Can you really hear the difference?

[mahler]

Okay, so often as a guitarist we here differences that non-musicians can't hear, such as differences in tone. But I find myself doubting hearing the difference when it comes to cable lengths. My rig has probably about 32 feet of cable ( 2 15's, and 4 6"s) and I recorded some samples of my guitar first through my rig and then just through to my amp. I can not honestly say I heard a difference either in the clips, or as I was doing the test. I do not have a high quality buffer or anything....so is the difference miniscule, or vast and my ears are shot?

Do you find yourself in this situation?

 

[circusinthesky]

This is always worth reading...
http://www.guitarnuts.com/technical/cords/index.php

Someone once wrote that a particularly expensive guitar cable responded well to pick attack. While that "sounds" like the most ridiculous statement, I don't think anyone is going to go out of their way to perform any measurement tests to disprove it.

 

[epluribus]

For me the acid test is what things sound like in a gig mix. Funny how things you'd overlook in the living room make a difference in a band at full blower. I listen for things like clarity, chord and note definition, and especially all those tiny details that tell you there's a live player on the other end. IOW, do you have dramatic presence?

Oh yeah...and ear comfort. Listen for a while...will the audience want a break or will they stay and listen?

Oddly enough, those things are often really hard to hear in an isolated audition or in a home playing environment. But for some reason, when you crank it up proper and try to sit with a band, the differences can jump right out at you. One of the most dramatic examples I can think of is digital modelling rigs...they can sound dead-on awesome in isolation and somehow "disappear" in a band mix. Without proper tweaking they just don't project.

Do cables make a difference? Can't say...I've not messed with 'em that much. But if you really want to know, I'd A/B 'em onstage and see if you and your guitar are "there" or not.

--Ray
platontification

 

[StompBoxBlues]

The only way I can hear differences is by using a looper. Get a 3 loop looper, and plug in differenct cable lengths, and don't power the looper (so you don't know if you picked the extra length cable or not) and just go back and forth eyes closed.

With almost all cables I can hear some difference. This test proved to me though that it is no HUGE loss....so I stopped worrying about it.
But it is nice to verify for yourself.