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RapcoHorizon RoadHOG Guitar Instrument Cable
$16.26 - $19.51Use the best, buy RoadHOG guitar cables from RapcoHorizon. Your cable is the most important piece of your signal chain. Maintain your high sound quality with these cables which are Road Ready and Tour Tough . This...h m s
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CBI GA American Made Guitar Instrument Cable 2 Right Angle
$16.99 - $20.99CBI Ga-1 Intrument Cables are ideal as a guitar cable, patch cord, keyboard cable, or anywhere a 1/4 inch to 1/4 inch connection is required. Between processors, pedals, effects, even from a mixer to a power amp. ...h m s
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Gator Cableworks Headliner Series Right Angle Instrument Cable
$36.99Gator Cableworks Headliner Series Straight to Right Angle Instrument Cable 10' Gator Cableworks Headliner RA Inst Cable Features: 10 Foot Strt to RA Instrument Cable 1/4-inch Straight to 1/...h m s
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Pig Hog Armor Clad Instrument Cable
$30.95 - $46.95Made with a unique, conduit-style metal jacket along the length of the cable, the Pig Hog Armor Clad instrument cables are designed for life on the road! These Pig Hog cables are precisely overbuilt to stand up to t...h m s
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Audio-Technica AT8390 Premium Instrument Cables 1/4" To 1/4" Phono
$16.95For superb sound quality and reliability, the Audio-Technica AT8390 Premium Instrument Guitar Cable are the perfect choice! Engineered for maximum signal transfer and minimum loss, Audio-Technica Premium Instrumen...h m s
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Pig Hog PHLSK6CA Lil Pigs Low Profile Patch Cables
$26.95Pig Hog cables are precisely overbuilt to stand up to the most grueling tour conditions imaginable and are designed to provide the highest quality performance with outstanding value. Pig Hog understands your cables ...h m s
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Strukture SC Series Instrument Cable
$7.99 - $19.95A high performance instrument cable! Strukture selected the top-selling cables in the industry and eliminated as much packaging cost as possible without sacrificing quality. The rubber outer covering is reinforced b...h m s
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Orange Crush Patch Cable 6" 3 Pack
$19.99Orange Crush patch cables are manufactured using the finest components available, including the highest grade oxygen-free copper for optimum signal clarity and articulation. 1/4" jacks are nickel-plated for extra co...h m s
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Hosa IRG Guitar Patch Cable Low Profile Right Angle
$9.95 - $13.95The Hosa IRG100 series patch cable is designed to interconnect electric guitar pedal effects. Low-profile, right-angle plugs allow close spacing of pedal effects on pedalboards. Hosa IRG100 Guitar Patch Cabl...h m s
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CBI BR10 Braided Guitar Instrument Cable
$18.99CBI not only provides heat shrink over the nickel 1/4 inch barrel but under as well, ensuring maximum strength for years of satisfaction.This is the best-valued overbraid instrument cable available, designed by CBI ...h m s
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Ernie Ball Braided Instrument Cable 10'
$27.99 - $29.99Ernie Ball instrument cables feature a high-quality design made with superior components that are built to last. Dual-conductors deliver reliably clear tone with crisp highs, tight mids, and rich harmonics. Multiple...h m s
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On Stage FPC-3 Production-Grade Flat Patch Cables
$25.95On-Stage’s Production-Grade Flat Patch Cables allow you to seamlessly connect pedals together for high quality audio effects. Spiral shielding protects the cable's signal from outside noises and is more flexible tha...h m s
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Guitar Cables
American Musical Supply is your stop for the best instrument cables in the business! Your instrument needs to sound its best and sound consistent when you plug in, so don't settle for no-names from unreliable third parties. 1/4 inch TS (tip-sleeve) instrument cables are absolute necessities for any musician or live sound technician. Make sure you have plenty of them on hand - American Musical Supply is stocked with sturdy, reliable 1/4 inch instrument cables of different lengths and designs (standard, braided, coiled) ranging up to 25 feet long. This includes guitar cables, bass cables, and cables that can be used with keyboards, synths, drum machines, samplers, and other audio hardware. We also carry a wide variety of small patch cables (from six inches to two feet long) for connecting and chaining your effects pedals - flat, low-profile, and right-angle configurations are all available!
American Musical Supply is excited to be your stop for 1/4" instrument cables – including guitar cables, bass cables, keyboard cables, and cables that can be used with drum machines, samplers, and other audio hardware. We offer True 0% interest payment plans - applying is easy. Use your own debit or credit card, enjoy fast and free shipping, and add 1/4” instrument cables to your creative setup.
We make buying 1/4" instrument cables quick and easy - in-stock items that are ordered before 5PM will ship out the same day! (see our Shipping Information Page for more details) Do you have questions about 1/4" instrument cables and want to know which items would be best for you? Give us a call at 800-319-9043 - our experts are standing by.
What is an instrument cable? A 1/4 inch instrument cable, also known as a TS (tip-sleeve) cable, is generally used to move unbalanced mono signal. These TS cables are straightforward - having audio signal travel over the positive ‘tip’ (T) with a ground in the ‘sleeve’ (S). However, due to this unbalanced TS design, extra noise and audio inconsistencies may occur over very long cable runs. It helps to keep your TS cables on the shorter end of things while still remaining comfortable and flexible during your performances.
Most commonly, electric guitars, acoustic-electric guitars, electric bass guitars, keyboards, and audio devices use 1/4 inch TS cables to connect to amplifiers. Most keyboards have two 1/4 inch outputs – which means you’ll need a cable for both the ‘left’ and ‘right’ to move signal in stereo. Otherwise you can just connect one cable to the properly marked output and move that signal in mono. In addition to amplifiers, you can also use these cables to connect your instrument directly to an input channel on a mixer or audio interface (many of these devices allow either unbalanced or balanced 1/4 inch connections).
If you’re an instrumentalist looking for an extra layer of stability and flexibility in your signal chain, a direct box changes the signal from unbalanced to balanced, which helps eliminate the noise issue over long distances. There are both active direct boxes (powered) and passive direct boxes (unpowered) that are suited to different applications and connection types. An example of a DI box in action would be connecting your electric guitar cable and its unbalanced guitar signal to a direct box input and then running the now-balanced direct box output to a mixer/house PA system at the back of the performance venue.
Patch cables (sometimes called effects pedal cables) are short 1/4 inch TS cables ranging from six inches to two feet long for chaining your guitar effects or bass guitar effects together. These cables make it incredibly easy to arrange your effects in order on a pedalboard, making setup a breeze. Simply go from your guitar or bass into the input of your first pedal, then go from the output of that pedal into the input of the next pedal. Repeat as needed until you get to your last pedal output, which will now run into your amplifier’s input. For additional information on properly ordering the placement of your pedals in the signal chain, be sure to take a look at the AMS 'Pedal Flow 101' Buyer's Guide.