[Harp-L] What Cable?

[MARK BURNESS <markwjburness@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I find the opposite to be true, "microphone cables" (normally designed for 
balanced operation) tend to have additional conductors that increase self 
capacitance & dull tone. The very worst cable I have ever heard was an original 
Shure 4 wire cable. Instrument leads tend to sound clearer, these are rarely 
designed specifically for microphones, they are usually designed for 
guitar/instruments, because unbalanced Hi-Z mics are pretty much a thing of the 
past & there's no market for them. In fact, I am not aware of anyone 
specifically making an unbalanced "microphone cable" for Hi-Z applications? I 
have certainly never used one, or heard of anyone else doing so... I have seen 
plenty of instrument/guitar cables with mic connectors fitted though.

The cable doesn't know whether you are using a mic or guitar.

With the Klotz La Grange cable is fine to lengths in excess of 25ft. Cables have 
properties such as self capacitance, the longer the cable is, the more self 
capacitance it has (for a given cable), then the more signal fails to make it 
from one end to the other. I did hear that Bill Clarke liked to keep cables to 
<10ft, cables sold with old Astatic crystals were often 10ft, 6ft for ceramics 
(lower output).

Capacitance is not the whole story, construction is just as critical, so you 
simply can't choose a cable by paper specs. The Planet Waves sounds nearly as 
good as the Klotz, but is 33pf/ft compared to 24pf/ft for the Klotz. There are 
plety of cables that are less than 33pf/ft but don't compare to the Planet Waves 
in terms of clarity. George L is about 24pf/ft but is not as clear as many 
cables of 30-40pf/ft...it's still a reasonable bench mark though.




________________________________
From: RON SMITH <ron@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, 2 March, 2011 12:27:19
Subject: [Harp-L] RE: Harp-L Digest, Vol 91, Issue 3 What Cable?

Have experience with two cables purchased from Chuck Gurney at Fat Bottom
Mics.  Mic specific cable that works much better than guitar cables-Easy to
hear the difference.  There has to be a difference in signal between mic and
guitar, but I am not a tech in this area at all.  Would be great if someone
with the smarts on this would comment. Another question is why 18 foot seems
to be the magic do not exceed number? I assume effect is similar to a long
water hose but don't know.

Ron