Some people would consider my approach to my guitar rig pretty interesting. I spent some time, a long while ago, searching for what equipment works for me tone wise and upon being satisfied I have been using the same rig for over 20 years. I seldom, if ever, change anything. Have you heard about guitarists who chase that perfect tone? Yep, that’s not me. I arrived at my sound 2 decades ago. Pretty interesting.

With above said, I am also very picky about guitar and speaker cables that I use. I purchase the best stuff that I feel I can get. Some things you can’t save on and cables are one of them. Just FYI, I have guitar cables in my rig that are close to 20 years old and they still perform flawlessly.

During the recent East Coast shows with my solo band I went against my better judgement and exchanged a cable in my rig to one I thought “should” sound better. Except – it didn’t. If Eric Johnson can tell a difference between an Energizer and a Duracell battery, I can tell a difference between 2 guitar cables. The problem is that while preparing for the shows, I already went through all of the single components of my rig and I solidified which cables I will use for the run.

Sure enough, before a show I started looking at a cheaply made cable plug from a major cable manufacturer. Truth is that particular cable sounded great the night before, but of course I decided to change it to what I perceived to be a better cable and not only the change challenged me mentally while playing, it effected my guitar tone and performance to boot. The old cable, cheaper looking plug or not, sounded better overall.

So, the lesson! Once you have a good reason to decide on something that still works well for you – stick with it. Don’t change components for arbitrary reasons.