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Dave Merrill said:
I'd be interested in hearing some comparison clips, well controlled, so the only difference is cable direction.

I'd also like to understand the scientific basis for the difference, the physics that makes that difference happen.

It also seems unlikely that the audio and instrument worlds would have missed this all these years, with all the attention that gets paid to cultivating awesome tones.
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Just added to my comment:

There is a theory that the direction of the winds in the shielding of the cable can have an effect on the capacitance of the cable, and some will talk about the direction in which the wire was drawn before it was twisted together.
No one can convince anyone. You will have to try it yourself.
 
rlennyr said:
Just added to my comment:

There is a theory that the direction of the winds in the shielding of the cable can have an effect on the capacitance of the cable, and some will talk about the direction in which the wire was drawn before it was twisted together.
No one can convince anyone. You will have to try it yourself.
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IMO, if it's not audible in well controlled comparison recordings, it's too subtle to spend time on.
 
Dave Merrill said:
IMO, if it's not audible in well controlled comparison recordings, it's too subtle to spend time on.
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Agree it's relative. If there isn't much of a difference it's a good thing.

But if changing directions did make a difference, why not.

Just last week I had real bad results in a live gig situation where my tone was harsh and lacked body on overdriven tones. I just changed the direction of my patch cables and it solved the problem.
 
This is some voodoo stuff. Kind of like those high dollar power cables in the audiophile world. Whatever makes you happy is cool with me. But that can’t change how electricity works. The cable and its connections are components in the signal chain and have their own electrical characteristics. And the laws of electricity define how those characteristics will affect the signal chain. Variances can happen anywhere in the chain, particularly at connection points. I have worked on equipment for a living all of my adult life, since 1979. There have been many times I have fixed things by simply reseating connections. More times than I can count. Your case was probably one of those kind of things. The shielding thing might have something to it but capacitance in typical guitar cables is very low. Any effect would be subtle, but there have been times where I could hear a difference between long and short cables. Be happy with what you have and if the direction of your cable makes a difference to you then keep doing that. But you’re not going to convince a lot of people that it’s real. I would be curious to hear @FractalAudio opinion on this.
 
skolacki said:
This is some voodoo stuff. Kind of like those high dollar power cables in the audiophile world. Whatever makes you happy is cool with me. But that can’t change how electricity works. The cable and its connections are components in the signal chain and have their own electrical characteristics. And the laws of electricity define how those characteristics will affect the signal chain. Variances can happen anywhere in the chain, particularly at connection points. I have worked on equipment for a living all of my adult life, since 1979. There have been many times I have fixed things by simply reseating connections. More times than I can count. Your case was probably one of those kind of things. The shielding thing might have something to it but capacitance in typical guitar cables is very low. Any effect would be subtle, but there have been times where I could hear a difference between long and short cables. Be happy with what you have and if the direction of your cable makes a difference to you then keep doing that. But you’re not going to convince a lot of people that it’s real. I would be curious to hear @FractalAudio opinion on this.
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That’s why I said a few times. One has to try it themselves. No one can convince anyone.

The link that I posted earlier has many people on both sides of the fence. But for those who are not getting the results they want it is definitely worth a try which takes only a minute compared to spending money and time on something else.
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
Common guitar amp inputs are high impedance, usually 1M ohms....
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Effect loops aren't typically high impedance.
And it's the guitar pickups that make it high impedance.
So if you have low impedance pickups -active. This issue gets diminished greatly.
 
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Joe Bfstplk said:
I can actually hear the difference when I plug in my Planet Waves cable (it was a gift) the wrong way. It has a telescoping shield from the amp end, surrounding hot and ground signal wires. The idea is that your guitar gound doesn't ride down the shield braid and pick up noise, which injects itself into the guitar's sound via the ground connection's resistance. It is a little less noisy in noise-prone environments when used properly. In a less noisy environment it makes far less difference.
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That's what I said above.
But most cables aren't like this.
 
rlennyr said:
Just last week I had real bad results in a live gig situation where my tone was harsh and lacked body on overdriven tones. I just changed the direction of my patch cables and it solved the problem.
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I’d be more inclined to believe that one of the 1/4” connections had a little bit of corrosion or contamination or just wasn’t making good contact.

Back when companies like Whirlwind started making stronger cables, they’d use machined brass mil-spec and old telephone switchboard connectors, which would tarnish over time and we’d occasionally get lousy connections and noise. I’d rub them on my Levi’s and unplug and replug them several times to try to clean the connections enough to make it through the night, and then later use some really fine steel wool on the ends to make the tip and ring bright again.

I haven’t seen any companies use brass for a long time, but I still have some of the original George L cords that used machined brass 1/4” plugs and they’ll do it too.
 
Tonedeaf said:
Usually, When I have a problem with not getting a signal, it turn out to be a cable problem.... my senile ass forgets to plug in my guitar.
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I do that with my wireless shit. Plug it in, go to play. Nothing. Dick around for 45 minutes and then remember to turn the transmitter (or receiver) on. I'll check one but not both for some reason. By then I'm stressing and need a toke or two. Around the time that kicks in, I've lost all ambition.
 
Tonedeaf said:
Usually, When I have a problem with not getting a signal, it turns out to be a cable problem.... my senile ass forgets to plug in my guitar.
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Just gone through a series of comedy-of-error troubleshooting before realising that my senile ass was wearing the wrong headphones. Note - not so senile that I was actually placing any headphones, nor have I yet, upon my buttocks. That day may still be yet to come though.
 
yeah, logical fault finding and that moment when it deserts you...
Coincidentally when I turned my PC on (connected to AxeFX by default) I assumed I'd got some "new weird USB tremolo bug" when the signal started gating on and off in a weird uncontrollable way. So after dicking around in Device Mangler for a bit I shutdown the PC thinking I'll just play my guitar anyway... it continues. Oh no, my AxeFX is broken... the f' it is - the battery on the wireless transmitter is going flat. So remarkably obvious. (I blame the industrial strength painkillers but I guess it happens to us all).
 
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