Power cord thickness

[lpbfender]

I upgraded all my iec's to 14 gauge bought from Parts Express at a reasonable price.

For me, the right length to prevent accidents and unnecessary extension chords is key.

Just wish more had locking iec's especially on floor monitors.

 

[Tron55]

I like overkill myself, but that's still a pretty expensive power cable -unless you really need it.

Thousands of dollars in your rig and a $8 monoprice power cable but hell it works

 

[Killed_by_Death]

"unnecessary extension chords is key"

Yeah, just give me a simple triad or a power chord, no unnecessary extension chords

 

[Tron55]

"unnecessary extension chords is key"

Yeah, just give me a simple triad or a power chord, no unnecessary extension chords

I hated running the factory amp cables when I would run a full stack and my cable would not even make it to the floor

 

[RoadRanger]

I hated running the factory amp cables when I would run a full stack and my cable would not even make it to the floor

Exactly why I bought some 15 footers - straight run to an outlet if possible .

 

[Jeff Scott]

I hated running the factory amp cables when I would run a full stack and my cable would not even make it to the floor

Yeah, really. Why can't these amps be supplied with much longer cables, at least 12', or more.

 

[Tron55]

Yeah, really. Why can't these amps be supplied with much longer cables, at least 10', or more.

Just like everyone else live venues and stage plots never seem to have a power outlet for the bass player

 

[RoadRanger]

Yeah, really. Why can't these amps be supplied with much longer cables, at least 12', or more.

We actually had this discussion here recently and one of the amp designers said that people were complaining about the cords being too long - guess they have to cater to the OCD and bedroom player demographics .

 

[Killed_by_Death]

all the more reason people should be making their own, just like speaker cables & instrument cables

 

[trevcda]

Thousands of dollars in your rig and a $8 monoprice power cable but hell it works

And everyone seems to forget, it's all the same $0.30 a foot romex cable that gets it to the outlet your plugging into for power to begin with!

 

[Jeff Scott]

all the more reason people should be making their own, just like speaker cables & instrument cables

I have. Even going the other direction, making 10" power cords for connecting gear in my 4 space SKB rack to my power strip.

 

[Oldbasslover]

I am not sure where all the discussion is, but electricity is pretty simple. If your rig is trying to drraw power and the cords are not proper size, you will increase the heat. Enough to cause a fire? Depends. But if you have a honking big cable, there is no downside to that unless the cable is stupidly long, like hundreds of yards?

So you need to look at not just your power cord, but what its plugged into. Griswalds Xmas tree lights equals fire.

Potentially one also needs to consider everything on the circuit. Standard fuse 10 Amps, 150 vols - 1500 watts. You plug an 1200 watt in, guitarist -lugs a 500 watt amp in same circuit , it is overloaded.

If I can, I go with 12 to 14 guage and my own outlet (fusebox).

 

[Gizmot]

I use and have become an advocate of Essential Sound power cords. From a technical standpoint, the multiple small conductors have less resistance than a normal 3 conductor cable. All I can say is that my rig sounds somewhat better and more dynamic with.

All the people in my band and our sound guy can hear and feel the difference.

It's not small or super flexible, but the Essential Sound MusicCord Pro sounds better than a standard IEC cable. Yeah - it's not cheap, but I get my money's worth in performance

 

[Engle]

I upgraded all my iec's to 14 gauge bought from Parts Express at a reasonable price.

For me, the right length to prevent accidents and unnecessary extension chords is key.

Just wish more had locking iec's especially on floor monitors.

Makes sense to me!

 

[Meghans Dad]

Ever seen this? Best Guitar Amp Power Cord Subwoofer Power Cord Bass Amp Power Cord High Current Shielded Power Cable MusicCord PRO | Essential Sound Products

$250 for a 6 foot cord? Not on my budget!!

 

[agedhorse]

It would be interesting to get some data on how much power your amp is using. For example my markbass cmd 121p only draws an average of 30-60 watts (that was up to a medium volume), 150w is loud (out of its useable range) and max is around 230w (speaker farting, totally beyond normal operating parameters)

This gives around 120 - 650mA of current through any normal use (although Im on 240v), so just about any lead should be fine.

All fine right? Well not quite. It pays to test your leads out. Especially if they are cheaper chinese ones. I have cut open some of them to find wire that definitely isn't copper (copper clad something) and I have measured resistances of 1.9 ohms combined L&N wires, in leads only ~1m long. Even worse some of these leads have 10A stamped on the connectors, but the wire would have significant I^2 R losses if you tried pushing several amps through them.

So with a loud powerful amp, run constantly you could dissipate a few watts of power as heat in the lead.

These cables wouldn't be agency approved (any agency). If they show an approval, it's a counterfeit.

No manufacturer shipping an agency approved/certified product would (knowingly) use a cable like this for fear of losing approval (a big deal). This is not the norm fortunately.

 

[agedhorse]

Yeah, really. Why can't these amps be supplied with much longer cables, at least 12', or more.

Some amps are, but then players complain they are too long. Sometimes we just can't win

 

[agedhorse]

I am not sure where all the discussion is, but electricity is pretty simple. If your rig is trying to drraw power and the cords are not proper size, you will increase the heat. Enough to cause a fire? Depends. But if you have a honking big cable, there is no downside to that unless the cable is stupidly long, like hundreds of yards?

So you need to look at not just your power cord, but what its plugged into. Griswalds Xmas tree lights equals fire.

Potentially one also needs to consider everything on the circuit. Standard fuse 10 Amps, 150 vols - 1500 watts. You plug an 1200 watt in, guitarist -lugs a 500 watt amp in same circuit , it is overloaded.

If I can, I go with 12 to 14 guage and my own outlet (fusebox).

Huh? A 10 amp fuse or breaker is not standard, but special order and not available in some bus styles.

150 volts? Not in any western world I've ever visited.

I think your "pretty simple" electricity explanation has itself gone up in smoke

 

[Downunderwonder]

Correct, the jacket thickness has nothing to do with conductor gauge.

In this case, there is zero practical benefit to using a 14 gauge conductor compared with an 18 gauge conductor i.e. To the short length and low current draw. The difference is way to the right of the decimal point.

yeah, but if you drive to the gig in a minivan your amp feels better about doing it's job with the thick cable.

 

[beans-on-toast]

A three string power chord is pretty thick. Knowing the theory helps keep you grounded. You won't be shocked by any of the notes.