I've used all kinds in the past; Monster, ProCo, Planet Waves, George L's.

Currently I'm running a Planet Waves Circuit Breaker from my guitar into my first pedal, George L's between pedals, then another Planet Waves from the last pedal to my amp. The speaker cable from my head to my cabinet is a Monster Studio Pro.

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The mind is like a parachute; it doesn't work unless its open-FZ

Two cables that have served me well for quite a few years (like over a dozen years) are marked: Wrapper by Conquest Sound.

One is a coily, the other a straight cord.

Coily from guitar to Wah, straight from Wah to amp. There's my signal chain for you.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

YES YES YES!!!

Nuts to the sound, it's the look that counts!

One of my all time favorite photos (sorry for the extraneous writing: I could only find it on this magazine page):



Cheers - C

That's pretty much how I look when I play.

Who said the sound wasn't up to snuff??

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

What you dont wear that white outfit too do you?

It wouldnt be on me 30 seconds before it got tea or chocolate on it.

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No no and no

Or blood ...

Naaah, I've never had the "jump suits" that Pete wore. Never had them kind of boots either. It's a good look on him, though.

So are coily cords kind of out of fashion?

When I find something that works, I tend to stick with it (amps, guitars, types of cords, wahs, etc) for decades and decades (it seems).

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

I havent owned a curley cord in 20 years. I dunno why that is, i havent made a concious decision not to buy them. They cant have been abundant in the shops i use.

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No no and no

What started me on these damn Monster cables was the used cable sales at GC. You could buy used 10-20 foot Monster Pro Link cables for $7-10 and then exchange them the next day for brand new ones due to the lifetime warranty Monster has with GC. Also, all these guitar mags reinforced my belief that these Monster products were top of the line by rating them fairly high in their product reviews. For these reasons I continued to buy them (patch cables, longer, shorter, ect..). Now I'm frustrated because I want to replace my whole cable collection after giving some different cables a fair shake. Although Monster cables may fit some guitarist's sonic bill, I'm looking for a different sound in my own eternal quest for the perfect tone . Anyway thanks for the input guys. And I definitely learned a lesson when it comes to peripheral guitar accessories. My humble advise, even though it may be somewhat expensive, try out as many cables as you can before settling on a specific brand or brands. There's no rule that prohibits mixing and matching. And, a lesson I learned awhile ago, you can't always trust the reviews in even the most respected guitar mags. Thanks again guys.

Russ

Planet Waves with the circuit breaker. 'Bought one and it was so hip, got 3 more. GC review liked it too, not tops for sound but very good and the on-off switch is farking mega-great.

If I need more cables, I'll have to give Horizon a try. For now, I have all Monster Rock cables. Most of which are 15+ yrs old, been beat up a ton over the years, played jump rope with, twisted and such at so many gigs, and still work perfect. I just replaced my first Monster, after 15 yrs, and got a new one. It still worked, but was just getting ragged out looking, so they gave me a new one - no questions.

They've lasted my through hundreds of practices, gigs and tours and have never let me down. So much better than the cheaper cables I've used in the past that might have been cheaper but lasted 6 months, maybe a year of real use.

After looking at some of the responses, I wanted to toss my own $.02 worth in here just because as usual, I'm the odd man out.

Cable brands....hmmm...whatever doesn't buzz when I plug it in! LOL!!! I don't wish to down play anyone's opinion here but Monster? Spectrum? Horizon? They're freakin' guitar cables! LOL!!!! If you really THAT concerned with how your cable sounds...dude...you're listening to the WRONG thing.

Seriously...I've been playing for a lot of years now and I don't really even look at my cables that much any more. I have two boxes for my cables...those that actually work and those that don't. When the box of the "don't work" cables starts to get full, I take a couple of hours, break out the ol' soldering iron and fix them. The ONLY thing I'm fussy about when it comes to cables is simply the jacks...I really prefer quality cable ends such as Switchcraft or something similar (in other words, I will NOT use Radio Shack any more!). Beyond that, when I'm playing I'll typically use "the red one" from my guitar to my fx pedal and I'll use "the black one with blue sleeves" (which oddly enough I think is an old "Pro Co."). If for some reason something doesn't work or doesn't sound right, I'll grab a different cable out of the "good" box

This is simply my own highly subjective opinion here but it seems to me that guitar players are really the only musical folk who worry about what brand of cable they use. Certainly a singer will be concerned about what brand/model mic they use, but how often do you really see a singer fuzzing over what brand of cable that mic is hooked up too? As long as it doesn't crackle and doesn't make any noise and as long as it can reach the mixing board (or snake)...I'm sorry...brand? How about keyboard players? Do you really ever see keyboard players sitting around discussing the merits of Monster cables versus Horizon? Pah-leaze.... In all my years I don't think I've even heard a bass player getting his underwear tied in a knot over this one! Again...my opinion...highly subjective...but personally I think this is one of those subjects that should go on an excuse towel..."gee...my rig sounds like crap today...it must be my cable", LOL!!!!!!!!!

I -know- there are a lot of guys who really think they can hear the difference between cables...and some of them probably can....but again with no disrespect to anyone, if you're THAT anally retentive about something as fairly insignificant as a guitar cable, you're really focusing on the wrong thing. Your choice of guitar, pickups, amp, effects and even the way you play are going to have a FAR greater impact in how your rig sounds than your cables ever will.

In the words of the late, great Frank Zappa, "Shut up and play your guitar..."

Just my $.02 worth,
Jim

Ah, this is just what happens any time you get a bunch of men together and they find a variable — however trifling — that they can spend money on or otherwise tinker with to impress each other... you know how it is...

When I want to wade deeply into the mire, I go to forums where audiophiles debate the relative merits of various vacuum tubes... guitarists seem tame by comparison.

I guess we must hang out with different styles of keyboard players (probably closer to the techno/trance/ambient/glitch-core/tweak-out/I-really-don't-know-what-they-call-it end of things here), because the ones I mostly seem to run into have far stronger opinions about their gear, the circuits comprising their gear, and the manner in which one bit of gear plugs into the next than the average guitarist. There's gotta be some equivalent that keeps bass players occupied, I just don't know what it is... probably whatever will help them "cut through" guitarists with noisy cables... heh.

P.S. Welcome back, lomitus, it's always interesting to read your $0.02 worth — great value for money...

I'm pretty much with you. There are "bad," cheap cables out there, the ones that crackle or have bad jacks. So you usually have to spend a little bit to get one that's "good." I agree you don't have to pay the big bucks for cables that are good.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

I've been using pro co cable for years. I use the "life lines" guitar cables. They are top quality and use switchcraft plugs. Infact, I still have some pro co lifeline guitar cables that I've had since the 80s that still work, no shorts at all. They are very durable and have proven it.

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http://www.youtube.com/user/gmlasam

I make my own of varying lengths with belden cable and switchcraft ends.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!