Can a guitar cable make you sound better? You bet! Is this hard to believe? Well, I have to admit that I’ve always been skeptical of such claims about guitar cables and speaker cables. But I’m here to report that I’ve heard the difference. When I first heard the new Ripcord guitar and bass cables ($100) from Music Interface Technologies (MIT) at Winter NAMM, I was pretty impressed, but I knew I had to try them for myself before I could be counted as one of the true converts. When the package from MIT arrived, I eagerly tore it open and much to my surprise, I couldn’t just plug and play. Rather, I had to actually “break-in” the cable for several days. Once this burn-in period was over, I plugged in the Ripcord guitar cable along with one of MIT’s Z-Cord power cables, and I was ready to rock. After trying two different combo amps (a Fender and Gibson) with three different guitars (a Strat, Les Paul and Ovation 12-string), there is no doubt that there is a difference in tonal quality with the Ripcord over conventional guitar cables. What I noticed was a greater openness to the sound, more presence and clarity – similar to adding an aural exciter into the chain. According to MIT, this is due to the balance of harmonics without any unnatural pre-emphasis of some frequencies over others. Ripcords also reduce noise.
MIT also manufactures the cables necessary to hook your guitar amp to your speakers. Called GAS (guitar amplifier to speaker) Terminator cables, these amplifier cables add another layer of sonic clarity to your guitar chain. And if 60-cycle hum and other AC generated noise is a problem, MIT offers a wide variety of solutions in that department too, including the Z-Cord power cord replacement, which improves signal quality by significantly removing field-coupled noise which can plague a system and degrade the audio path.
At $100 a pop, MIT cabling products represent a significant investment. But their quality will guarantee that they’ll last a long time, and the sonic clarity they add to your tone is just about what you’d expect – priceless. Music Interface Technologies, 13620 Lincoln Way, Suite 320, Auburn, CA 95603; (530) 888-0394
