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Switching Speaker Cables

bezo420

bezo420

Aug 28, 2011
266
608
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#1
I'm using a tube head and two cabs, one for live use and one for practice. My live cab has a combo connection to accept Speakon and quarter inch connectors. My practice cab only has quarter inch connectors, since I haven't modded it. I use Speakon live, but have to switch to quarter inch for practice.

Lazy me wants to leave the Speakon connector hooked up to my head. I'm wondering if there are any detrimental effects to leaving the Speakon cable connected to my amp unsupported on the other end while I use the quarter inch connector to connect my practice cab. I don't see how the Speakon connector would short out on itself in any way, and the amp should be fine providing it has a load. Can I leave the Speakon cable hooked to my amp coiled in my rack while I plug in my practice cab with a quarter inch cable?
 
#3
You could drop $10 on Amazon
. A6396E1C-F7C3-451A-8A1C-ECCE9648739F.jpeg
 
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#4
Yes, you can. SpeakOns are pretty much short-circuit proof. Whether you should or not, for mechanical reasons, is for you to determine. Inside the back of a rack...sounds pretty safe to me. There have been a lot of threads here about the hazards of using a quarter-phone connector on the output of a bridged-type, Class D amp...those caveats still apply, if applicable.

Edit -- OK, now that I remember that you said you have a tube head, I see the usual rant about bridged amps is NOT necessary. Apologies. :D
 
#5
The amp is an Ampeg SVT 2 Pro. I have it mounted in a shock mount rolling rack so I (hopefully) never have to lift it. There is a rack fan mounted behind it on the rear rails so that it stays happy, and I usually cool up my speakon cable in between the amp and the fan. Usually, I just pull out the cable to my cab and go, but having two different connections (and thus, cables) has me cautious. I fear I am more likely to blow my amp by forgetting to reconnect the speaker cable to the amp. If I can leave the Speakon cable hooked up to the amp and ready to go, I'll feel better about setting up under the gun at a festival or something. I can take my time setting up for practice.

I think it will be okay, but I just wanted to be sure.
 
#6
bezo420 said:
The amp is an Ampeg SVT 2 Pro. I have it mounted in a shock mount rolling rack so I (hopefully) never have to lift it. There is a rack fan mounted behind it on the rear rails so that it stays happy, and I usually cool up my speakon cable in between the amp and the fan. Usually, I just pull out the cable to my cab and go, but having two different connections (and thus, cables) has me cautious. I fear I am more likely to blow my amp by forgetting to reconnect the speaker cable to the amp. If I can leave the Speakon cable hooked up to the amp and ready to go, I'll feel better about setting up under the gun at a festival or something. I can take my time setting up for practice.

I think it will be okay, but I just wanted to be sure.
Click to expand...

Even though I've set up my amp and speaker(s) thousands of times, I force myself to concentrate on what I'm doing although I could do it in my sleep, I also recheck everything just before I turn it on no matter how much of a hurry I'm in. Not trying to be a pain but your cord could conceivable fall out when you're playing and fall into a glass of water or something, you never know what freak thing can happen.
 

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