Amp speakerout jack info

Speakon cables. Any music store or online seller will have them.

 

End has a lock switch. Looks like this:

 

Some Speakons will also accept a 1/4" plug. They are sort of a dark green color, vs charcoal black for the speakon only jacks.

 

Those looks like speakON combo connectors.

They should accept speakON NL4 and NL2 plugs, or 1/4" phone plugs .

In addition to the greenish hue, if you look closely they should be labeled as combo.



Although they should accept NL2 and NL4 plugs, they are only wired for pin 1+ and 1-. NL4 can be wired with four connections 1+, 1- and 2+, 3-.

Most instrument amps only use connection 1+,1-

 

First of all, it is important to get the Neutrik connectors. The rip offs are unreliable.

The 'normal' 1/4" TS jack was never meant to carry the juice a modern bass amps pumps into the cabinets.
It's okay for a 100W guitar head, but bass heads commonly exceed 500W nowadays.

 

Yes, that amp does have speakon combo connectors. I would buy a speaker cable with a Neutrik speakon connector on one end and a ¼” plug on the other to mate with your cabinet. The cable should be just long enough for your needs.

 

This. Make sure you get a cable with Neutrik ends. That’s what your amp uses. I have my favorite brand of cables but just don’t get the cheapest one on eBay and you’ll be fine.

 

Since Neutrik Speakons are screwed and not soldered, you can basically make your own cables at the kitchen table with a Leatherman.
I did.
Just order a few plugs and a bit of speaker cable, then make them as short as possible. You can reuse the Neutrik plugs often.

 

The main purpose behind the switch to speakon is safety. Make sure you use genuine neutrik connectors vs cheap imports.

 

Speakons can't short circuit your amp when plugged or unplugged while the amp is on (not that you should do that, anyway).

The body of the plug is plastic so it's shock-proof, unlike 1/4" plugs with uninsulated metal bodies. This is important with some class D amps, like Fender Rumbles, where the metal body can actually be hot rather than grounded.



The conductors in a Speakon are all the same size, unlike a 1/4" plug where the tip (+) has much less surface area then the sleeve (-, ground).

Speakons lock so they can't accidentally be yanked out.

 

Monoprice has Speakon cables at GREAT prices. I and my pro DJ neighbor have been using them for years with no issues. Monoprice products are very high quality.

Search -SPEAKER CABLES - HDMI Cable, Home Theater Accessories, HDMI Products, Cables, Adapters, Video/Audio Switch, Networking, USB, Firewire, Printer Toner, and more!

 

I guess for emergency purposes, like if you're caught out in the woods without a Speakon cable, a Leatherman is workable. But it's not a Phillips screw head -- if you're going to assemble more than one or two connectors, and if you don't want to futz up the screw heads, a Pozidriv driver is the preferred tool.

Even though it IS really easy, I'm thinking this OP, having never even seen a Speakon connector before, might be better served just buying a ready-made cable. To the OP -- emphatically, do not buy a Speakon cable online unless the seller makes assurances it is made with genuine Neutrik connectors. It's important enough that most sellers make it a point of saying it, but it's worth taking the trouble to be sure before spending any cash. AWG 16 ("16 gauge") is plenty heavy enough (no particular harm in heavier), and it absolutely doesn't need to be made of any kind of miracle-working wire. I wouldn't bother with NL-2 connectors -- the industry has pretty much settled on using the 4-pole, NL4 connector and just using the 1+ and 1- connections.

 

Not to dispute anyone's prior successes, but you'll find a number of recommendations here against Monoprice for NL4 cables. If I'm not mistaken, they do not use genuine Neutrik connectors.

 

Though MANY have had their amp or cab jacks destroyed by monoprice connectors.

 

I am dealt with an amp at the beginning of the week that came in with one of those cables stuck into the amp, it tore the jack up on the inside because one of the contact bars on the plug came loose while inside the jack, folding over the contact fingers.

Based on the number of failures I have had to deal with customers on, I have a real issue with these parts.

Here's what it does to the matching jack, and it's fairly expensive to fix because the amp has to be disassembled at the same time that the plug is cut off and pieces extracted to prevent damage to the amp/sheet metal. In all cases the jack must be replaced because of the damage.

 

AFAIK,

If the amp has NL2 out and the cab has NL4 in, a cable with NL2 plugs will mate with both. A cable with NL4 plugs will not mate to the amp.

Explanation:

2P panel mounts only accept 2P plugs. Is the head a GK? AFAIK they are the only company that has gone to NL2, and IMHO it's an odd choice.

4P panel mounts accept both 2P and 4P plugs. ​