Hear your guitar for the first time!

What our customers say: I’ve had the opportunity to play through the Zerocap more today, and I’m just amazed at the difference it makes with both single coil AND humbucker equipped guitars. It does exactly what I was hoping it would do. I FINALLY have the clear uncolored sound of my guitar going into my amp and pedals. The difference both clean and distorted is huge. As I suspected, my overdrive/distortion pedals sound much better. Since they’re not getting a upper midrange heavy signal, the resulting tone is not nasal and peaky. Finally, I can hear the claims of “transparency” in the pedals. From this point I can’t imagine playing without the Zerocap. Sasha Brusin, Jazz Guitarist The difference this cable makes has floored everybody who has heard it. I’ve got DI’s worth up to $850 and the difference the cable makes is less subtle than differences in high end DIs. Jason Buntz, Recording Engineer “Ed can even hear the difference between a guitar plugged into a 5-foot cable and a 10-foot cable.” — Guitar tech Matt Bruck speaking of Ed Van Halen in USA Today, January 6, 2009. Ed can hear the tonal difference caused by cable capacitance. Can you?

The ZEROCAP ultra low capacitance cable lets you hear all the frequencies being produced by your guitar. Cable capacitance kills the high frequencies from your pickups, resulting in a muddy sound. The ZEROCAP cable makes your guitar think it is driving about one foot of cable, and the sound opens up in an amazing way.

The ZEROCAP consists of quality custom manufactured guitar cable and fully shielded metal plugs, plus special interface electronics housed in a tiny enclosure toward one end of the cable. Connect the ZEROCAP cable between your guitar and amp, turn it on, and you are ready to rock! It’s battery powered so there are no power supplies to plug in.

Check out a video demonstration of the Zerocap cable!

What does the ZEROCAP cable do?

• The ZEROCAP cable reduces the cable capacitance to near zero (~60pf), which is effectively the capacitance of the connectors. Even the best guitar cables have 15 to 30 picofarads of capacitance per foot, amounting to a tone killing 650 picofarads for a 20 foot cable.
• The ZEROCAP cable lets you use long guitar cables with little high frequency loss.
• The ZEROCAP cable eliminates the “tone suck” when you roll back the guitar’s volume pot.
• The lack of capacitance reduces or eliminates the midrange gain boost caused by plain guitar cables.
• The pickup is still connected with a straight through wired connection from the guitar to the amplifier.
• The ZEROCAP cable does NOT buffer or amplify your guitar’s signal with inline electronics.
• The ZEROCAP cable does NOT change the output impedance of your guitar.

To show that our ZEROCAP cable does not use an inline buffer and provides a direct connection between your guitar and your amp, we’ve powered a light bulb through a ZEROCAP cable. Any inline buffer would make this impossible. Click the picture for a larger image. The video also demonstrates this.

With the ZEROCAP cable, the guitar’s sound is brighter and flatter. You hear the actual pickup sound, unfiltered by the cable, and you get more of the good sound that has been eaten by cable capacitance until now.

ZEROCAP cables sound the same regardless of length?

Yes. There is no passive ‘premium’ cable that can make that claim. Say you buy a 10 foot ‘premium’ cable for club use, and a 20 foot cable of the same brand for large stage use. The longer cable will have double the cable capacitance and will further murder your tone. All ZEROCAP cables have the same sound, regardless of length, as if they were not there!

What about all the other cables in my rig?

If you have a pedalboard with cables connecting your pedals, make sure they are as short as possible. There are stomp box connection cables that are only inches long, or less. These have very low capacitance. Understand that stomp boxes all have capacitance as well, so don’t insert any more effects than you need in the signal path. And when a stomp box is switched out using “true bypass,” the capacitance of the cable and box next in line adds to all the capacitance before it. (This is a disadvantage of true bypass pedals!) So use the shortest cables possible. You can purchase a short ZEROCAP cable to connect your pedalboard to your amplifier. Here’s a diagram to help you decide where to use ZEROCAP cables. Basically, any cable after a buffered or powered pedal can be a less expensive plain cable.

But the ZEROCAP sounds different

Yes, it does! The more even sound and lack of artificial midrange boost means you may have to adjust your amplifier’s tone controls. When you want that extra high end, it’s there for you, open and not nasal. Think of it: You have been playing through 500 picofarads of choking cable capacitance since you were a kid. Not any more!

You’ll notice that the volume control no longer kills the high frequencies in your guitar’s tone. Previously, the resistance of the volume control conspired with the cable capacitance to ruin your tone at lower volumes. Since the cable capacitance is now gone, that does not happen and your guitar shimmers as much on 5 as it does on 10.

SOUND CLIPS: Compare popular cables to the ZEROCAP in our TONE SHOOTOUT!

To understand how cable capacitance affects tone, read our article.

Also check out The Guitar Pickup Tone Database, where you can compare pickup responses directly, and listen to sound clips, getting an idea of how the ZEROCAP cable affects your tone.

But I like the high capacitance muffled tone on some songs

Use the tone control on your guitar to get that sound. Without all that extra capacitance in the cable, the tone control will have a much wider ranging effect on your sound. Most guitarists leave the tone control on 10 because the cable is already killing their tone. Now the tone control actually has a function in life!

The ZEROCAP cable is designed for passive guitars without active electronics. You can use it with active instruments, but you will not notice as much difference. It sounds best with single coil pickups which are most susceptible to high frequency rolloff from cable capacitance, but works fine with humbuckers as well. We test every cable with a guitar and amp, and we don’t get a lot else done during the day as a result!

Is the ZEROCAP good for remoting amplifiers in the studio?

As a studio engineer, imagine putting your raucous guitarists in the main studio and their amp stacks in isolation. Cable run too long? Use a ZEROCAP brand cable! Those picky tone freak guitarists won’t be able to tell the difference between a ten foot and thirty foot cable. Just tell them, “Here. Plug this into your guitar.” Do they even need to know?

Why don’t we use molded plastic connectors?

We use standard machined nickel-plated brass phone plugs because they are made of metal, fully sheilded, and are reliable and serviceable. What happens when your plastic molded plug cable fails? You chop off the plastic part and have your guitar tech install metal plugs! Why not use the best to begin with?

How does the cable feel?

We use low noise flexible cable made for this application in the USA. The cable is 0.275 inches in diameter and is flexible.

ZEROCAP Device Specifications

Where can I get technical support?

If you need help using the ZEROCAP cable, please see our contact page. You may call or email. Our goal is to help you get maximum value out of the ZEROCAP cable, so please call or write if you have a question or problem. Technical support is FREE.

I want one now!

The ZEROCAP cable is for sale now, priced depending on length, plus Virginia sales tax (where applicable) & shipping, and includes the cable, a user manual, battery, and free support. We will accept your money order or check — please contact us. Due to governmental regulations, this product is available only in the US and Canada!

Our products are designed and built in the USA, not in China. Consequently, our products are the best quality, durable, innovative, and designed and built by musicians for musicians. There’s no comparing the performance of our cables against even the most ‘premium’ cables hanging on the rack. Try our cables and you will agree.

There is a 30-day money back guarantee. If you are not satisfied for any reason in the first 30-days after purchase, you may return the product for a full refund.

Still have questions?

Check out our ZEROCAP^TM technology FAQ page for more info.

The ZEROCAP cable is for sale using our secure PayPal shopping cart.

Length	Price (USD)	Plug Type Illustrations (Box is closer to one end of cable)	Add to Cart
50 feet	$169.95	Two straight plugs Straight plug with right angle near box Two right angle plugs Right angle with straight plug near box	WE SHIP ONLY TO US AND CANADA! Select Plug Types and Click Buy Now Two straight plugs Straight plug with right angle near box Two right angle plugs Right angle with straight plug near box Sorry! Out of Stock!
30 feet	$129.95	Two straight plugs Straight plug with right angle near box Two right angle plugs Right angle with straight plug near box	WE SHIP ONLY TO US AND CANADA! Select Plug Types and Click Buy Now Two straight plugs Straight plug with right angle near box Two right angle plugs Right angle with straight plug near box Sorry! Out of Stock!
20 feet	$109.95	Two straight plugs Straight plug with right angle near box Two right angle plugs Right angle with straight plug near box	WE SHIP ONLY TO US AND CANADA! Select Plug Types and Click Buy Now Two straight plugs Straight plug with right angle near box Two right angle plugs Right angle with straight plug near box Sorry! Out of Stock!
15 feet	$99.95	Two straight plugs Straight plug with right angle near box Two right angle plugs Right angle with straight plug near box	WE SHIP ONLY TO US AND CANADA! Select Plug Types and Click Buy Now Two straight plugs Straight plug with right angle near box Two right angle plugs Right angle with straight plug near box Sorry! Out of Stock!
10 feet	$89.95	Two straight plugs Straight plug with right angle near box Two right angle plugs Right angle with straight plug near box	WE SHIP ONLY TO US AND CANADA! Select Plug Types and Click Buy Now Two straight plugs Straight plug with right angle near box Two right angle plugs Right angle with straight plug near box Sorry! Out of Stock!
5 feet	$79.95	Two straight plugs Straight plug with right angle near box Two right angle plugs Right angle with straight plug near box	WE SHIP ONLY TO US AND CANADA! Select Plug Types and Click Buy Now Two straight plugs Straight plug with right angle near box Two right angle plugs Right angle with straight plug near box Sorry! Out of Stock!