Speakon Cables - what you using. ?

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Dave, you’re such a Klotz.

Sorry, couldn’t resist 😂.

No need to apologise. I KNOW. 😂

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

Having switched to an FRFR setup a couple of years ago, I no longer need speaker cables, but before that I had 4 (2 x Speakon to Speakon and 2 x Jack To Speakon) made up for me by OBBM back in 2010, and before that I had a set I made myself using 13A two conductor orange mains cable   terminating in XLRs, back in the late 80s. None of these have ever failed.

Oddly enough the cables i made up myself in 80's all seemed to get pinched at gigs. Usually where there was a support band for some reason. 

Dave

[nilebodgers]

2 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

This has reminded me that I do need to get another Speakon cable as I only have one to share between two amps at the moment and would like a spare or two.

I have quite a bit in my basket at dv247.com already and need to make it up to £150 to get free shipping 😂, so will be buying from there. The only Speakon cables they sell are ‘Music Store’ (which I presume to be their own brand) as well as Cordial, Klotz and D’Addario. They do also sell the £60 Vovox one (listed in the microphone section for some reason) which I’m tempted to try just for a laugh, but yeah, expensive.

I’ve seen Cordial mentioned favourably here already. Any negatives for Klotz or D’Addario? I seem to remember @obbm used Klotz stuff when making interconnects. 

Klotz cable is excellent. The main thing to watch out for is that the NL4 connectors are genuine Neutrik. There are lots of abysmal knockoffs that make poor connections or leave bits of themselves in the mating connector.

[BigRedX]

3 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Oddly enough the cables i made up myself in 80's all seemed to get pinched at gigs. Usually where there was a support band for some reason. 

Dave

The advantage of using a non-standard bass rig, with the speaker cables permanently attached to the amp via spade terminals and then cable clipped/tied into the rack.

That rig used to terrify bassists from support bands. It was bi-amped and based around a Peavy Bassfex multi-effects unit. There were only 3 easily adjusted controls - input volume, and output volumes for the high and low speakers. Everything else was parameter access or controlled via MIDI. I had a blank patch for those support bands who needed to use my amp, but we always suggested that they bring their own.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

3 minutes ago, nilebodgers said:

Klotz cable is excellent. The main thing to watch out for is that the NL4 connectors are genuine Neutrik. There are lots of abysmal knockoffs that make poor connections or leave bits of themselves in the mating connector.

Well, they appear to be. They have "Neutrik" on silver coloured bit at each end and they are made in Germany. I've no reason to believe they aren't what they say, unless anyone knows otherwise?

[dmccombe7]

16 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

The advantage of using a non-standard bass rig, with the speaker cables permanently attached to the amp via spade terminals and then cable clipped/tied into the rack.

That rig used to terrify bassists from support bands. It was bi-amped and based around a Peavy Bassfex multi-effects unit. There were only 3 easily adjusted controls - input volume, and output volumes for the high and low speakers. Everything else was parameter access or controlled via MIDI. I had a blank patch for those support bands who needed to use my amp, but we always suggested that they bring their own.

Any pics of it. ? Sounds interesting.

Dave

[dmccombe7]

Well here's an update i wasn't expecting. Had to go into loft today and while there had a quick look in my spare leads box and lo and behold my spare Speakon cable plus i found 2 speakon to jack speaker cables.

The Speakon is Klotz cable so i'm guessing this is the one i bought from Dave at OBBM. I probably bought the speakon to jack ones to cover all possibilities as some of the studio cabs only had jacks back then.

Oh well at least i have plenty of spares now. 5 off speakon to speakon and 3 off speakon to jack. 

Maybe i could start a shop.

You know how sometimes on a thread you just look and feel stupid. Well this thread has done all that for me on several occasions. 😂

Ach well at least you can all laugh at / with me. 😂

Dave 

[BigRedX]

21 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Any pics of it. ? Sounds interesting.

Dave

Here you go:

In the rack from top to bottom:

Peavey Rack Sentinel which provided power for the other two Peavey units and lights for the front of the rack
1U blanking plate
Peavey BassFex - the input volume control is behind me on the left. The knob you can see is the parameter access adjustment
Peavey Spectrum Filter - lots of knobs but all labeled very non-amp things such as resonance, envelop amount, release etc. Plus this device was only in the signal chain for those sounds that required it, and when it was all the knob settings were ignored in favour of the patch settings and MIDI commands.
Boss TU12 Tuner in a custom 2U rack box.
Carlsbro 2x300W power amp.

The BassFex had a bi-amp module that could be slotted in anywhere in the signal chain and was set up to send high frequencies to one side of the power amp and low frequencies to the other. Effects that tended to sap the low frequency power like chorus and flange went after the bi-amp module and were set to affect the high frequency component only. The high frequency side went to the red 2 x 8 cab on the top of the stack (which I made myself based on the dimensions of my favourite guitar cab), and the low frequencies went to the Carlsbro 1x15 cab.

There were also two DI boxes in the back of the rack for high and low frequency sends to the PA.

Edited April 20, 2021 by BigRedX

[agedhorse]

6 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

Quite true, for avionic use, but for things like audio jack plugs or speakon cables, it's not a problem, especially if there's a compression plate system. If the cable is correctly restrained, there'll be no force on the connection at any time. In my experience it's fine. I'd rather the ends were tinned than have loose brins of multi-strand on the loose. 

Neutrik specifically warns OEM manufacturers of cables against using tinned wires with their SpeakOn plugs for the reasons I mentioned earlier.
 

Assembly with tinned wires also invalidates the safety approvals of the plug since the plug’s safety certification is for untinned wire termination only. 

[dmccombe7]

22 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Here you go:

In the rack from top to bottom:

Peavey Rack Sentinel which provided power for the other two Peavey units and lights for the front of the rack
1U blanking plate
Peavey BassFex - the input volume control is behind me on the left. The knob you can see is the parameter access adjustment
Peavey Spectrum Filter - lots of knobs but all labeled very non-amp things such as resonance, envelop amount, release etc. Plus this device was only in the signal chain for those sounds that required it, and when it was all the knob settings were ignored in favour of the patch settings and MIDI commands.
Boss TU12 Tuner in a custom 2U rack box.
Carlsbro 2x300W power amp.

The BassFex had a bi-amp module that could be slotted in anywhere in the signal chain and was set up to send high frequencies to one side of the power amp and low frequencies to the other. Effects that tended to sap the low frequency power like chorus and flange went after the bi-amp module and were set to affect the high frequency component only. The high frequency side went to the red 2 x 8 cab on the top of the stack (which I made myself based on the dimensions of my favourite guitar cab), and the low frequencies went to the Carlsbro 1x15 cab.

There were also two DI boxes in the back of the rack for high and low frequency sends to the PA.

And an Overwater bass to top it off. Nice set up.

[dmccombe7]

Thought i'd check my speakon plugs and i'm wrong again. They are all screwed terminals right enough.

I have to apologise to everyone i disagreed with on this thread.

Sorry guys, i was so sure but man enough to say i was wrong.

Dave

[Killed_by_Death]

 

Don't forget to use a PosiDrive #1 bit on those, which is what they were designed for...

 

[Killed_by_Death]

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

I have to apologise to everyone i disagreed with on this thread.

Don't feel bad, I justified my use of 14 AWG wire to Aged Horse for a week & then looked at my 18 AWG power cords in the closet, DOH!

14 AWG 'just' fits in a Neutrik SpeakON, BTW.

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by Killed_by_Death
additional 14 AWG with SpeakON

[dmccombe7]

53 minutes ago, Killed_by_Death said:

Don't feel bad, I justified my use of 14 AWG wire to Aged Horse for a week & then looked at my 18 AWG power cords in the closet, DOH!

14 AWG 'just' fits in a Neutrik SpeakON, BTW.

 

Seems i'm not the only dunderheid on BC then 😂

Its great having people like @agedhorse that can verify things for us. Its what makes BC such a great place to be.

Dave

[Killed_by_Death]

 

Apparently 14 AWG isn't great for power cords, because they're too stiff & cause issues, but the SJOOW 14 AWG pair that I used for SpeakON didn't seem stiff.

 

 

[dmccombe7]

8 minutes ago, Killed_by_Death said:

 

Apparently 14 AWG isn't great for power cords, because they're too stiff & cause issues, but the SJOOW 14 AWG pair that I used for SpeakON didn't seem stiff.

 

 

Give it up mate, you're grasping at straws now. Accept defeat gracefully and save any further embarrassment. 😉

It worked for me 😂

[Killed_by_Death]

 

I do know about Electricity & Electronics, I'm just not an Engineer.

I won't concede so easily, but do admit ignorance when I realize it.

 

[agedhorse]

26 minutes ago, Killed_by_Death said:

 

Apparently 14 AWG isn't great for power cords, because they're too stiff & cause issues, but the SJOOW 14 AWG pair that I used for SpeakON didn't seem stiff.

 

 

It's ok for power cords IF a heavier gauge is necessary and the strain reliefs are appropriate.

Speaker cords are generally a heavier gauge because the voltage is lower and the current is higher for the same amount of power transmitted.

[Killed_by_Death]

45 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

you're grasping at straws now

You're gonna come with that comment after all the stuff I explained in this thread?

😲

Edited April 20, 2021 by Killed_by_Death
added Jim Carrey

[jimmyb625]

I'm using these...

https://www.russandrews.com/select-ks6068-speaker-cable-with-wbt0610ag-bananas-33739993131/

[dmccombe7]

51 minutes ago, Killed_by_Death said:

You're gonna come with that comment after all the stuff I explained in this thread?

😲

I'm just teasing so i dont feel lonely out here in Dafty Ville.

You were very helpful and i appreciate that. No insult or criticism intended other than a little bit of fun.

Dave

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, Killed_by_Death said:

 

I do know about Electricity & Electronics, I'm just not an Engineer.

I won't concede so easily, but do admit ignorance when I realize it.

 

Was just joking. 

[Killed_by_Death]

 

Yeah, I realized you're kidding, which is why I included Jim Carrey...

 

I know what I know if you know what I mean, but I concede to Aged Horse, he has the experience in the field as well as in the Design & Implentation.

He's also seen his fair share of 'how can this go wrong', LOL!

re: the fake SpeakONs

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by Killed_by_Death
responding to previous comment

[dmccombe7]

10 minutes ago, Killed_by_Death said:

 

Yeah, I realized you're kidding, which is why I included Jim Carrey...

 

I know what I know if you know what I mean, but I concede to Aged Horse, he has the experience in the field as well as in the Design & Implentation.

He's also seen his fair share of 'how can this go wrong', LOL!

re: the fake SpeakONs

 

Was worried you may have taken it a bit too serious as sometimes the written word doesn't come across the way its intended in my head.

Dave

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by dmccombe7

[Killed_by_Death]

 

Could be worse, someone on here claimed I have difficulty reading two days running, I was not impressed.