When things go wrong with your gear, what's the primary culprit? The cable...always check the cable! What about when everything's working fine? The cables are ignored. If you want to upgrade your sound, then most players will figure out how much they can budget for the next big purchase of an amp, cab, or maybe even a new pedal (we'll keep our basses out of this discussion). But, have you ever critically listened to your cables?
I've seen a lot of musicians with incredible instruments and gear connecting it all with a mish-mosh of decent and crap cables, even though most of us know that the final output will be limited by the weakest link. Just imagine upgrading your overall sound with a single $40 purchase. So, have you listened to your cables?
This post may not apply to players already spending big money on really good cables, as I haven't been able to expand my critical listening to include a range of high end cable suppliers, but hopefully it encourages those who think the cables simply just "need to work", to make their next upgrade a good cable - and maybe one in particular.
In fairness, I need to divulge that I made a personal contact at the CES Show with an employee at Monster who supplied a new cable to review, but only because I'm still using two 20 year old Monster Performer 500 Bass cables (I'll refer to my old friends as MB500) that I bought in the 90's. The new and old cables are both part of the Prolink series, and the new one is now simply called Monster Bass (I'll refer to it as NewMB). He wanted an honest assessment, so here's my best shot.
Here's a pic and description of the setup I used for listening tests:
Equipment used:
- 5 string Zon Legacy with Bartolini pickups and preamp - various EQ settings were used during testing; D'Addario coated nickel roundwound strings
- Quilter Bass Block 800 - used to power the headphones (eq set flat); plugged into passive input for more gain (the Bart preamp output is set a bit low), Gain and Master at 12 o'clock
- Boss Line Selector LS-2 - A>B mode; gains set at unity (12 o'clock, which I believe is unity on that unit)
- Sony MDR-7506 headphones (one of the industry standard pro studio phones that provide an un-hyped, fairly honest rendering of the signal)
Signal chain:
Zon > Monster StudioLink 500 patch cable > Boss Line Selector LS-2 Input > Loop A/B > StudioLink 500 patch cable > Quilter > MDR-7506
Test method: I patched the cables being tested into the LS-2 loops, and switched back and forth fairly quickly to evaluate the differences
Results:
Well, it's true, you can hear the differences. The first time (20 years ago?) I noted this, it was through a far less controlled setup - basically, I just plugged different cables into an amp. The initial reaction when comparing the Monster Bass (MB) cables (old and new versions) to most others is that the MB's are less bassy. Huh? What's happening in cheaper cables, from a layman's description, is the signal is getting a bit mushy, washed out, woofy, or that there's added 1st and 2nd octave low frequency overtones. (this comment may spawn a sharing of technical opinions, but this is just one way to describe how it "sounds") Upon further listening, you realize there is more energy focused on the note fundamentals coming through the MB cables, both down and up the fretboard. One strange perception from this difference is that the notes sound shorter, or tighter, but nice and round. Does this have to do with phase alignment of the frequencies in the signal? Also, there seems to be less addition of high midrange overtones, which sounds like there's less distortion, so the overall tone is less edgy and sounds smoother. I also believe the high end overall is a bit sweeter and crisper, except when compared to the George L's, but too many guitarists and drummers have reduced my critical listening capability of high frequency material. I started using hearing protection too late!
When compared to the NewMB cables, the following cables sounded:
- Whirlwind Leader 20' - this was the reference comparison, and matches the description above; older model with the braid covering, but a bit newer than my MB500's
- George L short patch - a little less punchy, but not really woofy; top end was as crisp or crisper; midrange very nice - a touch more character, without being edgy; a bit lower output; this is the only other premium cable I compared
- Old MB500 - almost identical - at first I thought it was less bassy, almost as if the NewMB was a bit woofier, but that wasn't it. The MB500 had a tad lower "output" (transmission? higher/lower resistance?...talk amongst yourselves), so the extra bass I heard in the new cable was a result of extra amplitude overall; I thought the MB500 wasn't as crisp on the top, but that may have also been due to it's slightly lower output.
- StudioLink 500 patch cable - closest sound to the New MB, with just a slightly lower output
- Crappy molded patch cable - similar to the Whirlwind
Conclusion: The new cable's an improvement! Or, does the passing of endless hours of signal through a cable reduce it's ability to transmit a signal (it becomes slightly quieter)? The new cable may not be much of an improvement, as the MB500 was still better than all the other cables, but the slightly hotter transmission is probably always a good thing, as long as the new cable is just as quiet as the old one. Since I haven't needed to, I've never compared them to more expensive cables, but why would I? They transmit a clear bass tone that seems cleaner and more punchy, sounding like a well damped amplifier interacting with good speakers. Is it an impedance thing, or just lower resistance? Monster talks about solid core plus mid/high windings, but I really have no clue. What I know is that these cables support my punchy playing style really well, and my old cables, with the gold plating completely worn off, are still going strong with no crackles or issues. The MB500's are still a little tight in some jacks, but that's old news, and not an issue with the NewMBs! My problem is, I now want to go buy another new Monster Bass cable to get the maximum benefit of their design! After this critical listening test, it may be time to further reduce the weakest link effect in my chain, and also invest in a few of their 8" Monster Bass patch cables.
I was actually expecting that I was going to find out that 20 years ago, during my first MB cable listening test, that I was being very subjective and was just under a placebo effect. Nope. Years ago, Monster developed a unique product that is rugged, instrument specific, and a decent value (with a lifetime replacement warranty!!), and the latest revision is just as good. Nice work Monster! Next time you're looking at gear, consider upgrading your cables.
I've seen a lot of musicians with incredible instruments and gear connecting it all with a mish-mosh of decent and crap cables, even though most of us know that the final output will be limited by the weakest link. Just imagine upgrading your overall sound with a single $40 purchase. So, have you listened to your cables?
This post may not apply to players already spending big money on really good cables, as I haven't been able to expand my critical listening to include a range of high end cable suppliers, but hopefully it encourages those who think the cables simply just "need to work", to make their next upgrade a good cable - and maybe one in particular.
In fairness, I need to divulge that I made a personal contact at the CES Show with an employee at Monster who supplied a new cable to review, but only because I'm still using two 20 year old Monster Performer 500 Bass cables (I'll refer to my old friends as MB500) that I bought in the 90's. The new and old cables are both part of the Prolink series, and the new one is now simply called Monster Bass (I'll refer to it as NewMB). He wanted an honest assessment, so here's my best shot.
Here's a pic and description of the setup I used for listening tests:
Equipment used:
- 5 string Zon Legacy with Bartolini pickups and preamp - various EQ settings were used during testing; D'Addario coated nickel roundwound strings
- Quilter Bass Block 800 - used to power the headphones (eq set flat); plugged into passive input for more gain (the Bart preamp output is set a bit low), Gain and Master at 12 o'clock
- Boss Line Selector LS-2 - A>B mode; gains set at unity (12 o'clock, which I believe is unity on that unit)
- Sony MDR-7506 headphones (one of the industry standard pro studio phones that provide an un-hyped, fairly honest rendering of the signal)
Signal chain:
Zon > Monster StudioLink 500 patch cable > Boss Line Selector LS-2 Input > Loop A/B > StudioLink 500 patch cable > Quilter > MDR-7506
Test method: I patched the cables being tested into the LS-2 loops, and switched back and forth fairly quickly to evaluate the differences
Results:
Well, it's true, you can hear the differences. The first time (20 years ago?) I noted this, it was through a far less controlled setup - basically, I just plugged different cables into an amp. The initial reaction when comparing the Monster Bass (MB) cables (old and new versions) to most others is that the MB's are less bassy. Huh? What's happening in cheaper cables, from a layman's description, is the signal is getting a bit mushy, washed out, woofy, or that there's added 1st and 2nd octave low frequency overtones. (this comment may spawn a sharing of technical opinions, but this is just one way to describe how it "sounds") Upon further listening, you realize there is more energy focused on the note fundamentals coming through the MB cables, both down and up the fretboard. One strange perception from this difference is that the notes sound shorter, or tighter, but nice and round. Does this have to do with phase alignment of the frequencies in the signal? Also, there seems to be less addition of high midrange overtones, which sounds like there's less distortion, so the overall tone is less edgy and sounds smoother. I also believe the high end overall is a bit sweeter and crisper, except when compared to the George L's, but too many guitarists and drummers have reduced my critical listening capability of high frequency material. I started using hearing protection too late!
When compared to the NewMB cables, the following cables sounded:
- Whirlwind Leader 20' - this was the reference comparison, and matches the description above; older model with the braid covering, but a bit newer than my MB500's
- George L short patch - a little less punchy, but not really woofy; top end was as crisp or crisper; midrange very nice - a touch more character, without being edgy; a bit lower output; this is the only other premium cable I compared
- Old MB500 - almost identical - at first I thought it was less bassy, almost as if the NewMB was a bit woofier, but that wasn't it. The MB500 had a tad lower "output" (transmission? higher/lower resistance?...talk amongst yourselves), so the extra bass I heard in the new cable was a result of extra amplitude overall; I thought the MB500 wasn't as crisp on the top, but that may have also been due to it's slightly lower output.
- StudioLink 500 patch cable - closest sound to the New MB, with just a slightly lower output
- Crappy molded patch cable - similar to the Whirlwind
Conclusion: The new cable's an improvement! Or, does the passing of endless hours of signal through a cable reduce it's ability to transmit a signal (it becomes slightly quieter)? The new cable may not be much of an improvement, as the MB500 was still better than all the other cables, but the slightly hotter transmission is probably always a good thing, as long as the new cable is just as quiet as the old one. Since I haven't needed to, I've never compared them to more expensive cables, but why would I? They transmit a clear bass tone that seems cleaner and more punchy, sounding like a well damped amplifier interacting with good speakers. Is it an impedance thing, or just lower resistance? Monster talks about solid core plus mid/high windings, but I really have no clue. What I know is that these cables support my punchy playing style really well, and my old cables, with the gold plating completely worn off, are still going strong with no crackles or issues. The MB500's are still a little tight in some jacks, but that's old news, and not an issue with the NewMBs! My problem is, I now want to go buy another new Monster Bass cable to get the maximum benefit of their design! After this critical listening test, it may be time to further reduce the weakest link effect in my chain, and also invest in a few of their 8" Monster Bass patch cables.
I was actually expecting that I was going to find out that 20 years ago, during my first MB cable listening test, that I was being very subjective and was just under a placebo effect. Nope. Years ago, Monster developed a unique product that is rugged, instrument specific, and a decent value (with a lifetime replacement warranty!!), and the latest revision is just as good. Nice work Monster! Next time you're looking at gear, consider upgrading your cables.
