• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Amp newbie here - why isn't my SpeakOn cable working?

#41
LamarKafka said:
Indeed, I don't have any components to swap out. I was hoping to avoid an amp tech visit for a head I got a few days ago (and waited an extra month for - thanks UPS), but things seem to be heading that direction. I've just relocated to the UK, so driving to VA might get a little bit soggy - appreciate the offer though.
Click to expand...

Anything to help. We started in Vancouver...now we're in Edinburgh and I never realized Scotland had electricity. Hope you get it straightened out as I really like the Tech 21 gear.

Riis
 
#43
Ben Clarke said:
yup - I missed that detail too.

I still wouldn't mess with it. If it's brand new and smoke comes out, I'd send it back. If you take it to someone, they open it up, you might get some push back on the warranty.
Click to expand...
No, I meant check the connections for the cable end Speakon connectors, not the amp. The amp needs to be taken to a qualified technician, and by qualified, I mean a manufacturer approved warranty depot.
 
  • Like
Reactions: agedhorse
#44
Redbrangus said:
I know it probably seemed bleedin' obvious, but I figured I'd check, since you'd relocated from the New World. Dumber stuff than that comes up every day here on TB, IME. :laugh:
Click to expand...

Sidenote: The first time we visited the UK - and Scotland in particular (I'm of Scottish ancestry) and even though my Wife and I have traveled the world (Back in the day) the Wife held up a plug and looked at me as though I had lobsters growing out of my ears and said - "How the hell is thing going to work with the coffee maker!?"

We still get a laugh out of that one some 40 years later............
 
  • Like
Reactions: agedhorse
#45
Redbrangus said:
I defy anyone to do this with a multimeter alone -- the terminals resist being contacted by the meter's probes. Now if you happen to have two extra NL4-MP connectors, it's pretty easy.... :D

Edited for correct Neutrik part number.
Click to expand...
What's wrong with using a meter? Pretty much the best way to verify a cable and confirm if the cable or the connectors are faulty. I used non Neutrick connectors for years and never had any issues with it.
Was the cable connected between the amp and speaker when it smoked? On a good amp, it usually goes in protection mode when there is a short on the output. But it really sounds like the output stage fried
 
#47
slyslam said:
What's wrong with using a meter? Pretty much the best way to verify a cable and confirm if the cable or the connectors are faulty. I used non Neutrick connectors for years and never had any issues with it.
Was the cable connected between the amp and speaker when it smoked? On a good amp, it usually goes in protection mode when there is a short on the output. But it really sounds like the output stage fried
Click to expand...
I'll amend my statement to concede that it is possible to get the meter probes far enough down inside a NL4-FC to make contact with the conducting element. I still think doing so at both ends of an assembled cable simultaneously in order to confirm continuity is a task that's difficult enough to execute that doing so with sufficient reliability to serve as an actual test seems unlikely.

I'm not saying an ohm-meter isn't a good way to test continuity in a cable -- I'm just saying the design of the contact arrangement in NL4's makes direct, reliable contact with a meter's probe difficult to accomplish. IME anyway. I use a homemade dedicated tester for this purpose, but there are a lot of inexpensive imported cable testers available now that include NL4's, and even NL8's in their assortment of cables and connectors with which they work.

As for your endorsement of knock-off NL4's, I'll say congratulations on your good fortune, but the consensus here on TB seems to be that they're not to be trusted. I believe @agedhorse has even attested to having encountered amp failures attributable to these counterfeit connectors. This is why several of us here have mentioned it as having the potential of being the problem. But the OP has said the cable wasn't plugged in when the smoke happened, so I guess that wouldn't be the cause.

I concur with @byacey that buying authentic Neutrik connectors is a cheap enough investment that there's no argument for doing otherwise -- other than the OP's situation, where he just didn't know there was a difference. That's why I'm spreadin' the word. :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: agedhorse
#48
Balog said:
I would hope no heads are out there pumping 500+ watts into your headphones.
Click to expand...
No, but if you're going to use the headphone out to verify whether the speaker amplifier works, you might end up misled.

(Edit: Oh, now I get what you were saying. Home stereos used power attenuators in the headphone circuit in the days before op-amps were small and cheap enough to be treated as throwaway accessories in amp designs.)
 
Last edited:
#49
All you need is pal with either a working amp and cable, or, a working head and cable.
Substitute components and you will know the answer in less than 5 minutes.
 
#50
...or you could get yourself something like this. (I have one, and I give them as gifts to musician friends. They come in reeeeally handy sometimes.)
cable tester red.jpg
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: agedhorse, SemiDriven and mcnach
#51
slyslam said:
What's wrong with using a meter? Pretty much the best way to verify a cable and confirm if the cable or the connectors are faulty. I used non Neutrick connectors for years and never had any issues with it.
Was the cable connected between the amp and speaker when it smoked? On a good amp, it usually goes in protection mode when there is a short on the output. But it really sounds like the output stage fried
Click to expand...
It’s almost impossible to get meter probes into internal contacts of a SpeakOn with only 2 hands, and you have to be sure that you are measuring across the correct contact pairs.

I deal with the effects of non- branded, knock-off SpeakOn connectors regularly enough to say that most are garbage. Aside from intermittent contacts, I sometimes receive amps in for service where the plug is stuck in the jack so tight that the customer has to cut off the wire before shipping and I have to cut and remove the plug in pieces and then replace the jack because it has been damaged by the plug. Knock-off SpeakOn plugs are a terrible recommendation.

Protection circuits are pretty good, but they are not perfect. Sometimes damage occurs in spite of protection circuits.

Balog said:
I would hope no heads are out there pumping 500+ watts into your headphones.
Click to expand...
That’s not how it works, there are interface circuits between the output of a power amp and the headphones if it’s done this way.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rich Fiscus, SemiDriven, byacey and 1 other person
#53
Balog said:
I've always assumed headphone outs come from either the pre-amp section or a dedicated out. Are there some amps with headphones supplied from the power section just with like attenuators?
Click to expand...
Yes, this is common but the interface circuitry can vary greatly due to specifics within the various power amp circuitry itself.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back