• 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.

Speaker Cable a Must!

#43
BassmanPaul said:
Jeez! What was mine? Chopped liver? LOL
Click to expand...
You did not have pictures. Pictures win every time.


b3002f02fa2a00536ef37de0bb7b3421.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: BassmanPaul, Munjibunga and sigterm
#44
basscapes said:
Good thing I roll my own, with Speakons and 12awg!
Click to expand...

I do the same.

If any of you are using tube amps I wouldn't use anything but speakon connectors. Most if not all modern tube amps (excluding combos) have speakon connectors. I would also use speaker cabs that only have speakon jacks or retrofit some on there which isn't very difficult to do. This ensures that the speaker connection won't easily come undone which can damage a tube amp running without a load.

The only thing you need to watch for is using 4 or 8 pole speakons. These are for running an amp in bridge power mode or a stereo configuration. The pole count can be easily identified by the number in the speakon connector part number. i.e. NL2, NL4 NL8, etc. There are plenty of wiring diagrams online for speakons and they only require moving the speaker wires to different poles for a specific operation. They can still be used for 2 pole (+/-) but they need to be checked for proper polarity before usage.

I run 2 cabs into a high power SS amp and I have 2 sets of speakon cables for each cab. Each set consists of 2 short 6 ft and 2 long 20 ft so I different lengths for any scenario.

I too make my own cables and use 12 gauge wire because I run 1500 watts into each cab. I use NL2FX-2 pole speakons on all my speaker cables. Speakons are easy because they don't require any soldering, just a screwdriver.
 
#48
Late 1960s. I was in elementary school and had helped my brother build a Heathkit TA-38 bass amp. The band would run the bass output of the Vox Jaguar organ, another Heathkit I was a drone to, into the bass amp. The amplifier output end of a TS, 1/4" phone plug connected the amp to the cab. As my my brother was about to plug the 1/4" into the cab, the keyboard player reached over and turned the amp on. Tip shorted to sleeve upon insertion. Puff. That was the end of an otherwise crappy bass amp.
 
#50
BadExample said:
It's not the size of the man, it's the motion of the ocean. -- Richard Pryor
Click to expand...
It’s not the girth of your wire, but having the right dimensions as required by your application and physics equations? Hah. I wish more companies would make thinner, more flexible cables, but I guess the market is full of consumers who think the thicker and stiffer, the better. Seriously, why does anybody make a 12 gauge 3 ft 1/4” speaker cable when that speaker wire barely even fits the connector? It has to be some masculine pride thing to try to push that 12 gauge into that poor connector.
 
  • Like
Reactions: S-Bigbottom, quickfix, agedhorse and 1 other person
#53
"It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so."

The use of oversized cable is not just unnecessary, it can be, as agedhorse has pointed out, damaging to your amp and cab. Tim "The Tool Man Taylor" was no musician but many musicians have an unfathomable need to follow his lead.

And no, there's no evidence that Mark Twain said or wrote the opening quotation. It may even predate him.
 
#55
juancaminos said:
Funny, when we were young (50 years ago) there were no speakon jacks and we used what every cable we could find. Some times we would even by pass the jack and wire direct (we used scotch tape). We even used a shovel for a mic stand at a backyard party once. No fires, no bad amps, no one got hurt, everybody had fun.
Click to expand...
You didn't have 800 watt amps back then.
 
  • Like
Reactions: edro and BadExample

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back