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What’s new at Zystrix? Read on… April 14, 2025 The Best Guitar Cables for the Metal Guitarist (Part One of Two) In the last issue we looked at the best guitar strap locks including how to make your own strap lock (click here for a refresher). This time we’re looking at guitar cables, and we want the best ones for the money. More important, though, we’re looking at improving the cable response, no matter what kind it is, by using high-to-low buffer pedals. There’s also a free solo piano tune download by Dangerous Neighbors called Really Bad Day. So sit back and relax. Welcome to Zystrix, the heartbeat of the universe. Where creativity and free-thinking have more value than conformity. Background Artwork The colorful artwork that surrounds the edges of this website is invisible to many cell phone users. It’s included here for your enjoyment. Multiple copies are tiled together for a cohesive and seamless background seen all around this page. Enjoy. Guitar Cable Introduction Welcome to the guitar cable edition. Before we start let’s clear the air and say that there is no completely neutral sounding guitar cable at any price. Period. That’s just how it is, so don’t drink the Kool-Aid of cable hype. And if you use long cables you stand the chance of losing high end and clarity. The longer it gets the worse it gets. And if your cable is coiled onto itself it makes it even worse. And I know it’s not very exciting, but a good quality active high-to-low impedance buffer pedal can fix almost all of these issues with practically any higher quality brand or type or length (100 feet or about 30 meters or less) of cable you want to use. How? Back when Bell Telephone was experimenting with running long cables for sending voices over long distances they discovered that a low impedance signal traveled much farther with less degradation. And for extra length they used relay stations along the way to help the signal stay relatively stable. And the same is true for guitar signals. That’s not to say a junky guitar cable can do the job of a good quality one, but It is possible to (mostly) cheat the cable capacitance issue with a good buffer. A buffer can bring back the clean high end that cables tend to take away. Don’t be chicken. If your high end is missing it’s just missing. That means it cannot be dialed back in with the treble knob on your amp. Sorry. If you are going to use all cables for your signal (no wireless setup) then a buffer is a smart expense, a no-brainer decision, especially if you are running longer cables (longer than 10 feet or about 3 meters). And a wireless guitar system is also a great idea, especially from the guitar to your pedal board, but that’s a topic for another day. And active guitar pickups do the job as well, but not all of us prefer that sound. When it comes to buffer pedals you’ll want to shop for something that goes from about 1 million ohms input impedance down to about 100 ohms output. So, before we go into quality cables let’s consider buffer pedals. Here are some pedals you may want to consider. THE FINE PRINT: We never use affiliate links to monetize this website. Unlike most music websites, Zystrix never receives any commission on any gear or software you may purchase via a link on this website. Ever. This keeps our reviews dead honest, removes financial conflicts of interest, and also helps keep your price of gear lower. TC Electronic Bonafide Buffer If I could choose only one buffer pedal at the beginning of my pedal chain it would be the TC Electronic Bonafide Buffer. It does only one job, but it does that job really well. And it does it at a good price versus quality point. It’s a compact analog buffer that preserves your guitar sound, and it also features an automatic true bypass in case of power failure. This attribute may be helpful for some guitarists. It also features 1M ohm input and 100 ohm output. Perfect. It’s hard to not like it. Click here to learn more or make a purchase. $59.17 USA TC Electronic Polytune 3 Here’s an even better choice if you need a guitar tuner. Consider the TC Electronic Poly Tuner 3 because it has the Bonafide Buffer built in. Are you serious? Yes. And it doesn’t cost that much more. A buffer/tuner combination is a great idea because it saves pedal-board space, and it’s also located at the beginning of your board where the buffering is needed. Where else? Click here to learn more or make a purchase. $53.90 USA Mosky Clean Buffer Here’s a small but heavy duty pedal that does the job on a serious budget. Some people say it has an issue if the power fluctuates, but I think that’s a problem with many pedals. I couldn’t figure out what the input/output buffer ratio is, but that’s a common problem with many buffer pedal data sheets. Most of them omit the important stuff like that, and it makes it difficult to make an informed decision. What’s a mother to do? However, because this pedal is small it has the option of hiding under your pedal-board. Maybe that’s important to you. Click here to learn more or make a purchase. $40.99 USA Mosky Audio Dec Buffer/Booster This is another dual-duty pedal for people who prefer their signal hotter. If a person is using a tube amp this pedal makes sense because it really improves the drive sound of the front end tubes. However, over- driving digital gear doesn’t make any sense because it makes the signal sound brittle or artificial. If you need a hot higher-voltage guitar signal this buffer is a steal-deal. Click here to learn more or make a purchase. $29.84 USA Joyo Buffer Tune Here’s another dual-duty pedal that’s a buffer and a chromatic tuner. Once again I couldn’t find specifics on the buffering, so it’s hard to tell how well it does the job. However, the price is right. Click here to learn more or make a purchase. $42.49 USA Boss Chromatic Tuner TU-3 The Boss Chromatic Tuner isn’t quite as good as some dedicated buffers (it has about a 1000 ohm output), but it’s inexpensive used, and easy enough to find, and it works in a pinch. And (bonus) it even does guitar tuning. If you need lighter duty buffering for shorter cable runs this may be your answer, and you may even have one on hand. Click here to learn more or make a purchase. $99.99 USA Conclusion -- Guitar Cables for the Metal Guitarist (part one) Great guitar tone begins with either a lower impedance signal or short cables (about 10 feet or three meters total length). And who wants to stand that close to their amp? Short cables are great for the studio, but they’re not so good for on stage, so you’ll need a way to change your guitar signal to low impedance. Guitar cables will never make as much difference as the buffering. It’s amazing how much a bad cable improves with the right buffer. Unfortunately finding a good buffer from reading the data sheet is often hit or miss -- horrifying -- so I would recommend going for something you know. There are many other buffers available that do an excellent job, but they were omitted either because of price and/or features: Sonicake Buffer, Fender Level Set Buffer, JHS Little Black Buffer, Friedman Buffer Bay 6, Wampler dB+, and the Empress Buffer Plus & Boost Pedal. Always use an active (powered) and clean buffer for the best results. Really Bad Day by Dangerous Neighbors This 5-minute neo-classical solo piano tune is about those days where nothing seems to go right. And sometimes the remedy is not obvious, or it seems so far away. Click here to download the solo piano tune Really Bad Day in MP3 format. If you prefer there’s also a video format that’s better than the quality experienced on Facebook. Here’s the Really Bad Day video. Don’t touch that dial… Stay tuned next time… Well, that’s it for part one of the guitar cables discussion. It’s all about your buffer. In part two of The Best Guitar Cables for the Metal Guitarist we’re going to look at some cables that can stand up to the road demands of serious solid guitar signals -- at a discount. Maybe I’ll see you then. I’m not as dumb as I look. How could I be? Knowledge, art, and music for all.

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ZYSTRIX POPULAR FREE DOWNLOADS The Best Free Synthesizers of 2024 It’s another epic issue, and there’s lots of FREE downloads here. And the Honorable Mention Synthesizer List might surprise you. This list is long, so prepare yourself. And if it seems like too much to take in, I warned you. Click here for the official list of The Best Free Synthesizers of 2024. The Best Free Mastering Plugins Your DAW (digital audio workstation) will be so happy. And so will you. Here are the best of the best for EQ, compression, limiting, tube and tape emulation, reverb, delay, and honorable mentions. This list is a must have with lots of downloads. Check out The Best FREE Plugins for Mastering 2024. Here’s a free download of almost one and a half hours of original neo-classical solo piano by Dangerous Neighbors. This full length album called Piano Top to Bottom consists of 18 original piano pieces with the final piece in two movements. There is a bonus track making 20 files total. 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Click here to download various music from the rock band Dangerous Neighbors. Download Free Synth Samples for Intros, Interludes, and Endings Listen to example #01 by clicking here (MP3 Sample) Download FREE professional quality stereo sample packs that slowly evolve over time. All samples are in 48K 24 bit WAV format and are about 20 seconds long or more. If you like suspense, psycho, outer space, or terror then this collection is for you. These range from paranoia to sci-fi, cinematic gore to strange industrial horror, and creepy creatures to insane laboratories. Click here to download all the synth Intros, Interludes, and Endings. DOWNLOAD FREE AUDIO BOOKS The Fluid, Embalmed for Life There are Free Audio Book codes for Audible downloads (must sign up). There are also free sample downloads of the book reading. There are free downloads of music samples. There is a free “Look Inside” download of the paperback. There is a free glossary of the largest list of mortuary slang in the world. The Free Dangerous Neighbors Album The Fluid, Embalmed for Life comes included as part of the audio book and parts are available here as a free download. The paperback book is available for sale at Amazon dot com. I have no control over these sales; because of the Amazon agreement I cannot offer complete paperback or complete audio books here. And for some reason most book sales go to Japan. Who would have thunk it? Click here for free audio books, book reading samples, music samples, etc. Take me back to the top of the page. Zystrix Privacy Policy THE FINE PRINT: Zystrix is a world leader in personal privacy and we take your privacy very seriously. We do not store, sell, give away, or barter with any of your personal or private information including your email, IP address, links clicked, location, habits, tastes, online activities and behaviors, or anything else considered personal or private information. 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