   Our hero’s journey begins with an energy force. Much like our vocal cords, a guitar string produces a signal when plucked. The mechanical/audio signal energy is transformed (or transduced) by a guitar pick-up into electrical energy. This is where Johnny Electron starts to boogie!
The electrical energy signal duplicates the physical motion of the string, which travels through your guitar cable to your amp. The guitar amp boosts the tiny signal it receives from the guitar as much as a million times or more. Finally, with Johnny at the top of his game, his lifelong destiny is fulfilled when the electrical energy signal is converted back into a mechanical/audio signal by the speaker system.  Take the best-made guitar in the world, plug it into the greatest amp, and prepare to hear the angels sing. What you hear sounds more like the devil off his meds… what happened?
Let’s take a closer look. You spent $1,500 on a top-notch guitar. Next, paid $2,700 on an amp that’s made to rock the house. Then you put them together with a $5 cable …ding, ding, ding! Often called the weakest link in the chain, this month we’ll talk about the "lowly cable".  Guitar and speaker cables are two very different types of cables, designed for two very different purposes. Using one in place of the other can have unpleasant effects, ranging from annoying interference to equipment failure. Both types of cable often share the same type of ¼” phone plugs, which can cause confusion when you’re picking out a cable.
To see illustrations of each type, go here. Guitar cable, also called instrument cable, is a low-power, high-impedance (resistance to flow) cable, built to carry a weak, un-amplified signal from your guitar to your amp. Instrument cables have a positive inner wire that carries the signal. The inner wire is surrounded by a braided shield conductor that also works as the ground connection. The braided shield blocks the noisy external interference from neon and florescent lights, dimmers and lots of other electro-magnetic sources. Speaker cable is a high-power, low-impedance (resistance to flow) cable, built to carry a strong signal from your amp to your speakers. Speaker cable has two wire conductors which are larger in diameter and can handle relatively high current and voltage.  How do I tell what kind of cable it is, and what might happen if I get it wrong?
The two cables do look alike, and have the same ¼” jack plug. Obviously, if you purchase the cable new, it should have information on the packaging. If it’s a used cable, it is usually labeled on the outer jacket of the cable. If I use speaker cable in place of a guitar cable …? …it will not cause any harm to your guitar or amp. However, speaker cable is not shielded and the tiny signal from your guitar will be bombarded with lots of outside interference. If I use guitar cable in place of speaker cable …? …it usually won’t cause any harm at low signal levels. However, at high levels you get into trouble. The small guitar cable will get hot, causing distortion and eventually cable failure. Tube amps are especially unforgiving. A simple mistake like this can cause amp failure. Power tubes and output transformers are pretty expensive (much more than just buying a new speaker cable in the first place). Does cable length affect my tone? Yes. Any length of wire has a resistance to flow (aka ohms and represented by the symbol Ω). This resistance puts a more of a drag on the current with every extra foot of cable. And remember, we are not dealing with a very strong signal coming from the guitar. What also affects the tone of your guitar is the capacitance of the cable. The longer the cable, the higher the capacitance, and the more high-end roll-off you will have in your tone. Capacitance is measured in units called farads. A farad is a huge unit, so we usually use a smaller unit called a pico-farad, which is a million millionth of a farad. Good cables will measure about 30 pico-farads per foot (30 pf/ft). The best low-capacitance cables are about 15 pf/ft. Try to find the lowest capacitance for the cost. Rule of thumb: the shorter the cable is, the more unaltered your tone will be, so only get cable as long as you think you will need because it all adds up. Does active electronics (battery-operated pick-ups or pre-amps) affect the resistance and capacitance? Yes. With active electronics, your cable will have practically zero effect on the tone. Are silver conductor, oxygen-free-copper, or cryonectically-made cables better than other well-made copper cables? Not really. These cables are more expensive and usually made very well, making them very decent cables, but studies haven’t proven them any better than moderately-priced cables. Does a cable with gold-plated jack plugs produce a better connection? Not that you would notice any difference between gold-plated and nickel-plated jack plugs. Bare brass jack plugs make a good connection, but corrode within a relatively short time which causes problems. The problem with gold-plating is that it will wear off in a fraction of the time when compared to the commonplace nickel-plated plugs. Are solder-less jack plugs as good as traditionally-soldered jack plugs? Some big-time guitar techs prefer to have soldered jacks on all of their cables. I have used both types for many years, and haven’t had much trouble from either type. Try both types and see how they perform for you. Do anti-pop jack plugs work as advertised? The anti-pop jack plugs are made to ground out the cable when transferring from one instrument to another without the annoying “pop” or buzz. They work well, but need to be kept very clean, because crud can build up on the jack and cause it to ground out while playing. I don’t switch guitars in mid-song, so I have no use for such a cable. How do I care for my cables? Generally, just keeping your cables clean will keep them healthy for years. Here are a few helpful hints:
‘Til then, “plug ‘er in” and play hard!
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