I see myself as a cagey veteran, not a guy who makes rookie mistakes. But sometimes my inner cheapskate prevails and I impulse-buy something whose use is not gonna end well, is gonna blow up in my face and make me feel ashamed. I do something that, as my mom used to say, "I should know better."
I get these emails, "Stupid Deal of the Day" type things, from various places I've done business with. There is a large company who carved out their space in the marketplace selling computer cables for cheap. They lasso'd the enterprise market and became a giant company. They have broadened their product line to all kinds of electronic-related products, including musical instrument amps and cables and now just about every kind of consumer electronics.
Their sale item that bit me was; Two 3' Speakon Cables for $9.99 shipped. "Spares," I thought. "I can use some spares."
When they arrived, I thought, "Lemme try 'em out, make sure they're OK." So I unplug the Speakon between my Acoustic Image amp and my EA Wizzy cab and insert the speakon into both, reaching around the back in both cases, doing it by feel. Power it up, no sound. Hmmmm. Try the other one; same thing, no sound. Weird.
So I think, "Let me try them in my Mesa Subway 800+ into my Fearful 112 cab." So I plug one in, fire up the amp; Bingo! Sound. "Lemme try the other one," I think. I unplug the cable from the cab. When I try to unplug it from the back of the amp; it won't budge. It'll only turn 1/8th of a turn, not 1/4 like it's supposed to. I try -- gently but firmly -- for a few minutes and get nowhere.
"Lemme call my tech," I think, so I do. His shop's closed. Hmmm, Google is my friend.
Uh-oh. Lots threads about Speakons getting stuck. Cheap Speakons getting stuck. And no happy endings about removing them. I see TB's beloved @Killed_by_Death warning folks not to buy cheap Speakons. Too late for me.
I have a brainstorm. PM our sage TBer @agedhorse, who designed my amp. Surely he's gonna know about this issue, what to do.
So I PM him. And he responds very quickly. With his permission, here's his reply, only slightly abridged;
What has probably happened is that the internal contact assembly on the plug came loose or was bent or improperly formed during manufacturing and has become intertwined with the mating contact assembly. I posted a picture of what the damage to the amp’s connector looks like.
Removing the connector is difficult without damaging the amp’s sheet metal, and the now damaged amp’s connector(s) must be replaced.
I have built some special tooling to do this without damaging the amp. It’s called the "Xonoxoxo (insert the manufacturer of MY cable here) plug removal tool" and it’s seen more use than I wish.
He tells me to send him the amp, which I do. He fixes it very, very quickly and now it's on it's way back across the country to me.
@agedhorse (Andy) saved my butt. Now I'm trying to save yours:
Warning! Do Not Buy Cheap Speakon Cables
I hope Andy will chime in with the appropriate clarity, which I lack. but in the meantime;
Warning! Do Not Buy Cheap Speakon Cables
I get these emails, "Stupid Deal of the Day" type things, from various places I've done business with. There is a large company who carved out their space in the marketplace selling computer cables for cheap. They lasso'd the enterprise market and became a giant company. They have broadened their product line to all kinds of electronic-related products, including musical instrument amps and cables and now just about every kind of consumer electronics.
Their sale item that bit me was; Two 3' Speakon Cables for $9.99 shipped. "Spares," I thought. "I can use some spares."
When they arrived, I thought, "Lemme try 'em out, make sure they're OK." So I unplug the Speakon between my Acoustic Image amp and my EA Wizzy cab and insert the speakon into both, reaching around the back in both cases, doing it by feel. Power it up, no sound. Hmmmm. Try the other one; same thing, no sound. Weird.
So I think, "Let me try them in my Mesa Subway 800+ into my Fearful 112 cab." So I plug one in, fire up the amp; Bingo! Sound. "Lemme try the other one," I think. I unplug the cable from the cab. When I try to unplug it from the back of the amp; it won't budge. It'll only turn 1/8th of a turn, not 1/4 like it's supposed to. I try -- gently but firmly -- for a few minutes and get nowhere.
"Lemme call my tech," I think, so I do. His shop's closed. Hmmm, Google is my friend.
Uh-oh. Lots threads about Speakons getting stuck. Cheap Speakons getting stuck. And no happy endings about removing them. I see TB's beloved @Killed_by_Death warning folks not to buy cheap Speakons. Too late for me.
I have a brainstorm. PM our sage TBer @agedhorse, who designed my amp. Surely he's gonna know about this issue, what to do.
So I PM him. And he responds very quickly. With his permission, here's his reply, only slightly abridged;
What has probably happened is that the internal contact assembly on the plug came loose or was bent or improperly formed during manufacturing and has become intertwined with the mating contact assembly. I posted a picture of what the damage to the amp’s connector looks like.
Removing the connector is difficult without damaging the amp’s sheet metal, and the now damaged amp’s connector(s) must be replaced.
I have built some special tooling to do this without damaging the amp. It’s called the "Xonoxoxo (insert the manufacturer of MY cable here) plug removal tool" and it’s seen more use than I wish.
He tells me to send him the amp, which I do. He fixes it very, very quickly and now it's on it's way back across the country to me.
@agedhorse (Andy) saved my butt. Now I'm trying to save yours:
Warning! Do Not Buy Cheap Speakon Cables
I hope Andy will chime in with the appropriate clarity, which I lack. but in the meantime;
Warning! Do Not Buy Cheap Speakon Cables
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