Coiled cables and “tone”

[StevenC]

Oh so, in that case just having a buffer at the beginning of your pedal board solves the high-end roll off issue right?

The usual suggestion is that, if you're not using some sort of looper switcher, you should have the first pedal be a buffered pedal, then the rest of your pedals should be true bypass pedals until the last pedal, which should also be buffered.

This gets complicated if you're running pedals that don't like buffered signals, as others have said, like fuzzes. But those should be at the start of your signal chain anyway and should be alleviated by a short cable from guitar to pedalboard. This then lets you have a long cable from your pedalboard to your amp.

So ideally:
guitar>short cable>fuzz/wah*>buffered pedal>true bypass pedals>buffered pedal>long cable>amp
Then you apply the usual rules about pedal ordering, and if you're using an fx loop, then short cable to a buffer into long cable back to the board if you need to control these effects, buffer long cable back to fx return.

*Fuzzes and wah, if you're using them, should go in whichever order you think sounds better. Some wahs may be buffered.

 

[Winspear]

I wonder how much a coil increases the length by. Perhaps double, triple? Worth mentioning cable capacitance varies so much that some have 4-5x more than others - so in theory if a coiled cable was made from low cap cable, it could still be brighter than a straight cable several times its length. Unlikely, but yeah. If you care about this kind of stuff, you'll want to only buy cables that list their capacitance (or have it mentioned somewhere online). Expensive doesn't mean always mean bright, either (I'm looking at you, Mogami Gold) http://www.shootoutguitarcables.com/guitar-cables-explained/capacitance-chart.html

 

[A-Branger]

Petrucci's current sig has an active preamp in it specifically for this reason. According to him anyway. I think it has like 20db of gain too or something too.

nope, it is so he can boost the signal for a solo or something like that. Instead of stepping on a boost pedal.

with the touring size rig he has, he would use a buffer on his board before using a boost on his guitar. Plus he plays with a wireless pack, so no need to buffer the signal as theres no long ass cable.

if you have the link of him saying that please share as I wanna see that interview

 

[LiveOVErdrive]

nope, it is so he can boost the signal for a solo or something like that. Instead of stepping on a boost pedal.

with the touring size rig he has, he would use a buffer on his board before using a boost on his guitar. Plus he plays with a wireless pack, so no need to buffer the signal as theres no long ass cable.

if you have the link of him saying that please share as I wanna see that interview

God it's gonna be hard to find. It was one of the videos where he's promoting the guitar for EBMM. He talked specifically about how he likes to use cables on stage for reasons, and having the boost in there made it so you could have long cable runs without affecting the tone. He also mentioned the 12db boost for solos though, so.... I'm not sure what was going on there.

Either that or I have a vivid memory of something fake. Your explanation definitely makes sense.

 

[LiveOVErdrive]

nope, it is so he can boost the signal for a solo or something like that. Instead of stepping on a boost pedal.

with the touring size rig he has, he would use a buffer on his board before using a boost on his guitar. Plus he plays with a wireless pack, so no need to buffer the signal as theres no long ass cable.

if you have the link of him saying that please share as I wanna see that interview

Never mind I found it.



Go to 3:28
Though I was sorta wrong. The boost is separate from simply having an active buffer built in.

 

[A-Branger]

awesomme thank you