I just spent an hour with my new cable. Revelatory would be a good adjective! I plugged my trusty 1960 ES 335 into an early eighties Dumble with it and it had so much tone and dynamic response. A real game changer for me. I’ve been on the tone quest for 45 years and have tried more cables than you probable have. You hit it out of the park man!
Dave Sebree, President – Austin School of Music
The SweetFats competes with some really high end stuff. I a/b’d the SweetFats with a Mogami Platinum and IMO sounds much better for 2/3 the cost. Very impressive. Thanks!
Lou Vena, The Gear Page
“I could go on into some very technical jargon about the merits of the Colossal Modern Classic cable but simply put it’s built like a f&*king tank and drives like a Ferrari. It’s a cable that gives the guitarist security. Knowing that your guitar tone will be sent to the amp faithfully, and will do so through thick and thin.”
Steve Stevens, of Billy Idol
As guitarists in our quests for tone, we tend to lust after the big ticket, often un-obtainable items; vintage and boutique guitars and amps, pedals and other such toys. The cables we use to wire them up tend to be an afterthought. The truth is that using a high-quality cable can make a huge difference in your tone and can make a good sounding rig sound amazing. Colossal Cables are just that – great cables. We A/B’d them in the studio the night I got them and the difference was “night and day”. Brian’s cable brought out frequencies and clarity missing from the other cables that was immediately noticeable. The fact that they’re practically indestructible is just an added bonus.
Tom Hatziemanouel
Guitarist (Professional Murder Music)
I got the Sweet Fats yesterday, and gave it a quick whirl through my Fortin modded Plexi. Man that’s one killer cable. I love that top end; it has so
much clarity, but isn’t harsh. The feel is great too – it has a bit more
bounce than the Brooklyn, while the Brooklyn has more solid feel if that
makes sense.I compared it to my Brooklyn and Mogami in a quick cable shootout for a
buddy of mine and thought you’d like to hear it as well. To my ears both of your cables have superior clarity and more consistent tracking, particularly across the lows and mids. It was tripping me out how the Sweet Fats sounded like I dialed up the gain and clarity a bit more.
Frank Hutto
Dude, I got the cables today. I only used one so far on my 68 Princeton (straight in) and holy s#%t! These things KILL. I had been using another high end cable (about the same price) but these are so much better. What you say in your ad that these comp to cables that cost $150 or more is not BS. I might need to order one longer patch cable for the board and will let you know. Amazing works of pure genius. While my skills are meager my tone is always great because of details like what Colossal offers. It just got better.
Kent Haehl
The sound of the SF LowCap with my vintage strat is practically unbelievable. I am using my older SF to go from my pedal board to the Swart amp, and the clean clarity sounds like Knopfler or Hendrix on Little Wing. Wow. So now I will need another Colossal from the board to the Deluxe reverb. Maybe I’ll try the Brooklyn. Anyway, thanks for your extraordinary product.
George Gomez
My good friend Paul Martinez told me about a cable company here in Austin called Colossal Cables that is selling world wide and gaining some real attention in the musician and studio world and the Audiophile world. He wanted me to meet the owner of the company at that time, Brian Mendes, and check out what he was doing. So in late July we all went out for a meal and Brian brought me a few samples to check out.
He gave me his new prototype 20ft XLR Mic cable, a guitar cable called Sweet Fats, and a short speaker cable. All built very well with the finest ingredients and rapped in a cut resistant fabric. I tested these out against what I normally use which is mostly Monster and Mogami cables. I tested both in my live rig and studio here at Eclectica Studios.
I started my testing by plugging in my Republic 50 watt tube head into my 1974 Marshall with well broken in Greenback 25watt reissue speakers, using this massive but short speaker cable from Colossal Cables. Then I unrolled the two similar length guitar cables: My Monster instrument cable and the Colossal Sweet Fats cable. Each cable I then rapped around the handle of the Amp and the other end around my guitar strap so I could quickly swap between these instrument cables.
The monster cable I had always used and even showed off in Part 1 of this article about cables sounded in comparison to the Colossal cable like a old cassette recordings and worst yet, the touch and feel of playing through it now felt like I had a dying tube in the input section of the Amp. What in the world? Just swapping between the two cables, Monster and Colossal Sweet Fats was disheartening to say the least. The Colossal cable had taken the sound and feel to a new level.
When you go from a Pro-Co or Belden guitar cables to a Monster cable there is a big difference, less mid sounding and more highs, but going to a Colossal Sweet Fats from the Monster cable was more then just a better EQ curve. Yes, the highs now sounded like a Low-Pass (High Cut) filter had been removed from my sound and the Mids had changed completely becoming solid, present, clear… But beyond the EQ change, the touch of playing the guitar changed. Hard to describe unless you are a player, but imagine the different between driving a car with 4 really low filled almost flat tires verses driving with them properly inflated.
I then tested the Mic Cable, again great build quality, and the sound was again, revealing and Amazing! Using the Colossal XLR (still in beta at this time but you can special order them) added not only a nicer, truer frequency response but the resolution came alive. It reminded me of the first time I used my Manley Preamp, which was my first REAL quality preamp, and could not believe the resolution and depth that it pulled from the microphone. This cable did the same thing. In the example you can hear more of the “room sound” in the signal the mic captured. Amazing! Instead of the mic sounding like it’s flat against the cabinet, suddenly there is depth and life.
Here is the kicker… the 20ft XLR Mic cable, is plugged into my wall box that is wired into my preamps in the control room, about 20FT from the panel. The cables I used are all good quality (Mogami)but still, they are in the chain of cables in the listening test, as the signal flows: Mix>Colossal XLR>Panel>Mogami runs>Preamp. So just replacing the 20ft run that is in the live room, between the Mic and the Panel yielded this amazing improvement.
Lastly I tested the guitar cables again, this time my Gibson J100Extra with a LR Baggs LB6 pickup. The guitar, like all my acoustics, has no preamp inside the guitar, instead I use a Steward Active DI box. This means that a 1 million ohm signal, or very tiny almost non-existing voltage is leaving the guitar and traveling to the DI box where it is amplified up to Mic level. A good test for cables. In comparison to the monster cable, the Colossal Sweet Fats cable sounds more extended, again as if again a low-pass filter or high-cut filter had been removed. The smooth extend highs are really the most noticeable part to the improvement. I got similar results from testing my Fender Bass direct line into the Great River Preamp.
So, in conclusion, Its not a small difference, but a very big improvements using Colossal cables. These are a big step up in sound quality and in capturing the true sound, but they are not cheap… most in the $100+ per cable…and I purchased a lot of cables last night and I have more still I want to get such as to replace my room mic runs. In addition to the XLR Mic and the guitar cables, I also bought new lines cables to replace the runs from my Mytek Stereo 192DSD D/A converter to my powered monitors. Even though the runs are a higher voltage (+4 professional line level) I am hoping there is the same type of improvement. I will write about how that goes in a followup soon!
Now, Go make some music!
Tim Dolbear, Eclectica Studios
I’m a fiddle player, and just got back into playing Tele. I got evidence audio cables at the same time I ordered yours. There is no comparison. On the Tele. I adore the tone the Sweet Fats makes. I hope my buddy, Dale Meyer hooked up with you. I lent him a cable for a while, and he loved it. I think I’ll have to get me a 90 degree cable for my fiddle.
Thanks for your dedication to making a great product.
Tim Gallagher
I was expecting a difference but I sure as shit wasn’t expecting that kind of difference and immediacy and musicality. I’m sure you hear it all the time… ‘holy shit dude’ was thing first thing out of my mouth.
Insane.
Noel O’Malley
One of the joys in my life is that I make music for a living. Like all jobs some gigs are more like “work” than play, or more “life sucking” than pleasurable. With Colossal Cable every gig’s a joy because of the beautiful tone I get from my hands to the Bass, from the Bass to the amp, and from the amp to the cab, and coming soon, from the wall to power the amp.
Signal flow is crucial when discovering “Your Tone”. All my life I was chasing “Tone”, switching Basses, switching amps, when I discovered Colossal Cable I realized how important “GREAT CABLES” are to “Your Tone” and affect the “Style” playing you want to immolate. I have complete control with these Cables. I have confidence in my playing more now than ever. I proudly endorse Colossal Cable.Lonnie Trevino Jr.
This thing is a game changer! It’s science with experimental data to support. If you got a $4000 guitar rig, don’t cheat your sound with a stock power cable. I was blown away at what this water hose sized cable did for the tone of the guitar!!! Electricity is very unstable with lots of noise artifacts … thats why we have power conditioners at the end of all our gear.. this is the final piece to the cleanest transfer of power to your rig.. and damn is it a beautiful thing.
Paul White of Fathom Tree Studios
The Brooklyn Cables arrived yesterday and I was able to really put them to the test today. I am quite literally stunned. I couldn’t put my guitar down. I have never experienced such tonal quality before (and that’s playing a Les Paul Custom through a Mesa Mark V). Epic is the word that comes to mind. Makes me eagerly anticipate the release of your power cables.
Brian, thanks for going the extra mile over the last 2 months. You truly have something special in Colossal Cables.
Take care,
Rob M
Guys/Gals, for anyone looking to upgrade your rig, I’d advise you to start with the cables. I invested in a complete cable re-wire on my pedalboard and all cables to and from the amp a couple years ago. After looking at all the choices out there, the pricing, the durability and reviews I ended up choosing Colossal Cable. They have withstood gigging and rehearsal conditions and just look plain cool. You know that feeling you get when you pick up a well made product. The weight/density/ruggedness, it’s all there. They also sound very clean, true and articulate without being overly trebly. Please check them out when you can. Start out with buying one to try straight from guitar to amp and you WILL hear and feel the difference. That’s what I did and I immediately wanted to replace all cable in my signal chain. He’s a fellow Austinite which I just found out a couple weeks ago. Please support a truly well-made product. This is the real deal.
Isaac Berumen of Berumen Guitars
I have Colossal cables in my studio. Apart from the additional openness and clarity, they are actually the most rugged cables I’ve used. I’ve been stomping on them, rolling chairs and speaker cabs over them and winding them around my chair for 2 years all without a fault. It’s hard to look at a 5x premium for a cable, but you wont be buying replacement cables every 12 months. I’ve had several ‘lifetime warranty’ cables die, only to find the dealer refusing to honor the warranty.
Sean Thompson
Colossal Cable you can’t even argue how sexy this cable looks. Not only that, it sounds even Better than it looks. It’s looks and sound will last you a long time too, because guess what!? It’s freaking indestructible. Haha. Thanks to Brian Mendes for being making these bad boys. This is by far the best instrument cable period.
Kenneth Jang
I just wanted to drop you a line regarding the Sweet Fats cables that I ordered from you. I could not believe what a difference there is in my sound now. Also, the few pedals that I use sound so much clearer now with the Colossal patch cables. My fuzz face sounds 100% better.
I love the way the cables feel too – they don’t bend. I also really like the little velcro strap they come with. Absolutely beautiful product.
If I ever accomplish my goal of having an album recorded in 3 years – I will credit your cables in the liner notes.Ignacio Hernandez
You’re cables are so solid…my buddy moved my cymbal set, all attached together by my hi hat clutch, drops it on my floor, a SweetFats was right there…took the hit…no problem. Works perfect and no noticeable damage. That some strong stuff.
Joshua Hernandez
I’m very glad to be a repeat customer. I think this will be my 4th order. I started with an instrument cable and a speaker cable. The improvement they made to my ears was so dramatic that I have been slowly but surely replacing all of my other instrument/ speaker/ pedal board cables with yours ever since. I doubt this will be the last time you see an order from me. Keep up the excellent work!
Dan Miller
Hey Brian. Just wanted to drop a note and let you know how much I love the Colossal Sweet Fats. I have to admit that I never really thought about the importance of instrument cables when working on getting a good tone from my guitars, amps and effects. The Sweet Fats make everything sound amazing, through my board or straight to an amp. It’s like the tone knob was turned all the way down on everything with my old cables. The highs & mids are crisp, but not harsh, and the low end has tight punch with no farting. A worthwhile investment for any musician who cares about tone and quality!
Danny Gallant
After being a devout Monster Cable guy for many years when my last one shorted out a year ago I decided to make a change. I researched all the high end cable makers and decided on Colossal. I balked a little at the price of the Colossus speaker cable, given it’s only 3ft long, but I’ll be was it ever worth every penny! The Brooklyn guitar cable coupled with the Colossus speaker cable are everything I have been looking for and more. Pure sweet transparency!!!
Matt Zilm
Brian, I want to say first how awesome you are for taking such a personal touch with your customers. And secondly that your cables are absofuckinglutely amazing! They’re so transparent that every little nuance of dynamic and picking technique just shines. I’ve been evangelizing them to the guys in my band and they’re all lusting after ’em.
Marshall Brengle
Just received a speaker cable, and instrument cable from Colossal Cable, tested them out, and I have to say to all the people who say your cable doesn’t play a significant role in you tone, are completely oblivious and I have the cable to prove it!
What amazing clarity, it is beyond all expectations I had!!!
It really lets every nuance shine clearly through my rig!
To everyone looking at this cable, It is THE best speaker cable I have EVER used. no joke, you will be blown away with the clarity! Felt like I lifted a fire-blanket off of my cabinet when I plugged this in!Pat Laughrey
My other cable was restricting the my overall EQ spectrum, mainly midrange. I plugged this in and immediately noticed all ends of my EQ were opened up. No artificial frequencies. It let through what the other didn’t.. Hi-Fi for sure. Scary that all this time that old speaker cable was doing this to my sound.
Joshua Hernandez, MHD Pickups
Got the cable yesterday and LOVE it! It is exactly what I had hoped for and would buy it again in a heartbeat if I needed to. Thanks for your prompt shipping and great service!
Chris Bernard
I have been a monster rock user for about ten years. In the past year or so I had decided that I would upgrade to some audiophile cable. I had been eyeing the Van Den Hul and Vovox cable available at lavacable.com. I was saving up the money for that cables as it would be a huge investment, the 3 foot speaker cable alone was $150!
I procrastinated for almost a year buying a new amp, an fx processor a guitar etc… I guess I just couldn’t spend over $1200 on “just cables” which come with little gratification or wow factor.
I heard about Colossal in my quest among many many others. the price was amazing so I was skeptical to say the least. It was the videos that colossal has posted that convinced me to try them. even a novice could hear a big difference in the tone/clarity in those videos.
I order and entire compliment for my current setup. about $300 worth of cable. I even bought the colossus speaker cable. I play mostly high gain metal but I ordered the Modern classic Instead of the Brooklyn as I prefer to let everything the guitar is making hit the preamp and trim off fizz afterward on the amp.
I considered swapping out just he speaker cable or plugging directly into the amp and comparing it against my monsters but really wanted to cut to the chase.
I played my rig as is for about 15 minutes, then shut it down and swapped all of the cables.
I CANNOT BELIEVE THE AMAZING DIFFERENCE!
I knew it would sound better but not this much!
Clarity is increased, more second order harmonics apparent, the guitar tone is so pure now its crazy. Its as if I never really heard my guitar before. More lows, More highs more tone. I am blown away that something this affordable could bring such a drastic, welcomed improvement. Not just different like many cables, but BETTER. damn those monsters sound like s***!
All of the frequencies sound natural. smooth tight, and crisp all at once.
It was the most inspiring practice night I have had in ages, I was grinning from ear to ear all night.
Every member of the band noticed the difference, even the drummer.
I did change my settings to better suit the cables, I was able to turn the presence down, no longer needing to compensate for the high end loss. the bass got considerably tighter as well, I was able to add just a little more on top of what the cable itself had added, or rather restored without adding mud. very tight!
Dealing with Brian was smooth, shipping is priority mail so I only waited two days for them to arrive across 3000 miles. I HATE waiting for new toys!
The cables are handmade by an artisan. great fit and finish. They lay nicely one the floor without coiling up, are very flexible and have a very cool outer shield that seems very durable.
The Colossus speaker cable cannot be described faithfully, Brian needs to throw a quarter next to the pic on his site to illustrate the scale. upon first inspection myself and everyone I have shown it to just laughed. It is so huge it seems comical, until your hear it. Tone as huge as its girth. It is as thick as my damn thumb!
You owe it to yourself to try these if you haven’t already purchased high end cabling.
Now I feel the need to hear the Brooklyns also!
check em out for yourself! And FYI I have no affiliation with Brian.
Rick Maldonado
After all this time I finally found a cable that gives me all of the tone that my amp and guitar are capable of producing. Its a far superior cable and The Brooklyn stands up to its name, strong, durable brutally honest tone.
Jim Robbins
Amp Tester & Artist Relations (Bogner Amplification)
Guitarist (Otto’s Daughter)
Thanks for the opportunity to try your cables! First let me say that I was actually impressed! This is not usually the case with most cables that I try. As an amp manufacturer, I’m constantly being given cables to test and usually they’re very good, but all have a sound coloration issue or they can not stand up the rigors of constant use in our shop. This was not the case with yours at all!
After a few seconds, I was able to clearly recognize clarity and transparency that I find remarkable! My Les Pauls, Strats, Juniors, Gretsches, etc. all sound more distinct and clear. I perceived no coloration of the sound at all. This was quite a relief to my ears. My brain was able to focus much tighter on the harmonics and sound quality of what I was playing. I was very pleased.
The build quality seems to be top notch. As you know, we abuse the daylights out of the cables in our shop testing amps all day long. We can normally destroy a cable quickly and yours still looks and acts as new. The casing, the sleeve, etc. are all very friendly to guitar player walking around, stepping on the cable and acting like guitar players do. There’s no “memory” in the cable shape so it cooperates completely when we’re playing and I’ve noticed absolutely ZERO microphonics! Job very well done!
Thanks again for sharing your cable with us and I wish you the best of luck and much success with your product. I believe working players and studio players will instantly see the value in a product of this quality.
Dan Boul
Co-Owner (65amps)
One bonus of the Bogner tour was hanging with the guy who plays through them all before shipping….and he happens to be a virtuoso player….Damir Simic Shime. I hung out with him for awhile, listening to him play on one of Reinhold’s Teles. It’s an ugly green reliced bastard tele with an unfinished strat neck, but it sounded killer though the Shiva he was testing with 2 different Bogner cabs.
But the best highlight of that evening was talking with a Bogner employee who has launched his own extreme high end cable company… www.colossalcable.com
I talked guitar cables with him for an hour, before going over to 65 Amps to talk tubes with Myles for the rest of the night. Brian at Bogner’s new cable is easily the best cable I’ve ever heard. The thing that blew me away was that he graciously handed me a $130 cable as a gift, and he wanted my opinion on his new business venture.
From a distance, the cable looks silver, but it’s got a shrink wrapped clear fishnet tubing over the cable, which makes it feel textured, keeps it from winding up, and is the same type of material used on cabling a high performance engine.
But the real performance is in the sound of the cable, which passes every frequency as clearly as humanly possible. This past week, I’ve used it with my freshly retubed Bogner Ecstasy halfstack, and compared it directly to my brand new Monster Cables and a few of my other ones. It stomps them all, plain and simple. It sounds as though I’m running through a 1 foot cable, even though it’s 16 feet. All the frequencies are heard crystal clear.
Pretty soon, I may do an A/B comparison with some other cables. I really only plan on keeping this expensive and high end cable at home, as well as the studio, since I don’t think I’ll ever own a better cable. I certainly want to keep this for life, and not abused at gigs…..although it’s an extremely durable cable. This Colossal Cable is the one I’ll use for the rest of my life for practicing and recording. It’s simply the end of the road….and you KNOW how much I value gear that’s ‘end of the road’ in terms of quality.
The Colossal Cable is THAT good. Just a beautiful piece of equipment that’s often overlooked…..as most are leery of spending more than average on a cable. All I can say is it’s money that is NOT wasted. No matter how long a Colossal Cable is, you’d swear you’re using a 1 foot Monster Cable to connect your guitar to your amp.
I only wish I had 2 long ones, and a bunch of short ones for my pedalboard. I’d be set for life, for crystal clear tone.
Gearjoneser
(Seymour Duncan Users Group Message Board)
Got the cable today and it got broken in very nice on a gig with a Metallica cover band I´m in. I just got home and it’s after 3:00 AM, but I wanted to let you know you have a way nice cable man. I’m not usually a fan of cables over 15 ft (I prefer 10-15), but on some stages they’re a necessary evil. I got to say I didn’t feel like I was losing out on anything using the 21 ft Brooklyn. My sound was very strong and clear. In fact I felt like it was an improvement of over my 10 ft Mogami and 15 ft Planet Waves. It feels really durable too. I’ll have to pick up a couple more before long.
Thanks again man and take care.
Frank Hutto
Couldn’t believe it when I did a quick A/B with my old cable – thought I’d accidentally hit the volume knob on my guitar. Can’t believe I was losing all that tone all this time. Excellent cable at a very reasonable price! Good luck with the business. Will you be making any patch cables ( if not, can you recommend any)?
Thanks!
David Cohen
Just wanted to drop you a note and let you know that your cable is absolutely outstanding! I hope to buy some more in the near future and can’t wait to see if you get into putting out some speaker cables.
The words “holy f*&k” came to mind when I plugged in your cable for the first time yesterday.
Thanks
John Krier
Got the cable this week and honestly think it has changed my setup for the better. I really do hear a difference that is more pleasing to my ears. I am happy I stumbled upon your product and wish you the best in your venture.
Mike Liu
Got the cable today. Wow that was fast! It looks and sounds great. I’ll be spreading the word.
Thanks!
Brad Stephens
