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Can you use a Guitar cable as a speaker cable?

#23
Speaker cables are not the same as instrument cables and it is best to use each for their intended purpose. I wouldn't use an instrument cable for a speaker anymore unless I was desperate.

Here is the quote from the above cited article that sums it up.

"Why can’t I use a shielded instrument cable for hooking an amplifier to a speaker, assuming
it has the right plugs?
You can, in desperation, use an instrument cable for hooking up an amplifier to a speaker. However, the
small gauge (generally 20 AWG at most) center conductor offers substantial resistance to current flow, and in
extreme circumstances could heat up until it melts its insulation and short-circuits to the shield, or melts and
goes open-circuit, which can destroy some tube amplifiers. Long runs of coaxial-type cable will have large
amounts of capacitance, possibly enough to upset the protection circuitry of some amplifiers, causing untimely
shut-downs. "
 
#24
NKUSigEp said:
The question isn't are you supposed to...of course you're not supposed to because it affects your amp's and speaker's performance. But you certainly CAN. And guess what...I'm doing it right now, sitting here with bass in hand, SWR Workingman's amp hooked up to some crappy speakers to practice with. Been using this setup for years just to practice with. And guess what, the world hasn't ended, armageddon isn't happening (at least from what I can tell), and my amp and speakers have certainly not blown up.

What's a speaker cable do? It carries an amplified signal from your amp to your speakers. What is required to do this? A path for electrons to flow through. It doesn't matter what kind of wire or cable is used although it will certainly affect the performance of your amp and speakers if the proper cable isn't used.

I'm not recommending to do this but it's certainly possible. So for everyone that says you can't and not to take my advice because I'm like the uni-bomber living in a shack out in the woods, go back to college and study electrical engineering for a few years. I know it's helped me out more than a few times.
Click to expand...

Yes, it requires a path to flow, but you should know, if there is insufficient space for the electrons to move, the energy is transfered to heat, causing melting of the shield and possibly shorting.

You can use an instrument cable, but if there is a high current going through it for an extended period of time, you are literally going to be playing with fire.
 
#28
Ddeele said:
I found a pretty good explanation of why it's a bad idea to use an instrument cable for speakers, even though you can plug it in and it will work, over here (PDF):

http://www.procosound.com/downloads/speaker_guide.pdf

And leave my mama out of it. :eyebrow:
Click to expand...

There you go...the "almost" perfect answer is last paragraph, page 5...they also titled it "Why Can't I.....", not "Why Shouldn't I.."

Like I said before (basically) you MIGHT wreck your amp.

But, it's your choice.

And even in desparation, I would rip two ends off a gtr patch cord, steal the lamp from my hotel room, cut the cord off and solder the 1/4 " ends on...and be confident that my amp won't catch fire...I can't believe they even put that part in...

For that matter, in desparation you can use a 12V adapter to power you 9V effects....it will come on, stay on for about 8 seconds, and the Kablamo, time for a new ped....but technically it worked....for 8 seconds, just how desparate are you?

PS, yo mama, is a very kind and lovely person, so there!
 
#31
Introvox said:
There you go...the "almost" perfect answer is last paragraph, page 5...they also titled it "Why Can't I.....", not "Why Shouldn't I.."

Like I said before (basically) you MIGHT wreck your amp.

But, it's your choice.

And even in desparation, I would rip two ends off a gtr patch cord, steal the lamp from my hotel room, cut the cord off and solder the 1/4 " ends on...and be confident that my amp won't catch fire...I can't believe they even put that part in...

For that matter, in desparation you can use a 12V adapter to power you 9V effects....it will come on, stay on for about 8 seconds, and the Kablamo, time for a new ped....but technically it worked....for 8 seconds, just how desparate are you?

PS, yo mama, is a very kind and lovely person, so there!
Click to expand...

Actually, lamp cord can be perfectly fine as speaker cord. It can take the heat.
 
#32
Can I put diesel in my car that runs on unleaded? Sure. It will probably run.

Same effing thing...

Can you physically plug in an instrument cable? - Yes
Will the cab reproduce sound? - Yes
Is there a pretty good chance that you will seriously damage your amp? - Yes
 
#33
anyonefortennis said:
Can I put diesel in my car that runs on unleaded? Sure. It will probably run.

Same effing thing...

Can you physically plug in an instrument cable? - Yes
Will the cab reproduce sound? - Yes
Is there a pretty good chance that you will seriously damage your amp? - Yes
Click to expand...

We did that!!!in our band truck, early 90s

The pump jockey did it and we didn't know till we were spewing white smoke like crazy...we barely made it onto the ChiChiman (Ship) 3 hours later at the southern post we couldn't get it started, they immediately had deck hands running and pushing us off...we were jeopardizing their schedule. Embarassing like you wouldn't believe at the time, lots of fun to laugh about later...trust me don't do this either hahaha....
 
#34
Guess I'm an idiot then...LOL

As I said, spend some time studying electronics. I played for a few hours today, as noted before, with my 400 watt Workingman's head into a homemade cabinet using a 3 ft unbalanced (mono) guitar cable...nothing but sweet sounds radiating from the speaker to my ears. I wonder how that happened!?!?!

No sound or instantaneous melt-down of the amp and/or speakers would mean failure. As stated, the question is "WILL IT WORK?". The answer is "YES, IT WILL WORK". The unabridged version of that answer is: "Yes it will work, however it is not recommended that you do so since the amount of current running through your cable may exceed it's rated value and thereby causing a short in the line aka frying one or more of the following and its components: speaker cabinet, amplifier, cable. Proceed at your own caution."

How is that?
 
#35
all_grown_up said:
Actually, lamp cord can be perfectly fine as speaker cord. It can take the heat.
Click to expand...

Thats true. Infact I got a speaker cable made and seems to be the same or similiar gauge cable to what you'd find in a lamp cord.

It mentions tube amps in that article which we know that an open circuit can cause damage to. However it won't do a thing to a solid state amp. I wonder if that holds true to a short circuit across the positive and negative on the output of a tube and solid state amp respectively
 
#36
NKUSigEp said:
Guess I'm an idiot then...LOL

As I said, spend some time studying electronics. I played for a few hours today, as noted before, with my 400 watt Workingman's head into a homemade cabinet using a 3 ft unbalanced (mono) cable...nothing but sweet sounds radiating from the speaker to my ears. I wonder how that happened!?!?!

No sound or instantaneous melt-down of the amp and/or speakers would mean failure. As stated, the question is "WILL IT WORK?". The answer is "YES, IT WILL WORK". The unabridged version of that answer is: "Yes it will work, however it is not recommended that you do so since the amount of current running through your cable may exceed it's rated value and thereby causing a short in the line aka frying one or more of the following and its components: speaker cabinet, amplifier, cable."

How is that?
Click to expand...

:hmm: What do you say, Howling Mob?

Should we let NKUSigEp get away without scraping and crawling? He didn't even admit to the loss of power and damping factor!

I mean come on, we've been working ourselves into a frenzy here for several hours, and nobody's going to be lynched??

I say let's git 'im.:rollno:
 
#37
NKUSigEp said:
Guess I'm an idiot then...LOL

As I said, spend some time studying electronics. I played for a few hours today, as noted before, with my 400 watt Workingman's head into a homemade cabinet using a 3 ft unbalanced (mono) guitar cable...nothing but sweet sounds radiating from the speaker to my ears. I wonder how that happened!?!?!

No sound or instantaneous melt-down of the amp and/or speakers would mean failure. As stated, the question is "WILL IT WORK?". The answer is "YES, IT WILL WORK". The unabridged version of that answer is: "Yes it will work, however it is not recommended that you do so since the amount of current running through your cable may exceed it's rated value and thereby causing a short in the line aka frying one or more of the following and its components: speaker cabinet, amplifier, cable. Proceed at your own caution."

How is that?
Click to expand...

You are not an idiot at all...of course it will work. So will stringing tin foil strips soldered to rusty 1/4" ends. And either may or may not result in damages.

You are however, a touch daring. Mind if I ask why you wouldn't just make the right type cable?,

I mean it would cost like 3 bucks and 10 mins work.
 
#39
I've admitted to the loss of power already my friend...I run my amp at maybe 1/4 volume and it's a 400 watt amp but the speaker is 8 ohms...the manufacturer's rating at 8 ohms is 260 watts, divided by 1/4 is only 65 watts. Not that much current running through the wires so I don't worry about it.

And I guess I'm just too lazy to buy another actual speaker cable. The local shop has 6 footers for $15 and if I wanted to drive an hour to GC I'm sure I could pick up something else but that's a case of beer or a cheap bottle of whiskey I could use that money on, which would be WAY more enjoyable and I also love run-on sentences! Besides, it's just a practice rig.

PS - don't forget that the mass majority of car stereo's use 14-16 guage wire standard to run minimums of 50 watts to the speakers and that stuff has to accomodate for fluctuating temperatures!!!
 

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