Purple Cables was borne of an engineering exploration to discover what would constitute a mathematically "perfect" cable for passive pickup instruments. A passive guitar pickup is primarily an inductive device with a resistive component. Shielded (coaxial) instrument cables exhibit capacitance and resistance. When used together, the result is a resistive-inductive-capacitive (RLC) circuit. Anybody knowledgeable about electronics will recognize this as a tuned circuit, used for filters and tuners. A "perfect" cable would combine the cable's electrical properties with those of the pickup and result in a circuit that does not filter, color or change the tonal output of the instrument. The term commonly used for this quality is acoustic transparency, and we were looking for perfect clarity.
Once the math was done, a search was conducted to find the ideal cable stock. A nearly perfect match is sold by Japan's Canare, in their Star line of permanent installation coaxial cable stocks, which are (by no coincidence) an industry standard in high-end professional and commercial audio installations. Several cables were made for our personal use. They did produce the expected results, but the cables were really not suitable for live performance use because the cable stock was designed for permanent installations, not for the rigors of instrument use on stage and in studio.
Further exploration into more suitable cable stock with similar properties turned up the Canare GS-6 instrument cable. While not quite an exact match to the theoretical ideal, the properties are very close. The cable stock diameter is larger than the Star line, and includes an amazing additional layer of conductive carbon between the dialectric insulator and the shielding jacket. This layer enhances shielding from external noise sources while nearly eliminating the microphonic handling noise that becomes a problem with most live-use cables in high gain situations.
We combined the Canare GS-6 cable stock with Neutrik's top of the line gold plated chuck sleeve plugs to make a set of cables for our own use, and Waldon actually preferred the sound of these cables over the originals. After a lengthy testing period, he suggested that we might make these superlative cables available to other professionals who seek to use only the very best in their rigs and studios. . .
. . . which is what we have done!