Shielded Cable question

Overdrive Special, Steel String Singer, Dumbleland, Odyssey, Winterland, etc. -
Members Only

Moderators: pompeiisneaks, Colossal

Post Reply
rutledj
Posts: 347
Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2006 2:08 am

Shielded Cable question

Post by rutledj »

Why does moving shielded cable around affect the amount of noise in the amp? I thought the whole reason for the shield was to "protect" it from this.

Rut
HiGain
Posts: 242
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2005 9:28 pm

Re: Shielded Cable question

Post by HiGain »

Interesting question. A lot of cable uses braided shield, which does not create 100% protection; probably more like 80%.

The Gepco stuff I have uses a solid foil as the shield, but I have not determined whether moving the cable alters the noise level.

There are probably more answers, but I'm not the one to know.

Jake
roadkingbluzs
Posts: 212
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:57 am
Location: chino hills ca.

Re: Shielded Cable question

Post by roadkingbluzs »

Do you have any kind of flourescent fixtures or ballast that share the circuit your plugged into. Case in point, the bass amp picks up noise signal from low voltage lighting in next room. Lights out noise gone! Go figure! Probably grounding issues? :?
Dai H.
Posts: 210
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 10:30 pm

Re: Shielded Cable question

Post by Dai H. »

do you mean hum? Shielded cable won't provide hum protection because copper won't block those low frequencies.
HiGain
Posts: 242
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2005 9:28 pm

Re: Shielded Cable question

Post by HiGain »

I just moved around my overdrive and master shielded cables and it seemed to affect the overall tone very slightly, mainly the highs, but also the (crucial) mids.

I'm sure it depends on what components and circcuit nodes the wires run near.

An interesting test would be to place a 1 MEG pot in series with the cable shield to ground. That, or try different value caps. This could be an interesting place to do some final tuning, for those crazy enough to go to that level :twisted:

Jake
User avatar
Funkalicousgroove
Posts: 2232
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2005 8:04 pm
Location: Denver, CO
Contact:

Re: Shielded Cable question

Post by Funkalicousgroove »

Check your solder joints.
Owner/Solder Jockey Bludotone Amp Works
Post Reply