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10-26-2010, 11:08 PM
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#1
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,019
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Radio Shack sells great guitar cables! (not sure where to put this)
In a pinch a few weeks ago, I needed a guitar cable, and the only place close by was radio shack. They had some cheap, crappy-looking black plastic ones with molded ends that just screamed "handling noise", but they had one braided, plastic-coated 25" cable with gold connectors for $22.
I bought the $22 cable, used it without problem, and packed it up with my gear without thinking.
This weekend I was unpacking, and uncoiled it, and decided to test it out to see whether to keep it with my junk cables or good ones...
It's a freakin awesome guitar cable! Unterminated (i.e. no guitar plugged in) and plugged into my most sensitive amp on high gain (an old marshall), it has close to zero handling noise. I mean, I have to slap the cord to get handling sounds that are appreciably louder then the noise floor of the amp. You can hold it, rub it, coil it, lick it-- it's silent. I had to move a coil of cable within 3 feet of a fluorescent lamp to get it to hum louder than the white noise from the amp.
I have not owned this for long, but so far this is absolutely competitive with high-end monster or mogami mono cable and Neutrik connectors, but about 1/4 the price.
I have not owned this cable long enough to give a clinical read on reliability, but it seems to be built like a tank. It is made with VERY heavy-duty gold-plated connectors on each end, and those sort of "spring" stress relievers, which I like much better than the extra bit of shrink-wrap.
It's pretty obviously made of twisted-pair cable in a braided cloth insulation that looks like the fender "vintage voltage" cables (which suck). That is then covered by a very thick, clear rubber/plastic "skin". I have not seen this type of outer construction before, but man, you could drive a truck over it from the looks of it. You could not, however, bend it at a 90-degree angle.
I have not been able to unscrew the connector lugs without using two wrenches, and I don't want to mess up such tight connections to see what the shielding type is yet. It's possible that this cable uses a foil shield instead of a braided shield, I'll let you know when I find out. If you want to sacrifice your own $22, you can buy one and cut it yourself, for the sake of science.
It doesn't lay as flat on the floor as the most flexible and "soft" cables, but it does a much better job than the stiff, heavy-gauge Monsters.
I'll post back if I have reliability problems with it, but so far it seems absolutely competitive with cables costing a lot more, and is good to know about if you're stuck in a strange town like I was and need a guitar cable. Way better than anything you could buy at Guitar Center for $22.
edit: speling
Last edited by yep; 10-27-2010 at 12:29 AM.
Reason: sp
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10-26-2010, 11:41 PM
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#2
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 16,031
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One of my favorite subjects Thanks for posting!
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10-26-2010, 11:57 PM
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#3
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Banned
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Too close to Charlotte, NC
Posts: 3,554
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Nice report, thanks.
Through the years, R/S has had great stuff made for them by other companies, certain radios and speakers for example. Great stuff, just rebranded. So I wonder who actually made that cable?
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10-27-2010, 12:12 AM
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#4
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,019
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JHughes
Nice report, thanks.
Through the years, R/S has had great stuff made for them by other companies, certain radios and speakers for example. Great stuff, just rebranded. So I wonder who actually made that cable?
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This HAS to be some other company's cable, re-branded as Rat Shack, but it's a cable construction I have never seen before. It almost looks like a braided-insulator cable (mine is pale green with a purple weave) inside a roll of surgical tubing.
I own literally hundreds of cables and I've never seen one like it. But it seems to work great. We'll see how it holds up, but in early testing, it definitely qualifies as a high-end guitar cable.
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10-27-2010, 04:21 AM
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#5
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Somewhere else
Posts: 734
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I'll have to lick my other cables, for comparison purposes.
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10-27-2010, 08:57 AM
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#6
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 390
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10-27-2010, 09:36 AM
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#7
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,430
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yep
In a pinch a few weeks ago, I needed a guitar cable, and the only place close by was radio shack. They had some cheap, crappy-looking black plastic ones with molded ends that just screamed "handling noise", but they had one braided, plastic-coated 25" cable with gold connectors for $22.
I bought the $22 cable, used it without problem, and packed it up with my gear without thinking.
This weekend I was unpacking, and uncoiled it, and decided to test it out to see whether to keep it with my junk cables or good ones...
It's a freakin awesome guitar cable! Unterminated (i.e. no guitar plugged in) and plugged into my most sensitive amp on high gain (an old marshall), it has close to zero handling noise. I mean, I have to slap the cord to get handling sounds that are appreciably louder then the noise floor of the amp. You can hold it, rub it, coil it, lick it-- it's silent. I had to move a coil of cable within 3 feet of a fluorescent lamp to get it to hum louder than the white noise from the amp.
I have not owned this for long, but so far this is absolutely competitive with high-end monster or mogami mono cable and Neutrik connectors, but about 1/4 the price.
I have not owned this cable long enough to give a clinical read on reliability, but it seems to be built like a tank. It is made with VERY heavy-duty gold-plated connectors on each end, and those sort of "spring" stress relievers, which I like much better than the extra bit of shrink-wrap.
It's pretty obviously made of twisted-pair cable in a braided cloth insulation that looks like the fender "vintage voltage" cables (which suck). That is then covered by a very thick, clear rubber/plastic "skin". I have not seen this type of outer construction before, but man, you could drive a truck over it from the looks of it. You could not, however, bend it at a 90-degree angle.
I have not been able to unscrew the connector lugs without using two wrenches, and I don't want to mess up such tight connections to see what the shielding type is yet. It's possible that this cable uses a foil shield instead of a braided shield, I'll let you know when I find out. If you want to sacrifice your own $22, you can buy one and cut it yourself, for the sake of science.
It doesn't lay as flat on the floor as the most flexible and "soft" cables, but it does a much better job than the stiff, heavy-gauge Monsters.
I'll post back if I have reliability problems with it, but so far it seems absolutely competitive with cables costing a lot more, and is good to know about if you're stuck in a strange town like I was and need a guitar cable. Way better than anything you could buy at Guitar Center for $22.
edit: speling
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you could just buy a Monster guitar cable and you'll have the same results :P it's gonna cost you about 125$ instead of 20$ ...small detail.
I am sold and self admitted fanboy to the pro line of planetwave, for around 50$ you get a cable you can use as a whip and still get no noise and I've never had any of my cables die on me or become noisy...even after months of abuse.
__________________
"He who follows blindly is either a fool or an ignorant for whom freedom shall always be experienced in shackles at the end of a leash."
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10-27-2010, 10:11 AM
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#8
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: I am the elephant
Posts: 88
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I am stuck in a strange town.
Thanks.
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10-27-2010, 03:39 PM
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#9
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 998
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The cheap molded grey ones are rather legendary, too. See here:
http://digital.premierguitar.com/pre.../201011_4#pg29
And SRV used to insist on the coily ones, not sure if you can get them anymore.
__________________
Get Dropbox! (Bonus space for both of us with that link)
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10-27-2010, 03:53 PM
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#10
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 20,859
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*picks up cable* *sniff* *sniff*
__________________
It's time to take a stand against the synthesizer.
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10-28-2010, 08:41 AM
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#11
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 203
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Canada's replacement for RS - The Source, doesn't seem to carry these cables. My first go to spot for cable is MonoPrice. I haven't done the lick test on 'em but for the price they're top notch:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/su...02&cp_id=10244
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10-28-2010, 10:17 AM
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#12
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 462
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Those are cheap. Is monoprice in Canada?
Have you looked inside the cable (i.e., is it a braided shield, or foil, twisted pair, etc.)?
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10-31-2010, 08:25 PM
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#13
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,019
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stratotak
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That's exactly the one. Even the same weird color scheme!
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11-01-2010, 08:46 AM
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#14
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 203
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Monoprice is in the US, they ship USPS so none of the typical issues with UPS brokerage etc. coming into Canada. I'm not saying the cables are comparable to the OP's find but they are good cables. I don't abuse them the way a gigging musician might but I've been rolling my chair across the same 15fter for a few years now and its held up fine.
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05-02-2013, 02:43 PM
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#15
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Sacramento, CA
Posts: 23
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Still for sale - $26
Quote:
Originally Posted by yep
I have not owned this for long, but so far this is absolutely competitive with high-end monster or mogami mono cable and Neutrik connectors, but about 1/4 the price.
...
I'll post back if I have reliability problems with it...
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I was in Radio Shack today and noticed they still had the same cable for sale. It's up to $26, though. You haven't reported back with any problems, so I hope the cable has been reliable for you. I went ahead and bought one to give it a try myself.
Thanks for the tip.
- Rob
Last edited by robbiecanuck; 05-02-2013 at 02:44 PM.
Reason: Improved wording
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05-02-2013, 05:10 PM
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#17
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Southern California
Posts: 642
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Looks a lot like Spectrafex
I experience similar performance with mine and the price is about the same. I also found they did store branded stuff at my local music store.
Funny thing is I tried some of the high end lava cables and there is no doubt there is a difference. But I didn't like it, it wasn't my sound, too much top end or something
I guess better on paper isn't always better in the real world.
YMMV
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