Cables

fretie

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I’m about to take the electric leap!

Planning on getting a Yamaha THR5A amp and the Boss RC1 Looper.

I think, of course, that I’ll need a cable from the uke to the amp and a short cable to connect the looper to the amp, am I right?

What cables would you recommend? A lot of these electronics seem aimed at guitar players so I am finding it a bit of a job to navigate to the uke friendly/appropriate accessories.
 
I dont think there's such a thing as a uke electric cable.

Just pick one that is a good length, and seems decent quality.
Depending on where your jack is, you may want a cable that has a 90 degree bend on one end, but the cable.. is pretty universal.
 
I use fender cables. I don't think they are superior to any other cable, they just seem to be reasonably priced and I like the looks of them.
 
So, do I need two cables...yeah, I think so....one from the uke to the amp...that can be any guitar type cable, is what you’re saying, right?

And then a short cable to connec the looper to the amp, right?

I will order the entire rig on amazon so I wanted to have all the bits I need in one order which is why I asking for help with the cables now.

thanks
 
So, do I need two cables...yeah, I think so....one from the uke to the amp...that can be any guitar type cable, is what you’re saying, right?

And then a short cable to connec the looper to the amp, right?

I will order the entire rig on amazon so I wanted to have all the bits I need in one order which is why I asking for help with the cables now.

thanks

Yes you are correct, two cables, one from instrument to Looper another from Looper to amp. Don't buy too short of a cable to go from Looper to amp. I would get a 20'-25' for uke to Looper and a 10' or longer from Looper to amp. Nothing worse then having cables too short, limits where and how you can set things up
 
Yes you are correct, two cables, one from instrument to Looper another from Looper to amp. Don't buy too short of a cable to go from Looper to amp. I would get a 20'-25' for uke to Looper and a 10' or longer from Looper to amp. Nothing worse then having cables too short, limits where and how you can set things up

Thanks Dave, this is exactly what I need to know!
 
Check out the GLS Audio cables. They are a good quality at a good price. I have a handful of the tweed ones for various purposes and they look and sound great.
 
Jake Shimabukuro uses Analysis-Plus cables. You want to sound like Jake, right? Only $6590/10 feet!

Personally, I'm with Rllink on this one: I have Fender California cables because they're pretty and come in red and blue and green. 10' from uke to looper and 10' from looper to amp works well in my play-space without being too unwieldy to coil and store.

The cable will change your sound some. How much that matters and what change you like is up to you. At my level and equipment I can't tell the difference, and if I could it wouldn't matter for practicing.

The main reasons I didn't get the cheapest cables I possibly could are that I was worried the ends would be fragile (punk guitarist friend warned me he's had problems - he also probably jumps around a lot more than I do when playing), moving up a step wasn't a significant cost difference, and the Fenders are really pretty (punk guitarist friend did not approve) (punk guitarist friend despairs at my pink strat. Klos ukulele is ok since it's black)

--Rob
 
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Yes you are correct, two cables, one from instrument to Looper another from Looper to amp. Don't buy too short of a cable to go from Looper to amp. I would get a 20'-25' for uke to Looper and a 10' or longer from Looper to amp. Nothing worse then having cables too short, limits where and how you can set things up

I'd reverse those numbers. A long cable right from the uke can rob you of some high-end - especially if your pickup can't push that distance. Google: cable capacitance. I always run my 10' cable from uke to pedals when I can get away with it.

They all do the same thing. No point buying one of those Jake cables IMO unless you have a hell of a nice pickup. Your setup is only as good as your weakest link. FWIW, I use Mogami gold. Never had a single problem with them over the years. Can't say the same about other cheaper cables.
 
I'd reverse those numbers. A long cable right from the uke can rob you of some high-end - especially if your pickup can't push that distance. Google: cable capacitance. I always run my 10' cable from uke to pedals when I can get away with it.

They all do the same thing. No point buying one of those Jake cables IMO unless you have a hell of a nice pickup. Your setup is only as good as your weakest link. FWIW, I use Mogami gold. Never had a single problem with them over the years. Can't say the same about other cheaper cables.


Hey Brad thanks for the correction. I actually meant it the way you said it.....just came out backwards. Shorter to Looper then longer to amp
 
We are assuming you have an active pickup and don't need a preamp.

I don't play electric very often and most of my ukes have passive pickups. I would think with a passive, you would have to go uke to preamp to looper to amp.

But that's a WAG from me.

Check out the thread about DI boxes and cable lengths. (I don't know how to link a thread here so I copied the page address.)

https://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?108312-amplifying-ukes-(do-we-need-a-DI-Box-)

Now I know it does it automatically. :rolleyes:
 
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We are assuming you have an active pickup and don't need a preamp.

I don't play electric very often and most of my ukes have passive pickups. I would think with a passive, you would have to go uke to preamp to looper to amp.

But that's a WAG from me.

Well, up to now I haven’t played electric at all but I am going to have a
K & K Aloha Twin pickup in my 5 string tenor uke.
 
Like Brad said above, cables longer than 20 ft will reduce your signal, but also cables longer than 15 ft can also be subject to interference from EM and RFI since these cables are not "balanced" cables.

For longer cable runs, one would use a "direct box' or DI box, which converts the unbalanced signal to balanced. the output of a DI box is an XLR cable which has 3 wires instead of the 2 wires inside a guitar cable. The 3 wires help to reject interference and can be used for much longer cable runs (hundreds of feet), and are also usually a thicker gauge of wire, which helps to alleviate the capacitance problem that Brad mentioned.

Use of an inline buffer, or preamp can also help with signal quality for both long and short cable runs.

However, to answer the OP's question, yes one cable from instrument to your effects pedal, and another from the effects pedal to the amp.

If you add more effects pedals, you can usually find a known-brand of a 6-pack of 6 inch cables (for ~$15) to use between each effect pedal as needed, but that might not be until later on, for example -if you wanted to add reverb, chorus, etc.

Cheap cables are notorious for problems. If you are paying less than $1 per foot of cable, it is a cheap cable.

Such may be ok for gentle home use, but for gigging, I'd suggest aiming to buy something better made, and therefore more $$.
 
Fretie:

You are well on your way to a successful introduction to amplification. The THR5A is a versatile home amp, and the RC-1 is a simple-to-use looper with some very useful features.

As others have noted, you will need two cables. I'd place the longer cable between the looper and amp. Note that placing the RC-1 before the THR5A in your signal chain will limit the utility of the THR5A's effects section, but the THR5A's lack of an effects loop limits your options in this regard.

Eventually, you may wish to invest in a preamp for the K&K Aloha Twin, but that purchase can wait until you've formed a realistic idea of your needs. In the meantime, you can use the THR5A's microphone models to achieve pleasant tones. FWIW, I plug my K&K Aloha Twin-equipped 'ukulele straight into a battery-powered THR5A for leading small workshops and the like, and the tone is nice enough for these purposes. Lugging the preamp around isn't worth the hassle for a slight improvement in tone, especially when the mic models in the THR5A already do a good job rounding out the tone a bit.
 
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Thanks for all your feedback and suggestions....I’ve learned a lot!

I plan to order two 10’ Fender California cables, one for uke to looper and the other from looper to amp. I plan to use my rig in my little den for home practice sessions so I think, based on what you’ve shared here, this setup should work well for my needs.
 
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