Recommendations for best cable to use with your bass?

[mcnach]

2 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

Any colour that isn’t black is daft in my book.

 

I'm going to find where your next gig is, and replace your cables with pink ones when you're not looking.

[Frank Blank]

23 minutes ago, mcnach said:

I'm going to find where your next gig is, and replace your cables with pink ones when you're not looking.

I use the pink ones exclusively when I play live so fill your boots.

[jazzyvee]

i have been using Fender Deluxe and their pro series or a while an have no complaints. I can't say i have noticed any difference in sound quality with any of the leads i have bought the higher priced leads tend to have better quality jack plugs like neutrix and the cable is more more durable . I previously used planet waves but their plastic/rubbery jack housings were not consistent in the amount of the shaft of the jack they covered so this could only be a few mm difference but that was enough on some basses and guitars to allow the jack to disconnect and then you have no sound and lots of hum. later i just replaced the jacks with neutrix. 

[itu]

If you have exotic cables, and their prices are exotic, you have to buy this:

https://www.thecablecooker.com/

My cables are not that exotic.

[ped]

7 hours ago, itu said:

If you have exotic cables, and their prices are exotic, you have to buy this:

https://www.thecablecooker.com/

My cables are not that exotic.

Would be nice if the website said what it actually was

[Hellzero]

@ped : you don't seem to know the high end hi-fi world. These are low price items made in China, most of the time, with a very good marketing team behind. Deep sh*t, or snake oil, at the price of gold. 😉

A cable with excellent quality oxygen free copper (the best electrical conductor known to date) and Neutrik connectors is perfect. And it's quite cheap.

[ped]

12 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

@ped : you don't seem to know the high end hi-fi world. These are low price items made in China, most of the time, with a very good marketing team behind. Deep sh*t, or snake oil, at the price of gold. 😉

A cable with excellent quality oxygen free copper (the best electrical conductor known to date) and Neutrik connectors is perfect. And it's quite cheap.

No I don't know anything really. But I was given it.

[mcnach]

19 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

I use the pink ones exclusively when I play live so fill your boots.

 

ok, glow in the dark snot green then

 

 

[chris_b]

My Whirlwind instrument cable cost me a fortune in the early 90's and had a 25 year guarantee. I laughed at the thought of using a cable for that length of time. The Guarantee ran out 5 years ago and I'm still using it! That makes it the cheapest cable I've owned.

I coil my cables correctly and never stand on them, even so, the cheaper cables I was using before the Whirlwind didn't last more than a few years at most. So some expensive cables are definitely worth their price.

Now Dave's stopped making them, if I needed another cable I'd have a look at Whirlwind.

[casapete]

10 minutes ago, chris_b said:

My Whirlwind instrument cable cost me a fortune in the early 90's and had a 25 year guarantee. I laughed at the thought of using a cable for that length of time. The Guarantee ran out 5 years ago and I'm still using it! That makes it the cheapest cable I've owned.

I coil my cables correctly and never stand on them, even so, the cheaper cables I was using before the Whirlwind didn't last more than a few years at most. So some expensive cables are definitely worth their price.

Now Dave's stopped making them, if I needed another cable I'd have a look at Whirlwind.

I had some Whirlwind cables too, probably the same vintage as yours. Lasted for years, before being nicked / lost , presumably at a gig where pack down was in a marquee in darkness at 2am or something. 

Edited June 4, 2020 by casapete

[Frank Blank]

1 hour ago, mcnach said:

ok, glow in the dark snot green then

If they sold em’ I’d buy em’.

[BigRedX]

If I ever need to replace my OBBM cables I'll probably go back to making my own. I have a load of XLR and Jack leads that I made up in the late 80s and early 90s that are still functioning perfectly. The only reason I didn't make my own last time around is because OBBM's worked out cheaper once I factored in the cost of my time to get out all the tools and make them up myself!

[jazzyvee]

The only cable i have ever heard that made an immediate and noticeable difference was this one.

https://www.facebook.com/lightleadglobal

i have no connection but i tried it at one of the northern guitar shows and was  impressed. The company appeared on Dragon's den a while back. 

 

[itu]

6 hours ago, Hellzero said:

@ped 😉

A cable with excellent quality oxygen free copper (the best electrical conductor known to date)

I would love to see oxygenized copper cable... or not...

Silver is actually the best, and gold plated contacts do not add any distortion. But that's hifi, that we aren't.

[Hellzero]

Sorry but silver (106%) is not a better electrical conductor than copper (101%), that's a hi-fi preconceived idea, even if there's a slightly theorical advantage, you won't hear it and the cost difference for the same section will be prohibitive, without speaking of the tensile properties. Agree for the gold contact though. Don't start the idiophile (French joke) thing please. 

I'm fed up by the permanent audiophile non sense. 😤 

Check this concerning oxygen free copper : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen-free_copper

Edited June 4, 2020 by Hellzero

[jazzyvee]

23 hours ago, jazzyvee said:

i have been using Fender Deluxe and their pro series or a while an have no complaints. I can't say i have noticed any difference in sound quality with any of the leads i have bought the higher priced leads tend to have better quality jack plugs like neutrix and the cable is more more durable . I previously used planet waves but their plastic/rubbery jack housings were not consistent in the amount of the shaft of the jack they covered so this could only be a few mm difference but that was enough on some basses and guitars to allow the jack to disconnect and then you have no sound and lots of hum. later i just replaced the jacks with neutrix. 

Spoke too soon the cable just pulled out of the jack socket whilst putting the bass on it's stand. Nothing serious just needs re-soldering on. 

😞 

[itu]

On 04/06/2020 at 19:05, Hellzero said:

...even if there's a slightly theorical advantage, you won't hear it and the cost difference for the same section will be prohibitive, without speaking of the tensile properties.

And how easily silver gets tarnished and so on... Please do not worry, my background is in acoustics, as well as working in a broadcasting company, so I have seen all snake oils and quite some more. Yes, I am on your side.

[Hellzero]

Want to enter the audiophile world, check these prices by one of the most renowned manufacturer.

Their top range power cord : https://www.transparentcable.com/collections/power-power-cords/products/opus-power-cord

Their top range digital cable : https://www.transparentcable.com/collections/digital-audio/products/xl-75-ohm-digital-link

Their top range XLR cables : https://www.transparentcable.com/collections/analog-audio-interconnects/products/magnum-opus-balanced-interconnect

Their top range speaker cables (you need at least a pair) : https://www.transparentcable.com/collections/analog-audio-speaker-cables/products/magnum-opus-speaker-cable

Yes, they do sell these cables and quite easily in fact.

Welcome to the audiophile world !

Should you have more money to spend, they can make a special one just for you, and that's only a starting point, only the sky is the limit or, maybe, the last restaurant before the end of the world : https://www.transparentcable.com/collections/custom-diy

🤐

[machinehead]

6 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Want to enter the audiophile world, check these prices by one of the most renowned manufacturer.

Their top range power cord : https://www.transparentcable.com/collections/power-power-cords/products/opus-power-cord

Their top range digital cable : https://www.transparentcable.com/collections/digital-audio/products/xl-75-ohm-digital-link

Their top range XLR cables : https://www.transparentcable.com/collections/analog-audio-interconnects/products/magnum-opus-balanced-interconnect

Their top range speaker cables (you need at least a pair) : https://www.transparentcable.com/collections/analog-audio-speaker-cables/products/magnum-opus-speaker-cable

Yes, they do sell these cables and quite easily in fact.

Welcome to the audiophile world !

Should you have more money to spend, they can make a special one just for you, and that's only a starting point, only the sky is the limit or, maybe, the last restaurant before the end of the world : https://www.transparentcable.com/collections/custom-diy

🤐

Only for the terminally gullible.

Frank.

[tvickey]

Thanks a lot for all of the replies on this thread.  Really much appreciated.  Notts is not far from me at all, so given the recommendations I'll give the folks at https://www.designacable.com/ a try!

[Frank Blank]

1 hour ago, tvickey said:

Thanks a lot for all of the replies on this thread.  Really much appreciated.  Notts is not far from me at all, so given the recommendations I'll give the folks at https://www.designacable.com/ a try!

Van Damme cables and Neutrik jacks, can’t go wrong.

[itu]

On 06/06/2020 at 12:49, Hellzero said:

Want to enter the audiophile world, check these prices by one of the most renowned manufacturer.

Their top range power cord : https://www.transparentcable.com/collections/power-paower-cords/products/opus-power-cord

Their top range digital cable...

The truth is, that if the system costs a fortune, your cables have to match the other price tags, too. Otherwise the sound, no, the experience would be sacrificed.

I have seen people raise their cables 2 - 4" from the floor, and "the sound has become more airy". Umm, I see... I can't laugh to them anymore. It is about religious experience, not the music.

[Nebadon2000]

I

18 hours ago, itu said:

I have seen people raise their cables 2 - 4" from the floor, and "the sound has become more airy". Umm, I see... I can't laugh to them anymore. It is about religious experience, not the music.

I use to do exactly that😀 The theory is based on isolation. Music is vibrations and any unwanted vibrations is deemed distortion. Why many isolate all Stereo gear with cone type and other isolation devices; so just to be safe might as well isolate Speaker wire.

Isolation of Bass gear can be productive used sensibly

Yes this can become like a religious experience, searching for higher forms of Spiritual meditation [To hear God more clearly with less distortion😏]

[Gonzo192]

I use these https://www.thomann.de/gb/roland_ric_g10.htm

No problems with it at all and it looks smart! Which is always a plus. I'd like to think that most reputable brands making cables would be half decent to be fair. For me though, Roland is a sort of champion of the low end sound, with like the 808 kick drum and early synths and stuff, so It's Roland all day long for me.  

 

[Matt P]

as has already been said many times (and for very good reason) Neutrik plugs and a good quality cable, Van Damme and Sommer are both very good, personally I love Klotz (the AC110) which I know was an option with OBBM , i make my own and use a piece of clear shrink-wrap tubing to hold a name tag onto the cable with my phone number on it, i also like to rivet a velcro cable to each lead to keep them neatly coiled. the Klotz cable isn't that flexible though so not everyone's cup of tea, my pedalboard is wired using Van Damme as it is much more flexible.

I'd suggest that learning how to properly coil the cables when not in use is the biggest factor in the lifetime of a cable, i have some of the cheapest Klotz cables that are getting on for 20 years old and are still working perfectly as they have been cared for.

Matt