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Stoner/Doom Bassists Thread, Part 90: Maxed Out
- Thread starter Korladis
- Start date
can't stop listening to this these days.
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If anyone is wondering how the ol 4x15 design is going. Progress is slow, but being made. Finished the handles/cutouts for the most part. Still need to finish the internal bracing and a little more joinery between the pieces. I may change the grill panel up some more to have exposed vents. Not totally sure yet.
Got a soldering iron and thinking of sharpening my skills. Namely, making some cables I need. I know almost nothing about the materials. So, what will I need to buy cable-wise? Obviously, the plug ends. But do I need heat shrink (and a heat gun)? What gauge cable, and how many leads? (I assume at least 2 leads.). What's a good price for cable? There's a local store I'll be going to get stuff, and I want to browse and get ideas, etc.
I'm planning on scouring YouTube for vids, but thought you guys might have some good advice. And I trust you all more than some random dude in YouTube.
Eventually, I want to make my own effects and repair/install guitars and pickups. So, this is a step in that direction.
TLDR; School me on materials and methods to make instrument (and I assume speaker with heavier gauge) cables as a gateway to eventually making my own effects and what not.
Thanks!
I'm planning on scouring YouTube for vids, but thought you guys might have some good advice. And I trust you all more than some random dude in YouTube.
Eventually, I want to make my own effects and repair/install guitars and pickups. So, this is a step in that direction.
TLDR; School me on materials and methods to make instrument (and I assume speaker with heavier gauge) cables as a gateway to eventually making my own effects and what not.
Thanks!
Instrument cables are a copper cored sheilded then insulated cable. Exact construction varies per manufacturer. Speaker cables are copper cored and unshielded. If you use an instrument as a speaker cable the wattage can jump the the shield and short your transformer causing it to burn out.
I would get shrink wrap but you can use a bic lighter instead of a heat gun. Heat guns work well, but the lighter will work.
Youll need two ends per cable, generally you heatshrink the plug onto the cable for extra strength around the solder.
A really easy place to get started is lavas soldered pedal board kits. Im unafiliated with lava, but I use their stuff because theyre less the 30 miles from my house.
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Ok, thanks! Didn't know the only difference b/w speaker and instrument cables were gauge. Good to know. So any two pole, copper cored and unshielded cable should work? By plug do you mean metal end? I assume you mean the interior part, that is physically connected to the cable, and not the screwed on outer part? Sorry if it's a dumb question. And thanks for the help!
The biggest difference between speaker and instrument cables is that instrument are shielded and speaker cables are not.
Cables 101: Instrument vs. Speaker Cables
When i said plug i mean as a whole the end peice. Where the shrink wrap should go depends kind of on your plug construction. On a pancake plug it actually goes inside the plug to fill space inside the plug, where as on a standard straight quarter inch plug it may go inside or outside ive seen it both ways.
As far as cable just single conductor shielded cable is what most people use. I think by two pole you mean two conductors? I would think youd only need that if you are using stereo (TRS) connectors. Theres lots of arguments on how much of a difference higher quality low oxygen copper etc makes on tonal quality.
Lava Cable - Magma
I'm using mono connections. I had thought since there was a tip and a sleeve I would need to solder two things per cable end. Is this not the case? Should I only be soldering one thing per end? The "poles" as i called them would be the two things I solder. Maybe I got confused by my 4 pole Speakon for my GK HMS.
Instrument cables use the shield as the ground. So when you open one up youll have to split the shield to expose the conductor. Youll twist the shield and solder it to the sleeve and solder the center conductor to the tip.
Got it. So I was counting the shield as a pole. Only one pole in a standard cable, and one shield. Meaning I still solder two things per end. Thanks for your patience.
Yeah, thats it. Speaker cables are a bit different since they arent shielded they will have a seperate ground wire
So, two different and separate wires in separate sheaths inside a larger, single sheath. Like @dcarwin was saying. Thanks to both of you!
Smaller details - Does gauge matter much? And any idea as to a fair price for the materials (cable and plugs themselves, as well as heat shrink and/or heat gun)?
Generally speaking you want your wires to be as low resistance as possible. Larger guage wires tend to have lower resistance. But they are also less flexible, youve got to hit it somewhere in the middle. Im a big fan of mogami cable, very reliable and flexible. Seems like really good cable goes for between .90 usd and 1.20 usd per foot. Not an expert though. Ends and stuff i havent bought any in awhile.
Mogami WG2524 Bulk Instrument Cable Black (Sold Per Foot)
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These questions remind me I need to get some kind of kit for patch cables. My soldering is terrible.
Precisely why I'm starting with cables! Would love to get decent at soldering, but so far I'm pretty terrible! Figure a cable can't be that hard, and I need a few anyway.
Yeah, I should give it a shot. I can solder copper pipe barely and have done a few pots. Cables are even smaller though. But it's also less surface, just a quick dab I would assume.
