It’s 50/50 ridiculously expensive, discontinued, Two Rock Crystal Clear, and misc crap from the 70’s with some occasional modern shorty’s for effects, and one or two budget guitar center style angle ended things for at home. Couch friendly application.
There isn’t really any brand or type consistency to it, it’s just the pile of cables I’ve accumulated over 50 years that still work.
I like good solid core copper, but I like my 70’s coil cords too.
Some I like because they’re red or blue and easy to see on a dark stage if I have to plug something in on the fly.
I think the one’s I’ve kept all sound good for whatever application I’ve kept them for, but mostly i just go for consistency, same cable, same place in the rig, same direction, etc.
hi steve,
one quick question. i have one of those two rock crystal clear cables. the thing that’s always struck me about that cable was that it seemed to transfer the tactile feel of the strings to the sound. big gauge strings resulted in a “stiff” sound. at least, that’s what i took away from that.
it also has a red sleeve on one of the ends. i’ve always plugged that into my guitar. to remind me that if you pull this out, it’s live. that way i always pull out the end that’s connected to the amp. perhaps i’ve been doing it wrong all this while. your comment on “same direction” caught my eye. is there a “right” same direction?
There may or may not be an audible real or imagined cable directional effect.
That was easy. .
It’s also irrelevant.
In spite of it being a matter of great debate on the interwebs at the psychoacoustic vs electrical engineering level, as a practical production matter it confers absolutely no advantage to randomly wire up your rig with different cables going in different directions every time.
What we’re looking for from our gear, bottom line, is consistency.
At its most basic, the little red light goes on and the guitar stays reasonably in tune.
Foundation.
We build on consistency, familiarity; we progress by not starting over every time we plug in.
So, I observe and maintain cable direction as faithfully as I can regardless of whether or not there’s a “right way” to do it.
The right way to do anything is just do it over exactly the same way.
It’s Rule #1, the Prime Directive:
Don’t fix it if it’s not broken.
Right?
Re: Crystal Clear, I think you made a good observation.
The only thing I’d add is any really high quality cable should reveal more of any dynamic musical quality you focus on.
Not all guitar sounds benefit from “revealing dynamic quality” obviously.
Efficiency is the enemy of electric guitar sound more often than not.
It’s 50/50 ridiculously expensive, discontinued, Two Rock Crystal Clear, and misc crap from the 70’s with some occasional modern shorty’s for effects, and one or two budget guitar center style angle ended things for at home. Couch friendly application.
There isn’t really any brand or type consistency to it, it’s just the pile of cables I’ve accumulated over 50 years that still work.
I like good solid core copper, but I like my 70’s coil cords too.
Some I like because they’re red or blue and easy to see on a dark stage if I have to plug something in on the fly.
I think the one’s I’ve kept all sound good for whatever application I’ve kept them for, but mostly i just go for consistency, same cable, same place in the rig, same direction, etc.
hi steve,
one quick question. i have one of those two rock crystal clear cables. the thing that’s always struck me about that cable was that it seemed to transfer the tactile feel of the strings to the sound. big gauge strings resulted in a “stiff” sound. at least, that’s what i took away from that.
it also has a red sleeve on one of the ends. i’ve always plugged that into my guitar. to remind me that if you pull this out, it’s live. that way i always pull out the end that’s connected to the amp. perhaps i’ve been doing it wrong all this while. your comment on “same direction” caught my eye. is there a “right” same direction?
any insight appreciated. thank you for the music.
warm regards
sashi.
Hi Sashi!
There may or may not be an audible real or imagined cable directional effect.
That was easy. .
It’s also irrelevant.
In spite of it being a matter of great debate on the interwebs at the psychoacoustic vs electrical engineering level, as a practical production matter it confers absolutely no advantage to randomly wire up your rig with different cables going in different directions every time.
What we’re looking for from our gear, bottom line, is consistency.
At its most basic, the little red light goes on and the guitar stays reasonably in tune.
Foundation.
We build on consistency, familiarity; we progress by not starting over every time we plug in.
So, I observe and maintain cable direction as faithfully as I can regardless of whether or not there’s a “right way” to do it.
The right way to do anything is just do it over exactly the same way.
It’s Rule #1, the Prime Directive:
Don’t fix it if it’s not broken.
Right?
Re: Crystal Clear, I think you made a good observation.
The only thing I’d add is any really high quality cable should reveal more of any dynamic musical quality you focus on.
Not all guitar sounds benefit from “revealing dynamic quality” obviously.
Efficiency is the enemy of electric guitar sound more often than not.
That makes perfect sense. Thanks!