Guitar Cables for Stage and Studio: Here’s what you need to connect your Guitar to a computer or to a amplifier or to a digital audio interface. Here’s a complete guide for beginners designed to help you pick the best guitar cable for your electric or acoustic-electric guitar.
As you become a better guitar player, your ears also start becoming better. You will begin to hear minute details in the sound (and realize something is not up to the mark). Eventually, most guitarists upgrade their gear – guitars, amps, etc.
But what about the cables? You will be surprised to see what a good quality guitar cable can do to the overall sound of your setup.
What is a guitar cable?
So what exactly is a guitar cable and what is it used for?
A guitar cable is also referred to as an instrument cable or 1/4″ cable, and its used to to connect your electric guitar (or electric-acoustic guitar) to an amplifier.
A guitar cable has two connectors – one plugs into the amplifier jack (on the amplifier) and the other one plugs into the guitar jack (on your guitar).
Structure & Common Lengths
A standard guitar cable consists of:
- Center Conductor (carries the audio signal)
- Insulation material (keeps the signal isolated from the other parts)
- Electrostatic Shield (reduces handling noise)
- Braided Copper Shield (blocks outside interference)
- Outer protective Jacket.
Most common lengths
So how long should your guitar cable be? It depends on where and how its going to be used.
The most common lengths of guitar cables are between ten feet and twenty five feet.
The shorter ones give limited amount of freedom (of movement) to guitarists. The longer ones may look like a better option but cables of over twenty five feet are likely to introduce noise levels into the system and may not give a true representation of the true sound of your guitar.
Ever wondered what’s the difference between a $100 cable and a $10 cable? Usually, the more expensive the cable, the better is the quality of construction and the materials used, which has an impact on its durability and the quality of the tone produced.
Factors Affecting Performance of Guitar Cable
A good quality cable will alter the sound signal as little as possible. With a good instrument cable, you should get more sound detail and clarity, and less noise. A bad guitar cable will do just the opposite, and you could even notice buzz or hum, which obviously is not acceptable. Better quality cables eliminate noise, and employ shielding techniques that reduce interference from nearby electronics and other music gear.
Another important attribute for any good instrument cable is reliability. At first glance, a guitar cable doesn’t seem like an item that is subject to a lot of abuse, however this couldn’t be farther from the case. Guitar cables are subjected to lot of abuse (gets thrown around a lot, are trampled upon, inserted and removed a lot from the jacks) so they need to be sturdy & reliable. In general they should be made from good construction materials.
These factors have an impact on the performance of the cable.
- Length: Most guitar cables above 25ft-in-length are “unbalanced” (get noisier as length increases). when opting for 25ft cables, chose high-end brands as they use better parts to allow for a cleaner quieter signal.
Here are some recommendations:
Keep it short as far as possible. For playing in a room, 10 or 15 foot cable is good enough. For stage performances, you will need a 25 foot cable.
For linking pedals together, get a 6 or 12 inch patch cable to keep your cables as short as possible. If you play only clean guitar (no effects pedals) start with a single 15 foot cable. If you play with effects pedals, start with as many 12 inch patch cables as you have pedals (patch cables are short instrument cables). Also, get two 15 foot cables to connect the output of your pedal board to the amp and the input of your pedal board to your guitar. (This way you distance your pedal board from your amp and distance yourself from your pedal board so that neither your amp of pedal board limit your movement).
- Electrostatic Shielding: Earlier, cheap guitar cables used to give annoying crackling sound whenever they’re moved. But now manufacturers add an electrostatic shield between the two, which discharges any static build-up.
In general avoid running the guitar cables parallel to extension cords and other AC power cables. Avoid coiling up your cable length and storing it next to your amp.
- Connector Quality: Many believe that gold-plated connectors are better to nickel or silver. But the fact is that gold is only better because it’s less-corrosive and lasts longer, it doesn’t make the tone better.
- Although some cables may claim they are good for certain types/genres of music. However, the fact is that a cable will not color the sound; that has to be done using amplifiers, effects pedals, electronics, instrument choice (and even choice of strings)
Guitar Cables Have Other Uses
As mentioned, a guitar cable is an instrument cable and can be used for other purposes as well, besides for guitar use. Read more uses of Instrument Cables & Cords.
Also Read: USB Guitar Cables for Recording on Computer
I guess you have the basic knowledge now to select the best guitar cable for your needs. There are several good options out there so choosing a good one should be easy! Just remember that sound produced is subjective (to some degree) and you are very likely to use several guitar cables over the years as you play the instrument more.
Bob Marley Guitar Cables
Bob Marley Guitar Cables: Not really, but you get the idea, and hopefully some inspiration to keep all those cables neatly. Here’s the Right way to Hang those Guitar Cables
It is quite common for serious serious musicians to own a number of cables.
It’s just that over a period of time, you can have too many, and if you don’t keep them properly organised, they can look really messy and also reduce the life of the cables.
And I’m sure most of us are too lazy to look for ways to keep them organised.
Now here’s a cool idea to help you keep all the cables properly, without even having to wrap them up.
Just take all those guitar cables lying around and turn them into Bob Marley!
And if you’re a big fan of Bob Marley (Who Isn’t?), you should implement this right away.
Here’s the Right way to Hang Your Guitar Cables!
KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
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