Expensive Cables Vs. Cheap Cables: Is There REALLY Any Difference?

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[MikeFoerster]

I generally buy middle of the road cables, not too cheap and not too expensive. I want the cables to last. I have a bunch of 20' Peavey cables that I bought in the 90's, they've been stepped on and have been used forever. They are still going strong.

[michaelmay]

Yeah, the expensive cables have a richness and depth that unfolds into a citrusy floral finish. The cheap ones sounds like the harmonic version of Mad Dog 20/20.

[allanflippin]

Robert,
At my advanced age, I can no longer consider myself to have "golden ears". I fully expected to hear no difference at all. But I did hear a difference. The cheap cable seemed to produce slightly muffled sound compared to the Mogami. A difference in capacitance could explain it. But it's very slight and fixable by an EQ pedal.
Before getting into electric guitars, I've been a hi-fi enthusiast since my teens. "Magic" cables come up all the time in hi-fi and religious wars are fought over them. From my experience, speaker cables are fine as long as they're heavy enough to carry the power. Line-level cables are fine as long as they have good shielding. Lately, there's a hi-fi war over power cables. I haven't participated in that one yet :D
Rock on my man!

[jorgosagb]

I never considered the tone to be influenced by the cable. I always figured the more expensive ones had better shielding.

[SH-fmeu]

"You got 480v and 100 amps per leg of screaming death staring you in the face, if you wanna trust your life to a 15 dollar Radio Shack meter..." was what I heard when musing whether to upgrade to the Fluke. "You got 200 hot sweaty drunk ass hill jacks ready to go all Bob's Country Bunker on ya, do you want to trust your life to a 10 dollar cable?!" Go for the upgrade Glamour Boy!

[finnadunk]

from working at GC for a couple years I have a ton of cables. they range from expensive to cheap and pretty much what you're saying is truth. Build quality will last longer but the sound quality has no discernible difference.

[Metalbass]

Nothing beats the warmth, clarity, and articulation of those old, curly 70's cables. Sure, you may not be able to technically 'hear' or 'measure' the difference, but it is clearly or something. 😆

I have 2 Whirlwind cables that I bought in 2001. Those things have seen countless times on stage, been in extreme temperature changes, plus probably been yanked around when I got too animated on stage. They still show no signs of letting up.

[dontderockmerizz]

The long Mogami cable sounded better than the 2 cheap ones & the shorter mogami.

[parkkingery]

What I heard was the highs came through better with the Mogami.

[dawnr]

Gold plated plugs and contacts really make the difference.

[vincebagadonis]

Im very happy that you addressed this controversial subject matter! So I went and spent 50 bucks on a Mogami, not for the alleged sonic clarity (I'm sure that's BS) but for the build quality. Honestly, I was pretty fed up with cheap cables failing on me, especially when it happened on stage. Like the Mogami cable you have, that wire is pretty indestructible, and a cable is something that's gonna take a beating and you NEED to work everytime! Just make sure you keep your eye on it at all times at the rehearsal studio or live gig. Your Mogami will never fail you, but mark my words, someone somewhere is gonna try to steal it from you!

[iancurrie]

Why not use a looper to produce the exact same signal and then analyze the waveform to see if there are any changes rather than this...method...

[richardvirginia]

The Mogami cables I have are still good over 25 years. I would buy a dozen cheap cables after one year. If you do the math, it makes sense to invest in the good stuff. Sound may not be the big issue, but reliability is.

[BradRocker]

I'm hearing better articulation and clarity with the expensive cable.

[garybrady]

My favorite instrument cable is one I had built 10 years ago he's also made me a few pedal cables to work on my 2 level board it wasn't exactly cheap but in my mind it was affordable

[topfloorstudio]

I like all different cables. I use early Spectraflex from the 90s + my Monster Cables. & my Mogami + my Pig Hog as of recently. I use pretty much everything and I run a studio so take that for what it's worth.

[jessegreci]

As someone who works at a premier cable factory in the USA, yes. Yes there is a difference.

[TylerJohnstonGuitar]

I use cheap cables and take very good care of them. No issues at all. I do like Monster Cables for the lifetime warranty though.

[rnrsteev]

I find expensive cables to be more durable.

[BIBSTERSrepairshop]

Great video for the update in a few weeks what about using an ohm meter to show the how similar they are with the resistance also would be be a great way to show 10 vs 25 differences.