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I am happy to say that I am learning all the time. I have worked on my own guitars, electronics, etc. I have replaced several PU's and am very comfortable with a soldering pencil. I say all that to say I am not a complete noob. That being said, I was very surprised to find out that 2 cables that I just purchased (on the cheap) are somewhat microphonic. I don't know what brand they are.

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To explain what I mean, if I plug in the cable to my amp and shake the cable, I will hear every ding and smack sound coming out of my amp. No other cables, that I have, do that. The cable is not broken and both of these do that.

Does anyone else have a similar experience? Is this just poor shielding? Any suggestions on how to avoid this in the future?

rfportilla
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  • This is off topic here - it is not about musical practice or theory. – Doktor Mayhem Jan 28 '22 at 10:41
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    Isn't equipment relevant to performance? You can't remove cabling from audio. – rfportilla Jan 29 '22 at 01:39
  • Your post asks "Does anyone else have similar experience" which is completely off topic here. "Is this just poor shielding" - not a music question. "How to avoid this" also not in scope. This site doesn't just answer any question that has the vaguest connection with music - it answers questions within our tightly defined scope. – Doktor Mayhem Jan 29 '22 at 15:45
  • Don't worry Mayhem. I won't make that mistake again. I'm out. – rfportilla Jan 30 '22 at 02:38

1 Answers1

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Rule #1 - Don't buy cheap cables.

It's a capacitance issue in the cable itself, often caused by poor construction.
Surfaces rubbing together can create a similar effect to a condenser microphone, or by what is known as the triboelectric effect [static, to us normal folks].

This from Shure

Handling Noise

This source of noise is induced as a result of changes in capacitance. When cables are bent, subjected to vibration, impacted, or crushed, the distance between conductors or between conductors and shields is changed. This results in a change of capacitance between conductors and that leads to changes in the voltage difference between conductors. A change in voltage will induce noise into the cable. Cables can be constructed with fillers where to give the cables strength, mechanical stability, and durability.

Static

Noise can be induced by the static build-up of electrons as a result of cables rubbing against each other or being dragged along carpets. The use of insulating material inside the cable shields can dissipate static noise, improve shield density, and further reduce noise inherent in normal handling.

Tetsujin
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    Especially, don't use cheap cables for high impedance sources. A line-level source or condenser mic can easily power over a bit of triboelectric charge if the cable isn't all too long, but a passive electric guitar can't. (Of course cheap cables do have other issues as well, in particular reliability.) – leftaroundabout Jan 27 '22 at 22:53
  • To be completely honest, I thought they were inexpensive cables, not cheap cables. Lesson learned. :D – rfportilla Mar 01 '22 at 04:21