Best TRS-XLR cable?

[KevinIndiana]

I want to buy a guitar cable. Simple enough. Already have a traditional 1/4-1/4 TS cable, but now that I have an amp that accepts balanced XLR input, I want a good TRS-LXR cable.

I looked on Amazon and the 15' Taylor cable has 4 comments (3+1 follow-up), and 3 of the 4 complain about bad connections and noise. It appears that is for an actual Taylor brand cable.

On Taylor's site they also list what appears to be the same 15' cable, and it's the same price as on Amazon.

I want a quality cable that is rock solid and won't have bad connections, internal or external. I used to play electric guitar a lot in my youth and had more than enough experience with bad cables. I want quality.

Also want the 90 degree 1/4" connector like the Taylor has.

Anyone have suggestions for me? I'm not having much luck with my search engine.

Thanks!

[greg947]

I bought my Taylor 15' cable from Amazon.  I have had absolutely no problems with it.  No noise or anything.  Works every time. 

Greg

[RGtheMusicGuy]

I really don't know anyone that makes a Angled TRS to XLR Male cable.

Taylor used to make to different cables, the standard and the premium which was almost double the price.  I have one of the premium cables which uses mogami cable, but I think they've discontinued them.  I can't comment on the standard cable.

[Cindy]

PM sent.

[KevinIndiana]

OK, so here's a related question then. Is there any advantage/disadvantage to using such a cable (male 1/4" TRS to male XLR)? I definitely would like an angled TRS plug going into the guitar. Beyond that, there seem to be two other options:

1. Just buy a TRS-to-TRS cable. My Fishman Loudbox Arist has the XLR/1/4" combo jack for both channels, so I'm assuming it would take a TRS jack and make all three connections, not just treat it like a TS. So maybe a simple TRS-to-TRS cable is all I should get.

2. Buy an angled male 1/4" TRS to male XLR adapter. I can find several of those. Then just use any standard male-to-female XLR microphone cable. My concerns on that are: a.) weight/appearance...seems like a lot of stuff going on right next to my beautiful guitar! and b.) more connections = more to go wrong. (Although it also would give me more flexibility in choosing/switching cables.)

So, if I stick with my original plan of buying what I thought was a "normal" Taylor ES-compatible cable, I can buy the cheaper Taylor cable on Amazon and hope it holds up, or I can just keep looking, or get one custom made for me somewhere.

It's just surprising to me that as popular as Taylors and the ES system are (they say they have now shipped more than 1/4 million guitars with ES!!!) that it's this hard to find a good cable for it. 

Anyway, hate to dwell on such minutiae, but I do need to buy a couple cables soon for my wife's and my guitars, and with Taylor shipping 50,000 Expression Systems annually, I can't be the only person perplexed by this.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

[RGtheMusicGuy]

Why not just use a normal TS/TS Cable?  Do you need to use a TRS cable?   

I have the special Taylor premium cable and balanced breakout box but I don't end up using them, 99.9% of the time I just use a standard TS cable.

[KevinIndiana]

TS is unbalanced. It works. I have one of those and it's OK. But I want to have better cables that will not only work in my family room but anywhere else I might want to use them.

TS, or more precisely, an unbalanced cable, is just more susceptible to RF noise, hum, etc. TRS is balanced. Essentially, with TRS and a balanced line, there are two opposite circuits in the cable that carry mirror images of the signal. When it gets to the other end, the amplifier circuitry can add those two together, but subtract out any noise that got picked up along the way because the noise is added to one signal and subtracted from the mirror image signal. (or sumtin' like dat!) Anyone who knows anything about electronics is laughing at me right now. That's OK. They can feel free to chime in here, but I don't think you're asking for anything more than what I just stated, and that's good, cuz that's all I understand! Essentially, balanced cables can go longer distance, with less noise, and also have twice as strong a signal as the unbalanced cable, since TS is only picking up one of the two signals.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

[michaelw]

out of the cable manufacturers i'm aware of (i'm there are many more)

canare
george l
hosa
mogami
monster
neutrik
planet waves
rapco horizon
redco
switchcraft
zaolla

finding a 1/4" TRS male right angle to XLR male was few & far between

here's one
http://www.customcutcables.com/products/xlr-male-1-4-trs-right-angle

there are some comapnies that will do a 'BTO' cable
http://www.redco.com/shopexd.asp?id=653

perhaps a 1/4" TRS right angle male to 1/4" TRS male, in combination with
a 1/4" TRS female to XLR male adapter might be an avenue to explore,
as it seems the 1/4" TRS to 1/4" TRS cables are more readily available -
i've used a quality (not extremely expensive 1/4" TRS t
1/4" XLR male cable (no right angle plug) & it did well for me

 if there were a situation to where the cable might be 'yanked' from the guitar (in the playing position),
i'd rather the cable go straight out & away, rather than down or at an angle ... but that's just me

[Herb Hunter]

OK, so here's a related question then. Is there any advantage/disadvantage to using such a cable (male 1/4" TRS to male XLR)? I definitely would like an angled TRS plug going into the guitar. Beyond that, there seem to be two other options:

1. Just buy a TRS-to-TRS cable. My Fishman Loudbox Arist has the XLR/1/4" combo jack for both channels, so I'm assuming it would take a TRS jack and make all three connections, not just treat it like a TS. So maybe a simple TRS-to-TRS cable is all I should get.

2. Buy an angled male 1/4" TRS to male XLR adapter. I can find several of those. Then just use any standard male-to-female XLR microphone cable. My concerns on that are: a.) weight/appearance...seems like a lot of stuff going on right next to my beautiful guitar! and b.) more connections = more to go wrong. (Although it also would give me more flexibility in choosing/switching cables.)

So, if I stick with my original plan of buying what I thought was a "normal" Taylor ES-compatible cable, I can buy the cheaper Taylor cable on Amazon and hope it holds up, or I can just keep looking, or get one custom made for me somewhere.

It's just surprising to me that as popular as Taylors and the ES system are (they say they have now shipped more than 1/4 million guitars with ES!!!) that it's this hard to find a good cable for it. 

Anyway, hate to dwell on such minutiae, but I do need to buy a couple cables soon for my wife's and my guitars, and with Taylor shipping 50,000 Expression Systems annually, I can't be the only person perplexed by this.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

I would simply buy a low-capacitance TRS to TRS cable but I wouldn't go above the medium priced ones. A Planet Waves cable   would meet those requirements and though I don't know the specifications of the Taylor cable, I'd be surprised if it wasn't a low capacitance type.
Some very expensive cables actually have a higher capacitance than the Planet Waves cables.

http://www.planetwaves.com/pwCables.Page

[RGtheMusicGuy]

Essentially, balanced cables can go longer distance, with less noise, and also have twice as strong a signal as the unbalanced cable, since TS is only picking up one of the two signals.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

While true, this can easily be solved by other ways.  I'd dare say unless your in a extremely high noise environment or trying to go over 30 feet you'd also be hard pressed to find a whole ton of a difference.  Of course I guess this being said that's a dumb statement to make on message boards because there will probably be 100 people saying of course they can hear a ton of difference. 

[Herb Hunter]

Essentially, balanced cables can go longer distance, with less noise, and also have twice as strong a signal as the unbalanced cable, since TS is only picking up one of the two signals.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

While true, this can easily be solved by other ways.  I'd dare say unless your in a extremely high noise environment or trying to go over 30 feet you'd also be hard pressed to find a whole ton of a difference.  Of course I guess this being said that's a dumb statement to make on message boards because there will probably be 100 people saying of course they can hear a ton of difference.

The extent to which it makes a difference depends on the equipment into which the guitar is being plugged. With some equipment, the difference may not be significant but in others it is.

[KevinIndiana]

if there were a situation to where the cable might be 'yanked' from the guitar (in the playing position),
i'd rather the cable go straight out & away, rather than down or at an angle ... but that's just me

a cable with a right angle end, or a stand to keep the output jack area off the ground would likely help -
leaning a guitar up against something could be a repair waiting to happen (i'd try to avoid doing that)

Hi Michael,

I've quoted excerpts from two recent posts of yours, one from this thread and one quoted from the "should the end-pin jack be moved" thread.

You point out a disadvantage of a straight 1/4" plug and one for the right angle version.

Even though I'm a newbie on this forum, I've already seen from your other posts that your opinion is to be valued, so I'm interested in your (and others') view on this aspect of the cable. At the risk of moving even one level deeper into minutiae, I'm hoping to get more insight from experienced Taylor acoustic cable users before I "chart my course" on cables. On the one hand, it seems silly to put so much effort into such an inexpensive item, certainly relative to the cost of the guitars. But on the other hand, both concerns you mention address risks to the guitar itself, so it's hardly a trivial consideration.

Personally, your "yank" point seems to address the most significant risk and has nearly convinced me that a straight plug is preferable. Although it was many decades ago, I still remember how frequently the cord would get yanked out of my electric guitar during my rock 'n' roll band days. Dozens of times, I'm sure, both during performances and practices. Fortunately, (if my recollection is correct) the jack on my Gretsch was pointed almost straight down when I was wearing the guitar, and the cord usually came out. I think I sometimes used angled plugs, but fortunately my Duo Jet was built like a tank, albeit a semi-hollow-body tank, and I think I might have damaged a cable or two when the plug didn't come out, but it never harmed the guitar. And early on I learned to wrap the cable around the strap at least once, not to guard against the strap coming off--that just never happened; it was on tight--but to prevent yanking out the plug during a performance. (I'm also now remembering that I usually used a long, coiled cord, but as usual, I continue to digress.)

Anyway, I definitely see your point about yanking on an angled plug that's inserted into an expensive acoustic guitar. Concerns me. A lot!  A straight plug should be much more likely than an angled one to come right out pretty easily in that situation.

So what's the downside of the straight plug? Seems to me, the only one, provided one always uses guitar stands, which I do, is if the plug extends so far out of the body that it hits the floor when the guitar is on the stand (or obviously if one likes to prop the guitar up on its end without a stand while plugged in, but I think anyone foolish enough to do that deserves their fate). I have several of the OnStage GS7462B folding guitar stands, which I really like for the price (as is the case with all of the OnStage products I've bought, fwiw). I just tried plugging in the straight plug of my TS cable and setting the guitar on a stand, and although it forces the cable to make a fairly sharp, short-radius right turn, it doesn't risk any damage to the guitar, and hopefully not to the cable either, unless it's done regularly. Moreover, a straight plug would probably encourage the removal of the cable from the guitar before placing it on the stand. Given that the 9v battery will continue to be drained while the plug is in, that's actually a very good thing. Unless it's only going to be on the stand for a few minutes, unplugging is the smart thing to do from a battery-saving standpoint.

So, there are my thoughts on straight vs. angled. If this topic has already been addressed elsewhere on this forum, I didn't find it, so I'm hoping that any discussion we have here will benefit a lot more people than just me, especially if it saves someone from causing damage to their guitar!

Comments invited!  Thanks.

[michaelw]

hi Kevin,
i looked up the GS7462B &, to me, it looks like a rather sturdy, portable
folding stand, but it lacks height adjustment & it supports the body only -
the unpadded corners of the A-frame & the kick-ups on the stepped yoke
look like there might  be a greater chance of something happening whenever
a guitar is not placed or removed from the stand with extreme care & deliberation

the feet of the legs could be wrapped with non-slip grip tape in order to build up
enough height so that a straight 1/4" jack could be plugged in at the tailblock with
adequate ground clearance, so that there is no compression placed on the cable

i have a couple of hercules GS415B stands -
the contact points on the guitar are small & well-padded, so it's easy for me to 'put-it-up' or 'grab-&-go'
when collapsed, it is not quite as portable as a foldable stand, but is still quite manageable (about 28" x 5")

i also use a genesis GS100
it's extremely stable & the set-up/break-down is much quicker, smoother & easier than the hercules -
i like it quite a bit, especially when taking guitar pics, because the headstock & body are not covered

there's one available with a self-locking yoke - genesis GS1000

the caveat with the self-locking yoke stands is to verify that the yoke will accept the width
of the neck (classical guitars with 2" + nut width in particular, may be  )

electric guitars have their output jacks located in different locations -
i'd prefer a right angle end on a guitar that has the jack on the top (like a SG),
whereas a straight end would be more suitable on a Strat (or a recessed jack)

most of the acoustics i've seen have the output jack located either at
the tailblock, the lower treble bout side (around the 5 'o clock position)
or on the lower bass bout side (in the 7 'o clock position) on a lefty -
on an acoustic, i feel that the tailblock end jack location may help prevent
accidental damage to the guitar, as it is encased in the block, which is quite sturdy

wrapping a cable around a strap in a loop or knot is something i've seen
but i've learned that over time it may  place undue stress on the cable

also, rolling cables up like an extension or drop cord can cause damage by bunching the coils
together, winding the last foot or so repeatedly around them & then tucking/wrapping the end in -
i coil cables in a series of alternating clockwise & counter clockwise loops & use a velcro cable tie

there are many products & ways to accomplish the same thing -
as long as they work well for the user, i believe that all that really matters