Bass thru guitar cable. SAEF?

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Just got a sweet-ass, face-melting bass amp that makes every dog in a three-block radius crap the floor. The vibrations take inches off old womens' waists and send young womens' panties straight to the laundry.

But now I'm wondering, is it safe to use my regular guitar cables, or do I need to use a special bass cable, like this one:

http://data.muzikus.cz/save/db_images/16321

http://www.monstercable.com/pro_audio/productPagePro.asp?pin=2308&LastPage=Instument%20Cables

Will ordinary instrument cables not made to meet the specific needs of today's bassist allow dangerous high frequency tones to pass through through and potentially damage my killer bass amp?

Name Not Found (rogermexico), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 22:51 (seventeen years ago) link

High-frequency tones always be passin' thru thanks to overtones. I'm pretty sure bass amps are build to withstand high end.

step hen faps (Curt1s Stephens), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 23:15 (seventeen years ago) link

(But I know nothing about bass amps or amps in general so don't take my word for it.)

step hen faps (Curt1s Stephens), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 23:16 (seventeen years ago) link

That should be "today's active bassist," clearly.

nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 23:24 (seventeen years ago) link

That should be "today's active bassist," clearly.

Are there different bass cables for active vs. passive pickups?

Name Not Found (rogermexico), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 23:28 (seventeen years ago) link

High-frequency tones always be passin' thru thanks to overtones. I'm pretty sure bass amps are build to withstand high end.

But the more high tones it has to reproduce the less of my precious 600 watts will be available to deliver chest-pounding bass POWER, right?

Name Not Found (rogermexico), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 23:30 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm pretty sure that for as long as there have been electric basses, amps, and cables, people have been using the same cables for bass and guitar. Could a better quality cable improve the sound somewhat? Possibly, but Monster seems to charge a ton for most of their stuff.

Not For Use as Infant Nog (A-Ron Hubbard), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 23:52 (seventeen years ago) link

Monster is, and always has been, completely full of shit when it comes to specialty cables.

Any quality cable is fine. Don't believe el hype.

John Justen, surrounded by frail, wispy people. (John Justen), Thursday, 28 December 2006 00:29 (seventeen years ago) link

Brilliant pebbles, anyone?

Not For Use as Infant Nog (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 28 December 2006 00:47 (seventeen years ago) link

But these will make me better at jazz. Jazz is freaking hard, and I need all the help I can get.

http://www.monstercable.com/pro_audio/productPagePro.asp?pin=2306&LastPage=Instument%20Cables

They're engineered to ensure that all my instrument’s warmth, presence, and full-bodied overtones are precisely reproduced.

Name Not Found (rogermexico), Thursday, 28 December 2006 00:56 (seventeen years ago) link

I like the way they bring out hints of ripe blackberry and aged oak, with smoky overtones. Their dark-roasted, cask-aged cables ensure full-bodied flavor with no absence of presence.

Not For Use as Infant Nog (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 28 December 2006 01:05 (seventeen years ago) link

Now you're just taking the piss, aren't you?

I have important questions about rocking (and jazzing) that must not go unanswered!

Name Not Found (rogermexico), Thursday, 28 December 2006 05:26 (seventeen years ago) link

I remember when they first introduced the "blues" cable, and I wondered if it was designed to have shitty shielding and cold solder joints to reproduce that true, down-home blooz tone.

John Justen, surrounded by frail, wispy people. (John Justen), Thursday, 28 December 2006 16:41 (seventeen years ago) link

"authentic"

Has anyone done relic cables yet?

Name Not Found (rogermexico), Thursday, 28 December 2006 17:06 (seventeen years ago) link

Featuring pre-rusted connectors and hand-degraded sheilding! Every cable is slammed in a car door a minimum of a hundred times! Technicians apply liberal doses of duct tape residue, and then drag through our authentic musician-smoked cigarette ash trough! One end guaranteed to be either held in place with electrical tape or merely knotted through the contact point!

I think you're onto something here.

John Justen, surrounded by frail, wispy people. (John Justen), Thursday, 28 December 2006 18:34 (seventeen years ago) link

"Distressed" cables

Not For Use as Infant Nog (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 28 December 2006 18:40 (seventeen years ago) link

srsly

You don't want to plug that Fender Closet Classic or Gibson VOS (let alone yr higher-end Nash's and whatnot) into yr tweed Victoria with just any old cable.

Name Not Found (rogermexico), Friday, 29 December 2006 03:25 (seventeen years ago) link

tho (and I hate to pick on Pro Co, since unlike Monster (the Bose of the cable world?) they make a lot of good, reasonably priced and insanely durable kit) I suppose you could always go the other way too...

http://www.procosound.com/images/woody.jpg

Name Not Found (rogermexico), Friday, 29 December 2006 03:27 (seventeen years ago) link

"authentic"

That would mean the guitarist borrows their cable from someone else in the band or the opening act.

earlnash (earlnash), Friday, 29 December 2006 04:10 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.monstercable.com/pro_audio/productPagePro.asp?pin=2310&LastPage=Keyboard%20and%20Midi%20Cables

They also make MIDI cables! This is just what I've been looking for to fix that timing problem that keeps cropping up using my hand-finished zebrawood Zendrum to control my Waldorf. If only Monster would hurry up and come up with a FireWire to help ensure the perfect reproduction of the warmest and most powerful bits from my recording interface to my Mac.

If you ain't eatin' WHAM, you ain't eatin' HAM (trm), Friday, 29 December 2006 19:09 (seventeen years ago) link

If only Monster would hurry up and come up with a cable that removed the suck from my playing.

Name Not Found (rogermexico), Friday, 29 December 2006 19:23 (seventeen years ago) link

that's just taking the wind right out of the gag, I think.

If you ain't eatin' WHAM, you ain't eatin' HAM (trm), Friday, 29 December 2006 19:40 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh, and by the way, that's for a 10 foot cable. A 20' one costs an additional $299, bringing the grand total to $598 for the math-challenged out there.

John Justen, surrounded by frail, wispy people. (John Justen), Saturday, 30 December 2006 01:12 (seventeen years ago) link

that's just taking the wind right out of the gag, I think.

I just assumed it was all played out!

JJ, don't even start with the audiophiles. Musicians are superstitious and easily bullied. Audiophiles just have a thing for nude emperors.

Name Not Found (rogermexico), Saturday, 30 December 2006 02:24 (seventeen years ago) link

John, since you're in the biz, what are some of the other types of snake-oil commonly sold to musicians/audio engineers? I seem to remember some thing called the Sonic Maximizer(?) which sounded pretty dubious.

naus (naus), Saturday, 30 December 2006 04:51 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh yeah, the BBE sonic maximizer...

Well, according to BBE, the sonic maximizer "time-aligns the phase relationship between horn drivers and traditional cone drivers according to a complex algorithm that is based on response curves formulated from physical modeling of real-time measurement specifications." (this is from literature packets that they distributed before various stuido and live engineers called bullshit on their claims, which are strangely absent from the current website.)

In reality, it's a black-box EQ that paved the way for the suckitude of nu-metal guitarists far and wide, and is completely without merit in a studio environment. Despite what they may claim, it's one step beyond the "aural exciter" craze of the late 80's, pioneered in the consumer audio market by the Audio Logic pa-88.

Feh. I call bullshit.

John Justen, surrounded by frail, wispy people. (John Justen), Saturday, 30 December 2006 05:36 (seventeen years ago) link

In other words, if you can't EQ without an auto-crutch, then GIVE THE FUCK UP.

John Justen, surrounded by frail, wispy people. (John Justen), Saturday, 30 December 2006 05:37 (seventeen years ago) link

patent hollow oval design to make sure all the music from the guitar reaches the amp

Wow.

Not For Use as Infant Nog (A-Ron Hubbard), Saturday, 30 December 2006 06:22 (seventeen years ago) link

Comments
There was no comparison, the Monster jazz cable mellowed out the tone, seemed like a touch of sustain was added, each note seemed to be encassed in a water droplet. ”
John Cook

^wtf @ this. It's a fucking electrical conductor ffs.

Norman Phay (Pashmina), Saturday, 30 December 2006 12:45 (seventeen years ago) link

It pains me to admit it, but that ProCo cable w/the wooden jack plug looks great!

Norman Phay (Pashmina), Saturday, 30 December 2006 12:47 (seventeen years ago) link

I'd break it in a day.
I'm careful with my kit, but the nicer it is, the more unlucky I get.

So, I buy cheap shit(except my guitars...ooooohno) and then somehow it lasts forever.

Geza T iz tha Rainy G. Toronado (The GZeus), Saturday, 30 December 2006 16:25 (seventeen years ago) link

It's a fucking electrical conductor ffs.

Oh normanpaws...

Name Not Found (rogermexico), Saturday, 30 December 2006 17:02 (seventeen years ago) link

lol how do u fit a bass thru a guitar cable

giboyojimbo (gbx), Tuesday, 2 January 2007 19:41 (seventeen years ago) link

Power tools.

Geza T iz tha Rainy G. Toronado (The GZeus), Tuesday, 2 January 2007 23:14 (seventeen years ago) link

Read it and LOL.

"Cable Polarity and Tone" thread
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=200747

"High End Cable Reviews" thread
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=147637&highlight=please+post+your+cable+reviews

Name Not Found (rogermexico), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 20:01 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh good lord WHY? 23 pages of cable reviews?

I swear to god, I'm going to go out and start a rumor that the height differential from one end of the cord to the other is key, because the electrons slide down the cord faster due to gravitational pull.

"In order to improve guitar performance in my studio, I drilled a hole through the floor of my moms bedroom and stood directly above my amp. The difference was undeniable..."

John Justen, surrounded by frail, wispy people. (John Justen), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 20:40 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh good lord WHY?

Let no cork go unsniffed.

For instance, that thread about cable DIRECTION making a difference. Obviously total hokum. BUT vertical orientation makes a huge difference. If you have the bass side of the cable on top, all of the heavy low frequencies fall on top of your highs and SMOTHER YOUR TONE. So make sure you have Bass on the Bottom and Treble on Top (BB/TT = handy mnemonic because lord knows guitar players need the help.)

Name Not Found (rogermexico), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 21:48 (seventeen years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.