Does cable thickness matter?

[cdkrugjr]

Cables are an engineering problem.

I used to work in an EM Compliance lab, think “FCC Class B” stickers and that sort of thing. We worked up to 5GHz and our cable was Belden, or Alpha, Mogami not being a player in that space until more recently

For class CM wires you’d bury in a wall, 24AWG is plenty for signals, and even 22 gauge is still pretty skinny in the made up cable.

But on-stage you’ll use a Neophrene jacket, even though it’s strictly speaking “worse” due to capacitance….it needs flexibility and durability that a wire lying in a conduit simply doesn’t need. You’ll even use “inferior” braided or even wrapped shields because 100% coverage metalized Mylar foil will just break in stage usage.

There’re a couple of manufacturers of high-end cable that make claims and statements that are utter nonsense because Physics. If a manufacturer is used to dealing in multi-gigahertz bandwidths, pretty much anything with the right number of conductors and shielding will work for audio.

[fazool]

Originally Posted by shufflebeat

The theoretical basis for your answer is correct but the question is about instrument cables. In this very specific case the qualities of reliability and longevity take priority and the signal to noise ratio has so much headroom in most instances as to be insignificant in cabling terms.

yes I agree with you entirely

[shufflebeat]

Originally Posted by fazool

yes I agree with you entirely

Thanks for the nod.

[rokdog49]

Go wireless…
You can buy a set for about the same as one of those 15 ft. Mogami cables and you don’t have to worry about tripping over them, bending them, squishing them or whatever. Plus they don’t get tangled up.
Finally, and most important, you can walk around freely through your adoring audience and play.

[shufflebeat]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Go wireless…

Wireless is great, with three important caveats:

There's a great video by Dave Rat where he holds up a short piece of copper cable and says, "digital, at it's best, aims to do what this does every day" (or words to that effect). I would put wireless in the same category. The best and most expensive wireless system transmits signal only as good as even the cheapest decent guitar cable. The great thing about wireless it it also does it when you're hanging from the light fitting. Also, it might save your life in a dodgy mains scenario.

Cheap wireless is vulnerable to interference, particularly from mobile phones. As soon as the bride and groom step up for their first dance everyone pulls out a phone and the wedding photographer rushes in with a wireless controlled flash - your guitar signal disappears (ask how I know).

You'll end up buying a jack lead anyway as backup.

[rokdog49]

Nothing is perfect that’s for sure.
We rarely have had issues with our wireless stuff which we use on our instruments and microphones.
If there is interference we simply change the channel on the device and voilà…
…problem solved.
We do have back up cables.

[shufflebeat]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

If there is interference we simply change the channel on the device and voilà…
…problem solved.
We do have back up cables.

Same as.

Extra words for minimum count.

[Mandobart]

Originally Posted by fazool

And very importantly, all this is for naught if you don't have excellent connectors that are ideally installed.

In a previous life making and repairing submarine nuclear reactor instrument cables, this was my biggest concern. The greatest source of signal loss/reflection/phase shift occured at interfaces (connection points).