Maximum Cable Length

Tom Campbell · Post by **Tom Campbell** » 8 Mar 2003 11:09 am

I tried a search for previous postings within this topic (electronics) and have not been able to find an answer. I am making up some new cables for my steel using Geo L products. What is the maximum length I should consider before an increase in noise, etc. becomes an issue contributed to cable length?
Sorry if this topic has been beaten to death, but I couln't find anything addressing this problem.
Thanks all for any advice!

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 8 Mar 2003 12:18 pm

How about..."as short as possible"? If that's not acceptable, then I'd keep the pedal-to-amp wire no more than 8' (with a pot pedal), and no more than 12' (for an amplified pedal).

Jim Palmer · Post by **Jim Palmer** » 9 Mar 2003 4:12 am

Donny.would this apply to a Hilton 262-b volume pedal as well?

Tom Campbell · Post by **Tom Campbell** » 9 Mar 2003 6:57 am

Donny
Thanks for your reply! I figured with Geo L cable, being the high quality it is, that I might be able to get a little extra length out of it. But, my volume pedal is of the "pot" type, so I will have to stay under 10 ft.
Thanks much!

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 9 Mar 2003 7:46 am

I make up all my own cables. I try to keep the cables from guitar to foot feed to amp as short as possible. The cable length to the speakers isn't as critical. However, I use heavy duty "speaker" cables for that run.
Erv

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 9 Mar 2003 3:41 pm

Tom, I guess the key word here is "ideally". Additional cabling adds both resistance and capacitance to the signal path, neither of which is desirable. The factor that then becomes apparent is.."how much change are you willing to live with." You may well find that 15' of cable doesn't keep you from having the sound you want. For somebody else, the story may be different. So, for your own situation, you could certainly try a longer cable, say 15'. If it wound up changing your sound, it's a relatively easy task to cut it off and install a new plug.