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Daryl

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http://www.essentialsound.com/reviews/MusicCord-PRO_Premier%20Guitar_Mar09.pdf
Just got done reading a short review on this cable that I had not heard of. Anybody have any experience with this product? Any thoughts? Is it worth it and if not, why? I would particularly like to know what you electrical engineers out there have to say.
Mcord-prodcat_3.jpg

http://www.essentialsound.com/
 
Seems like a solid review. Being one of those Electrical Engineers and having worked on aircraft electrical systems for over 7 years before going back to school for my master's (where i am now) i can say that it sounds like a bunch of BS. If you are having noise issues i would suggest going with a shielded power cable. Yes they do exist. Most cables only have the standard three wires (usually green, red, and black) but shielded cables add a braided shield to the outside and tie it to the ground (the round plug on the IEC end). This means that less distortion and interference enters and leaves the wires. If you are smart you will not run power and signal wires close together but if you must then you need to use shielded power wire, even if you use shielded instrument wire. Now shielded power cords are indeed more expensive, but not $180. Electricity is not magic. Using shields utilizes Faraday's principle. And as for the magical phase canceling powers of the cable. just use a heavier, higher quality wire with less impurities and less oxygen. It sounds like that this cable is just like using a shielded cable with a low oxygen high gauge wire. Then again maybe ESP got a hold of some magic dust and sprinkled it on the cable thus making electricity magic after all. So maybe i am wrong.

Peace, Joshua
 
I'm too lazy to look for Julia's pic, but it's something along the lines of this:

snake-oil.jpg


I saw a guy on UG who got one of those. He specifically said it was for the audiophiles and idiots like him.

The power cable is not part of the signal chain.

Signal chain is:
Pick+finger+string > fret or nut and bridge > fretboard, neck, and guitar body > pickups > guitar electronics > cable > effects (if any) > amp > speaker cable > speakers, floor, and room acoustics > ears.

I don't see power cord in there anywhere.

But ****... that power cord just LOOKS sexy... I kinda almost want one for my rig... but I'm not made of money.
 
Preach it, brothers and sisters!!!!
That is what this thread is about. Shedding light on the darkness of the uninformed minds and revealing the truth about those that would use our love of tone to steal our money.
preacher.jpg
 
But it IS a sexy power cord... The grip is so ergonomic... Much more exciting than my old computer power cord...

hypnotize_small.jpg
 
Your all crazy. This is the best product known to man & musicians. In fact it is underpriced. **** you ESP for making such a great product. :lol:

I'm buying what Mister Joshua is saying. With my limited knowledge of electricity & current, I can't buy into it. The only thing I would give it is it appears to be thicker, which maybe means they are using a heavier guage of wire, which should translate into better current exchange/travel. But your not going to catch me shelling out in the 3 bill range for something like that. That cable with a surge suppressor plug I might consider paying $30-$40.

I think MOnster cable is also selling a similar cable with that same hype for about $100 or so.
 
It's complete bullshit, unless you wire the entire stage and building with that.

You're plugging this fancy cord into either a wall socket of an extension box right?
Why don't you open either of those up (caution: spikey hair hazard!) and see what the wires in there look like..

It's like running a $150 guitar cable into a (true bypass) pedal and continuing with the cable they give you with a starters pack guitar..
Completely useless.

Yes, every aspect has influence, but let's see:
This cable is 2 meters or something? Everything before that is non-magic cable .. which is at least 20 meters before it hits the power source of the building (and often way more since it runs along the walls, not straight line). So even if this cable makes a difference, it does that with already 20 meters of "sound deteriorating cable" in front of it.
So it's like running through 20m of starter's-pack-cable into 2 meters of unbelievable-magic-mojo cable.

I'm not buying it, this is one of the worst snake oils I've heard of ever actually.
 
not an EI however I'm an Electrician with seven years testing cable of all types with high end equipment for the oilsands. Friend of mine who owns a Lynch Box bought one.

Can I hear a difference?

In blind testing no. In non blind testing yes.

I'm sure most ppl here can make the conclusion.

Spend the money on a good portable power conditioner where the results are far more evident.
 
khingpynn said:
not an EI however I'm an Electrician with seven years testing cable of all types with high end equipment for the oilsands. Frind of mine who owns a Lynch Box bought one.

Can I hear a difference?

In blind testing no. In non blind testing yes.

I'm sure most ppl here can make the conclusion.

Spend the money on a good portable power conditioner where the results are far more evident.
Bingo

This is the kind of product that makes you think there is a difference..
No one else hears that though ;)
 
It's bullshit because you could do 99% of gigs with a Peavey Bandit and an Epiphone G-400 or Squier Stratocaster and no one would know the difference between that and a $5000 rig.

So you spend $100+ on a stupid power cable just so "Mustang Sally" might sound 0.00001% clearer to you and only you? When was the last time someone came up to you at a gig and asked you why Sweet Home Alabama sounded so much better tonight, and you replied "because I got a new power cable for my amp."

This is pure 100% snake oil. It will make you play faster, shoot straighter, be quicker on the draw, cure baldness, eliminate cellulite, and all that stuff.

Besides it looks like the cord that was on my mom's iron when I was a little back in the 1950s. I think I'll pick up one of these for my next gig at the local bar. We just learned "Mustang Sally." Think how awesome that song is going to sound with one of these power chords.
 
Tag likes this cable... This cable has tone... Tag knows tone....Tone's got electrolytes. It's what Tag craves... :D
dumble_amp.jpg
 
Julia said:
So you spend $100+ on a stupid power cable just so "Mustang Sally" might sound 0.00001% clearer to you and only you? When was the last time someone came up to you at a gig and asked you why Sweet Home Alabama sounded so much better tonight, and you replied "because I got a new power cable for my amp."

I dunno why, but this line made my day. :)

--B
 
bduersch said:
Julia said:
When was the last time someone came up to you at a gig and asked you why Sweet Home Alabama sounded so much better tonight, and you replied "because I got a new power cable for my amp."

I dunno why, but this line made my day. :)

--B

:lol: I missed that the 1st time around. That is hilarious. Most people don't normally compliment your guitar tone. Guitarists or maybe musicians, but in truth that has never been the answer I got or gave. It's always the pickups, strings, amp, tubes, guitar cable &/or speaker cable, guitar itself.
 
m0jo said:
It's complete bullshit, unless you wire the entire stage and building with that.

You're plugging this fancy cord into either a wall socket of an extension box right?
Why don't you open either of those up (caution: spikey hair hazard!) and see what the wires in there look like..

It's like running a $150 guitar cable into a (true bypass) pedal and continuing with the cable they give you with a starters pack guitar..
Completely useless.

Yes, every aspect has influence, but let's see:
This cable is 2 meters or something? Everything before that is non-magic cable .. which is at least 20 meters before it hits the power source of the building (and often way more since it runs along the walls, not straight line). So even if this cable makes a difference, it does that with already 20 meters of "sound deteriorating cable" in front of it.
So it's like running through 20m of starter's-pack-cable into 2 meters of unbelievable-magic-mojo cable.

I'm not buying it, this is one of the worst snake oils I've heard of ever actually.
Excellent points, Mojo.
The only real connection that it improves is from the wall to the AC input. Without any other part of the chain being improved it begs the question: How can it possibly improve the power from the utility company to the building where the unit is being used? If you are using a good quality power conditioner, then it might be feasible that this cable gets the "conditioned" power to the amp more efficiently, but seriously...A six foot cable? Maybe 2 meters? Could there be a significant voltage drop? If you know the largest amount of current that will flow in the cable, then use the formula: Vdrop = Current X Distance(Ft) X 2 X Ohms per 1000Ft. So according to this formula, a larger gauge cable with adequate shielding will serve to create gains, however miniscule they might be. When you apply this formula it becomes apparent that it is more important to have a well shielded cable, for noise considerations, than to even worry so much about the extra gauge size. By my estimation the exact same results could be achieved by using a larger gauge power cord with adequate shielding and mil-spec connectors. And at a significantly lower price point. Doesn't it feel like this company is kind of insulting our intelligence?
 
I could build one in the length I want for about $20 from the hardware store that will do just as good of a job.

In fact, even for a studio, and ALL guitar, instrument, and mic cables i could do them for around $500. We all know we have more than 10 cables. Buy Canare cable on a bulk spool, a bunch of neutrix connectors and make your own. Use a Behringer cable tester to see if everything works.
 
I have never needed a shielded power cable. Shielded instrument cable has been very sufficient. I have enough power cables in my recording studio that I must have a pretty high degree of magnetic flux and they're running right next to my shielded instrument cables... still no hum on the recordings, even with condenser mics on vox. Go figure.
 
rajput said:
Great spam this.
Could you sod off with it?

If your reply is sincere than that is appreciated, spamming is not.

Personally, I think shielded power cables are only necessary if your other cables are badly shielded.
A properly shielded instrument cable shouldn't pick up much if anything.

I don't buy into the "distortion" on the signal.
Power is just that, power. It has some effect on the amp, but minor differences won't be at all interesting..

Because let's face it: no guitarists have ever tweaked their voltage by a few volts..
The guys that did actually sucked tens of volts before they where happy!
 
How about the fuse?
For all the conductivity, capacitance, spirits, and ghosts, it ALL has to pass
through the fuse. Pull the main fuse and look to see how THIN that little
wire is. Can you pick up noise on the AC line? Oh, yeah. Can you have ground loops? Sure. But all that AC has to go throught that skinny little wire called a fuse.
 
kc2eeb said:
How about the fuse?
For all the conductivity, capacitance, spirits, and ghosts, it ALL has to pass
through the fuse. Pull the main fuse and look to see how THIN that little
wire is. Can you pick up noise on the AC line? Oh, yeah. Can you have ground loops? Sure. But all that AC has to go throught that skinny little wire called a fuse.
Haha great point!
Maybe we need shielded fuse pockets! :idea:
 
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