Help needed ...What cable length?

Gear
21

If I’m not in my office I’m wireless too.

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22

Thank you much PR_9207 and everyone too for your input(s). As for the cable set-up, I decided on the (Straight/Angle) style cable (makes best sense for my rig setup) … as for the length, the 20ft. 'er.
All the best,
4th_Stringer

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23

Long and straight/angle covers everything for starters

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24

20’ may or may not affect the tone on a passive instrument w/ out a buffer pedal in the run. More cable = more capacitance and iirc it’ll at like rolling off the tone knob as it gets longer and longer.

But tbh I don’t know if 20 is “bad” or not in this case. All my basses are active :woman_shrugging:t2:

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25

https://strummingbars.com/effects-of-guitar-cables-on-tone/#:~:text=Long%20cables%20do%20suck%20tone,cables%20longer%20than%2025%20ft.

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26

What applies to guitar cables doesn’t directly correlate the same to bass as far as tone suck etc. You lose the top end. Bass don’t care about this.

As long as you have quality cables and patch cables (and a buffer as @Koldunya mentioned if passive) 18-20’ ain’t no thing.

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27

Hi Koldunya,
Thank you for the reply. I am definitely a beginner for sure as I had to research the difference between a passive vs active bass. I believe that my bass is configured as a passive instrument??. If I interpreted you correctly, a 20ft cable will affect both the output and tone vs a 10ft cable?? In other words, a 10ft. cable will sound better?

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28

Thanks Wombat-Metal!
Much appreciated,
4th_Stringer

29

Premium cable under 40’ usually do ok with signal strength. Cheap cables starts having problems with signal degradation at 25’-30’ if you are lucky. 75’+ a booster pedal is highly recommend.

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30

If you don’t have a battery it’s passive. My Yamaha TRBX504 is both active and passive with a switch to select each. A word of caution here - If your bass is active only make sure you have at least one spare battery. :slightly_smiling_face:

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31

Also, if it has a battery, unplug the cable on the bass side when not playing to keep the battery from draining.

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32

No.

Yes

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33

I mainly use short cables with straight jackets :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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34

Thank you Celticstar. :+1:

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35

Thanks for mentioning that. I forgot about the battery drain leaving an active Bass plugged in all the time, probably because I play passive over 90% of the time. :slightly_smiling_face:

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36

I unplug all my basses when i’m done with them, prevents you from tripping on your cable and knocking your instrument on the floor :stuck_out_tongue:

I’ve had my Sire M7 for about a year and a half now and still the original batteries in it :laughing: My fretless bass too, i should probably check that some day… i’ve had that for almost as long and that battery was in it when i bought it. :sweat_smile:

37

you’re probably not going to notice the difference in a 20ft cable, especially if it’s “low capacitance”. Maybe i should get a 50 ft cable for my Pbass :smiley:

Some Gibson/Epiphone guitars have a chickenhead varitone selector switch that lets you change the capacitance. The Jack Cassidy bass has a similar varitone selector that lets you change the impedance.

38

Line6 Relay (wireless receiver) has a switch that simulates different cable lengths. So apparently it’s a thing :man_shrugging:t2:

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39

Just what we need… Another factor that affects tone to discuss :sweat_smile:

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40

Yes, a thing called a “marketing gimmick”. Lol

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