Affordable and quality cable for musicians
Live Wire is all about connections. They make stage snakes, studio snakes, instrument cables, microphone cables, speaker cables; they have quarter-inch, XLR, Speakon and they carry a series of small devices like direct boxes for the studio and stage. Basically, they have more connections than a puzzle. And, that’s why I choose them for my stage microphone cables.
The microphone cables I use span over the past few generations of Live Wire technology. The most advanced microphone cable they offer now is the Live Wire Advantage.
There are two different kinds of Advantage XLR cables: One uses silver connectors that are long barrels and the other uses shorter black connectors (sometimes silver with black rubber sealing around the cable, but still short). Having both, I strongly recommend you seek the shorter barrel connector. It has greater flexibility and is less likely to break if connected and the cable is violently pulled. The longer barrel connectors have a rubber surround that eventually popped off of mine, leaving the connector to dig into the cable or the cable to be ripped from the connector. Either way, not cool. The nice ones use Neutrik, so look for those!
Live Wires are, on a whole, less expensive than their nearest competitor, Monster. Consider this a large advantage because the differences in audio color are lost in a live context.
There are a few important things to consider for a live cable: Reliability is paramount. There are so many wrong turns possible in a signal path, and you shouldn’t have to worry about your cables. In the dozens of Live Wire products I have owned, I can only recall one XLR microphone cable got tossed in the trash (nobody told me about that warranty). That was after years of abuse and neglect in salt air, getting yanked, tripped on, stepped on, spilled on, burned, cut, and verbally assaulted. Point is, Live Wire is reliable.
Reliability is usually attributed to fine materials. In the case of Live Wire cables, the materials are apparently so good and well-guarded that their website leaves them to your imagination. And their representative won’t even get back to me to talk about materials after repeated phone calls.
But don’t let Live Wire’s shoddy public relations deter you from their product. They still make what I consider the industry standard for on-stage microphone cables.
By the way, Live Wire is owned by Guitar Center. So you’ll find them at Guitar Center locations, at GuitarCenter.com and MusiciansFriend.com.
The Verdict
