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Instrument leads

SteveXFR

By SteveXFR,
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SteveXFR Grand Master

SteveXFR

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51 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

I haven't. I figure I'll stop playing when I'm dead (I wasn't aware of that development but I'll leave things as they are).

 

I am well aware that many think it's snake oil but Even I heard a clear difference when a/b'ing against other cables.

 

Was that back to back with two identical cables, one treated and one not?

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chris_b Grand Master

chris_b

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Apparently if you cryogenically freeze. . . . then unfreeze. . . .  cables the copper molecules line up in the same direction, which is supposed to make the electrons flow more easily, which in turn improves the tone.

 

My post was tongue-in-cheek, but this is something Gilmour's tech, Phil Taylor, says bought benefits when they did this. I believe they froze instrument cables amongst others, and thought the tone was improved. I have no idea whether this works or not, but if those guys think it did then I'll believe them.

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Steve Browning Grand Master

Steve Browning

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33 minutes ago, chris_b said:

Apparently if you cryogenically freeze. . . . then unfreeze. . . .  cables the copper molecules line up in the same direction, which is supposed to make the electrons flow more easily, which in turn improves the tone.

 

My post was tongue-in-cheek, but this is something Gilmour's tech, Phil Taylor, says bought benefits when they did this. I believe they froze instrument cables amongst others, and thought the tone was improved. I have no idea whether this works or not, but if those guys think it did then I'll believe them.

 

My thoughts exactly. If the guy that can use anything uses them, then that'll do for me.

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SteveXFR Grand Master

SteveXFR

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1 hour ago, Steve Browning said:

Sorry. I wasn't clear. This was Evidence against other makes, as opposed to frozen and not.

 

You're only going to really know that the freezing was what's causing the difference if that's the only difference. Maybe the difference you heard was caused by another difference in the cables, maybe it was caused by the freezing. 

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Oopsdabassist Mentor

Oopsdabassist

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I have a couple of Planet Wave cables and a couple of Cordial ones.  I've had em so long long it was before I had heard of OBBM cables, never gonna get my OBBM ones now, so these buggers had better last a bit longer!!  At the time, I bought em cos they had green bits on the plugs and made em stand out a bit........shallow...moi???

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BreadBin Grand Master

BreadBin

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5 hours ago, chris_b said:

Apparently if you cryogenically freeze. . . . then unfreeze. . . .  cables the copper molecules line up in the same direction, which is supposed to make the electrons flow more easily, which in turn improves the tone.

 

My post was tongue-in-cheek, but this is something Gilmour's tech, Phil Taylor, says bought benefits when they did this. I believe they froze instrument cables amongst others, and thought the tone was improved. I have no idea whether this works or not, but if those guys think it did then I'll believe them.

Having access to several hundred litres of liquid nitrogen I could actually test this - however having seen what this does to soft rubbery plastics I'm not prepared to ruin a perfectly good cable!

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Nail Soup Grand Master

Nail Soup

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6 hours ago, chris_b said:

Gilmour's tech, Phil Taylor, says bought benefits when they did this. I believe they froze instrument cables amongst others,

It was Pink Floyd’s guitar tech who thought of freezing the cables? Sounds more like something that would come from the mind of Syd Barrett!

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SteveXFR Grand Master

SteveXFR

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https://www.takefiveaudio.com/contents/89-cryo

This give a good description of the treatment process. It's a bit more than just throwing a lead in a bucket of liquid nitrogen. 

I noticed that their list of treated custom cables doesn't include instrument leads. 

I imagine that it's purely for recording. It would be completely pointless in any other situation. Even in a recording situation it's a bit pointless these days since everyone just listens to mp3's

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nekomatic Mentor

nekomatic

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6 hours ago, chris_b said:

Apparently if you cryogenically freeze. . . . then unfreeze. . . .  cables the copper molecules line up in the same direction


Copper is an element and in its solid metallic state it doesn’t form molecules. 
 

Reading that website it sounds like they think it does something to the grain boundaries, which solid metallic copper at least does have. On whether it does something that’ll improve the sound of a cable… let’s say you can find me in the sceptic camp. 

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itu Grand Master

itu

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So first you have to freeze the poor copper wires close to the absolute zero. Then you have to use The Cable Cooker to burn the cable in for the ultimate results. Hey, please... snake oil was old before these "technologies" were even invented. I do not welcome some esoteric HiFi jokes to bass playing without reasonable and authorized ABX tests.

And, we already have tone woods under strict inspection and waiting for the ultimate results.

Buy some silicone cable with Neutriks.

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PatrickJ Mentor

PatrickJ

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On 25/11/2021 at 16:46, Reggaebass said:

I mainly use the fender pro series , but I’ve also got a few of the festival hemp rainbow ones that I bought from someone on here, they seem  good quality 

Me I think.. wish I'd kept them though 🤣

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PatrickJ Mentor

PatrickJ

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I used Planet Wave (subsequently D'Addario) American Stage cables for years (the ones with the Nuetrik/Rean jacks).  I've also got Planet Waves XLR cables and Speaker Cables that I've gigged multiple times and never had a problem with any of them.  I recommended them to another BC'er based on my experiences and the fact they have a life time warranty and they had nothing but problems with theirs :(.

I guess like many other companies quality control has just gone out the window in favour of cheaper manufacturing. Last time I make a recommendation to anyone.

 

The only cable I've ever had a serious problem with was an Evidence Audio cable, clearly had some fault but became unusable due to noise.

 

I've been pretty happy with the Mogami instrument cables I've been using recently but I've not gigged them so don't know about durability.  However all this talk about Van Damme cables has got me curious so I've ordered one in goblin green (to match my trace combo) to try one out.

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Ed_S Mentor

Ed_S

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I started off with a Klotz KIK cable which was thrown in with my first bass twenty-odd years ago and rather spoiled me when it came to ubiquitous brands of the time like Planet Waves, as they just never felt particularly good by comparison. I tried Monster cables on the recommendation of a friend - they're reassuringly expensive, feel solid and work just fine but are too thick and inflexible to be truly comfortable on stage. Can't say I ever noticed any issues with the plugs being oversized or anything like that, though. Then just so as not to leave without buying anything, I picked up some ClearTone cables from the Award-Session stand on the way out of a guitar show in Pudsey. Those three cables have done countless rehearsals and gigs over the years since, never causing me any problems at all.

 

In short, a well assembled combination of Van Damme cable and Neutrik jacks is very hard to beat as far as I'm concerned, but I've also never had any problems with Klotz, Cordial and Sommer cables, as well as Switchcraft jacks. I have had one Neutrik silent right-angle jack go bad on me, but it has moving parts so I guess you have to accept that increased likelihood of failure is the price you pay for the extra feature.

 

16 hours ago, itu said:

Buy some silicone cable

 

I'm always game for trying to find even-more-flexible cable - can you recommend any specific brands / products?

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inthedoghouse Rising Star

inthedoghouse

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6 hours ago, Ed_S said:

 I have had one Neutrik silent right-angle jack go bad on me, but it has moving parts so I guess you have to accept that increased likelihood of failure is the price you pay for the extra feature.

 

Same here with one of the Neutrik silent jacks - the moving sleeve part got jammed somehow. 

 

But otherwise I haven't used anything but Van Damme cable with Neutrik plugs for 15 years or so and never had the slightest problem. 

 

Get the parts off eBay and make 'em up yourself and you've got a great cable for little money.  They're nice and flexible too.

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