal player who's definitely a guitar geek:

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[pdf64]

I've been using a (pre-made) George L 6 metre cable for the main 'guitar to wah' cable for the past 8 years or so, it's been very reliable and never caused a problem.
I chose it primarily because the cable capacitance spec was good, thereby minimising the main cause of tone sucking, especially if the guitar volume control is used.
Plus the jacket is very tough.
It was quite a reasonable price back then but they seem to have become very expensive.
The only downside is that it is rather rigid and inflexible, such that it tends to coil up rather than lying flat.

It sounds great and retains great sparkle to the tone as the volume control is backed off. However, I tried a friend's higher end Planet Waves cables recently and that seemed equally fine - I would be perfectly happy with it.

Short interconnects between fx is a much less demanding application than the one from the guitar, due to the short length and (generally) low impedances (especially with buffered fx, as opposed to true bypass).
I can see that the 'no solder' aspect is a big bonus to people not able to solder though
Pete

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[Cosmin Lupu]

I've been using a (pre-made) George L 6 metre cable for the main 'guitar to wah' cable for the past 8 years or so, it's been very reliable and never caused a problem.
I chose it primarily because the cable capacitance spec was good, thereby minimising the main cause of tone sucking, especially if the guitar volume control is used.
Plus the jacket is very tough.
It was quite a reasonable price back then but they seem to have become very expensive.
The only downside is that it is rather rigid and inflexible, such that it tends to coil up rather than lying flat.

It sounds great and retains great sparkle to the tone as the volume control is backed off. However, I tried a friend's higher end Planet Waves cables recently and that seemed equally fine - I would be perfectly happy with it.

Short interconnects between fx is a much less demanding application than the one from the guitar, due to the short length and (generally) low impedances (especially with buffered fx, as opposed to true bypass).
I can see that the 'no solder' aspect is a big bonus to people not able to solder though
Pete

Hey Pete Thanks for sharing your experience! I am one of the less to no technical guys out there So, no soldering is truly an advantage coming along with the good quality of the cable

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[steve-rec-freak]

Hi,

A cable is a cable is a cable. At least that was my experience. Instead of buying an expansive cable I always bought three cheap ones and still saved money and had two in spare in case something happened
It took a long time until I recognized that good cables are really valuable and still totally underestimated

BUT if you are planning to use cables of more than 6 meters or use multiple patch chords for your FX Gear it starts to make the difference. I am currently using "Sommer Cable" with HiCon connectors and solder them myself. This way I am able to build cables exactly the length I need them, to keep them as short as possible.

Building FX Rigs is where good cables and connectors really make the difference. In my rig I have a total of 12 patch chords between 10 and 30 cm long. I have tested the Sommer Cable Solution against a cheap china patch cord solution and must say that :

Many cheap cables in one place will sum up their faults and you will have way more buzz, limited dynamics, less signal going into your amp. More expansive cables will still have this problem but with much less negative effect.

And when you are already using High End Cable, why not using a good guitar cable as well to keep up the quality
I must say that I have used Mogami and Monster Cables but cannot tell the difference between my DIY Sommer Cable to the better or the worse. But I would generally say that in my opinion building a cable your own with good components is still way cheaper than buying a stock high end cable. ( They charge a small fortune for those cables)

cheers,

S.

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[Cosmin Lupu]

Good thoughts here man How much did it cost you to build the whole array of patch cables?

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