Limited signal from an instrument cable.

[Marvin]

One of my instrument cables is a bit odd. The output/signal when I use this particular lead is noticeably lower and the tone (passive bass) barely makes any difference when you rotate it. 

I thought it was one of my basses playing up, but it's definitely this one cable. Regards the tone it's like you've dialed back the tone control half way.

 

Anyone come across this or know what the issue with this cable might be?

 

(It's Van Damme cable and Neutrik jacks)

 

Cheers. 

[Captain Rumble]

Have had this problem with an instrument cable tried it with different instruments, amps ect with out it changing checked both jacks but unable to find any kind of fault so I just stopped using that cable. I guess the insulation must have been breaking down/faulty or some such thing I'm no expert on these things.

 

[Woodinblack]

Yes, it needs throwing away.

 

Obviously some kind of breakdown in the cable, no point having something like that around (probably keep the plugs and ditch the lead).

[PaulThePlug]

If ya handy with a soldering iron... i'd cut an inch or two off each end, or past any strain relief... and solder the plugs back on... worth a go...

[Velarian]

When I was gigging many eons ago we assumed any cable problems were likely to be caused by issues near to the plugs due to the increased flexing at those points. A possible solution is to chop

a foot off one end and re-solder the plug, try it again and if still an issue, chop a foot off the other end. After that chop the cable in half with a chance of possibly saving half of it. 

[Velarian]

3 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

If ya handy with a soldering iron... i'd cut an inch or two off each end, or past any strain relief... and solder the plugs back on... worth a go...

Ha! You beat me to it. Although I’m suggesting a foot rather than a couple of inches. 😉

[PaulThePlug]

Depends what ya can afford to loose... 😉

 

Also watch out for any other thin conductive screening or wrap that might be around the inner insulator and betweem the braid...

[Marvin]

Cheers, I'll get the soldering iron out and 'prune' my the lead.

[obbm]

Before you chop the ends off open up the jacks and make sure the black conductive plastic screen is well clear of the central signal wire.

[Chimike]

Swop leads with the guitarist !
Double Whammy .

[itu]

Is there an old Neutrik Silent Plug involved? There were few issues with them in the early days.

 

Other than that the cable may be lost because of misuse (speaker cable), or too much and hard bending.

[2x18]

If it is the Van Damme Classic instrument cable, the problem I have found is that the centre core has 2 shield coverings -- The inner one white with a black one  over it. If the black one is not trimmed back over the white by a few mm it alters the conductivity and you loose tone.

 

Hope the photo helps to show how it should be stripped back.

 

Will.

[Bigguy2017]

On 24/04/2022 at 19:01, PaulThePlug said:

Depends what ya can afford to loose... 😉

 

Also watch out for any other thin conductive screening or wrap that might be around the inner insulator and betweem the braid...

Yes, this. Be sure to remove any conductive plastic (thin black layer) around the central conductor.

[mybass]

Cut the ends off and re-solder…..I found a single strand of the earth woven wrap was causing intermittent volume drop, took weeks to spot it on the well used cable, now working as new.

[AJ567]

Not a solution, but related. I would thoroughly recommend getting a cable tester like this one. It's helped me on a few such cables, which looked fine on visual inspection and tested fine with a mutli-meter. Somehow the lights on the tester are way more sensitive to these sneaky shield problems.

 

Cheap gadget and worth its weight in gold. 

 

 

[mybass]

1 hour ago, AJ567 said:

Not a solution, but related. I would thoroughly recommend getting a cable tester like this one. It's helped me on a few such cables, which looked fine on visual inspection and tested fine with a mutli-meter. Somehow the lights on the tester are way more sensitive to these sneaky shield problems.

 

Cheap gadget and worth its weight in gold. 

 

 

Aaaargh....forgot I had an old Peavey cable tester  in the 'stores', I should have tried that first....will now keep it out of storage!!

[Chienmortbb]

In my experience, the older Van Damme instrument cable is very prone to breaking near the plug. I don't know about the newer stuff as I stopped buying it/them.

[Marvin]

On 24/04/2022 at 22:59, obbm said:

Before you chop the ends off open up the jacks and make sure the black conductive plastic screen is well clear of the central signal wire.

 

On 25/04/2022 at 19:02, 2x18 said:

If it is the Van Damme Classic instrument cable, the problem I have found is that the centre core has 2 shield coverings -- The inner one white with a black one  over it. If the black one is not trimmed back over the white by a few mm it alters the conductivity and you loose tone.

 

Hope the photo helps to show how it should be stripped back.

 

Will.

Thank you. 

 

It was exactly this. I trimmed the black conductive plastic screen on both ends and the cable works perfectly now. (I'm not showing you my soldering though because it's truly awful...but functional).

 

It was a cable I'd put together myself,  so a bit less speed next time and a bit more research. 

 

Thanks to everyone for your help.