Boutique cables

[spudmunkey]

What are some of your favorite boutique cable brands?

Do you find any of them have features/construction better than the higher end "mass produced" cables from Mogami, George L, etc or mid-tier Fender, Monster, etc?

Have any of you gotten your hands on multiple boutique brands and been able to speak to any differences between them?

A couple of brands off the top of my head:
Rattlesnake Cable Company
Happy Cables

Thoughts? Experiences? Warnings?

 

[ExMachina]

So you can do the same thing yourself cheaper, but...I'm lazy. I have a happy cable and a second on the way. I really like the sleeving they use, I think it's techflex. Are they worth it over a standard cable, probably not, but I like them and so I don't mind paying.

 

[laxu]

I use Klotz La Grange for the following reasons:

- Low capacitance.
- Locally available.
- Reasonably priced. I usually buy a 9m one and cut it in half then solder some Neutrik plugs. Cheaper than buying two 4.5m cables.

There's a lot of cable companies out there and my advice is to avoid any that don't list their capacitance/feet or meter specs. While some of them make a good product, marketing with mystery specs is straight up bullshit. Most cables are nothing more than Neutrik or Switchcraft plugs and cable of varying capabilities.

 

[SalsaWood]

I have a guy who makes mine for me. Before that I used Mogami platinum. The customs I have are spec'd cleaner, though.

 

[jaxadam]

Spectraflex

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

Guitar Cables

Original Series Guitar Cables Vintage Series Standard Series Dual Conductor Fatso Flex Baldee Pedal Cables

spectraflex.com

Made in the USA. Sound great. Lifetime warranty. Never had an issue with a single one.

 

[4Eyes]

I make my own - Sommer Spirit LLX or Klotz AC110 + Neutrik/Hicon plugs because it's cheapper and they're better than premade cable in the same price range

 

[CanserDYI]

So I've always had the mentality of it either works or it doesn't work when it comes to cables, and pretty much every cable I've ever used cheap or expensive has sounded the exact same. I typically buy the braided cheapos and have tons lying around and never had an issue with any of them.

Am I really even missing anything here besides longevity/durability here by not buying expensive? I still have plenty of my cheapos from years and years ago so how "rugged" do they really need to be?

 

[MatrixClaw]

So I've always had the mentality of it either works or it doesn't work when it comes to cables, and pretty much every cable I've ever used cheap or expensive has sounded the exact same. I typically buy the braided cheapos and have tons lying around and never had an issue with any of them.

Am I really even missing anything here besides longevity/durability here by not buying expensive? I still have plenty of my cheapos from years and years ago so how "rugged" do they really need to be?

Same. I have a few Mogami, George L, Monster and some that were custom made from Redco parts. I use the cheapo Amazon braided cables the most, as they're easily replaceable and if one breaks, I don't feel bad. I only really choose my expensive cables when going with XLRs. Those are the only ones I've been able to notice much difference in sound on.

 

[Meeotch]

So I've always had the mentality of it either works or it doesn't work when it comes to cables, and pretty much every cable I've ever used cheap or expensive has sounded the exact same. I typically buy the braided cheapos and have tons lying around and never had an issue with any of them.

Am I really even missing anything here besides longevity/durability here by not buying expensive? I still have plenty of my cheapos from years and years ago so how "rugged" do they really need to be?

It is true that there is a lot of snake oil marketing in some of the expensive cable options, but I guarantee that if you did true A/B testing with various cables you would find that they actually do sound different. Not necessarily better or worse, but it is a fact that capacitance varies from cable to cable depending on a number of factors and therefore the amount of high end content in your signal will vary. It's up to the end user how much this matters, and honestly a short cheap cable can sound damn close to a longer expensive cable.

 

[CTID]

D'addario American Stage cables are great, and i think i also have some roadhog cables that i've been using for something like 10 years. I really don't buy into the hype of expensive cables, it reeks of the same cork-sniffing shit that leads to enthusiasts paying hundreds for HDMI cables or audiophiles buying platinum A/V cables for their turntables. at the end of the day if you're happy it's fine but even if it makes a difference, it's going to be so minute that anyone else would have literally 0 idea anyway

 

[Choop]

I have some Pig Hog cables that seemed like a decent deal. Had to hunt around for info on the capacitance, but reportedly a response from their customer support said about 36pF/ft, so not too bad for the money I guess. They seem pretty solid so far.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

I've been using Free The Tone cables exclusively, but that's not surprising to some...

Disclaimer, yes, they're as expensive/boutique and as corksniffery as it gets, and yes, I'm on the artist roster so take my praises with a grain of salt, but they're awesome and I've had no problems with their cables at all. Their solderless kits are brain dead easy to put together too.

 

[spudmunkey]

I've had good luck with every "name brand" I've had, with very few failures of those. I've had cables that were, like, local music store "house brand" cables, and those failed because the straight relief barely relieved any strain. I've not had any "tone" failures with any cable I've ever purchased, though I'm not sure I've ever bought a cable longer than 10ft that wasn't a proper name brand.

Sometimes it's just fun to splurge on something that feels or looks more premium, just like getting a figured wood top rather than a plain wood top, etc.

 

[cindarkness]

I use Klotz La Grange for the following reasons:

- Low capacitance.
- Locally available.
- Reasonably priced. I usually buy a 9m one and cut it in half then solder some Neutrik plugs. Cheaper than buying two 4.5m cables.

There's a lot of cable companies out there and my advice is to avoid any that don't list their capacitance/feet or meter specs. While some of them make a good product, marketing with mystery specs is straight up bullshit. Most cables are nothing more than Neutrik or Switchcraft plugs and cable of varying capabilities.

I've always thought the Klotz Funkmaster cables are one of the best. Mine lasted for years until I took a hammer to it, long story..

 

[Kosthrash]

My understanding is that cables don't have their own 'tone', but the less tone sucking & less noise they introduce, the better... Am I right?

 

[Mura]

My understanding is that cables don't have their own 'tone', but the less tone sucking & less noise they introduce, the better... Am I right?

Theoretically, the higher the capacitance of the cable, the greater the loss of high frequency sound.
Therefore, some people may perceive this loss of treble as the cable's own tone or a kind of equalization.

I think it is better to use a cable with low capacitance, low treble loss, and no noise, and to shave off only the unwanted frequencies at the end of the cable than to be obsessed with this.

 

[StevenC]

@Winspear makes great cables that don't suck tone. They sound far better than my Mogami cables, which are like rolling down the tone knob.

 

[narad]

@Winspear makes great cables that don't suck tone. They sound far better than my Mogami cables, which are like rolling down the tone knob.

I don't believe that, but still, if you have to support some random company or a good dude on the forums, why not the latter? Down with Big Cable!

 

[StevenC]

I don't believe that, but still, if you have to support some random company or a good dude on the forums, why not the latter? Down with Big Cable!

I've done A/B comparisons and the difference is quite clear. I preferred the Winspear cables, but my friend preferred the Mogamis.

 

[narad]

I've done A/B comparisons and the difference is quite clear. I preferred the Winspear cables, but my friend preferred the Mogamis.

Damn, death blow to winspear.