chord Company cream cables..

[woolz]

well after years of chucking cheapish and moderatley expensive cables away i thought i would invest.
i had two options either the platinum fender bass cables which looked very nice or the chord cream instrument cables. ( i use chord for all my hifi gear so i new they were a top option.)
both companies had good customer service with returning emails answering questions.
quite a tough choice to be honest, but a few factors swade me one way towards chord.
fender did not want to produce me patch cables let alone patch cables to the size i wanted. and also they wouldnt send me any pictures of the inside of thier soldering etc.
i spoke to chord and 'voxpop' on here who both gave me info on the chords including pictures sent from chord ( very impressive). Chord also made me custom size cables and patch leads to suit exactly what i wanted. they also make them directional to which ever end you wish to have amp-instrument. they also ask which end you want on your lead ( angle or straight).
anyway: had them delivered in a tidy well packaged box, soon as i got them out the packaging i could tell they well worth worth the cash. each cable had neutrik ends which were very nice and i could tell would last. Again each cable including the patch cables had been labled up amp/ instrument at the ends depending which end you had requested it to be.
right, time to plug them in:
straight away with the chunky connectors going into both source and my instrument they felt secure, all patch lead connectors pluged in they put my old ones to shame, the thickness of the chord cable compared to my old patch leads even made me laugh, my old cables looked thin and cheap.
i had no crackles from my pedal board which made a change aswel!
the overall sound when i started playing was very nice indeed, seemed more bassy, warm and more accurate, and definately less noise and hum.
i will be looking forward to using these on stage at our next gig and i will give further reviews and pictures to follow

definatley worth the cash. i know these leads are proabably the most expensive you can buy but i can assure you that they are well worth it.
i wont be using anything else again put it that way.

cheers again 'voxpop' and chord company for the service and price

andy

[stevie]

Go on, tell us, how much?

[Stewart]

With the great smell of snake oil mmmmmmm

[woolz]

two 3m leads. each £40 .
and i got a good handful of patch cables, each £20 each

i think the prices have gone up though. £50 for the 3m, £75 for the 6m and £25 for the patch cables.

but if you pm voxpop im sure he will do you a discount.

Edited February 15, 2010 by woolz

[solofunkyjazz]

[quote name='Stewart' post='746628' date='Feb 15 2010, 10:34 PM']With the great smell of snake oil mmmmmmm[/quote]

Try a decent and therefore expensive cable first and then say that .

[stevie]

[quote name='solofunkyjazz' post='746667' date='Feb 15 2010, 11:04 PM']Try a decent and therefore expensive cable first and then say that .[/quote]

Would you say that your Evidence cables are better than the Chords because they are more expensive?

Edited February 15, 2010 by stevie

[Stewart]

I'm perfectly happy with my cables, even though they are unfussy about which 'direction' they're pointing.
They even have the same connectors, 10m, but cost less than half the price of those 3m jobs.

Obviously the saving must have been made in the cable - I mean who'd trust cable made by a bunch of Klotz?

[solofunkyjazz]

[quote name='stevie' post='746686' date='Feb 15 2010, 11:23 PM']Would you say that your Evidence cables are better than the Chords because they are more expensive?[/quote]

No, price doesn't come into it, it's the quality of the thing that counts. I've tried the chord cables and really liked them, I've used Zaolla too and liked them. The EA cables are no better or worse, I just like them.

[stevie]

[quote name='solofunkyjazz' post='746728' date='Feb 16 2010, 12:03 AM']No, price doesn't come into it, <snip>[/quote]
Funny, I thought you said 'decent therefore expensive'.

[voxpop]

[quote name='woolz' post='746645' date='Feb 15 2010, 10:49 PM']£50 for the 3m, £75 for the 6m and £25 for the patch cables.

but if you pm voxpop im sure he will do you a discount. [/quote]


I can offer any Basschatter a 10% discount and free postage on these prices.
These cables have been developed with the bass player in mind. They offer fantastic clarity and insight without any harshness. I have been using these cables personally for the last 3 years and find them worth every penny. If you have an exspensive instrument why strangle it with a peice of cheep and nasty cable.

PM me if you require any.

[Toasted]

Better get youself one of these too: [url="http://www.essentialsound.com/Essence-dist/index.htm"]http://www.essentialsound.com/Essence-dist/index.htm[/url]

[Al Heeley]

Uh oh, "Fantastic clarity and insight" - whenever i hear that sort of phrase connected with cables I can feel my scepticism cloak powering up. I best leave before I get insulting or insulted

[Ancient Mariner]

As with so many things, there are good cables, bad cables and in between cables. Some of these are expensive and some are much cheaper. Use what works for you, provided it's reliable and sounds good to both you and others listening. However a good tip to anyone fed up with 'cheap cables being unreliable' is to learn to solder.

This is one of those debates in which everyone and no-one is right. Worth bearing in mind than many 'classic' tracks were likely recorded with cables we wouldn't touch with a barge pole now.

[johnnylager]

[quote name='Toasted' post='747055' date='Feb 16 2010, 11:36 AM']Better get youself one of these too: [url="http://www.essentialsound.com/Essence-dist/index.htm"]http://www.essentialsound.com/Essence-dist/index.htm[/url][/quote]
Probably the '[i]Exturded aluminum...chosen for its shielding characteristics[/i]' doing it.

[solofunkyjazz]

[quote name='stevie' post='746870' date='Feb 16 2010, 09:07 AM']Funny, I thought you said 'decent therefore expensive'. [/quote]

Well aren't the decent cables expensive then, relatively speaking ?

Zaolla, Evidence audio, Chord etc, they're all the same sort of price, I don't see what you're getting at.

Edited February 16, 2010 by solofunkyjazz

[velvetkevorkian]

I think his point was that you can have good quality without a great deal of expense, so decent doesn't [i]necessarily[/i] mean expensive.

[Captain Rumble]

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' post='747183' date='Feb 16 2010, 01:12 PM']This is one of those debates in which everyone and no-one is right. Worth bearing in mind than many 'classic' tracks were likely recorded with cables we wouldn't touch with a barge pole now.[/quote]
But they were probably the highest quality available at the time

[Tinman]

IMO, stick with OBBM and you can't go far wrong

[Ancient Mariner]

[quote name='Captain Rumble' post='747679' date='Feb 16 2010, 07:45 PM']But they were probably the highest quality available at the time[/quote]

Possibly, but I suspect they were whatever was laying around in the studio at the time, rather than being carefully crafted from low capacitance oxygen free unobtanium wire mega-expenso cable. I've been playing for a little while now, but I've only noticed people caring about what cables they used for the last 15 years or so. Heck, before the internet and forums it was mostly a case of "oh crap, a cable's packed up and I'm gigging tonight: what's the local music shop got for a sensible price?".


Re: expensive cables, I'm using Canare/neutrik (mostly) bought from a small vendor and I was surprised at what good value the cables were. Award-session are also making quality cables at favourable prices. Like I said though, if it works for you: a lot of what we hear is our own imagination, and if the think we sound better with certain gear then we probably do.

[bumnote]

[url="http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/intere.html"]http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/intere.html[/url]

There is an interesting article about hi fi interconnects here

I think we almost need to try to seperate mechanical quality with sound quality

To me it makes sense to use good quality neutrik or similar plugs with proper strain releif as opposed to the plastic moulded plugs. Similarly theres no point in using cheap cable if the insulation is poor or whatever other faults can occur in a cheap cable.

On the other hand even if you can hear the difference between an average cable and your super gold plated platinum lead with the flashing lights, can you hear that difference on stage amongst the crash of the drummers cymbals, and the tuneless widdling of the guitarist

I normally make my own using quality components and reasonable cable. I had my first faulty lead for as long as I can remember which was a rarely used commercially made, and not cheap lead I bought from a local store

[Count Bassy]

If your paying £50 each for two three meter cables then you could buy a 100M roll of Klotz/Van-damme instrument cable for £70 and have about 10 Neutrik gold plated connectors with the change. A few tools and some heat shrink and you're away. 5 cables of whatever length you want, almost certainly cable left over, all for £100.

If you want 'directional' cable then you could use microphone (admitedly more expensive) using the two cores for the signal and earthing the screen at one end (the amp end) only. Or indeed you could use triaxial cable (more expensive again)

However, if you're like a Gorilla when it comes to soldering then perhaps not such a good idea.


In the realms of industrial controls etc the general philosophy on screening has changed dramatically over the last 15 years or so.
It used to follow the 'earth at one end' philosophy, to avoid earth loops, based on most interference being 50Hz mains hum.

However the main source of interference these days are higher frequency, e.g. switch mode power supplies, inverter motor drives, computer equipment mobile phones and, for us Musos, Class D amps. I.e. frequecies from 20KHz up to the Gigahertz. Because of this the generally accepted best practice these days (for industrial applications) is to screen at both ends, in fact to bond screens to earth wherever possible, and to use screened shells on all connectors - the idea being to form an uninterrupted Faraday cage around everything. Being screened at one end only can come into its own still at lower frequencies, but then it is quite common to use a twin screened cable with the outer screen earthed at both ends and the inner screen earthed at one end.

Edited February 18, 2010 by Count Bassy

[Bankai]

I take a good mid ground. I don't buy cheapy cables, but I don't go spending £40 on one either!

£10/15 is just about bearable for me

[Al Heeley]

Celeb-endorsed cables are the way to go. really.
Zakk Wylde is known for his subtle warm hi-fi tones. He can offer 'Application-Specific' cables with sonic bite. Thats quite impressive. For me, application-specific means its specifically good at being a guitar cable, and maybe useless as a toaster or alarm clock perhaps.
Time-correct windings for accurate sound. Wish my guitar playing was more accurate. Maybe this will help me.
[url="http://www.zakkwylde.com/gear.html"]http://www.zakkwylde.com/gear.html[/url]
What's more, microfibre dielectrics preserve those important transients.
They look like a good quality cable but why swamp us with all this shocking bull?

Edited February 18, 2010 by Al Heeley

[velvetkevorkian]

"Style-specific cable design unlocks the full potential of instrument tonalities and provide a sonic signature best fitting your type of music. "
...even after it's been pushed through his signature MXR Overdrive pedal. No expense spared

[stevie]

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='750297' date='Feb 18 2010, 10:32 PM']They look like a good quality cable but why swamp us with all this shocking bull?[/quote]

Because it allows the cable company to "add value" and so increase its prices and profit margins. When they started out, Chord used to make no-nonsense, well priced cables. Now they sell speaker cables for £1,000 a pair, which gives you an idea of their business model. By the way, virtually none of these cable companies actually makes its own cable or plugs; they just assemble the bits and market them.

Any company can assemble a good quality 6m instrument cable and get it to market for around £25 - Neutrik jacks, a proven pro cable like Klotz, Belden, Canare - or even less using a good quality 'no brand' cable. From a performance point of view, there is no point spending much more than this - you're not going to make a better performing cable. If you do want to spend more, your extra money should go into very high build quality and QC, but chances are that what you'll get for your money is audio jewelry and - quite possibly - an inferior cable.

When marketing is more important than engineering you get things like Chord's cream outer jacket (I can't think of a worse colour for a cable that's going to spend most of its time on the floor) or the solid core of the Evidence cable, which not only makes the cable stiffer than it needs to be but also makes it much more susceptible to breakage.

Much of what is written about 'exotic' cables is written in good faith by people who really believe what they say and are convinced they have actually heard improvements from their expensive bits of wire. Unfortunately, they are often listening with their eyes.

Edited February 19, 2010 by stevie