PSA: Plugging your expensive guitar into your expensive vintage tube amp with a cheap guitar cable is like buying a Ferrari and slapping some '81 Buick whitewall tires on it to save a few bucks. It's still a Ferrari, but will it drive like a Ferrari?
As musicians, we are constantly perfecting our tone. Guitars, basses, pickups, pedals, mics, rack effects, more pedals – the possibilities are truly endless. So why do we connect all of this expensive gear with cheap cables that degrade the very tone we are seeking to achieve? Unfortunately, cables are too often an afterthought, but they shouldn’t be.
But premium instrument and microphone cables can be expensive. REALLY expensive. And let’s be honest: At some point, the law of diminishing returns kicks in where any marginal improvements in sound quality and clarity become unnoticeable to the human ear.
So where is that sweet spot where you have the best cable you can buy without it costing you $250, $300, $400, or even more?
This is why we started Signal Chain Audio Labs®. We build premium instrument and microphone cables for home, studio, and stage that provide musicians pristine sound clarity – all at prices that won’t destroy your budget.
Every single cable is soldered and assembled by hand (by me) in our tiny shop in Alexandria, Virginia. And all of our cables come with a LIFETIME WARRANTY.
Rob Haralson
Founder
Signal Chain Audio Labs
So, what makes these cables so great? A lot of reasons. But let’s start with craftsmanship. Each cable is made-to-order and soldered and assembled by hand, one at a time, with precision – using two types of solder (both lead-free) at a specific temperature – and fully tested in the shop before they are shipped. This helps to ensure each cable can withstand the rigors of the road and maintain a lifetime of clarity and signal strength – all from the very first time you plug it in.
And our idea of craftsmanship goes way beyond just assembly. It also includes the carefully selected parts we source for our products. While relentlessly testing countless plugs, we looked at functionality, feel, reliability, and consistent quality. The G&H High Clarity Profile plugs far exceeded our expectations. These plugs eliminate the traditional tin plate, found in most plugs, where the cable is typically soldered. Instead, it uses a copper pin that shoots directly into the plug. This creates a clean connection between the cable and the plug. For patch cables, we just knew we had to go with Squareplug™ for many of the same reasons. The Squareplug™ SP500s and SPS5s maintain such a low profile on any pedalboard without sacrificing quality. And we prefer soldered over any of the solderless options out there.
Which leaves us with our cables. In January 2024, we announced our INST-1 instrument cable, the first cable we designed ourselves. It’s the culmination of nearly two years of research, testing, and tweaking to develop what we believe is one of the best instrument cables on the market today. It produces pristine sound clarity, presence, and dynamics with greater definition at higher frequencies. And for bass players, lower frequency outputs are tighter, but still retain their fullness and warmth.
We crammed a lot into a .300 OD cable, including a 20 AWG 74/38 oxygen free copper conductor, low density foam insulation, a semiconductive PVC shield, and a 100% coverage spiral copper shield that works to eliminate outside signal interference. All of these components work together to produce a cable with a capacitance of 19 pF/f. Capacitance (lower is better), measures the integrity of the source signal over a measurement of length (e.g., 10ft, 20ft, 30ft). Cheaper or less expensive guitar cables you might find at your local music shop will have higher capacitance where the signal will significantly degrade – especially at longer lengths. This greatly impacts your tone.
We source our instrument cables for our redesigned braided line, as well as for our XLR cables. We tested countless cables, but landed on the Mogami 2524 instrument cable and the 2534 NEGLEX quad high definition microphone cable. The 2524 is thinner (.236) than our INST-1 cable and provides better flexibility when paired with a polyethylene cable sleeve.
And in our opinion, it’s almost impossible to find a better 4-conductor XLR cable than the Mogami 2534. It’s perfect. Seriously, we wouldn't change a thing on it.
If you want to dive deeper into what makes a premium cable better than a cheap one, I encourage you to read our post, “Premium Cables Vs. Cheaper Cables: A deep dive into why you should never skimp on cables that connect all of your gear.”
What does a lifetime warranty mean? Exactly that. If your cable becomes defective during the time you own it, just send it back and we will repair or replace it at no cost to you.
No B.S. It’s really that simple.
If you are a professional musician, producer, or studio engineer, we’d love to work with you. Send an email to the address below to start a conversation.
artistrelations@signalchainaudio.com
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