Recommendations for best cable to use with your bass?

[Woodinblack]

7 hours ago, Nebadon2000 said:

Not trying to excuse Fender for previous problems, hopefully your guitar player bought 'Ebay' Cables and is happy and got a couple extra pints with money saved.

I bought Fender Deluxe series seemed well built, don't kink, reasonable value and I like the way they look [yellow tweed] can see in dark😀

He still buys the fender cables because they replace them when they break and he doesn't see the faffing about in the middle of a song when the cable breaks of swapping the cables around and panicking as obviously enough of an issue to stop using them and buy something else.

They did go with his amp though when he had the little fender that was yellow tweed, but now he is back to his orange (which is a shame, I am not so keen on the sound of that, but the fender kept losing its reverb).

Its me who buys the ebay cables and am happy with their reliability. Not a cost thing at all, although they are a lot cheaper, I would get the ebay ones if they cost more than the fender ones, they are worth it. I agree, they look great which is why I bought them in the first place, but once something fails, thats it, I am not interested that they can be replaced free (my current one is crackling but I can't be bothered to get it replaced, it is home use only)

[ClassicVibes]

On 26/05/2020 at 16:30, chris_b said:

OBBM. . . . . oh! damn!!

Yeah... I just saw, no longer in business.

Who will I get my cables from now?!

[inthedoghouse]

For about 10 years I've been using Van Damme cable and Neutrik plugs - never had a moment's problem.  I make my own cables up and it's not at all expensive on eBay.

It's good enough for Abbey Road studios and Van Damme's list of users it's certainly good enough for me.  And it's a British company.

http://www.van-damme.com/about-van-damme/

 

[chris_b]

On 29/05/2020 at 13:59, ClassicVibes said:

Yeah... I just saw, no longer in business.

Who will I get my cables from now?!

I'm betting my OBBM cables will out last me.

[ped]

I’ve got a vovox cable that I was given - not sure I’d buy at nearly £100 but it does sound fantastic. I’ve A/B tested it with a variety of others and it actually does sound better. 

[adamg67]

I had some cables from this guy before I started making all my own: https://procables.audio/ - Neutrik connectors on good quality cable, and not expensive. Mine is something like this https://procables.audio/epages/b0f6386e-46a6-44b1-b8fb-63fabf175cd2.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/b0f6386e-46a6-44b1-b8fb-63fabf175cd2/Products/NP2X-AU-SILENT-Tri-NP2XB - £22 for 15 foot with Neutrik black on one end and silent plug on the other. 

[mcnach]

On 26/05/2020 at 23:24, Frank Blank said:

Put designacable into Amazon, pick jacks, lead lengths, colours. I swear by them.

 

+1

Good cables, and a choice of colours too, which can be handy: I have 'lost' a few black cables over the years, but since using coloured ones nobody has taken home one of mine 'by mistake' anymore.

[ClassicVibes]

2 hours ago, ped said:

I’ve got a vovox cable that I was given - not sure I’d buy at nearly £100 but it does sound fantastic. I’ve A/B tested it with a variety of others and it actually does sound better. 

If people think it's okay to drop £100 on a cable then I think their life priorities need sorting out!

[ped]

2 minutes ago, ClassicVibes said:

If people think it's okay to drop £100 on a cable then I think their life priorities need sorting out!

I don't know - people waste more than that on fags!

[Frank Blank]

47 minutes ago, mcnach said:

+1

Good cables, and a choice of colours too, which can be handy: I have 'lost' a few black cables over the years, but since using coloured ones nobody has taken home one of mine 'by mistake' anymore.

Exactly this. I used to get good quality black leads nicked or lost all the time, now mine are in a variety of daft colours this has stopped happening.

[Woodinblack]

8 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

Exactly this. I used to get good quality black leads nicked or lost all the time, now mine are in a variety of daft colours this has stopped happening.

Mine arent daft colours. My bass cables are dark purple, my keyboard cables are red, my PA long xlrs are blue, and my general PA wiring cables are dark red (apart from the drum ones that are yellow) and my microphone cable is florescent orange. Everyone elses leads are black. Makes breaking down a lot faster, and probably setting up.

[RedVee]

3 hours ago, ClassicVibes said:

If people think it's okay to drop £100 on a cable then I think their life priorities need sorting out!

You could say the same about guitars and pedals, but you usually get a better product if you pay more for it.

[chris_b]

Recording studios don't use bell wire for a reason. So quality of design, materials and manufacturing will have an effect on cables as they do for every other product. If the rest of your system and your ears are good enough then a difference in cables could be noticeable.

Lee Sklar has a story about a Toto tour, when he and the sound guy compared cables and wireless and they could hear that cable sounded better.

So if your ears are good enough then cables at different price points are an option. The best option is to let others make their choices based on what they hear rather than on what you hear.

[BigRedX]

16 minutes ago, chris_b said:

Recording studios don't use bell wire for a reason. So quality of design, materials and manufacturing will have an effect on cables as they do for every other product. If the rest of your system and your ears are good enough then a difference in cables could be noticeable.

But they don't use anything esoteric either. It will just be ordinary, but good quality cabals and connectors that they have negotiated a deal on to buy in bulk.

18 minutes ago, chris_b said:

Lee Sklar has a story about a Toto tour, when he and the sound guy compared cables and wireless and they could hear that cable sounded better.

How long ago was this? Wireless technology has come a long way in the last 10 years.

19 minutes ago, chris_b said:

So if your ears are good enough then cables at different price points are an option. The best option is to let others make their choices based on what they hear rather than on what you hear.

But like all things it's the law of diminishing returns. Once you reached a certain quality point - generally Van Damme and Neutrik - any further improvements tend to be vanishingly small and guaranteed to be inaudible in your typical band mix.

[chris_b]

15 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

But they don't use anything esoteric either.

They can do, and I know 2 that do. A drummer I know has solid silver core cables to the monitors in his studio and at one point Astoria studios had cryogenic frozen Evidence Audio cables.

[chris_b]

32 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

But like all things it's the law of diminishing returns. Once you reached a certain quality point - generally Van Damme and Neutrik - any further improvements tend to be vanishingly small and guaranteed to be inaudible in your typical band mix.

I'm not judging other people's ability to hear stuff I can't hear.

[ClassicVibes]

1 hour ago, RedVee said:

You could say the same about guitars and pedals, but you usually get a better product if you pay more for it.

Usually is the key word in that sentence. 

How much better can a cable get over £20. 

 

[itu]

1 hour ago, RedVee said:

You could say the same about guitars and pedals, but you usually get a better product if you pay more for it.

There is certain point, where more money does not equal straight raise in quality any more. The difference in basses in higher price categories are subtle. 200 / 500 / 1000 / 2000 / 5000, don't you think there is some sweet spot?

Some cables cost a fortune, but as long as I have been working with sound, Neutriks and some silicone cable has been the choice of broadcasting companies. I follow that quality standard.

[ped]

All I know is that my £100 Vovox is noticeably better sounding than every other cable I have tried it against. Would it be noticeable in a band mix? no. Is it noticeable at home through my headphones? Just. Is that worth shelling out £100 for? to me, probably yes but no. Sometimes. If you like. Yes.

[skychaserhigh]

ClearTone cables , quality cables with good prices and service. Well recommended.

https://www.award-session.com/cleartone_cables.php

 

[casapete]

13 hours ago, skychaserhigh said:

ClearTone cables , quality cables with good prices and service. Well recommended.

https://www.award-session.com/cleartone_cables.php

 

Before I discovered OBBM on here, I used ClearTone cables. Still got some, must be over 10 years old and still working 100%. They’re still made with the best Neutrik / Van Damme combo and their prices are competitive, as well as offering a 5 year warranty.

[mcnach]

23 minutes ago, casapete said:

Before I discovered OBBM on here, I used ClearTone cables. Still got some, must be over 10 years old and still working 100%. They’re still made with the best Neutrik / Van Damme combo and their prices are competitive, as well as offering a 5 year warranty.

 

Same here. I met Stewart (ClearTone - Award Session) many years ago and used to buy all my cables from him. I still have some I bought... in 2001-2002.

[BigRedX]

19 hours ago, chris_b said:

They can do, and I know 2 that do. A drummer I know has solid silver core cables to the monitors in his studio and at one point Astoria studios had cryogenic frozen Evidence Audio cables.

But in the first case that's just the speaker cables, which ought to be reasonably short runs, and IMO the effectiveness will be marginal when you consider the metres of non-silver core cables the signals will be running along first before they reach the amp to speaker connections.

In the second case at approximately $10 a foot I really can't see anyone using this for EVERY SINGLE cable in their studio without some sort of super discount endorsement deal. Even a very modest home studio will quickly rack up the cable lengths required to keep everything connected, and if you believe in the superiority of these esoteric cable then you also have to believe that every time you run the signal through something of a lesser quality you are adversely affecting it. So either all of your cables need to be these special ones or you might as well not bother.

[casapete]

50 minutes ago, mcnach said:

 

Same here. I met Stewart (ClearTone - Award Session) many years ago and used to buy all my cables from him. I still have some I bought... in 2001-2002.

I met him at a guitar show, and he made me my cables while I waited.

Proper kit!

[Frank Blank]

On 02/06/2020 at 11:36, Woodinblack said:

My bass cables are dark purple, my keyboard cables are red, my PA long xlrs are blue, and my general PA wiring cables are dark red (apart from the drum ones that are yellow) and my microphone cable is florescent orange. Everyone elses leads are black. Makes breaking down a lot faster, and probably setting up.

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