NCableD: Vox coiled cable

[Telecastoff1]

I had the coily cords back in the 60's and 70's. They normally went bad fairly quickly....not to mention heavy and cumbersome. I haven't had one since 1974-75.

 

[stormsedge]

Or it could be that they're all robbing high end with capacitance. Which would easily explain what you hear or don't hear. At 35 feet, there's no way its not affecting it.

And FYI, it IS NOT a myth. Cable capacitance is a real thing that affects the sounds you hear from an amplifier.

It's not a myth.... When I record, I grab my best quality straight cable.

My coil cords are 15 feet or less, and they're perfect in my my 12x15 studio... At that distance, it's almost impossible to hear a difference.
Tons of people have documented the sonic differences, and you can see them, but most people can't truly HEAR them.

I'd seen this somewhere before...experimenting, I put a coil cord between my pedal board and an amp that seemed to ice pick(?) every now and then...to my ears it cured the occasional spike, so I'm happy with the idea. I'll leave the math to someone else.

 

[Tommy Biggs]

That vox coily is a pretty good cable! I was surprised - mine has lasted a long time.
Play it in good health.

 

[andy__d]

I'd seen this somewhere before...experimenting, I put a coil cord between my pedal board and an amp that seemed to ice pick(?) every now and then...to my ears it cured the occasional spike, so I'm happy with the idea. I'll leave the math to someone else

This was one of the reasons treble booster pedals were so popular around the same time as curly cables…

 

[Ben Harmless]

And FYI, it IS NOT a myth. Cable capacitance is a real thing that affects the sounds you hear from an amplifier.

I didn't read that as a suggestion that cable capacitance is a myth, but rather that the specific cable being discussed didn't exhibit any major treble loss vs. a similar straight cable. Obviously, if it's a similar cable, but longer because of the coiling, then it would exhibit differences based on the phenomenon, but I think the implication is that the coiled cable may be using materials selected to avoid this. There's also the consideration that while treble loss is a real thing, as a problem it is entirely subjective.

For me, I had the exact same experience as the OP with my Vox - it stayed out of my way, but it pulled on my pedals. I now use a pedalboard made from a 1/2 inch aluminum plate, so it's heavy enough that it's not going anywhere, but at the same time, my setup is very compact, and I carry my cables packed tightly in my gig back, so adding the extra bulk of the coil doesn't work at this point, and when I finally broke the cable, I never fixed it.

Still... I might consider one for home/studio stuff for mojo value alone. $50-$80 is a lot for such limited-use mojo though.

 

[kuch]

Marc Bolan doing it properly in 1972… View attachment 1085962

Check out those shoes!

 

[Killing Floor]

Coil cables are cool. That’s all that matters.

 

[gkterry]

Curly cords are where it's at! Don't talk to me about losing treble. Nonsense!

I play a Tele and have loads of treble!

 

[NoTeleBob]

If you just want a little capacitance, you could make up a simple box with two jacks and a capacitor in between. Better yet, get a few DPDT switches and set them up so you can get a variety of values depending on the guitar in use. Or set up a treble control and bass contour control and dial in what you want.

Any of those and then you can use a straight cable. They'd all be better than getting pulled back to the amp, pulling the pedal board around, or pulling the head down off the cab!

 

[CJM3309]

Fan of coily cables here. I've had this Bullet cable for a while now. It's a solidly made cable. And yes, even the pointer sounds good through the twin!

 

[HolmfirthNJ]

Update for anyone who’s interested in coiled cables: Loving my almost perfect Vox coiled cable as I do… I thought I should try the Fender Deluxe Tweed coiled cable. On the plus side the angled jack of the Fender cable fits the Telecaster well, on the minus side, it’s twice the weight and bulk of the Vox, and it looks kind of ridiculous. So it’s gone back.