What is a Monster Cable Worth?

What is a Monster cable worth exactly? Monster cables have a pretty good reputation, but are they worth it to use as electric guitar cables. I'm gonna let you know why my guitar cables are not Monster and what I think IS worth it.

I've owned a few different electric guitar cables for my guitars including my Epiphone Les Paul Custom (Black) which is my favorite guitar by far. (Me being more of a rhythm guitarist by trade)

The current cables that I use are VTG Audio Low Noise Cables. I've been using them for a little over a year now and I've definitely got my money's worth from them. They carry a good tone and haven't gotten fidgety on me, causing the signal to turn into white noise or to fade in and out (even though it eventually will like most cables react with age)

But, I want to mention Monster Cables. Monster Cables have been on the market for years and have a high-satisfactory rating in studios as standard mic, and sound connections. And they should, because they stand as high-quality cables...except for guitars and basses.

Why the heck would I say that?

A couple years back I had to take my Yamaha Pacifica in for maintenance because the cable input was becoming fidgety. It just wasn't working properly.

After the repair guy brought my guitar out, he told me that the input had been STRETCHED. I didn't really understand until I studied the size of my monster cable ends compared to other cables I owned.

Monster Cable jacks are actually larger than standard cable jacks. What does this mean? It means they have a more secure fit into your guitar. That's kind of their selling point. But what else?

It means, they'll stretch your input and tear at your guitar's electronics. I mean, it's nice to have a secure fit into a guitar jack, but Monster cables haven't quite figured it out yet as far as I'm concerned.

Stick to any other brand when thinking of guitar cables. Monster are very good at just about any other cable, but I wouldn't recommend them for electric guitar use. Not worth it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Obviously, bashing monster is what we always do. This is meant to be a gut check to that. Have you ever seen a positive monster cable post on gizmodo? no. Is this a positive monster cable post? No. Is it an open minded post? Yes. Do we want to buy 120 hdmi cables?

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How To Guitar Tune said...

Josh,

I had never actually read other reviews of monster cables before I typed my own personal rant here, but you're absolutely right. Monster Cables get hit below the belt too often mainly because of their status as cable manufacturers.

This is more of a personal experience recollection since I've know at least two of my buddies to be dissatisfied with these cables as well for the same reason.

Thank you for reading and commenting with some great feedback!

-Kyle

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