Tube amp Cable?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ecktronic
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Roguetitan said:
Urm...Cough... Is this power cord you speak of shielded?:confused:

I think I would be pretty safe to say it is not
which if that be the case it would not make for very good speaker cable.
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ummmmm ..... the fact that it's not shielded is what makes it perfect for a speaker cable.
 
i've got some jacks and speaker cable, I need to get on that.
 
You know, I've never really HEARD the difference, but in theory, there are good reasons to use certain cables for things. It is very true that the larger the gauge (smaller numbers) the better the cable is. And this is why: the voltage has less resistance to travel through....think of it as a water hose...if you have a skinny water hose, then the higher you turn on the water, the more pressure is going to build up in the hose, and potentially bust it, with disasterous results...but if you have a thicker, wider hose, then it can handle more water pressure. Now, this is the part where the theory looks great on paper, but I haven't actually heard a difference in this yet. If you use a shorter cable, then the voltage has less distance to travel, so you don't have a potentially degraded signal. I have tried this on several occasions, using a 20 foot cord compared to a 3 foot cord, and I heard no difference...maybe my ears were off....but the theory is correct on paper. It should be the same for anything you use cords to connect, such as your guitar to your amp...and there, the theory would be that wireless would provide the best signal, since you have virtually no cord at all for the voltage to travel through....but if you use a 6 foot cord to play your guitar through your amp, you should, in theory, get a better sound than using a 20 foot cord...so there's something to think about and discuss...just thought I would throw that out there. :)
 
you should, in theory, get a better sound

The difference between theory and practice is that, in theory,there is no difference.

The difficulty with wireless is that there are so many things that can interfere with propagation, add noise,and so on.

The local community theater group decided to install overhead mics for the musicals, and the guy in charge was dying to use wireless. I pointed out that the theater is alongside the major highway through here, and, that whatever other shortcomings cabled mics have, they don't pick up CB traffic.
 
Max_Kincaide said:
You know, I've never really HEARD the difference, but in theory, there are good reasons to use certain cables for things. It is very true that the larger the gauge (smaller numbers) the better the cable is. And this is why: the voltage has less resistance to travel through....think of it as a water hose...if you have a skinny water hose, then the higher you turn on the water, the more pressure is going to build up in the hose, and potentially bust it, with disasterous results...but if you have a thicker, wider hose, then it can handle more water pressure. Now, this is the part where the theory looks great on paper, but I haven't actually heard a difference in this yet. If you use a shorter cable, then the voltage has less distance to travel, so you don't have a potentially degraded signal. I have tried this on several occasions, using a 20 foot cord compared to a 3 foot cord, and I heard no difference...maybe my ears were off....but the theory is correct on paper. It should be the same for anything you use cords to connect, such as your guitar to your amp...and there, the theory would be that wireless would provide the best signal, since you have virtually no cord at all for the voltage to travel through....but if you use a 6 foot cord to play your guitar through your amp, you should, in theory, get a better sound than using a 20 foot cord...so there's something to think about and discuss...just thought I would throw that out there. :)
Click to expand...

It's all about the Point of Diminishing Returns. Yes, what you say is correct as far as it goes, but lowering resistance and capacitance only helps up to a point. Using your water hose analogy, with a 50 foot hose in your yard you'll see a definite increase in the water delivering capability of a 3/4" hose over a 1/2" hose, but you wouldn't see any diff between a 5 inch hose and a 4 inch hose, even if you made it a lot shorter, because at some point your spigot is delivering all the water it can and going to a thicker (or shorter) hose doesn't buy you anything. It's the same with electrical wiring; if you make a change in a guitar cable that raises the top frequency that it will pass from 100KHz to 1 MHz (a 10X "improvement" in bandwidth), who cares? The top of the audio range is down around 20KHz.
 
Roguetitan said:
Derr I feel stupid now:rolleyes:
I was reading a thread about Mic cables and totally forgot where I was posting. I don't know how I got speaker cables mixed up with Mic cables,
I am getting scatterbrained :eek:
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Well ..... it does say you're a geezer in your title!

:D:D
 
Differences in length at those distances (under 50', anyway) can't make any perceived change in the sound.

I have talked to people who swear they hear differences in cables, but I'm a dyed in the wool skeptic. The frequencies that are affected are 'way out of hearing range for humans.

FWIW, I actually own a Monster "bass" cable. Very nicely made, perfect shielding, translucent pink sheathing, gold plated ends...

...and it sounds **exactly** like the cables that I solder up out of Radio Shack parts.

How could it possibly be otherwise? It's the world's simplest circuit. As long as the core wire and the shield are conductive and properly connected, it's gonna work the same way every time. If it DIDN'T, then we would have a curious situation indeed, in which well-established physical and electronic principles were violated.
 
lpdeluxe said:
Differences in length at those distances (under 50', anyway) can't make any perceived change in the sound.

I have talked to people who swear they hear differences in cables, but I'm a dyed in the wool skeptic. The frequencies that are affected are 'way out of hearing range for humans.

FWIW, I actually own a Monster "bass" cable. Very nicely made, perfect shielding, translucent pink sheathing, gold plated ends...

...and it sounds **exactly** like the cables that I solder up out of Radio Shack parts.

How could it possibly be otherwise? It's the world's simplest circuit. As long as the core wire and the shield are conductive and properly connected, it's gonna work the same way every time. If it DIDN'T, then we would have a curious situation indeed, in which well-established physical and electronic principles were violated.
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I agree with you to an extent.
however any unbalanced instrument cable over 20 feet, lets say a 35 footer V 20 footer the signal is definately weaker and you can hear an audiable difference, at least I can especially something like a bass which has a lower Frequency, you can really hear a difference if you are playing a 5 string open low B .

Now, lets say a 20 foot Botique Evidence audio cable Verses 20 foot 9.95 Musicians friend cable I can hear no audiable difference.
I usually run a 10 foot unbalanced cable into a DI to convert it over to LowZ cable.


the thing about long runs of speaker cables is the longer the run the better the chances of line interfearance noises occuring caused from sharing the power source with another piece of equipment and also the longer the run the weaker the signal will be once it reaches the driver.
however you are right you will not hear any difference between a 3 foot speaker cable and a 20 footer but the 3 footer is much more managable.
 
lpdeluxe said:
I have talked to people who swear they hear differences in cables, but I'm a dyed in the wool skeptic. The frequencies that are affected are 'way out of hearing range for humans.

FWIW, I actually own a Monster "bass" cable. Very nicely made, perfect shielding, translucent pink sheathing, gold plated ends...

...and it sounds **exactly** like the cables that I solder up out of Radio Shack parts.

How could it possibly be otherwise? It's the world's simplest circuit. As long as the core wire and the shield are conductive and properly connected, it's gonna work the same way every time. If it DIDN'T, then we would have a curious situation indeed, in which well-established physical and electronic principles were violated.
Click to expand...

Well I am in agreement with you, however, I recently ran across 2 guitar cables really adding a different tone. I can't explain it other than someone posted earlier about "cheap" plugs....but I have 2 cables that are noticably different, but yet they both work and ohm the same.

I'm not trying to "Sell" anything....and it very well could be a poor connector or solder joint (going thru the solder instead of a good wire to connector contact). But thats about all I can think of?

As you said a cable is about the simplest circuit there is.

I've done the Monster speaker cable and Lamp wire-speaker cable on HiFi and never heard a difference either. But I think some want or even NEED the "name" to make them feel they have the best, whatever floats your boat.
I doubt most people or pro's could tell the difference in sound of a Gibson opr Epiphone either if both are well matched PUP's...windings, magnets, etc... I mean the name printed on the box has nothing to do with sound.

So I'm in agreement save your money to spend on other gear!:D
 
Max_Kincaide said:
You know, I've never really HEARD the difference, but in theory, there are good reasons to use certain cables for things. It is very true that the larger the gauge (smaller numbers) the better the cable is. And this is why: the voltage has less resistance to travel through....think of it as a water hose...if you have a skinny water hose, then the higher you turn on the water, the more pressure is going to build up in the hose, and potentially bust it, with disasterous results...but if you have a thicker, wider hose, then it can handle more water pressure. Now, this is the part where the theory looks great on paper, but I haven't actually heard a difference in this yet. If you use a shorter cable, then the voltage has less distance to travel, so you don't have a potentially degraded signal. I have tried this on several occasions, using a 20 foot cord compared to a 3 foot cord, and I heard no difference...maybe my ears were off....but the theory is correct on paper. It should be the same for anything you use cords to connect, such as your guitar to your amp...and there, the theory would be that wireless would provide the best signal, since you have virtually no cord at all for the voltage to travel through....but if you use a 6 foot cord to play your guitar through your amp, you should, in theory, get a better sound than using a 20 foot cord...so there's something to think about and discuss...just thought I would throw that out there. :)
Click to expand...

Read some more, and come back later.:) Signals don't degrade merely from passing through cable, you can make a telephone call to China on 12,000 miles of cable and hear just fine.

There is something else going on. Hint: resistance affects current, not voltage.
 
Max_Kincaide said:
You know, I've never really HEARD the difference, but in theory, there are good reasons to use certain cables for things. It is very true that the larger the gauge (smaller numbers) the better the cable is. And this is why: the voltage has less resistance to travel through....think of it as a water hose...if you have a skinny water hose, then the higher you turn on the water, the more pressure is going to build up in the hose, and potentially bust it, with disasterous results...but if you have a thicker, wider hose, then it can handle more water pressure. Now, this is the part where the theory looks great on paper, but I haven't actually heard a difference in this yet. If you use a shorter cable, then the voltage has less distance to travel, so you don't have a potentially degraded signal. I have tried this on several occasions, using a 20 foot cord compared to a 3 foot cord, and I heard no difference...maybe my ears were off....but the theory is correct on paper. It should be the same for anything you use cords to connect, such as your guitar to your amp...and there, the theory would be that wireless would provide the best signal, since you have virtually no cord at all for the voltage to travel through....but if you use a 6 foot cord to play your guitar through your amp, you should, in theory, get a better sound than using a 20 foot cord...so there's something to think about and discuss...just thought I would throw that out there. :)
Click to expand...

With a connection between speakers and an amplifier, it's not so much a question of sound quality as it is safety. As said, you run the risk of cable failure when it is not ideal for carrying the voltage. It is most often an issue with tube amps, as running a high current through the output transformer with no load can fry the thing.
 
boingoman said:
There is something else going on. Hint: resistance affects current, not voltage.
Click to expand...

Voltage, current, and resistance are all inseparably interdependent and linked by Ohm's Law: V=IR. Whether resistance affects voltage or current is situational, but strictly speaking, the current into a wire is the same as the current out of a wire. Of course, since we are dealing with an AC signal, reactive impedances (capacitance and inductance) can come into play as well. It can get pretty complex; it's not as simple as "resistance affects current, not voltage". You could say that impedance affects current if the voltage is held constant, but in a situation where you have a constant voltage source driving an input impedance over a wire, and the impedance of the wire is small compared to the output impedance of the driver and the input impedance of the driven circuit, comparatively large changes in the impedance of the wire will not appreciably affect the current in the circuit.
 
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