CABLES! How much do they affect guitar TONE? 

Pete, this video is amazing. I’ve been playing electric guitar since the late 80s, and you’re teaching me more about how my guitars work in 20 minutes than I think I learned in 35 years. I love your stuff, don’t ever stop!

I didn’t think I was going to hear the difference, but I did. The monster cable sounds like the tone control is rolled off a notch , and the no name even more so. Terrific video. Thanks.

I’ve noticed this phenomena through the years and the way you go through the facts is great. Thanks a lot, Pete. You’re a blessing to the guitar community.

I'm really happy you shared the resonance curve of how pickups look - we're creating these graphs for every pickup to make it easier to compare pickups against each other.

Always believed in this concept, but its the first time ive actually heard it. Extremely interesting!!! Thanks man, i learned a lot

AWESOME VIDEO, thanks Pete! This is the best study on cables I've seen, it's definitely waking me up to getting better cables!

Loads of effort on this one and very much appreciated. I have always wondered about cables and now I know. Thanks.

Thank you Pete for finding the crux of the issue for Guitar players...finding it...showing the masses demos and making clear easy to understand statements and suggestions. The loss of that high end detail and the moving of that resonant peak are important concepts to get in crafting a personal tone!

Thank you for the effort , energy and work that you put into these videos. As a guitarist, engineer, and mathematician, I find these topics irresistible. I have to admit I am disappointed that you wouldn’t include George L’s cables as part of this comparison. I discovered them years ago and found that they just worked great for me. The additional feature of being solderless just adds a bit of gravy to the whole idea. I went to school at the University of Waterloo and I was lucky enough to have an instructor named Phil Eastman who taught a course called the science of high Fidelity. He was also the writer of the Sir Isaac Newton contests. He was an amazing professor along with having a really practical analytic mind. Rest in peace. I remember engaging him in many discussions walking across the campus while I was there and one time he said to me “ultimately it comes down to this: you buy the distortion you prefer”. that’s always stuck with me. 🇨🇦

Fantastic Informative Video! Thanks Pete!

Outstanding work brother. Thanks!

Great information with no BS.

I really appreciated this video, thanks for such a detailed study

Great work as always Mr. Thorn. Much appreciated. Loved your Randy Rhoads and deep dive on Ed vids btw. Thanx.

Awesome stuff!! Thank you Pete!!

Thanks Pete , this was very helpful

Hey Pete, very interesting review. I converted my entire rig to Cordial some time back and, for me, the difference between my old (high quality) cables and the Cordials was astounding. Now, every one of my guitars sounds great with one amp setting. And they actually feel more responsive in my hands. Really! The rig is also much quieter. Cheers

Man, GREAT work! Top topic. Thanks for this vid!!

I definitely hear the difference! Amazing dude! And the basic logic makes complete sense. Thanks for another excellent video!

Great video Pete. Im loving my new Cordial Cables ⭐️🤟🏼

Completely agree, like a lot of things “you get what you pay for” and good cables are a smart investment in your tone. Now it’s time to compare speaker cables which will also make an audible improvement in any rig! Thanks Pete for another great video!

Awesome video Pete!! REALLY helpful, Dave is right...."everything affects everything"!!! Cheers Bruddah, stay groovy and keep on Rockin'!!

Another great video for the nerds in the crowd! Most cable discussions out there only focus on the cable's capacitance, and blow passed the resonance peak of the cable altogether. You can hear how the Belden is imparting a more mid-focused energy to the sound. I agree that it's an attractive idea to have a "transparent" cable, but keep in mind that none of your favorite recordings over the years had one such cable. I'm split on the matter. I like a good transparent cable for humbuckers, but I also like a "cheap" or lossy cable for single coils. One of my favorite cables I ever had was the Vox coily cable. It had a ton of roll off, and a sick midrange to it. I was so sad when it finally broke after many years of live use. This reminds me to track down another.

Great vid ! Extremely well done!! 👍😃🤘😎

I think your analysis was accurate. I found it interesting, and have had similar experiences with my own variety of cables. Matching a cable to the type of guitar pickups you're using contributes to which cable sounds best. Perhaps as a follow-up you could take the cable totally out of the equation and test how a good "Wireless" system compares to a good cable. Thanks

You're a gem Pete. Thanks for doing this.

Interesting Pete. Thanks for sharing ✌🏼

Thank you man big help 

Fascinating thanks 👍

I am a newbie bass player (also learning the banjo at the same time) and I am contemplating upgrading from my 10ft standard Roland cable. This was such a great and educational video on the subject. Thanks so much!

Great video, as always! :) Thanks!

Cool and helpful!

Great vid. thanks

Cool video Pete Thorn 👍🤘

Great video. 🙏🏻 I discovered that once you ‘go there’ with cables, it’s another sonic colour palate choice. For instance, a board with two buffers and curly cables is my current fave combo. Just warms things up a little. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Hi Pete, great video as always, I am 61 and to my ears over the Internet via RU-vid, they all sound similar to me. The age of the listener has a lot to do with what your hearing as the frequency response of our ears diminishes as we get older, and in particular the high end frequencies reduce. Have you thought about doing a blind test with these cables to see if knowing which cable you were playing through is placing a sub conscious bias to what you are actually hearing?

I bought a 20’ Monsterous guitar cable years ago on a close out at 50% discount and it was awful sounding, plus it was so heavy that I felt like I was dragging a a sack of rocks behind me. I did like the Cordial best but the Planet Waves were pretty good too. I would like to add my endorsement for the Asterope cables. They are full bodied, similar to the Cordials, sturdy yet pliable. Good review Pete!

Great video! I sold all my monster cables a few years ago after I found mogami golds, it was like night and day. These German cable sound pretty good too👍🏽

Great video Pete, many thanks. in the electric Eng. world, we refer for a current ( not a voltage ) generated by the pickup coil. of course there is a voltage as well. you can think for current as the amount of electrons flowing in a conductor and the Voltage is the pressure. Best and keep Rocking !

Thank you very much!,invaluable information

Pete, wow thanks for this. I’ve always been picky about my cables but now I have proof, really great video . I wonder if a buffer in and out comparison would be useful? Love your work

Great job Pete!

Great vid! More stuff I didn’t realise I needed 😂 seriously, changing cables to liven up a dark guitar or roll off a bright one seems like an easy way to change your tone 👌

Great video as always, Pete! I use CORDIAL cables since they came up in the late 90s and never regret buying one! Very good stuff and built like a tank. Never had a breakdown! Can't say that over other brands... Best wishes from Germany 🤘😁🍀👍🏻🎸

Very good explanation Pete, really appreciate your excellent content. All of this is clearly audible and real. I have played at a pro level for many years and came to the same conclusion that it is best to start with a high quality cable between your instrument and your first input. Funny thing is that the Belkin was a super familiar sound because so many cables I have used over the decades have used that wire, it was instantly recognizable! I would also add, especially for younger players, do not stress about this at all. Many other things are more important such as musical ideas, a quality instrument, good amp, etc. just get the best cable you can and don’t overthink it! If/when you can get a very high-quality cable go for it.

Very very useful cable comparison video. I liked the Andrew cable the best. Liked & Subscribed 👍🏻

I was thinking the PW cable sounded the best besides the Cordial's. Interesting stuff!! More of a difference than I would have thought!

Wow, quite a difference! Especially side by side. I never want to loose bottom end or size or weight of the sound. More top end can always be added but size not so much. Thanks for this revelation!!

Just ordered an instrument cable, thanks for the discount.

Thanks for doing this video! Guitar cables act as low pass filter in the guitar - to - amp circuit. Five things have the most audible impact with guitar cables: Capacitance, Resistance (and it's inverse conductivity), metallurgy (purer metals are more conductive), the impedance of your pickups, and length (more length = more cumulative capacitance and signal loss that can necessitate the use of a buffer) There's a sweet spot for capacitance (Measured in Picofarads or pF) that for most players is preferred and this is typically about 25 pF/ft or so, +/- 5, but some players prefer higher capacitance, as an example, many Players like the Lava Cable coils I designed, as the high capacitance makes bright sounding amps more tame and musical. So, cables can be used effectively as tone controls. Ideally a good cable will open up more usable tone range with the EQ on your amp. With higher capacitance cables, the upper frequencies literally decay sooner in time and with low capacitance cables just the opposite occurs and this why guitarists will often say cable is to bright or darkens to their tone - this is the low pass filter effect. What I learned in more than 15 years of building and selling guitar cables is that: 1. The guitarists personal ear/tone preference is what matters most. 2. Keeping your signal chain using all the same cable provides the most consistent, even frequency response results. 3. Coax or Quad conductor cables with high purity metal alloys seem to produce the best frequency response (My favorite cable of all time is the Van Den Hul Integration Hybrid Lava). 4. Keeping cable lengths as short as possible to reduce signal loss helps with overall tone. 5. All Cables exhibit triboelectric noise or micro phonics to a certain degree (thump with finger near output jack - this should NOT be happening down entire length of cable) especially if designed with too low capacitance and will become more microphonic over time as the layers loosen from use. Some outer jackets that have plastic in them help reduce this noise, the black PVC layer around the dialectic (white or clear PE material around conductor) is what is reduces this noise the most. Understanding how cables work and impact your tone is just as important as doing A/B tests and finding your favorite cable. 6. Finding a cable with good durability in combination with preferred frequency response and positive impact on your tone is ideal. (The Van Den Hul cable I use makes the notes sustain an bloom better - this is why I and many other players and studios use it.) You should have me on for a follow on Pete. You've just cracked the surface here.

Great Video! This is where it gets tricky… like you said at some point adding some roll off can actually sound better. I was recently tracking a band and we tracked through a true bypass tuner that added significant hi end loss but when punching in another day, we had plugged straight in with the same guitar/cable and we were blown away with how different it sounded. All in all, we actually wanted to get back to the other sound. But yeah, different cables can really make a guitar sound like a completely different guitar! I’ve noticed those “monstrous” rock cables REALLY cut the high end!

Hey Pete, I did know this before but it was a really great comparison and very detailed! Thank you very much! I noticed differences in guitar cables and patch cables for my pedal board, especially during recording. Another point is to get rid of the hum and noise of electromagnetic impulses and fields that can effect the guitar signal in a very bad way. If you're standing on a small stage and playing life, noise can come from everywhere and than it good to know that your cables are shield and don't making problems. I don't use bad cables anymore also if I use a lot of effect pedals.

Great video. It’s very interesting that concepts which were reserved for audiophiles and esoteric audio equipment are now making their inroads into guitar playing. Originally, the primary goal of electrical music equipment manufacturers was to make it as cheaply as possible. As a result of this quest, we have such a variety of different sounding guitars, amps, pedals, etc. In this case, the effect of the cable and the tone of the guitar will greatly depend on the combination of what’s in the guitar- the pickups, the values of the volume and tone control pots and the tone control cap(s), the levels these controls are set to, and the input impedance of the amp it’s plugged into, making a great case for using active pickups. The active pickups will almost eliminate the effect of the cable on tone and the price is comparable to the these cables. I apologize if I said the same thing as someone else did, too lazy to read all of the comments…

Nice video Pete I noticed a difference in cables years ago at 61 yrs young I been through alot of them ,my favorite so far are ,Jumperz cables,and for speakers, Pro,Co,12 gauge wire cable clean and quiet.

When that distortion kicked on at 11:12 - holy shit! It spanked. Wasn’t ready for it. Fire shot outta my headphones.

Hey Pete. Love your vids Brotha!! 💚🎸

Listening to the initial recordings, I couldn't hear much difference. It was only back to back that the differences became obvious. Great video as always.

At first listen, I thought I liked the Belden best for the crunch tone, but I would agree, the Cordial is best all around. Will check out check out those prices. Great video as always!

Pete, I was involved in a cable shootout with the guys at BlAcKSoUnD studio in Pasadena. Steve Stevens gave us some Evidence cables to try along with Lava Van Den Hul and some others. We came to a similar realization that cables matter!!! Our top picks were the Evidence for high gain and the Van Den Hul for clean tone. Steve talked about our shootout in a Premier Guitar issue. In a double blind we could even perceive a volume change. Great vid…

Great idea playing big chords Pete, more gear review Vidz should do this. Winner to my ears the Cordial peak high copper... Dig the clarity.. great comparison vid P

Great job as always! Very interesting. I am a planet waves guy. Have them dialed in so don’t think I will change however, I am sure the Gouche are great. Every step does count though as you say. I recall my high end audiophile friends would buy super low gauge monster cables with gold ends etc then you look in the speaker cabinet itself and they are 22 gauge so…. Anyway thanks again! As always, JD

Wow! Took a shot on a Cordial - it’s like I took a blanket off my amp!! Thanks for the heads up, Pete!! 🤘😎

Thanks, Pete. Love the deep dives, even though I'll typically not put these more minute things into action. The Cordial is a little piercing to me. So, am I understanding that this is basically a higher gauge cable as well? It appears thicker than the others you had. Also, would've loved to see you open the connectors to show there aren't caps or something unseen there as well.

Always knew these facts, but it was refreshing hearing the differences. Going to be replacing a few "things"... and Thanks!

This was tremendously helpful! Will you please do this comparison again with an onboard buffer like the Creation Audio Labs Redeemer?

Some of the tales I heard about the length and strength of the custom-made cables used by Angus Young were the stuff of legend, I tell ya what. Great topic Pete!💜☺👍

Hey Pete, love your videos and you’re seriously an amazing guitar player!🤘🎸just curious any thoughts on Mogami cables? Thanks!

Really true. I have a dark amp and used monster cables and really struggled with the lack of clarity for years until I tried different cables and realized how much top end was being killed by those monsters.

Wow those Cordial Cables are so beefy and clear, they do make a big difference;) great demo as always Pete 👍

Good stuff. I’m glad you did this video. Very helpful. I wonder if EVH did this research since he’s the ultimate respected tone chaser?

Great vid Pete, I knew they made a difference but I wasn't expecting it to be that much or that I would be able to hear on RU-vid played on my old Samsung phone

Thanks 👍

Good show Pete.

Hilarious!!! Your Planetary cable sounds like mine (the character). 🤣 Thanks for the geek out video. I really enjoyed it!

A good buffer can change a lot! Which is why I always have one at the start of my chain. I bought the Tumnus Deluxe, which has the buffer/true bybass switch on the side, which is great, you can instantly A/B the sound. I have high end Vovox cables made in Switzerland, they are mega expensive, but I have had them for 7 years now and they still work great. I had to re-solder my planet waves cables twice! The cordials sound great and the Belden seemed to have more lower mids!

Great video! I certainly can hear the differences. My ears seemed to prefer the PW cables in this test. I will have to pick some up as I have nothing Belden's , and in this test that was the worst sounding IMO.

Great video. I’ve used evidence cables for the last 15 year. I often have to remind myself that it’s very easy to get out in the long grass on this stuff. Keep in mind Hendrix used coiled cable and no one I’d running around saying his tone is bad.

I have a switch on my main guitar that disconnects the tone control or just assigns it to the bridge pickup. This allows me to shift the peak of the sound very much like the different cables. Of course you can't use the tone control in some positions...I could probably switch a resistor in and out instead to keep the tone control working all the time but I'd need to use much higher value pots which would introduce much more tone change as I rolled the volume down so I've stuck with the current setup...it works great as a brightness tweaker!

Hello Pete I've seen your video on You Tube, (CABLES! How much do they affect guitar TONE?) and many others too. You explained it very well and confirmed my opinion about good sounding guitar cables. I've been playing Vovox cables for many years and for me the best off-the-shelf cable is the Vovox Sonorus. Unfortunately, Vovox cables are very expensive and there is no meter goods to solder your own cables of different lengths. To wire my effects board and for my guitars, I soldered various cables myself to get the best possible sound out of my guitars. My absolute favorite is no longer the Vovox but the Sommer SC-Corona cable. I use G&H plugs with a copper core as jack plugs. German translated with Google. greeting Reinhold

I love the quest for tone and I love the science behind all this stuff. That said, I have kind of had your attitude of not worrying about buffers or cables too much. I just use the same setup/cable/length always and adjust my volume/tone on the amp to where I love the tone and don't worry about it.

Hi Pete, thanks for this video, can you please tell which type ("xxxx") of Belden cable had been used in the video? Thanks

That is fascinating! Always wondered about that stuff and am surprised how good the cheap PW sounded in comparison.

I worked for the largest electrical wholesaler in KC in my early 20s. The owners spent a small fortune on my education. I was sent to classes once a month on everything from devices to switch gear to cables. Trained by the engineers from beldon, southwire on low distribution, high distribution, catagory & communications. This is the best explanation I've ever seen for this application!!! This is another NOTE TO MANUFACTURE you better be paying this guy good. Talent, product knowledge and communication skills are 2nd none on the tube. Smoken Peter!!!💪🎸

Interesting work, as always, Pete. I would prefer in future that when you get down to A/B-ing the various sound files you do so without comments in-between. The sound of your voice (or any sound, for that matter) tends to “interrupt” the ears’ ability to make sharp comparisons. In “double-blind” gear comparisons we use ID cards that we hold up to let users know “choice A” vs “choice B” vs “choice c” so there’s no sonic distraction when making comparisons.

Santana uses a 50 foot cable to roll the top off

Great video Pete! What's interesting about the Gouche signature cable is that he plays active basses almost exclusively and the onboard preamp/buffer makes cable capacitance a moot point. Still, I'm glad there are companies like Cordial and Sommer making quality, low-capacitance cable without resorting to precious unobtanium alloys and charging crazy audiophile prices. I may have to put together my own comparison with the typical DIY wire you can buy by the foot: Mogami, Canare, Belden, Sommer, Lava, etc. In the meantime, I'll say it again: great video Pete!

Great comparison. For the overdrive sounds, I thought the Belden was great. It has a midrange grunt I didn’t hear with the other cables. The Peak High Copper was my favorite for the Clean sounds. The other cables sounded pretty similar to my ears with the Planet Waves barely edging out the rest

I have had a couple encounters with "high-end" cables that may be of interest to some. One was a small Fender amp that had a very nasty sounding treble distortion when turned up. The customer was plugging his guitar directly into the amp with a George L cord. I had recently serviced the amp and it sounded fine when I tested it, so I grabbed my go-to guitar cable, made of Audio-Technica bulk microphone cable, (which is no longer produced) and Switchcraft #285 1/4" plugs. Swapping my cable for his, without changing anything else made the problem disappear, like freakin' magic, man. Another more recent incident involved a local hotshot guitarist who has been a good friend and customer at my repair shop for a couple decades. He brought me an original TS808 Tube Screamer, which I rebuilt, tested and sent out. He sent me a video later that evening showing me his pedalboard and the horrible buzz coming from it, only when he added the Tube Screamer. I asked him to bring the board, cables and guitar to my shop so I could determine the source of the problem. All his other pedals were true-bypass "boutique", only his newly acquired TS808 had an internal buffer & FET switching. With the TS disconnected everything worked fine, but with the TS in the chain it buzzed. I isolated it to just his TS808 and his two $150.00 ea high end cables. Still buzzed. I swapped his TS808 for one of my personal modified TS9/808 pedals. The buzz was still there. Finally I grabbed a couple of my AT/Switchcraft no-frills cables and plugged them in. No buzz, worked fine. Swapping either of his high $$$ cables between the guitar and the pedal brought the buzz back. Of course my customer was not happy that his fancy guitar cables could be causing his problem, but there was no denying that it only happened with them plugged into the pedal. I would have loved to have more time with those cables to try to isolate exactly what was happening, and maybe come up with a solution that allowed them to be used, but he was short on time as he was leaving on tour, so I sent him on his way. To this day I still do not know why those cables caused this buzz only in the Ibanez pedals. (I swapped out the TS for another Ibanez with the same switching circuit and got the same result) If I ever encounter this again I will try other brands with FET switching, like the Boss pedals and see if they are also affected with this affliction. As for the cables presented in the video here: I can hear differences, but not enough to want to spend ridiculous money for a 20 foot guitar cable. Most of the time live, I use a Sennheiser wireless, which pretty much negates the capacitance effect of my cables because it has a low impedance (buffered) output from the receiver. And if I use a cable I just bump the treble control on m my amp up a notch. Problem solved.

Cordial is actually very affordable compared to mogami and canare, at least in europe. I love cordial personally.

Hey Pete! I second the suggestion with comparing with high end wireless setup :)

This is a great comparison. For my rig that uses a pedalboard, I’m using good cables/connectors, and have tested and compensated the loss with an eq buffer. And I do like to tone of my Mogami guitar cable, but seeing this I’m digging the idea of a higher quality cable from my pedals to the amp

Peace Pete, Just picked up what you where putting down. Perusing the page and peeped pure copper cables? Can't say I have heard it yet however I am curious now! I have been deep diving into cables and figure not to cut corners and have to buy twice. Budget is a budget however what I am discovering in my studio build journey is when we pay big bucks to have the illest of CONVERTERS in our devices us purchasing insufficient cables is selling our SOUND short. So I am all ears, bro. Great break down. Rock on.

I’ve done a lot of this testing myself. Nice job. If you really want your mind blown try guitar picks in different thickness and made out of different material! To my ears it makes significantly more difference than the cable!

I’m using runaway cables from Nashville love this things

Great video! I almost skipped over it thinking a guitar cable could not make any significant difference. Man was I wrong!

Awesome thanks for this, I could really here differences, when you add length, as well as quality. However for me I tend to lean towards cables that have no shrink wrap attached to the ends which make them bulky and non flexible at the point of entry on my Fender Strat, as they alway interfere with the wammy bar..lol

I didn't expect this, but the difference was apparent, even on my phone before I plugged in the headphones!

Cool video, I’d go with Belden for a cranked 4 hole Marshall. I like to run my presence knob high.

Hi Pete, how do Cordial cables compare with Runway audio cables?

Planets Waves and Cordial are my 2 favorite cable brands, what a coincidence :) Thanks, Pete!