Most durable cables for the money?

[krftwrk70]

I just had TWO cables crap out on me last night on stage, and of course, this is completely unacceptable. I'm swapping out my whole cable setup ASAP.

So a question: What do you think are the most durable cables for the money?

[losthighway]

I don't trust bargain basement guitar cables. Planet waves stuff is good, Monster Cable is overpriced and over-hyped but they work well for guitar. My favorite cable I made out of Mogami mic cable and gave to my girlfriend. It has the clearest, loudest signal I've ever sent from my guitar to my amp.

[rty5150]

i do like my monster rock for guitar, but since i didn't have to pay for the 2 i own, it's awesome, and they do sound better than an average live wire or planet waves.

as for mic cables, i love my mogami cables, but only have about a half dozen of them. i use the whirlwind cables from unique squared and they are awesome for the price. i have a lot of better cables, but these are my workhorses.


rich

[Scodiddly]

The website looks kind of cheesy, but the cables (and the other stuff, especially the DI's) are very solid. Good people to buy from, too.

www.audiopile.net

[Marc Alan Goodman]

The website looks kind of cheesy, but the cables (and the other stuff, especially the DI's) are very solid. Good people to buy from, too.

www.audiopile.net

Awesome. How have i never seen that before? Those passive DIs look great for the price.

[wren]

Lava Cable. They sell mostly really ritzy cable, but they sell Mogami and Canare as well, and for very reasonable prices. I bought about $300 worth of various-sized guitar cables from them years ago and haven't had a single one crap out (and I gigged pretty heavily, and I'm not nice to my cables). They're very well-made, and the price markup is pretty minimal; it would cost you almost as much to just make the cables yourself, and when you factor in the time it would take you...

Plus, they have fantastic, speedy service and they're a cool small company to support.

[ThePitz]

I say this reasonably often. But I rolled my own with Canare cable and Nuetrik connectors about seven years ago, now - and they have not failed me once.

When it comes to "what guitar cable?" This is always my first answer.

[T-rex]

The website looks kind of cheesy, but the cables (and the other stuff, especially the DI's) are very solid. Good people to buy from, too.

www.audiopile.net

Awesome. How have i never seen that before? Those passive DIs look great for the price.

I second that. And what about the mic stand for $25? I know it's no atlas but it has an all metal base, that's a good deal for a home studio if it holds up.

[wren]

I say this reasonably often. But I rolled my own with Canare cable and Nuetrik connectors about seven years ago, now - and they have not failed me once.

When it comes to "what guitar cable?" This is always my first answer.

Totally agreed, which is why I recommend Lava Cable. It's basically paying a little extra for someone who is a better solderer than you (or me, anyway) to do all the work. And I don't know about you, but while I don't mind making a cable or three, if I need a whole slew of patch cables I'd sometimes rather pay someone else a little to do it.

...But then, I have a gigantic pedalboard, and often forget that most people don't. If all you need is a cable or three, then I agree; make your own.

[E.Bennett]

audiopile.net is great. liz and mark are great with customer service.

[jgimbel]

FWIW I don't love the Monster guitar cable I've got. I'm FAR from an audiophile, and a lot of my recording setup isn't conducive to making the most of extreme subtleties, but I swear the monster cable has a different sound to it. I'm talking about guitar > monster cable > amp. It sounds a little more..grainy I guess would be the word? A little like the sound of an impedance mismatch..like when I wanted to see if I could reamp using the outputs of my Firestudio Project straight into an amp by just changing the signal level a bit - there's sound, but something's off about it. The only time I use this cable is when I need a little grittier sound, which is not too often (aka there are better ways to get that).

I've seen audiopile before but the look of the site made me think it might be too good to be true. That might be my next stop, I could use some mic cords.

[tdbajus]

George L.

I have been using the same 2 cables since the 90s (with the brass connectors not the silver plugs). I have bought some backups, and have never needed to use them. They sound great on guitar, too. I use the angle plugs on my pedalboard too. Love 'em.

There's a box of fancy Fulltone and Monster cables I have bought and let my keyboard player use.

Now that I think about it, those 2 cables are the 2nd and 3rd oldest pieces of constantly used equipment I have- the only thing that I have used longer is my old AD9 delay pedal. Those cables have outlasted most of my guitars.

Funny.

[Marc Alan Goodman]

I've had George L's CONSTANTLY crap out on me, but that's using the solderless ends. I know it's high quality cable.

[ott0bot]

The website looks kind of cheesy, but the cables (and the other stuff, especially the DI's) are very solid. Good people to buy from, too.

www.audiopile.net

That place looks great. I was looking for cheap mic pouches a while back and I ended up going to ebay. To bad I didn't see these $1.75 specials before!

I need some y cables for hooking up my compressor sidechains, and some xlr - trs cables....I think I might give them a shot.

[thunderboy]

Other issues aside, Monster cables are just plain unreliable. I can't tell you how many I have seen crap out on stage over the last 12 years.

Store-bought, I find Quantum to be perfectly acceptable - inexpensive and very reliable. Roll-your-own is even better, if you are up for it.

jt