Mogami Platinum
|
| About the cable: $145 for 20' cable at select Guitar Centers |
The first thing that Phil Tennison of Marshall Electronics (distributor
of Mogami) mentioned is that the cable does not contain any Platinum.
It just signifies that it is a step up in quality (and price) from
their "Gold Series".
The step up in quality and sound has a lot to do with a step down in Capacitance of the cable.
The new cable features Mogami’s fine-stranded 20 ga center conductor
now surrounded by a fairly thick foamed, high dielectric poly insulator,
which is in turn surrounded by a double spiral wrap of fine copper
shielding and a lead-free poly jacket.
Mogami believes in trying to optimize the overall sound intended by the
pickup designer without revealing frequency anomalies often found in
some other high end cables.
In Phil’s words: "I would definitely clarify that I don’t think
revealing is the right concept, but that the designers are expecting a
specific range of electrical load on the pickup. If it is too far off
the mark, the frequency response will be messed up."
The Platinum is terminated by Neutrik connectors, with the instrument
end utilizing their cleverly designed "Silent Plug," which silences the
signal automatically when the plug is removed and reinstates it
immediately and automatically when it is plugged into the instrument
Bob says: This cable sounds good enough to eat.
With its ample tight bottom, muscular mids, and sweet voluptuous
highs… well, you get the picture. It has great dynamics and punch as
well. It is somewhat thick and heavy, possibly due to the extra layer
of spiral wrap shielding, but is flexible and handles well.
Dan says: Great detail, with a high-mid emphasis and excellent
transients. Really a clear-sounding cable that should be nice for
slappers. It’s a bit heavier and thicker than some, but still flexible
and relaxed. The Neutrik silent plug is a nice touch, letting you
change axes without any buzzing. The built-in strain relief in these
plugs makes for a sturdy cable.
Alleva~Coppolo Artist Cable
|
About the cable: Sold directly through Alleva~Coppolo. Call for pricing.
|
Jimmy Coppolo is a renowned guitar and bass maker located in New York (though he's relocating to California soon). He designed his cable to optimize
the sound of his instruments when played through high quality
amplification. He has been working for several years with a cable
designer/manufacturer in the U.S. to get it just right and prefers to
keep the details of design in house.
Bob says: The Alleva~Coppolo exhibited excellent
tonal balance with a slightly hyped, but sweet high end. There was
excellent detail. Both natural and artificial harmonics came through
nicely and there was good sustain.
Dan says: Excellent definition, both in the
transients and the high end. Good bottom, too. This should make an
excellent bass cable for muddy rooms. It made my Jazz bass bark. The
cable design is a bit thinner than some, yet somewhat stiffer than
expected – probably because of the 95 percent shield. The single heat shrink
under the G&H plugs could be a bit longer, but it does the job.
Klotz
|
| About the cables: The slim profile of the La Grange guitar cable and the even slimmer T.M.
Stevens "Funkmaster" Signature cable belie the underlying
sophistication of the cable design. There are six layers to these cables: an inner core of stranded copper
is surrounded by insulation. This inner insulation layer is surrounded
by the key ingredient in the design, which is a white conductive plastic
layer that is not terminated at either end. That conductive plastic is
in turn surrounded by another layer of insulation which separates it
from the spiral copper shield; it is all held together by a rubber
jacket.
|
Kendrick Amplifiers provided two cables, both manufactured by Klotz in
Germany, a very large cable company making a wide variety of cables for
the European pro audio market. Kendrick is the US distributor and
vendor.
Gerald Weber, master of vintage sound and head of Kendrick Amps sums up the theory behind the cable design:
"The German engineers at Klotz have rethought guitar cable design.
Instead of using the standard ‘center conductor/insulation/shielding’ scenario, which is used by virtually all other cable
manufacturers, Klotz adds a conductive plastic material in between the
center conductor and the copper shielding. Of course, this conductive
plastic is insulated on both sides from the conductors (center
conductor and the shielding). The conductive plastic is not connected
to anything electrically, so it is not a path to ground. The electrons
on the copper shielding cannot "see" the center conductor through the
conductive plastic shielding and the electrons on the center conductor
cannot "see" the copper shielding through the conductive plastic
shielding, so the electrons are forced to go all the way to the
amplifier's input rather than "jumping ship" across the cable. How does
this affect tone? The signal getting to the amp is the same signal that
came from the guitar, resulting in noticeably longer sustain, more
focus, and better clarity. The clarity is particularly noticeable when
playing close voicings, such as a major 7th or a minor 9th. But most of
all, it lacks the filtered sound found in other cables."
The LaGrange is terminated by premium Neutrik plugs and the
"Funkmaster" by custom spun anodized gold aluminum connectors that
would look just right with that silver lame jump suit you’ve been just
dying to wear, but didn’t have the proper accessories.
LaGrange ($89.99 for 20')
Bob says: The LaGrange was loud and punchy, with a full range
guitar spectrum that was well balanced. The mids were well-detailed and
highs very present without being strident. Good picking attack
transients combined with excellent sustain. Definitely a cable I could
listen to for hours.
Dan says: The LaGrange has a big bottom and clear top, nicely detailed with super
transient response. The traditional diameter cable is a bit stiff and
coily, but not really a problem. The built-in strain relief of the
Neutrik plugs should help this cable last a long time.
T.M. Stevens "Funkmaster" ($88.99 for 20’)
Bob says: The "Funkmaster" is designed primarily for bass but is
a pretty nice sounding guitar cable. I sort of nicknamed it the "smile"
cable because it had strong lows and highs, with the mids sounding a
bit attenuated. Both cables handled very well in their rubber jackets,
with the thinner Funkmaster getting the nod for flexibility. Both are
well made and should hold up well under duress.
Dan says: The "Funkmaster" has a warm but clear top
with good detail and transient response and a bit of midrange emphasis.
It has a typical cable diameter with good flexibility. Its unusual
orange aluminum plugs have heat shrink over the connections, plus an
unusual spring strain relief. Should be a sturdy cable that brings home
the funk.
Zaolla Sliverline Cables
|
| About the cables: Zaolla cables are distributed by Hosa Technology and use hi-tech coax
design combined with unique material choice: a solid silver center
conductor. The cable itself has nine, yes nine separate layers. That’s a lot
of jam in that jelly roll. |
The core conductor of the cable is 20 ga pure silver wire; with an
emphasis on the pure. More on that later. That core is encased in a
high dielectric insulator which is in turn wrapped with enameled copper
wire. The copper and the silver are connected on both ends at the tip
of the plug. The next layer is an FPE precision foam high dielectric
insulator which is encased in a conductive PVC shield which is then
surrounded by a braided oxygen-free copper braid. There is then a
surround of Teflon lubricated paper to provide some slippage between
the conduction core and the jacket, which has two layers of PVC.
In other words there are redundant center connectors and shields.
The cable is terminated by premium grade G&H connectors. In the
Artist series, the cable is sent to G&H and the connections are
crimped by a proprietary pneumatic process which provides solder-free
contact. In the Standard series, the plugs are soldered at the factory
using high silver content solder.
The only difference between the standard series and the Artist series is the method of attachment of the plug.
There is no dispute that silver is a more efficient conductor. However,
there have been some concerns about its durability. Rob Manning of
Zaolla has assured us that there is a very large difference in the
durability of alloyed silver used in other applications and the pure
silver used by Zaolla, with the pure being far tougher. In fact, Rob
states, "We never had a cable returned because of breakage." He says
there had been some problems with the plug previously used on their
cables, but absolutely no problem since switching to the G&H
premium plugs. A trip to the G&H website demonstrated to me exactly
how well these plugs are built.
Silverline Artist (MSRP $178 for 20')
Bob says: I found this cable to be very revealing of
tones not heard previously from my Tom Anderson. The top is very bright
and uncovered a certain brittleness in the very high overtones. The
midrange sprang from the speaker cone with super detail and the lows
were full and weighty. Transients were handled well with a bit of extra
sparkle. All of this detail and top end detracted a bit from single
note punch and chords came through as overly bright. I was able to
compensate with EQ adjustment; but this just shows how much more signal
is present in this cable than the average. Oh, yeah, this cable is
loud. Considering how much "stuff" is built into this little gray snake
it was agreeably flexible, but a bit on the heavy side.
Dan says: A bit thicker sound than the standard version, this cable seems to have
great bandwidth, detail and transparency. As with the standard model,
it’s a thicker cable, a little stiffer and heavier than many.
Silverline Standard (MSRP $155 for 20')
Bob says:
This is the exact same cable as the Artist except for the soldered
connectors. It sounded the same except that it was not quite as bright.
I found this cable much easier to listen to with my reference settings.
If you have a guitar with an "ice pick" bridge pickup, this might
balance things out a bit better.
Dan says: A bit rounder sounding top
end, with a liquidy tone on the Jazz and an even low end, although not
overly deep. Well-defined sound without being harsh. As might be
expected from this cable’s construction, it’s a thicker cable, a bit
stiff, coily, and heavy. They’ve made this one with a nice heat shrink
over the top of the plug. I wonder about the durability of a
solid center conductor, but that should be taken care of by the thicker
jacket and stiffer design.
Evidence Lyric HG
|
| About the cable: Twin 20 ga solid copper signal conductors of extra high grade copper
surrounded individually by conductive carbon wrap provides the core
which is then insulated from the braided copper shield by a high
dielectric foamed poly. All is surrounded by a two-color woven nylon
jacket and terminated by premium Neutrik connectors. $155 for 20', distributed by Audionova. |
Tony Farinella at Evidence Audio has been perfecting his cables for
over 20 years. Cable designers and builders all have a somewhat
different take on what constitutes an ideal cable.
Tony states that if he could build a perfect cable it would have
absolutely no effect on the sound emanating from the output of the
source device, and that has been his design goal over these many years.
To accomplish this, he relies on premium solid copper conductors in 20
gauge size, which he feels is compulsory for unimpeded signal flow. The
conductive carbon wrap around each conductor reduces microphonics in
high gain situations. The high air content of the foamed poly insulator
greatly reduces cable capacitance. The high density braided copper
shield does not carry signal; that task being the sole responsibility
of the conductor pair; one carrying the hot side and the other the
return side.
Tony is the first to admit that the necessary components of this cable add up to it being rather stiff.
An interesting aside is that this same cable is terminated with XLR
connectors and sold as a microphone cable for studio use, where it has
developed a devoted following of well-known engineers. Now, that is
saying something about signal quality.
The cable specs out with a bandwidth of 20-20k Hz. With this kind of
bandwidth, the Lyric HG is ready for any complexity of signal thrown at
it and will handle it with ease, adding no coloration of its own.
Very open mindedly Tony recognizes the validity of other cable design
philosophies and realizes that a very revealing cable is not for
everyone, saying, "I would prefer that no one purchase anything
without listening to it."
Bob says: The Lyric HG cable was very open sounding with an
extended high end that I had heard somewhat on the Silverline Artist.
The extended top was combined with a smooth bottom and a detailed mid
to give the Anderson mini-buckers a rather clinical sound. I did miss
the punch of a couple of the other cables, but good dynamics helped
make up for that.
Trying to coil this 20 footer was like wrestling with a live snake, and
if I were to use one for gigging I would probably go for a shorter
length. Tony also mentioned that the cable tended to loosen up with
time. I’m not sure if that is good or bad, as the solid conductors
already would tend to have a shorter service life. A fine sounding
cable especially for studio and complicated stage rigs.
Dan says: This cable has one of the brighter top ends we’ve
heard, extra transparent. It has nice bandwidth and transient response,
with superb focus on the lower end. However, this is the stiffest cable
I’ve tested, which isn’t a surprise given the two solid inner
conductors. The nice braided cloth jacket is somewhat coily on the
floor. The Neutrik plug provide great strain relief.