MGS - Welcome Mark Stoddard owner of Lave Cable to musicgearsource.com.
MS - Thanks, great to be talking with you today.
MGS- First of all what got you into this business full of tone freaks.
MS - I have been a guitarist for more than 25 years and early on after being told my guitar sound was somewhat lacking by one of my early band mates, I began the quest for tone. This early on led me to a Seymour Duncan 100 Watt Convertible amp as well as his pickups. Later, I bought a Mesa Boogie Mark IV combo and it has been an ongoing tone quest for me ever since. About two years ago, I saw a very expensive cable in a boutique music store and as a result made a cable from Canare GS-6 that I thought at the time would be as good for much less. Sure enough, when I plugged my my first newly made GS-6 cable in, my Mark IV combo sounded better to my ears, especially after I plugged my old cable in and A/B'd the two. Shortly after this experience, I found this same GS-6 cable for half what I paid for it, but I need a business license - so I went and got one and started Lava Cable in May 2004 about a month before I was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan as part of a Special Forces Battalion.
MGS - I have a couple of cables you first started making and are still going strong almost a year later. You have branched out quite a bit since the start. There are a lot of variables to keeping musicians happy tone wise aren't there?
MS - Absolutely. I found that due to the wide variety if amps, pedals and guitars out there, every musician has own personal preferences as well as "that tone" he or she is after. So it is an endless quest for most of guitarists and bassists to find that killer tone. Also, certain cables sound better with different rigs, so I often find myself helping musicians find the cable that will sound best for their rig.
MGS - Why do you think has taken guitarists so long to look at the cable as a viable tone option in their rigs?
MS - Musicians and guitarists in general have viewed cable as an after thought for years because that is what they have been accustomed to doing - it is part of out culture. Finding just any ole' cable has been the norm for most of us for years. This is in my opinion due primarily to the lack of readily available good high-end cable at your local music store and elsewhere, and then when Monster Cable came on the scene several years ago opening the door of the high end cable idea, many salesman were still unwilling (and still are) to sell the positive aspects of good cable because they typically cost more. Again, we have been cultured for years that cheap copper coax is good enough and spending more than $25 or so on a 20 foot cable is ludicrous- this is mainly due to the fact the the marketplace has been flooded for years with mass produced copper coax.
MGS - For the guys that haven't experimented with cabling, does it really make that much of a difference?
MS - Yes! The single greatest rewarding thing for me since starting Lava Cable has been having hundreds of my customers validate what I hear - that cables do make a difference. Your cable is the first thing in your chain, and I think sometimes we guitarists and bassists forget this. The better it is, the better signal your amplifier has to work with. The best way to describe this, is that a good cable opens up more usable range on your amp and makes it more responsive, and as a blues rock guitarist this is important to me because I like to bend a lot, and when I do it's important that the notes sustain and hold their clarity - and this is what a good cable does.
MGS - Do you find different players lean towards a certain cable solution. Say a jazz vs.a metal guy?
MS - Yes and no. Many players out there are still not aware that certain cables work better for these two styles. Many cables work well in both those situations and some work better for gain and some work better for clean applications. What it often comes down to is tradeoffs. Many of the cables that sound better for clean applications can be stiffer because they are using solid copper or multiple conductors, whereas a good cable for metal is typically a good copper coax that is flexible. So, I often find myself educating the jazz guy and the metal guy on which cable would be a good solution for them.
MGS - What made you go from carrying 1 basic cable to a ton of options?
MS - It was the discovery that there many different good cables out there, not just Canare GS-6, and the fact that GS-6 has become a commodity and my pricing was being forced down - not good for business. My primary source for adding brands to my product line has been a cable shootout article entitled "Cable Summit" that was written by Eric Kirkland and published in the May 2003 issue of Vintage Guitar magazine. It has been a lot fun thus far getting many of these brands and listening to them. What I have learned is that if I do not differentiate myself in the marketplace my business will probably not last long. So, I have gone from one brand to 11 in the last year and I am in the process of adding three more.
MGS - What cabling are you using personally?
MS - I am currently using the van den Hul Integration Hybrid cable
MGS - Do you run the shop alone?
MS - No. My wife and I run the shop together. I do all the receipts and assembly, and she cuts the orders and does all the shipping.
MGS - Do you feel there is a lot of smoke and mirrors out there about cables? Are you aware of anyone out there that is making false claims?
MS - There is some. Primarily with companies that sell low-grade copper coax and tout it as good high end cable. I find that the key to avoid false claims is to be honest about what you hear and what your customers hear. One of the cables I carry for instance is somewhat microphonic in stage use and I have posted this fact on my website. The problem is that it is difficult often to describe what impact a cable has upon your tone, and sometimes cable companies can be perceived as overstating the impact a certain cable has, when all they are trying do is educate their potential customers. I think it is important to note that everyone's ear is different, and that a cable's impact is in general somewhat more subtle than adding a new pedal or speaker, so it easy sometimes for people to think there are false claims or smoke and mirrors. What I found is that most of the small companies out there are genuinely interested in bringing new levels of quality and performance to the marketplace. Like any nay pedal or amp maker, these cable companies would not last long if their products did not work as advertised.
MGS - What do you do for fun? Do you gig?
MS - I go to one or two blues jams a week. I also got started in skydiving awhile back and hope to get going with that again soon. I get the most fun out of spending time with my wife and kids though.
MGS - Say someone reading this is using cheap cables and they are really into tone. Try and sell them on why they should experiment.
MS- What I would say is what I have said earlier - your cable is the first thing in your chain and impacts everything after it. All it takes is one simple A/B experiment and most guitarists can readily hear the difference that a good cable makes and will become an instant convert to good cable. Guitarists should experiment because the cheap cable most of them are currently using is choking their tone due it's poor construction and high capacitance. I believe you should view purchasing a cable just as you do your amp or guitar, as something that can have a profound impact on your tone.
MGS - Have you had any high profile players contact you?
MS- A few. I gave some Canare GS-6 cable to Johnny A, Randy Bachman and Rick Derringer last year. Greg V. is also using some Canare GS-6 I sent him. Currently, Andy Timmons has several cables I just sent him to evaluate and pick the one or two that work best for him. The guitar tech for Aerosmith's guitarist Brad Whitford recently contacted me and I have a bid in to do snake from his pedal board to his amps.
MGS - What is your best selling cable?
MS- Right now I am selling a lot of my Lava ELC cable, but it really varies as I have sold a lot of the van den Hul as well as the Evidence Audio and the Cardas Crosslink speaker cable is really popular.
MGS - What kind of tone difference is there in say a 10 ft cable Vs and 20 footer?
MS- Not much. I think the differences that can really be heard occur between cables that are constructed differently. Although some folks with sensitive ears can hear the difference between these two lengths.
MGS - Can any type of cabling improve signal loss due to non true bypass pedals? Also where do you stand on the true bypass issue?
MS - Yes. The key is having good high quality cable throughout your whole chain. As a guitarist who is mostly a guitar to amp guy with very few pedals, I cannot give a professional opinion either way on the true bypass is because I have no direct experience with it and have not researched it as of yet.
MGS - Are you personally into the boutique pedal craze? What gear are you currently favoring?
MS - Not too much really. I have couple of pedals - a Visual Sound H20 and a Keeley Compressor I have had both for several years and they each need a little repair, so I do not use them much. I currently use an American Made 2001 Strat, a Fuchs Triple Drive Supreme 50 head and a Mojo Musical Supply 2x12 cabinet loaded with Mojotone BVH-30 speakers.I also have a Mesa Boogie Mark IV combo that I bring to jams sometimes.
MGS - Thank you so much for your time Mark and good luck with Lava Cable!
MS - Thank you!
