Help Me Explain Power Cables to my Guitar Friends

I have been a guitar player for 30+ years and into audio since the 1970's. Yes, I can still hear the subtle differences! I have even had my hearing tested over the years. I upgraded the power cord for my Marshall JCM900 50 watt reverb top, running through a Mesa 4 x 12 slant cabinet (guitar lingo) and I can hear the difference in dynamics, sustain, and "chunk" in the sound. That is true whether I am playing my American Reissue '62 Stratocaster, Buck Owens Tele, 1989 White Les Paul Custom, or Paul Reed Smith Custom 24. Many companies are making "high end" guitar to amp cables now, including Monster and Tara Labs and DiMarzio. To me the differences are the same as audio applications in terms of improved frequency response and harmonic content. Show them my reply and they can tell by the gear that I take the guitar stuff seriously. You might need to point them in the right direction as to what to listen for. One thing about most guitar players, whether the guitar sound is distorted or not, they know when a type of guitar's sound is being accurately captured on a recording. Good luck!

While I absolutely agree that the vast majority of claims for power cords are absolute nonsense, when I brought home my Marchall amp for the first time there was a loud oscillating hum. Back to Guitar Center it went, where we couldn't duplicate the problem. They gave me another one anyway, and it had the same problem.
Ultimately we found that I had a wall wart power supply in close proximity to the power cord, and moving them far away cured the problem.
Just be sure your cord has good EMI/RFI (anything reasonably well shielded) and your good to go.
Or get one of those $4,500 "soundstaging champs" for a real guitar amp epiphany. Sure

Lkdog, you might have a point about the modeling amp. I use an Hughes and Kettner Zentera modeler around the house for practice (decent tones and flexability at low volume). I'll have to swap on a good power cord just for grins.

For playing out (rare these days) it's either a Soldano Decatone or a Groove Tubes Soul-o 75. I don't know that I'd want to bring an expensive cord to the places I go to play...

Daveyguitar, you're right about the higher quality guitar cords on the market. They beat the cheapo microphonic cords of years past (think Hendrix with that silly coiled cord going to his Marshall). The metal guys I know don't care about cords, but the jazz guys I play with do.

As a lot, guitar players tend to be very conservative on gear and its hard to convince them to incorporate new technology of any kind. Even cutting edge technology such as digital modeling amps is largely employed to emulate the sounds of classic 50's and 60's amplifiers.

I remeber reading something written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagan about the guitar player as the noble savage holding a vintage Les Paul. The comment is not far from the truth (and I resemble that remark)!

I spent the better part of my ‘first life’ working in sound reinforcement and the recording sciences and can somewhat understand a musician or even sound engineers’ reluctance to sample a higher quality power cable.

Our company is beginning to expose wire technologies along with our versions of resonance control to the professional music markets and also find it more difficult to describe the benefits thereof. Even suggesting the placement of our resonance control Platforms beneath guitar amplifiers was more challenging than first getting an audiophile to listen to one.

One of the coolest results that I have experienced is the look on the face of a guitar player when he first hears and feels the results of resonance control. I believe the look would be somewhat similar when they employ a higher grade power cable as well.

There is an excellent designer/manufacturer of valve amplifiers here in the States that also has a Degree in sound and vibration along with Quantum Physics. He originally hails from Great Britain and is definitely one of the most knowledgeable persons that I have encountered in all my years of touring and including high end audio.

His name is Robert Wakeling of Palette Amplifiers. www.paletteamps.com

In my honest opinion and throughout my experience listening to many a guitar amplifier, his designs are simply the finest sound I have encountered. I also know that he is currently experimenting with various power cords that are sold within our High-Fi community so you may wish to contact him as he might offer up some hands on information in order to help with your situation.

As Always - Good Listening !

Robert C. Maicks

Star Sound Technologies, LLC

1-877-668-4332 Toll Free

ghostrider, you are way off on the association of clean power and distortion. There's good distortion and then ther's bad distortion. I play a Dr Z (Prescription) amp. All his designs are based on power tube distortion rather than preamp driven distortion both of which are hugely different from bad power distortion. Clean power, high dollar propriatary caps, matched tubes, NOS tubes, point to point wiring all add to these amps not take away. They have massive transformers to keep the bottom end tight and they are among the most touch responsive amps and dynamic out there. The notes are very articulate and defined. A players dream amp. Victoria, Matchless, Swart all the same deal.

Some guitar players are getting into the high end patch chords (George Ls for ex) and good speaker cables but as a player with 30+ years of gigging i have to say patch cords are questionable unless you are recording and get real about the power cord thing. The idea of trashing an $80 cord on a $50 dollar gig isn't all that appealing. Half of the time you are playing a bar with out-of-date-ground-loop-from-hell electrical, beer lights that send more signal through your single coils than your playing does, shoved into a corner of a no acoustics dive playing to loud patrons who think you are a live jutebox. If you want a real difference for the real world a player should get something to keep line voltages where they should be. Resonance control as mentioned above is a benifit as well.

All the potential improvements from cords assumes the guy has spent money on a high quality responsive amp in the first place. A lot of guys think it's nuts to spend $1500 or better on an amp. Spending money upgrading a mass production fender blues Jr is nothing but a waste (nothing particularly bad about a blues Jr but it is what it is).