You and I seem to be living parallel lives, spy. I was testing my new Peavey amp the other night, was getting some hum, and even was picking up a radio signal! I was plugged in with a cheap, Guitar Center cable that I got free- have scads of them from the post-cards they send me. But I recently bought a "quality" cable made by Quantum Audio Designs. It was at least 1/3 thicker than the GC cable, and there was another rubber sheath near the jack, so I assume everything was shielded that much better. Cost me $18 for a 10' cable. Initially, I thought, wtf! for a cable? The last time I bought a cable, it cost less than $10 and it was 20' long.

But I've become more mindful of anything electrical related, since I have a 9 yr. old I'm teaching guitar to. When I was doing a setup with the 20' cable, when I touched the screw on sheath that was loose, I got a mild shock. With the help of Lordathestrings, he pointed me in directions about proper grounding and stuff. I was pretty much able to rule out grounding problems from my power source, and came to the conclusion it was the cable (possibly my American Strat too)- I don't know if you can get fried from a faulty cable (Kevin, you know if you can get fried by your guitar or cable if they are not grounded properly?), but I saw a ground wire in there (and in my guitar), so I figure there must be a reason to have it.

Anyway, after plugging in the Quantum cable, the hum went away. Even though I'm a dunderhead when it comes to gear, I could immediately feel the difference in quality- thick cable, additional sheath near the jack. The model # is HSQI-10R. I can't say for sure how much better this is over any other cable, but at least the hum went away- can't remember about receiving the radio signal though, lol.