• 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.

HOT!?

iplaybasstexas

iplaybasstexas

Apr 5, 2008
1,298
6
DFW
#1
So at practice today, i was packing up my gear to leave. Took out the head-to-cabinet cord. Touched the end to wrap around my arm and OW! it was really hot. Turns out, the speaker output connection on my Mesa was hot.

Should i be worried?
or am i overreacting becuase the mesa is my baby?

please let me know:hmm:

and while on the subject of heat,

is it bad for tubes to get hot NOT playing? Like sometimes its left in the car, and the head's cabinet(i have a BB750) is in kinda direct sunlight. or our trailer has no vents and its gets quite stuffy in there...
Is that bad for my tubes?

Thanks!
 
#2
This may be an insulting question and it is not meant to be, but you're using a speaker cable and not an instrument cable between the head and the cab, correct?

You might try a heavier gauge speaker wire, like 12 gauge if it's a thinner one.

I wouldn't think the temperatures inside a car or trailer would ever get close to as hot as when the amp is operating, so I wouldn't "sweat" that too much...
 
#3
+1

In addition, if it's close to one of the jacks, the connection at the jack could be dodgy. Another possibility is a "minor" short inside the amp or in the cable plug, perhaps due to a tendril of stranded wire straying from its proper place. These things are serious enough to warrant close inspection of the cable and perhaps a peek inside if you can do so safely.
 
#4
+1 again.

It wouldn't hurt to buy a new speaker cable all together. I mean $20 just to be sure. Heck, most 3 foot speaker cables are WAY less than that. I got mine for free. If you can't figure it out, go take it to someone who knows what they're doing, wouldn't you rather be safe than sorry?
 
#6
To know for sure if it's a speaker wire, unscrew one of the ends and look at how the wire comes out of the black rubber sheath.

If you see two wires, side by side, kinda like you cut a lamp plug and you're looking at the end, that's a speaker cable.

If you see one wire coming out of the center, and around that a wire that's flayed out to surround the sheath around the first wire (this is known as "shielding"), you have an INSTRUMENT CABLE.

Make sure of what you have and go from there.
 
#8
blue_02.jpg


looks like so, but with a regular black cable.
 
#16
fretlessman71 said:
Gracious...

Can you unscrew the barrel and have a look? It's really no big deal to do so, and you'll answer a lot of questions you've been having.

A synth cable won't be any different from a guitar cable; so long as they're SHIELDED, they're the same thing.
Click to expand...

its not a synth cable! thats just the best picture i could find.

mine is just the same as your normal monster cable, just black with silver 1/4. blue wrap.
 
#17
Does Monster Cable make speaker wire as well as instrument cables? I knew they did for car stereos, so maybe they do for amps as well...

The main point is, when you get a chance, take a good look inside the connector for your speaker cable and make sure it IS a speaker cable. If it is, I doubt you'll need to buy one, and you can look elsewhere for your problem.
 
#19
fretlessman71 said:
Does Monster Cable make speaker wire as well as instrument cables? I knew they did for car stereos, so maybe they do for amps as well...

The main point is, when you get a chance, take a good look inside the connector for your speaker cable and make sure it IS a speaker cable. If it is, I doubt you'll need to buy one, and you can look elsewhere for your problem.
Click to expand...

They make speaker wire AND cable.
:D

I've seen the 1/4" speaker cables at radioshack before.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back