Pig Hog Cables Review – Any Different from Typical Guitar Cables?

Perhaps the main selling point of Pig Hog cables is their durability. Their cables are made with a thick, woven jacket that helps protect the cable from damage due to bending or having things like amps put on them or people stepping on them.

The jacket also has less of a risk of tearing, which can leave the cable exposed and susceptible to damage and signal interference from dust.

The jacket is also made extra thick to prevent interference from other signal sources like wireless mics and in-ear monitors.

The cable connectors are also shrink wrapped to protect them against dust and dirt that can cause audio problems.

Moreover, the TRS jacks are gold-plated to have better conductivity that helps keep the audio signal constant. They are quite compact and gives you a tighter, more secure connection, so, you won’t have to worry about the cables being pulled out easily.

They come in both straight, angled and a mix of both connections. I prefer angled connections, especially at the guitars side. Straight connections tend to break more easily and I feel like they help keep the cable out of the way.

Another thing I like about Pig Hog cables, although this doesn’t affect their quality, is the fact that they come in a variety of colors and even different patterns.

The standard black cables can get a bit boring, so it’s nice to be able to get cables with some actual color.

They stand out a bit more and I even found that they can help you manage your signal chain.

You can have one color for your guitar, different colors for each amp if you’re using multiple, and even have different colored patch cables for the pedals on your pedalboard.

Sound Quality

Possibly the most important quality for any instrument cable to have is how well it transmits sound. It might seem idiomatic to some, but cheap, nasty cables tend to have a crackly, dull, or overly bright tone.

Much of the spiel about superior sound quality in a cable is just marketing, but it’s undeniable that some cables are built better than others.

Sound quality can also decay over time. A cable that started out clear and crisp could become fizzy or muddy with repeated use or after being subject to less-than-ideal conditions.

Many years ago, a cable I used for repeated gigs in a particularly humid underground venue started playing up on me. Moisture from the room had leached into the cable and rusted some of the internal wiring!

So how do Pig Hog instrument cables match up?

First of all, these cables are much, much quieter than my other cables. I typically use Fender, Boss, Ernie Ball or D’Addario leads. I have a few short MXR patch cables.

I haven’t experienced any pops, hiss, or crackles from the Pig Hog cables, which is a pleasant feature.

However, the actual sound quality is not noticeably better than that of the other cables in my arsenal. While I’ve observed some crackling or hissing here and there, by and large most decent-quality guitar leads sound about the same.

I’d strongly recommend these cables to anyone with a noisier rig or guitar, like an old-school Stratocaster and Bassman setup. While it won’t cut out the classic single-coil hum, it will prevent additional unwanted noise from tampering with your tone.