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Posts: 623
Location: Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey | Was looking for some new cables (mic, etc.) and saw that Monster brand has guitar cables suited to music genres-ie rock, jazz, etc.
They have an acoustic guitar cable ($80 for 20ft! OUCH!) designed to add warmth to piezo pickups and transfer the nuances of the guitar...yadda, yadda, yadda...
Sounds like B.S. to me, but not being a tech head, what do I know. Can a cable change sound that dramatically? I believe a good cable is a great investment and can improve sound over a cheapy, but $80 worth? At that price, if it's not going to do my laundry too...
Just wondered if anyone has one or checked em out, or can shed some light I'd love to know more...they are a big name in cables. Input?
Johnny |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | I really wonder if you could tell the difference with your eyes closed. |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Well, . . you'd be able to feel that your wallet's a little thinner. . . .
I've got a couple of Monster cables, and I really like 'em . . . very dependable. Haven't seen these "custom-tailored for acoustic/electrics" though . . .
Probably some gimmick with the shielding . . .
". . . At that price, if it's not going to do my laundry too... . ."
- for $80, it should be giving me a good reason for having my laundry DONE . . |
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Posts: 425
Location: SE Michigan | It depends on the overtone you desire. For example, cables made with "Brazilian Copper" favor the darker bass side of the spectrum. Cables with Adirondack or Austrian plastic on the insulating sheaths enhance sustain. Some cables even contain fossilized mammoth dung as a dielectric spacer between the jack tip and shield, these are preferred by finger-style players. |
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Posts: 2850
Location: Midland, MI | I would be surprised if you could tell the difference, but then I've been known to not be terribly disciminating. :)
That being said, I won't buy anything Monster Cables makes with the whole lawsuit-as-business-model thing they have going (Google is your friend). I won't support it. But, that's just me. |
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Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | It depends on the overtone you desire. For example, cables made with "Brazilian Copper" favor the darker bass side of the spectrum. Cables with Adirondack or Austrian plastic on the insulating sheaths enhance sustain. Some cables even contain fossilized mammoth dung as a dielectric spacer between the jack tip and shield, these are preferred by finger-style players.
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There is always a grain of truth in humor.
That is the funniest thing I have read here in a long time. :D |
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Location: Nova Scotia, Canada | Remember, the Emperor really liked his new clothes, too! :rolleyes:
Wayne |
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Posts: 1300
Location: Madison, Wisconsin | Brian,
Don't forget "Tinned Copper" cables. They bring out the bright side of the sound spectrum. |
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December 2004
Posts: 1673
Location: SoCal | Brian,
Can you give us the pros and "cons" on:
:p hand soldered vs. machine soldered connections
:eek: long grain copper conductors vs. short grain
:rolleyes: oxygen free copper vs. "oxygenated?"
:) Self Shielding Counter-Spiral Hyperlitz geometry vs. the standard foil and braid shielding |
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Posts: 2850
Location: Midland, MI | And then cover the benefits of cryogenic treatment of steel guitar strings. |
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May 2003
Posts: 425
Location: SE Michigan | The very best tonally responsive copper is "free range copper". This type of copper is only harvested in it's natural state, when found laying on the ground. You see mining copper with huge machinery drives out the free radical valiance electrons which give free range copper it's pure harmonic tap tone. You can actually pick up a piece of free range copper and tap it with a hammer and hear it's natural harmonics. Mined copper sounds weaker when tapped because the free electrons have been traumitized by the in-humane mining process. Some people claim that placing mined copper in front of speakers and playing Devo records repeatedly at max volume can restore some of the free valance electrons and result in a purer tap tone. But I think it's best to demand the real thing when buying a cable, pure book-matched free range copper.
Also most people agree you have to actually play the cable before buying, ideally several different cables, with a friend across the room who can comment on the quality of the harmonic overtones. Compare cables of different color and length before buying, and dont forget to get a cable humidifier to keep your cable from cracking. |
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Posts: 580
Location: NW NJ | Brian - I haven't laughed that hard in weeks :D |
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Posts: 782
Location: Waurika OK | Got to get Brian and Bailey get in the same room with two computers networked. Give em' a topic and stand back, way back.
Pegleg Dog Hopkins |
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Location: Las Cruces, NM | xnoel
No use!!
I am speechless when confronted with such deep and insightful, scientific, dubious, deeply opinionated, well researched, mentally challenging (challenged?), revelations of historic significance and miniscule social relevance. I just have a deep desire to buy one of those cables and plug it into my voice box (swallow it?) and hear those beautiful stentorian tones that should sound like the three Irish tenors harmonizing on "The Rose of Tralee" if it works like it should.
Why waste that kind of technology on a guitar when the real money is in singing.
Hurrah for free range copper, and I'm sure they have doped it with a small dab of anti-krypton to preserve the Super Man singing syndrone, where you blast your neighbors windows out on the high notes.
Bailey :rolleyes: |
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Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | I often stay up past my bedtime watching old westerns (currently Mountain Men) to see what Bailey will post as he waxes eloquent...
;) :p ;) |
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Posts: 2487
| Ohhhhh....... My God! ????? |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | How does all this effect my Nday wireless system? I only use free range duracells in that. |
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Posts: 425
Location: SE Michigan | Sadly, some cablers still compromise ethics and dope free range copper with antikryptonite, some people will do anything for money. But buyers need to be aware that under the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), even the artist can be fined for merely possessing a cable containing doped copper.
A friend of mine had a show at Yellowstone Lodge. There was a Ranger in the audience who caught a glint of the tell-tale maize-umber color that is reflected by doped copper. Next thing he knows my buddy is in hand-cuffs, thrown in the back of a van and jailed in nearby Bozeman Montana. His cable was cut into tiny pieces, and some over-zealous Green Peace workers actually poked their fingers through the cones of his PA speakers. It took fourteen months and over seven grand in fees and fines for him to finally regain his freedom. Dont risk it man, good sound just aint worth the price.
But if you really want the pure, undoped, ring of free range copper, Behringer has a new cable-modeler pre-amp. It uses 24 bit digital signaling to actually duplicate (more-or-less) the sounds of sixteen classic cables. I havn't tried it yet but I am told it comes pretty close to the real thing, at least for studio use. My buddy (now reformed) uses one and really likes the Jimmy Hendrix melted-rubber with lighter fluid highlights setting. He also said that the Jan and Dean corroded sea-salt setting really recaptures the buzz and crackle of that time. |
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Location: Vermont USA | And I thought I was crazy. Some of you must live near area 51 :eek: I cant wait till the factory tour and meet you all.
Paul (Sleepy Harp Hopkins) |
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Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | All craziness aside............
I use Monster cables for some of the hookups between the various components of my home studio.
Here's why.....
Monster has a no questions asked guarantee on their cables. I have cut their cables up and modified them....then decided I screwed up. No problem...take them back to the local ProSound guitar store and they give me brand new ones...EVEN THOUGH I PURPOSELY CUT THE OLD ONES UP!!
Today, I carried in a couple of 2 meter cords because I decided they were too short. Nothing wrong with the cables...just too short.
The store immediately credited me the cost of the 2 meter cables (no receipt required) and upgraded me to brand new 3 meter cables for a whopping $5 each, which was the difference in cost between the two.
Sometimes paying a little higher price for cables, regardless of the hype, is a good thing!
Stephen |
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Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Cutting up expensive cables isn't "craziness aside"? Then swindling your honest and poverty stricken vendor, WELLL, I'll take honest insanity over blatant unfettered destruction of equipment. REPENT YOU OVATONICALLY CHALLENGED SINNER!!!
I would cuss you out if I could get this Monster cable out of my throat, as long as it is there my cusses sound like "The Wearing of the Green" as done by the Three Tenors. I was right, IT WORKED!!! |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Of course it is not crazy when you know you can replace it for FREE! (which obviously adds to the higher cost to begin with ;)
Stephen |
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Location: Las Cruces, NM | Stephen
Your soul is destined for purgatory, buy five guitars from Al and say over and over, "I will never again cheat my local guitar store unless I can get away with it." To avoid burning in hell, send $20 to each OFC member.
I will now ask for a vote from the members as to whether this form of soul cleansing should be carried out.
Members, it's $20 or nothing, please vote your conscience!! |
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December 2004
Posts: 1673
Location: SoCal | Bailey,
Should the SINNER contact The Monster personally to convey every OFC member’s high regard of the Monster Guitar Cable’s sonic properties and that it is our Cable of Choice? |
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Posts: 1673
Location: SoCal | Brian,
I’m not ready for Behringer’s Cable-Modeler. Ethics is most important though. I will accept the minor loss in my high-end and pledge to only use “Dope-Free” Free Range Copper. Will I really notice the difference? When I was younger I wanted to hit higher, and higher, and higher frequencies. Now approaching 50, I realize that above a certain point, higher doesn’t matter. I hid my use of doped copper even from my wife. I was so afraid of running out... I resorted to hiding it in free range chicken egg shells in the refrigerator. Now I can go back to using my refrigerator for what I learned it was for back in high school: storing my pots and coke.
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Monster "Acoustic" guitar cable
