GR55 GK cable length question

Started by creart, January 30, 2015, 02:19:45 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

creart

Hi, I want to have a spare cable because I might be using the GR55 'outdoors' more often...
I am think about getting the 10m cable, but I am wondering if the extra 5m length might bring up more noticeable latency???
Anyone any experience with that?

cheers
Hans

gumtown

#1
The cable itself won't affect any latency, just your relative position away from the speaker may increase perceived latency.

I have explained this phenomenon to some who use wireless guitar transmitters, and stand 100~200 meters away from their amp and complain the wireless is causing latency/delay, when it is actually the time it takes the sound waves to travel through the air to your ear (the speed of sound), compared to the wireless or extra long guitar cable which signals travel at near the speed of light.

Too long guitar cable may affect the signal tone due to it's capacitive effect on the tone from a high impedance guitar output, but the normal guitar GK output is very low impedance and cable capacitive effects are minimal, due to an active buffer circuit at the guitar end .
Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

creart

Hi Gumtown

Thanks! Understand what you mean..... I'm not going to move further away from speakers, it's just that I want some more length in the cable to avoid forcing the plugs...
7m would have been quite enough already but 10 is the next step as far as I know?

cheers
Hans



Fusion

Just FYI, distance from speakers is equivalent to 1ft = 1ms of delay so if you get a ways from your speakers it can create a delay effect that would be perceived as latency response. 20ft would be like 20ms of delay.
"Long ago in days of old when magic filled the air..."

Mikko127

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to add my experience from using long 13 pin cables.
Few weeks ago I bought a 30ft 13 pin cable from eBay seller: GetWiredUSA. Open the package and test the new cable, and boom, doesn't work. It powers on the GK PU and the S1/S2 button on it works, but no string signal was transmitted to the Roland GR55. So I go my voltmeter and see if there was a loose wired somewhere. Surprisingly it was wired correctly and it does conduct electricity from both ends on all 13 pins.
Then I remember reading some where that sometimes, the length of the cable is too long and starts to weaken the signal. So then I cut 10ft off the 30ft cable, making it only 20 ft now, re-solder the wires (it was a lot of work) including the ground to the casing. Hallelujah, it works. So my conclusion is that too long of the 13 pin cables will begin to have signal lose.

Anyone has similar experience?

vtgearhead

In all due respect to your continuity checking, something was wrong with that cable in its original state.  A ten foot difference in length cannot possibly have been the root cause for "no sound".

whippinpost91850

most 13 pin cables  sold on Ebay are for car audio changers with incorrect (not pin to pin wiring) for GK

Fusion

Seriously I get the ebay thing but I never buy anything off of Ebay unless it is just a hard to find rarity.
As for cable, you sort of have to make sure it is for the Roland 13 pin units. They are not hard to locate and stop expecting to pay $5 they are more like $50 for a reason. The only thing cable does if high impedance is build up capacitance, the speed of light or electrons through the cable cannot be measured by latency. I am not sure if the GK drops to low impedance off the guitar signal, if it does, length of cable is not relative. Use the length of cable Roland has designed for the unit.
"Long ago in days of old when magic filled the air..."

gumtown

All analog signals from the guitar/GK are low impedance, so the cable length/capacitance has very little affect.
Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

Mikko127

#9
My initial thoughts about cable is this. Cable is cable, no point in buying hundred dollar cable when you can get the same job done for a lot less. Why buy Lava cable or Monster cable when Planet Waves does the same thing?

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/columns/gear_maintenance/the_truth_behind_instrument_cables.html

But after this ordeal, I have second thoughts. Perhaps I should get another one just to experiment.

gumtown

You could buy a power cable for $3000.00 which will make your audio sound soooo much better.
http://www.partsconnexion.com/ftech_72782.html

FURUTECH Powerflux 18(20/20) - Power Cord (1.8M x 1) Featuring FI-52M(R) & FI-50(R) 20A/20A 125V, Piezo Ceramic Series Power Connect, price per 1.8 meters

pcX USD Price: $3,072.00
MSRP: $3,072.00
Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

Mikko127

#11
Hey Gumtown, have you had hands on experience with that cable?

I guess I need to start selling my kidney or two to get that cable.

gumtown

No, I have never brought into the hype of ridiculously overpriced cables (including Monster cables).
There is a 'price vs quality' point you can reach, where the returns/benefits begin to diminish.

Most of my cables I have made myself, colour coded with shrink sleeve over the connectors to it's function.
Most of my jack cables are twin twisted mic type cable with the shield connected one end only, it eliminates a lot of hum,
except for guitar Hi-Z ones, which are the regular 'off the shelf' type.

For the 13-pin GK, I use regular Roland brand, and always have a spare on hand.
Have gigged the same one for 4 years with no problems, then suddenly it went crazy one night, but a quick GK cable swap out, and I was away again.
Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

Deus02

Quote from: gumtown on May 23, 2015, 07:49:51 PM
You could buy a power cable for $3000.00 which will make your audio sound soooo much better.
http://www.partsconnexion.com/ftech_72782.html

FURUTECH Powerflux 18(20/20) - Power Cord (1.8M x 1) Featuring FI-52M(R) & FI-50(R) 20A/20A 125V, Piezo Ceramic Series Power Connect, price per 1.8 meters

pcX USD Price: $3,072.00
MSRP: $3,072.00

Yeah, if you have been around audio enough, like I have, over the years, you eventually learn this stuff is "snake oil"  and nothing more.  A friend of mine who has managed a 'high end" electronics store for over twenty years, stated unequivocally, these so-called "high end" cables provide them with, by far, their highest profit margins of anything they sell.  The trouble is, there is a very small select group of people that will actually spend the money to buy such a  questionable piece of electronics, ultimately, trying to convince everyone that it honestly makes an audible improvement.  You see it on the A/V forums almost every day. 

Kitko

Here's a link to a funny experiement in which self-proclaimed audiophiles could not tell the difference between a cable and hanger used to trasmit audio signal.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/03/audiophiles-cant-tell-the-difference-between-monster-cable-and/

But hey, we're intelligent webbers, aren't we (why we'd be using guitar synths...), so there's no point starting the cable-quality flame war ;)
Boss SY-1000
Roland VG-99
Boss RC-600
Roland FC-300
Ibanez RGA 7 with GK3
Ibanez RGA 72QM with GK3 kit
Ibanez RGA 121 Prestige JD Craft

JolietJake

"They are not hard to locate and stop expecting to pay $5 they are more like $50 for a reason"

The reason they are $50 is:
The connectors aren't high quality by any standards and are fairly inexpensive. However not many manufactures make a shielded 13 core cable (try looking on the internet it's nowhere near as common as other cables) and the ones that do are pretty expensive because there is not much of a market for it.