Coily Cables

therose789

What is the difference between a coily cable and a normal? 

Do they make a difference to the sound or is it purely asthetics? 

mart

Inductance, if I remember right. Basically they will take a little bit off the top end of your sound. In some instances that'd be desirable, in others less so.

Edited in deference to ICBM's greater knowledge, as per his comment below.

Bogwhoppit

Coily cable's are for children of the 70s.

meltedbuzzbox

they can also make you look like a bellend if you stray too far on a stage and you have to run back towards your amp chasing your cable like a fleeing snake

ICBM

They do definitely give a slightly softer sound.

It's just that they're actually very long - if you pulled a "10-foot" one out straight it would be about 30 feet long - so they have more capacitance than a standard cable, and hence take off a bit more top end. The number of turns with an air core isn't enough to produce enough inductance to make any difference to a guitar.

When you think about Hendrix's stage rig with four of these - a total cable length of about 120' - and two tone-sucking half-bypass pedals (the Fuzz Face is actually true bypass) - the treble loss must have been enormous, and is why it sounded good with a Strat and a fully cranked Super Lead. If you try to recreate that rig with modern cables and true bypass pedals, you get an unusably shrill sound.

skankdelvar

The other danger is that one advances too far stage front and stretches the lead to its limit. Whereupon the jack flies out of the amp, whizzes past your head and takes out a punter's eye.

I'm frankly astonished they haven't been banned on H&S grounds.

Paul_C

I've got an old 80s one (with new Neutrik jacks on) that I use in my workshop, very handy

Skipped

Have seen lots of guys using 2 of them together. Yes it was a while ago.

Was I judging what these 2 long curly cables looked like?
Nope.

capo4th

These are what you need https://thedivinenoise.com/divine/pages/index

stonevibe

They are really heavy and its noticeable compared to a regular cable. 

spacecadet

I used to use a 30ft Bullet Cable. That was actually really good and didn't look too stupid. Not that much high end lost for a 30 footer but inevitably some. Expensive though.

randomhandclaps

Just to clarify what is secretly everyone's main curiosity about coily cables  - They don't increase you chances of getting laid.

spacecadet

randomhandclaps said:

Just to clarify what is secretly everyone's main curiosity about coily cables  - They don't increase you chances of getting laid.

I would actually disagree. I got more offers of sexual relations when I was using mine largely because I was displaying the image of being cool as fuck. The downside to this was the offers were not from hot blonde girls in their early 20's but from middle aged anoraks named Kenneth. :-(

Gagaryn

I have a Bullet one, weighs a ton and removes a fair whack of top end, especially with a Jazzmaster for some reason! But is red and v cool!!

mart

skankdelvar said:

The other danger is that one advances too far stage front and stretches the lead to its limit. Whereupon the jack flies out of the amp, whizzes past your head and takes out a punter's eye.

I'm frankly astonished they haven't been banned on H&S grounds.

Good to see you on here, and to see that you've brought your sense of humour with you.

p90fool

A Vox coily cable is an essential part of my Tele/Princeton rig.

Majorscale

Have a Lava retro cool and like it, not too heavy and means I don't tangle myself up in knots as I wander around the stage as I used to with straight cables...

ICBM

Gagaryn said:

I have a Bullet one, weighs a ton and removes a fair whack of top end, especially with a Jazzmaster for some reason!

1Meg pots. That increases the effect of cable capacitance. I found the volume control almost unusable on my Jag unless I used a 10' (straight) cable with it.

Strangely enough Fender's supplied cables of the 1960s were actually very low capacitance. They were also some of the first to use solderless plugs. [/trivia]

capo4th

stonevibe said:

They are really heavy and its noticeable compared to a regular cable. 

I have just compared a Divine noise to a fender tweed and there is no real difference in weight certainly nothing you would notice without putting them on digital scales. You also don't need to tidy up a coily cable.

10thumbs

Skipped said:

Have seen lots of guys using 2 of them together. Yes it was a while ago.

Was I judging what these 2 long curly cables looked like?
Nope.

Did somebody mention looking like a bellend ?

Sassafras

I notice Neutrik sell jack plugs with a little dial on top to replicate the extra capacitance of an old style cable.