AL P`s dumb question of the day..

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AL P

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I`ve been a part time DJ on the side since about 1991, and over the years, have used just about every cord imaginable, fr every reason/use imaginable..guitar cords for speaker cords and visa versa..LOL..

anyway, what the heck cord would be the correct one, for a 1/4 to 1/4 jack, from a mixer board to an amp?

I`ve used speaker cord, and guitar cord at one time or another, and knock on wood, have`nt experiance any issue`s with hum etc....
but what is the correct type cord to be used?

that said, in my haste to order longer cords to run from my mixer to my amp, I orderd frick`in 16 gauge speaker cord..F%^k, shoulda slept on it..but no, i ordered the shit about midnight last night, while on the verge of falling asleep...lol
 
that should be shielded so guitar cord would be right.
Speaker cord is unshielded and while there may be places where you don't run into noise issues, the unshielded cable will be far more like to pick up noise, especially as it gets longer.

So for mixer to amp I would always, without exception, run shielded cable and not speaker cable.
 
Yeah your right bob..i dont know WTF I was thinking..i know better then that shit.
I just got hastey, and after initially looking for 25ft guitar cords, thinking i could also use then if needed for my guitar/bass, and not finding any 25ft`ers, i ended up looking up speaker cable and found a couple 25ft`ers, then orderd them before thinking about it for 2 seconds..ARG...

this is not for a perminant setup per se, and not likely to be involved in my recording chain....but rather, I was looking for a way to run cords from my small sound craft board to my amp, when setting up at our building for live shows etc..this way i could be out front when the band was playing and run the sound as it`s heard in the audeince...("audeince"..like it`s a bar or large hall or something..more like a small bike shop with a area setup for an ocasional band..LOL)...anyway, it looks like I`m gonna have a couple decent 25ft speaker cables laying around collecting dust..(then again, they may come in handy for my monitors..hummmm).....anyway...now to track down a couple 25ft instrument cables...(I hate cords laying all around/across the floor etc, and to keep it clean, I have to have 25ft`ers...20`s wont reach..damnit..)..

anyway, thanks again for the reply....I`m gonna go beat my head against the wall now..LOL
 
If its powered, speaker cable; if its non-powered, instrument cable - simple rule!
 
thanks for the reply..and yeah i agree....still dont know WTF i was thinking..I damn sure know better then that.....I was just hoping maybe, someone would say i might get away with it for now...I`m a bit of a poor dude, and cant just order another set of cords...will have to wait a week or two..ARG...

ohh well, I`ve been thinking about eventually ordering some more speaker cables for some monitors anyway, but.....I would have preffered 12gauge for um...not frick`in 16..which is what the cables that I recently ordered are...they`ll still work fine for my monitors, but just saying, if I was to intentionally order speaker cables, it would have better ones...

EDIT:....I could`nt resist, and just tried using a couple 12 gauge speaker cord, and knock on wood, silence..no hum at all...but still...no doubt, I`m gonna order the correct cables as soon as I can..but atleast it looks like i may get away with it in the mean time..unless the cables i ordered hum for some reason, unlike the ones i have on hand now..will know wensday..
 
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AL P said:
thanks for the reply..and yeah i agree....still dont know WTF i was thinking..I damn sure know better then that.....I was just hoping maybe, someone would say i might get away with it for now...I`m a bit of a poor dude, and cant just order another set of cords...will have to wait a week or two..ARG...

ohh well, I`ve been thinking about eventually ordering some more speaker cables for some monitors anyway, but.....I would have preffered 12gauge for um...not frick`in 16..which is what the cables that I recently ordered are...they`ll still work fine for my monitors, but just saying, if I was to intentionally order speaker cables, it would have better ones...

EDIT:....I could`nt resist, and just tried using a couple 12 gauge speaker cord, and knock on wood, silence..no hum at all...but still...no doubt, I`m gonna order the correct cables as soon as I can..but atleast it looks like i may get away with it in the mean time..unless the cables i ordered hum for some reason, unlike the ones i have on hand now..will know wensday..
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If you can get away with it then don't sweat it ........ you're NOT going to harm anything. The entire issue is noise so as long as you're not having noise problems then it doesn't matter.

The opposite is not ok BTW...... you shouldn't use guitar cords for speakers as they can overheat ....melt the interior insulation resulting in a direct short plus the center conductor isn't large enough to carry hundreds of watts.
But as long as you're not having too much noise then you can use the speaker cords for mixer to amp as long as you want.
 
Okay,thanks for the reply bob..

and speaking if using guitar/instrument cables for speaker cables,.. when I was setting up for a band at our shop recently, I accidently used a guitar/instrument cable for a speaker cable to the monitor infront of the singer..luckily, the singer noticed it, so I switched it for a regular seaker cable...i was in a big time hurry trying to get everything setup, and about dropped the ball on that one..
anyway, the speaker cables I ordered should be here tomaro, and if they are quite like the speaker cables I have on hand, and tried out the other day are..I`ll probley just call it good for now..

thanks again for the reply/s....

I`ll report back after I try out the new speaker cables....
 
It's possible to harm an amp or at least send it into protect mode using line cables on the speaker outputs.

For longer runs you'll want to go with balanced connection for the better noise rejection.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
It's possible to harm an amp or at least send it into protect mode using line cables on the speaker outputs.

.
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which is what I told him.

Lt. Bob said:
you shouldn't use guitar cords for speakers as they can overheat ....melt the interior insulation resulting in a direct short plus the center conductor isn't large enough to carry hundreds of watts.
Click to expand...
 
well i got my "speaker" cables the other day, hooked them up, and so far so good, no noticeable noise....
that said, years ago, i was in a pinch (as usuall)...and i used a couple cheap guitar cords for speaker cords on my TOA powered mixer board, and did notice the comp light, and eventually the "protect" light come on..the thing shut down down briefly after cranking it for a minute..it was okay at lower volumes, but not when bieng pushed a bit..at the time i thought it was on the verge of quiting, however, i now know that the guitar cables bieng used as speaker cables was more likely the issue...
anyway, it`s never really been an issue for me using the wrong cords, except for a few odd ball times, i usually have always simply had guitar cords for my guitar & bass, and speaker cords for my PA`s, but over the years, i have mixed in a guitar cord in a pinch....which i will NOT be doing again...
here`s a pic of my old TOA, which i still have....
p5230052i.webp
p5230053.webp
 
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