Choosing Cables
Contents
Material
I like braided (cloth) cables over rubber cables. The rubber ones tend to pick up all the sticky gunk on random floors, which then gets covered in dirt and other crud.
Brand
I like Dimarzio and Horizon cables the best. They have performed very well over a long period of time, and none of them have failed me. Every other brand of cable I've owned, including lots of bargain ones, have failed.
Warranty
Many cables come with a lifetime warranty. That's great to hear, but it's not very practical to honor, and many times some no-name brand will be defunct before you need to honor it. I find it's best to get cables that last. If you want the assurance of a warranty, be sure to choose a brand that is reputable and successful and provides a clear, cheap (time and money-wise) method of honoring the warranty.
Length
There's generally 3 ranges of sizes for cables:
- Patch - 1-24" cables for daisy chaining pedals or other close proximity gear
- Midrange - 2-8' cables for longer gear interconnections and connecting to guitar for practice/bedroom situations
- Stage - 8'+ cables to run across a stage, to connect a pedal-board to your amps and to gain freedom of movement on stage with your guitar
Type
Most analog cables are mono, unbalanced, with 1/4" male TS jacks.
- Instrument Level
- Line Level
- Speaker Level
- Balanced vs. Unbalanced
- Connectors