I have been going through all my patch and guitar cords.Most run around in the 3-4 ohms,but my old Fender Vintage types run at over 60ohms,are they junk,or can I use them as Eric Johnson tone shapers( I heard he used cheap cords in his rig)
ohms are pretty irrelevant with the amps input impedance +1000 times higher. 60ohms is a bit high, is your meter good? Cable capacitance can mean more, but I graphed all the results from a GP "Cable Shoot Out" of a few years back and capacitance didn't correlate to any of their ratings....
Meter is good all my other cords were under 5 ohms just the vintage style Fender one I think it came with the first yr EJ strat,I had 2 patch cords that were bad when I twisted the cords for shorts
60 ohms in series with signal is not that bad , because it will "see" a much higher one on the other end, but high resistance on the ground wire is terrible.
Ground, by definition, means all points at the same voltage, which also happens to be 0, so it expects to have 0 ohms path resistance as well.
Physically impossible, but next best is *very* low ohms.
We often have terrible ground problems in chassis which if measured point to point are (for us) the same as 0, go figure.
That 60 ohms guitar cord, is it the solderless type which was once popular with Fender?
In fact, I think they gave them out for free, included in a guitar purchase.
Juan Manuel Fahey
The lower the resistance of the cable, the less noise you will get.
60 ohms is completely unacceptable, defective.
(are you kidding me?)
Does it sound bad with your rig?Originally Posted by dumbassbob
I have been going through all my patch and guitar cords.Most run around in the 3-4 ohms,but my old Fender Vintage types run at over 60ohms,are they junk,or can I use them as Eric Johnson tone shapers( I heard he used cheap cords in his rig)
Its not that it doesn't work it does,but I dont want to load down my rig....I just started to test all my cables and it seemed kid of high,My 15 ft Monster is only 3.4 ohm most of my 1 ft patch cords are about the same,I am going through and getting rid of the bad ones...
I think that a significant issue with the 60 Ohm reading is that something just isn't right with that cord. The high resistance is an indication that something is getting ready to fail. It will work for now (at least let a signal through) but I would not trust that cord for an important session.
Last edited by Tom Phillips; 05-29-2012 at 04:29 PM.
Me thinks that you need a better meter.
There is no way a 'good' 15' cable can read 3.4 ohms.
And the 1' patch cables read the same?
Maybe a 1000' cable would read that high.
I don't even want to think about that '60 ohm' cable.
What is the reading when you touch the leads to each other?
Are the plugs on the cables that measure 60 ohms a different metal (brass for example)? Are they noisy if you flex them, or intermittent?
*Where* do you measure those 60 ohms?
Tip to tip or ground to ground?
Also repeat my question: are those the solderless Fender cables?
The ones with a tiny screw on the side of the plug?.
Juan Manuel Fahey
Go over the plugs with scotch bright metal polishing pad,
then polish the test probes on the ohm meter,
what it read now?
Tarnish on the plugs or meter probes may prevent you from getting a good reading, BUT
If it's over 5 ohms in a 15 foot cord, I would not consider it good anymore. Should be less than that really.
60 ohms in a cable with cleaned ends, is pretty poor and I would expect to get a fair 60 cycle hum...
YES That is the One...I think it came with the Eric Johnson Strat a few yrs back
Most cables have a tiny Ohm read, 1-4 ohms seems OK If ALL cables had Zero Ohms you wouldn't need buffers
I still think you are reading things incorrectly.
A 'typical' instrument cable has a resistance of 8.8 ohms/ 1 thousand feet.
Do the math for a 10' cable.
(my Fluke meter will not read that low)
Here is a specification grab from a Dimarzio cable.
DiMarzio Basic Instrument Cable Specifications
•Wire Gauge (AWG): 20 (0.519 mm2)
•Diameter: 0.237 inch (6.02 mm)
•Insulation: Polyethylene inner with PVC outer
•Capacitance pF/ft: 33.27 pF/ft (109pF/M)
•Sheild and Material: Copper Braid with Conductive PVC 98%
•Jacket and Material: PVC
•Resistance ohms/1000 feet: 8.8 ohms/1000 feet (29 ohms/km)
•Termination Method: Silver Solder
I'll do the math: 0.088 ohms; let's round that up to 0.1 ohms.
My el cheapo Harbor Freight meter reads 0.3-0.4 ohms with the leads directly touching each other.
If a cable reads at 0.4, I know the actual resistance is below the resolution of my meter.
If I read 0.8-0.9 between two points in a shielded cavity, I figger it's about 1/2 an ohm.
FWIW,
-rb
Since your high resistance cable is the one with the solderless connector I think your next move should be to re-terminate the connectors.
Cheers, Tom
try touching your meters' test leads together. they'll typically read 0.5 to 2 ohms. you need to subtract this value from any resistance readings you make with those leads.
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