Expensive Cables Vs. Cheap Cables: Is There REALLY Any Difference?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ต.ค. 2024
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I generally buy middle of the road cables, not too cheap and not too expensive. I want the cables to last. I have a bunch of 20' Peavey cables that I bought in the 90's, they've been stepped on and have been used forever. They are still going strong.
Pretty much the same here
So build quaIity is a factor
At a certain point there is a point of diminishing returns
The cable may be better made, but is it worth the extra?
There is some amount of snake oil involved
I mostly use Digi flex and a couple of other brands
And no issues, but use what you like and can afford
Yeah, the expensive cables have a richness and depth that unfolds into a citrusy floral finish. The cheap ones sounds like the harmonic version of Mad Dog 20/20.
Purchase justified
your jokeing
Gold plated plugs and contacts really make the difference.
YT compression never helps a comparison, but on my PC through both a 5.1 surround and a stereo together, the Mogami showed how nice your guitar really sounds and the cheap lead made your guitar sound like you had crappier pickups. Not a massive difference and would pass for a pub gig, but in the studio that difference is priceless! Like a top notch valve amp with a 12 compared to a cheap transistor with a pair of 8's. Nice video 😉👍
@timothymartin2137 Indeed I am! I own more speakers than most people, and it's not so I can sit in silence.
Nothing but APPLAUSE ! Screaming TRUTH ! Thank you Robert Jackson
I never considered the tone to be influenced by the cable. I always figured the more expensive ones had better shielding.
The Mogami cables I have are still good over 25 years. I would buy a dozen cheap cables after one year. If you do the math, it makes sense to invest in the good stuff. Sound may not be the big issue, but reliability is.
"You got 480v and 100 amps per leg of screaming death staring you in the face, if you wanna trust your life to a 15 dollar Radio Shack meter..." was what I heard when musing whether to upgrade to the Fluke. "You got 200 hot sweaty drunk ass hill jacks ready to go all Bob's Country Bunker on ya, do you want to trust your life to a 10 dollar cable?!" Go for the upgrade Glamour Boy!
what does the 480V 100A have to do with a guitar signal cable?
@@piotrkarelthe theme of the video is cheap vs expensive equipment and how your life can depend upon it. If you haven't seen "The Blues Brothers" movie though the Bob's Country Bunker reference will go over your head.
@@SH-fm5eu the video is about the cable. If your amp is dogdy, no cable will save you. The quality of the guitar cable has literally 0 impact on your safety.
@@piotrkarelIts a joke comment. I literally dont think an audience will kill you if a cable cuts out during a performance.
@@SH-fm5eu aaaah,ok.. see, sarcasm doesn't translate into text very well :)
I'm hearing better articulation and clarity with the expensive cable.
What I heard was the highs came through better with the Mogami.
@timothymartin2137 sorry I listened with my studio monitors instead of a cell phone. There was a difference.
from working at GC for a couple years I have a ton of cables. they range from expensive to cheap and pretty much what you're saying is truth. Build quality will last longer but the sound quality has no discernible difference.
I've been using the M.X.R. cables. Sound quality is very good and the construction is very dependable, so far no problems at gigs or in the studio.
Robert,
At my advanced age, I can no longer consider myself to have "golden ears". I fully expected to hear no difference at all. But I did hear a difference. The cheap cable seemed to produce slightly muffled sound compared to the Mogami. A difference in capacitance could explain it. But it's very slight and fixable by an EQ pedal.
Before getting into electric guitars, I've been a hi-fi enthusiast since my teens. "Magic" cables come up all the time in hi-fi and religious wars are fought over them. From my experience, speaker cables are fine as long as they're heavy enough to carry the power. Line-level cables are fine as long as they have good shielding. Lately, there's a hi-fi war over power cables. I haven't participated in that one yet :D
Rock on my man!
Nothing beats the warmth, clarity, and articulation of those old, curly 70's cables. Sure, you may not be able to technically 'hear' or 'measure' the difference, but it is clearly there...... or something. 😆
I have 2 Whirlwind cables that I bought in 2001. Those things have seen countless times on stage, been in extreme temperature changes, plus probably been yanked around when I got too animated on stage. They still show no signs of letting up.
Im very happy that you addressed this controversial subject matter! So I went and spent 50 bucks on a Mogami, not for the alleged sonic clarity (I'm sure that's BS) but for the build quality. Honestly, I was pretty fed up with cheap cables failing on me, especially when it happened on stage. Like the Mogami cable you have, that wire is pretty indestructible, and a cable is something that's gonna take a beating and you NEED to work everytime! Just make sure you keep your eye on it at all times at the rehearsal studio or live gig. Your Mogami will never fail you, but mark my words, someone somewhere is gonna try to steal it from you!
The long Mogami cable sounded better than the 2 cheap ones & the shorter mogami.
As someone who works at a premier cable factory in the USA, yes. Yes there is a difference.
Lol well not for nothing, but you would say that considering your source of employment, right?
I smell a bit of bias in this comment, as well. LOL
Only reason I use expensive cables is they came with a lifetime warranty - €60 once is a better expenditure than €70 total in smaller increments. The sound difference is negligible at best.
don't cheap out on critical cables, tho.
had to scratch my bald head a couple of times til i found out the stock speaker cable on my 60s 212 tube amp wasn't soldered internally but just pressed together, and it corroded inside underneath the injected plastic. always check everything twice and do not assume things in any way until you know it's good for sure.
I use cheap cables and take very good care of them. No issues at all. I do like Monster Cables for the lifetime warranty though.
i mean maybe you can run through some audio graph to see if theres any difference in the signal strength. but otherwise, cables dont make a sound, they keep the sound alive, just like a volume knob
The difference is how many times you'll have to buy them. Buy once and be done with it.
I didn't hear much of a difference in sound. Sometimes the cheap cable seemed to muffle the sound a bit but maybe that was just me. It could have been a placebo effect. I think ultimately you want to buy a well made cable that can hold up to abuse. Quality of construction and durability are the main factors that should be considered when buying a cable for live use. If I'm plunking around at home then I feel fine using a cheap cable. If I was using one in a studio I would want the cleanest, highest fidelity sound possible. Spending $100+ on a cable would make sense in that regard. It really depends on your needs. I don't really think that the cable will make that much difference in sound but it might just be enough that, in a studio recording environment, you would hear the difference. So many of the slightest imperfections can show up on digital recordings.
I mean, Jesus I thought it was common sense. One cable cost $17 and the other cost $80. Surely, other consumers did their due diligence. Besides there was a review on zzounds that said the Mogami cables were worth the price so I took out a loan and bought 4 of them. Shm, I could have bought a pedal with the extra cost of those cables!
I use Rattlesnake, CBI,Fender custom, Gibson, PigHog, and Mogami. I love all of those and they all sound great . I only use CBI heavy speaker cabinet cables on all my stacks.
My understanding is that the two most important things to consider are;
Don’t use cables longer than what you need, unless you have active pickups, because really long cables do tend to cause some signal loss, is that right?
If the cables have Neutrik connectors, then they should last a long time, through normal use.
Timothy Brosnan
My favorite instrument cable is one I had built 10 years ago he's also made me a few pedal cables to work on my 2 level board it wasn't exactly cheap but in my mind it was affordable
The longer the cable, the more attenuation. If the cable lacks shielding, it will pick up inductive signals. You really may not notice a difference by the human ear unless your superman, but there is a difference depending on the grade of copper and build. But unless your Erik Leifson your really not gonna (or should) care about these things. Besides, they employ wireless. Anyone pushing the issue is just wanting to stir up a debate. Cuz theyre bored.
Mogami Gold is seriously a bad cable as it's thin and cannot drive bass frequencies by design. Coming to it after using the GOATs Mogami Platinum or Overdrive, it's a big disappointment. But of course that Mogami Gold is better than any other affordable cable including D'addario, Planet waves, Cordial, Boss, etc.
but cheap cables have same jack plug like expensive ones, for me if the cable is from copper there is no problem. The most problem I had is male jack between sleeve and the tip is get loose after some time. What I do is just purchase male jack 6.35mm and I soldering them, because the cable is fine
Not all copper wire is created equal.
Great video for the update in a few weeks what about using an ohm meter to show the how similar they are with the resistance also would be be a great way to show 10 vs 25 differences.
I like all different cables. I use early Spectraflex from the 90s + my Monster Cables. & my Mogami + my Pig Hog as of recently. I use pretty much everything and I run a studio so take that for what it's worth.
Might see a difference on a multimeter. Hear a difference? Don’t think so, unless the cheap one starts crackling. Reliability and durability is what you pay for. Not fairy dust and unicorn farts. My opinion of course.
I don’t know anything about the sound, what I do know is that the expensive cables last a lot longer and they spend more money buying cheap cables and replacing them… Not saying that’s for everyone but that’s my experience.
The high dollar cable uses different tone plastic to get that fuller tone! The plastic is made from maple and mahogany mixtures 😂
I've been making my own speaker and instrument cables for a long time, with quality bulk cable either Mogami or Redco brand and a bulk pack of regular ole Switchcraft plugs, soldered and heatshrunk neatly. Top tip if you don't want to be tightening the Switchcrafts all the time just put a little blue threadlocker on the threads. Go Patriots
I find expensive cables to be more durable.
The difference is, the more expensive ones last longer, the hiss and pops go away if you run pedals
I have so much hearing damage from being on the military I cant tell the difference. So I tend to buy the middle of the road cables and hope for the best 😂. One of the techs at my local music shops said I should check out Monster brand but I just cant seem to get the courage to spend that much money on something that wont make any difference in MY hearing of tones. Thanks Robert, great vid.
The best cable I have is a cheap 10-ft Guitar Center give-away. It has never failed me for 25+ years.
I have a few of those myself. LOL Those are basically Rapco RoadHOG cables.
I hope there is a significant tone difference otherwise I'm in danger of feeling gullible and will need to nurse my bruised ego
Why not use a looper to produce the exact same signal and then analyze the waveform to see if there are any changes rather than this...method...
You're on the wrong channel for stuff like that lol
@iancurrie8844 You give me WAY too much credit if you think I’m that technologically advanced. LOL
The difference was slight but the Mogami seemed to have a touch more richness… It’s a quality thing here. Mogami holds up. I’ve had a few freebie cables last 20+ years….
I have a cheap 10 ft ProCo guitar cable that my buddy gave to me 30 yrs ago. After my constant use and abuse over those years?
Still works like a charm to this day.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I also have a 10 ft gold tip heavy duty Monster cable that has been known to destroy input jacks.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Personally?
I'm team ProCo and Hosa all day.
Great topic Robert!
Cheers!
Mid grade cables are perfect for live use, but when it comes to studio work, many more expensive cable are worth the money. Cheap cables are ok for home use, but not in a lot be setting or studio work.
Thanks Robert!
...
I tired. I struggled. I failed. I have comment ...
...
With YT's compression and My loss of hearing at the top end due to age, plus listening on My phone ...
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I couldn't hear a difference 😭😭😭
... And Even i had been able to, i was going jump on the internet and Buy new cables ... Sorry
I've been down the cable rabbit hole and Robert isn't steering you wrong. Mogami is a solid quality cable. I use their mic cables exclusively. Having said that I'm using a PRS classic instrument cable. If you are on a budget, and don't want to sacrifice sound and quality you can't go wrong with the Classic PRS cable.
The thirst to be a wizard on all thing's guitar finds every rabbit hole! lol
Monoprice cables may not have the name brand connectors on them, but they make a decent cable at a very reasonable price. I've never had one of their XLR cables fail. I'm guessing that would be true with their guitar cables, also.
Thaks😊
I agree. Build quality, not tone, is what separates good cables from bad. I dig D'Addario Planet Wave cables. They're a good value and they last a long time. DiMarzio cables are also very good. I don't think I've ever tried Mogami but I've heard they are great. Jake E. Lee is a big fan of Mogami. Good video.
Whirlwind used to make some great cables.
Is this a re-post. I could have sworn I saw this video weeks ago, but it says 12 hours old.
Nope, brand new. I think I may have done another video on cables years ago, but it wasn’t quite the same topic.
@@RobertWJackson no worries. I just hit my head one to many times
to be honest; with the 10 foot cables i heard no difference. with the 20 and 25 foot i did hear a slight loss of something in both of them and they did sound just a tad different although nothing anyone would (or should) notice unless you have really good hearing. i'm not sure how many people did this but i listened to it thru a pair of studio monitors and not my regular computer speakers. i generally don't like to use cables longer then 15 feet. i think that if you take care of your cables any decent quality cable would do.
The mid seems to lack on the cheaper cables?
Robert i cant tell the difference between most gear, it has to be a pretty drastic difference for me to notice. that kinds sucks because im constantly changing the settings on my gear because im a moron!! lol
Test:
A. 5:40 expensive
B. 5:58 cheap
That's not accurate. It's not about "more expensive", it's about "higher quality", and yes there's a difference between a Mogami or Sommer, Gotham, and cheap made in China Cables. There are many aspects, like low noise, durability, Low Cap, clarity, not becoming microphonic... Some less expensive cables can be really good, like Pig Hog, but that in NO WAY diminishes what you get from a higher end cable. No real sound engineer is going to have cheap cables in the studio because there IS a difference.
The premium cable sounded more expensive…..
Obviously
In the next video play again and don't tell us which is what, just ABC. I guarantee many will pick the cheap cable. Honestly I thought they were all the same.
un able to compare
its the same , but let the stupid rich people pay more ,