Coil Cable to Remove Radio Frequency
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Coiled Cables vs. strait
- Thread starter theactor19
- Start date
- #1
Also where can I purchase coiled cables.. I heard people would get cheap ones from radio shack (now the source).. and when I checked, they didn't have it.
Lastly.. do you just need the one coiled cable.. or do you need multiple of you use pedals? With Hendrix's set up, I thought he only used just the one coiled cable going from his strat to his plexi... so where were the pedals pluged in? effects loop? do plexi's even have effect loops?
- #2
Hendrix used a variety of different gear at different times but the most famous is probably..... Strat; Wah, Fuzz Face, Octavia, Uni-Vibe----Plexi not necessarily in that order. I've never seen his gear when he wasn't plugged in from the guitar to the first effect without a coiled cable.
Lava Cable, Bullet and Vox all make coiled cables that are of high quality.
Most people that use them generally use a coiled cable from the guitar to the first pedal and then strait cables for the rest, ultimately it's a rhetorical choice though. If you like the sound go for it.
For the record I did see a hendrix tribute band once focusing on the early stuff and the guitarist used his strat a white coiled cable to a Roger Mayer Classic Fuzz to a Vox Wah into his Plexi run at high volume and I thought he did a good job with it.
More or less I think they used the coiled cables of the time because they looked cool and were neater to work with on stage than the strait cables but that's just my opinion.
One of the reasons I like them besides the obvious cool factor is the neatness compared to similar length cables.
- #3
not an expert on such matters, but...
not sure about the capacitance, but I am sure some people believe that sort of thing.
my guess is that hendrix used them, as a lot of people did, to prevent getting so tangled up in a trailing straight cable.
I would guess that SRV used one ..... cos ....Hendrix did .... just like he did a few other hendrix things. (controversial?)
back to the point... Fender do coiled cable
http://www.fender.co.uk/products//search.php?partno=0990600004
core one do them
http://www.coreoneproduct.com/pages/cableweb/cablehome.html
I am sure quite a few companies do them too
me? I prefer straight.
Cheers
BMF
- #4
Typically they are used just from guitar to 1st pedal or amp...
- #5
Coiled cables are ALL higher in capacitance than straight cables of the same length and this is due to the design as well as the fact that there is much more copper....so these cables tend to sound darker than most straight cables.Typically they are used just from guitar to 1st pedal or amp...
Makes sense, so that's why they make a good match with single coil pickups and bright amps?
- #6
interestingCoiled cables are ALL higher in capacitance than straight cables of the same length and this is due to the design as well as the fact that there is much more copper....so these cables tend to sound darker than most straight cables.Typically they are used just from guitar to 1st pedal or amp...
so are you saying that by it's nature a coiled cable of say 10 feet versus a straight cable of 10 feet has more copper due to the fact that it is coiled so if you actually managed to make it straight again it would be more likely be say nearer 15 feet, hence more copper?
that makes sense
- #7
So to sum it up, the Strat pickups of the mid to late 60’s were of lower resistance – weaker – and because of that they sounded better when combined with certain gain-boosting effects…
Yeah, it made them clearer and more appropriate for being used with a lot of different effects. Lenny Kravitz was the opening act for a lot of the Dylan dates when I was on the tour, and I really took him under my wing. I was the only one that didn’t call him… you know, the word... In the Dylan camp, everyone is very prejudiced – it’s very tough to be around those people. Anyway, I sent messages to both Lenny Kravitz and Eric Johnson that part of the secret to getting great tone was using weaker pickups and coil cables. The coil cables add a lot of capacitance and inductance to your signal chain, therefore, when you’re playing through a Marshall, you’re cutting back on the high frequencies. When we were doing the In Step album with Stevie, I had an endorsement with Monster Cables. They would send me all of this free stuff and I was very excited because I could manage these things for a guy like Stevie, who really didn’t even know how to wash dishes. All he knew how to do was play the guitar, but God bless him for that, because he really did something with what he knew. Anyway, I took these cables we got to Stevie and he said, “I hate these things.” I asked him, “Why, man, they’re the best cables in the world?” He said, “They pass to much electricity.” Those were his exact words, and I’ll never forget it as long as I live. “They pass too much electricity.”
They were too efficient…
Yeah, so he sent me out to the local Radio Shack and told me to buy every gray coil cord they had – not the black ones, only the gray ones. And I thought, “Hhmm, this freakin’ hick from Dallas is telling me this?” I got them and ran them through my capacitance meter and found out that they added like almost .05 mfd to the signal chain. That made it sound solid – it was like having a tone control, and the brightness and harshness that the Marshalls had was eliminated. There isn’t a single picture of Hendrix… back then they already had high-end cables, but there isn’t a single picture of Hendrix where you see him playing with a straight cable. Why? This is something I brought up to Eric Johnson – whether he heard me or not I don’t know, but it could be the second coming of coil cables.
- #8
Probably.Makes sense, so that's why they make a good match with single coil pickups and bright amps?
It's a different sort of treble bleed than simply rolling down the treble on your guitar. I like them into overdriven amps as it kind of smooths things out, but into a clean amp I generally find it darkens things up alot. Like anything tone related, it's one of those things you need to try for yourself to see if you like or not.
Anyway, I like them because I don't trip on them.
- #9
Fantastic post. Really interesting.I found an interview with Cesar Diaz, SRV's amp tech. Here's a clip from it:So to sum it up, the Strat pickups of the mid to late 60's were of lower resistance – weaker – and because of that they sounded better when combined with certain gain-boosting effects
Yeah, it made them clearer and more appropriate for being used with a lot of different effects. Lenny Kravitz was the opening act for a lot of the Dylan dates when I was on the tour, and I really took him under my wing. I was the only one that didn't call him… you know, the word... In the Dylan camp, everyone is very prejudiced – it's very tough to be around those people. Anyway, I sent messages to both Lenny Kravitz and Eric Johnson that part of the secret to getting great tone was using weaker pickups and coil cables. The coil cables add a lot of capacitance and inductance to your signal chain, therefore, when you're playing through a Marshall, you're cutting back on the high frequencies. When we were doing the In Step album with Stevie, I had an endorsement with Monster Cables. They would send me all of this free stuff and I was very excited because I could manage these things for a guy like Stevie, who really didn't even know how to wash dishes. All he knew how to do was play the guitar, but God bless him for that, because he really did something with what he knew. Anyway, I took these cables we got to Stevie and he said, "I hate these things." I asked him, "Why, man, they're the best cables in the world?" He said, "They pass to much electricity." Those were his exact words, and I'll never forget it as long as I live. "They pass too much electricity."
They were too efficient
Yeah, so he sent me out to the local Radio Shack and told me to buy every gray coil cord they had – not the black ones, only the gray ones. And I thought, "Hhmm, this freakin' hick from Dallas is telling me this?" I got them and ran them through my capacitance meter and found out that they added like almost .05 mfd to the signal chain. That made it sound solid – it was like having a tone control, and the brightness and harshness that the Marshalls had was eliminated. There isn't a single picture of Hendrix… back then they already had high-end cables, but there isn't a single picture of Hendrix where you see him playing with a straight cable. Why? This is something I brought up to Eric Johnson – whether he heard me or not I don't know, but it could be the second coming of coil cables.
- #10
I would not call this as a way to attain some sonic enhancement in the classic sense but more accurately using passive components to work some magic interactively. Its about utilizing passive interaction such as coiled cords etc to demphasize the harsh high freqs, maybe even reduce the signal gain that v1 sees so cranking the non master volume or even master volume renders more output tube in the tone (cause your gonna want to turn it up now) without too much up front gain to make your tone woofy, farty, over compressed etc. by killing v1They look cool, some are better than others, but as far as tone...and any kind of sonic enhancement by using coiled cables... I'd say is miniscule at best though they do have thier own sound I guess it's just not all that noticable for the vast majority of people.
Even wonder why old school tones are so damn pleasant, they dont make you cover your ears, you just want more and louder. Today its all about the audible assault on your cochlea and its because its razor blade city since everyone wants more. More signal, more highs... more gain and resultant OD = more pain ultimately.
Over the years, more highs have creeped in, factor in todays extended range of digital processing/recording and its an order of magnitude over tones of days gone by.
I love the fact that SRV used Radio Shack cords, man that is too funny and I think I owned a few when I got started. Got a buddy who loves the coiled cords with his early 70's strat and bandmaster and it makes total sense with these 2 pieces of gear.
Interesting you should say "smoothes things out". Indeed it does and its as if the highs do not abruptly disappear to where the tone is too dark as when using a treble pot, the rolloff is more gradual with a coil cord, as if your using a precision multiturn potentiometer with a finer incremental taper. So a strat and a bright amp like most BF Fenders are begging for a coiled cord.I like them into overdriven amps as it kind of smooths things out,
As far as Jimi, its the sum total of several things interacting passively where that applies in the signal chain. The devil is in the details and throwing away some tone and gain up front can be a good thing sometimes, especially with high watt non master amps.
See my post called Dimed EQ for some related info and I am not talking about Darrell of Pantera-
https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/447520&highlight=diming+everything
- #11
- #12
He would have sounded like Hendrix anyway.
- #13
- #14
- #15
- #16
- #17
People always stay stuff like this about hendrix, but its definitly not true. He for sure cared, otherwise he wouldn't have used Marshall Plexis, one of the most saught after amps of all time, strats, and pedals modded to his liking. Hendrix cared much more than others about tone. In biographies, hendrix has been quoted as saying "its all about tones" on many occasion. In addition, he was heavily involved with the mixing and mastering of his CDs. He knew exactly how he wanted his tone and he took his equipment seriously in order to get it.I'd be surprised if Hendrix even gave a **** about what cables he used.
He would have sounded like Hendrix anyway.
No doubt hendrix would always sound like hendrix in the way that he plays, but his impact would be set back with solid state amps, random pedals and low quality guitars. So what I'm saying is that every piece of the puzzle counted for him.
- #18
Well it depends on the wire. Some of the cheaper Coil cables on the market aren't exactly High End or even mid-fi on the quality scale. Some high end coilys which retain better quality would put up a stronger chance on hearing the difference when compared to a good straight cable.coiled cables add a tiny bit of capacitance and you might be able to hear the highs rolled off. likely? no, not likely.
on the otherhand- a Super duper el' cheapo $9.99 20' coil cord @ 50pf/FT cable would suck tone all day. The question is would you notice tone loss in a live mix or not?? In a studio environment it could be displeasing or for some they might like having the high freqs rolled off... Boils down to preference.
Coiled cables are great! its a great revamped retro thing and with todays modern advances in milling wire- Many companies have overcome the issues of the cable stretching out or the connectors failing easily, better shielding less Radio antenna effect all though a few of my favorite live hendrix recordings have security com going through the marshalls. If you want that retro look coils are great, Personally I don't use them the tugging thing drove me nutso- straight cables on my rig.. all though I have quite a few.. They multiply like tribbles, get one then you have 8 kinda thing.
:AOK
- #19
Yeah, my original comment was a bit flippant, but I'm just not convinced that most people would hear the difference. Maybe in a studio, but live, particularly if you're at the mercy of the sound guy, I think the difference between two cables (as long as they're both good quality) would be pretty insignificant.People always stay stuff like this about hendrix, but its definitly not true. He for sure cared, otherwise he wouldn't have used Marshall Plexis, one of the most saught after amps of all time, strats, and pedals modded to his liking. Hendrix cared much more than others about tone. In biographies, hendrix has been quoted as saying "its all about tones" on many occasion. In addition, he was heavily involved with the mixing and mastering of his CDs. He knew exactly how he wanted his tone and he took his equipment seriously in order to get it.No doubt hendrix would always sound like hendrix in the way that he plays, but his impact wouldn't be set back with solid state amps, random pedals and low quality guitars. So what I'm saying is that every piece of the puzzle counted for him.
I guess the only thing is to give em a try!
They look cool anyway.
- #20
vs.
That's a tough one...since I'm not really a country music guy, I'll go with the coiled cables.
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Coil Cable to Remove Radio Frequency
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