Hey guys do you if long speaker cable runs affect the sound/tone coming from the amp, maybe about 10-15 metres in length??? Cheers
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Long speaker cables??
- Thread starter krokit
- Start date
not really
speaker cables have enough power in them that they don't suffer from much signal loss or pick up much interference over long runs, which is why they're unshielded cables
speaker cables have enough power in them that they don't suffer from much signal loss or pick up much interference over long runs, which is why they're unshielded cables
ahjteam
Anssi Tenhunen
Depends on the cable, but at least it creates a small delay (talking about milliseconds, nothing huge). Try and you will find out.
I regularly run a 40 ft. speaker cable from my head to cab, and I couldn't tell any difference when directly A/B'ing it to my 5 ft. Planet Waves - go for it, it makes life so much easier!
yea...you're much better off running a long speaker cable from the head to the cab than you are making a long run from the guitar to the head
-Noodles-
3 Initals Mixer
- Dec 20, 2007
- 1,166
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LSD-Studio
HCAF crusher
nope...no delay,,,at least not in the range of miliseconds (speed of light).
actually...just by putting the mic 0.5cm further away from the speaker you'll get a bigger delay.
anyway, long speakercables are fine (assuming they're of good quality)...I'm running 14meters from the heads in the controlroom to the booth with the cabs in it
SuperD
Level IV idiot
- Oct 7, 2007
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Hmmm...I'm certainly no expert (hey, wheres Jeff when we need him!!) but I don't think delay is functionally possible.
Speaker cable (16 gauge lamp/zip cord is fine as speaker cord) carries electrical impulses at the speed of light when current is sent through it...300,000,000 metres per second. However, capacitance, resistance and impedence effects bring the top speed of the current down to about 100,000,000 metres per second...so the math says a speaker cable would have to be about 100,000 metres long to create a single millisecond of delay.
Tone is subjective. Does the composition of the speaker cable itself affect tone in any way? Does a 12 gauge speaker cable more accurately convey 'tone' to the speaker? Does the composition of the speaker magnet itself affect in any way 'tone'?
My personal, subjective opinion is no, of course not.
Long instrument cable runs and tolex colour are, as we all know, another matter entirely.
Speaker cable (16 gauge lamp/zip cord is fine as speaker cord) carries electrical impulses at the speed of light when current is sent through it...300,000,000 metres per second. However, capacitance, resistance and impedence effects bring the top speed of the current down to about 100,000,000 metres per second...so the math says a speaker cable would have to be about 100,000 metres long to create a single millisecond of delay.
Tone is subjective. Does the composition of the speaker cable itself affect tone in any way? Does a 12 gauge speaker cable more accurately convey 'tone' to the speaker? Does the composition of the speaker magnet itself affect in any way 'tone'?
My personal, subjective opinion is no, of course not.
Long instrument cable runs and tolex colour are, as we all know, another matter entirely.
fade_2_black
Member
Ohh, this may be a good place to ask this - I prefer to have my heads set up in the control room, with the cab in the live room.. Whats the best way to connect the two? Would I have to make a special connection in my junction box (one that could withstand the higher current?). Presumably I wouldnt be able to stick it through one of the regular thru lines??
TheWinterSnow
Den Mørke Natt
Running long speaker cables is fine because amp outputs are a very low impedance, meaning the signal can go a long way without being affected. Guitar to the amp on the other hand, is an extremely high impedance, therefore long cables will ruin tone.
speaker cable quality will affect the sound, but that's an obvious.
speaker cable quality will affect the sound, but that's an obvious.
fade_2_black
Member
I just run my massive speaker cable under the door seals
Yeah that is what I have been doing, but I would much prefer a more professional approach - more or less to portray a more professional image.. Im in the middle of constructing a new junction box so if theres anything I can do with this let me know!! It will be done hopwfully by next weekend so ill need to sort it out soon
Well really the main thing to keep in mind is that with a speaker cable you ABSOLUTELY MUST have two wires of equal thickness for positive and negative connections - hence why instrument cable doesn't work, cuz the positive is the wire in the center and the negative is just the braided metal jacket surrounding its insulation. You can still run speaker cable in a patchbay, and in fact, since usually patchbays have individual wires from point to point, that probably wouldn't be an issue, but it's just something to be sure about.
my ISO room is 30 foot from my control room, with prob another 30 feet of wire in the walls to it. sounds fine.... ive used up too 200 ft speaker cables and haven't notices anythigng drastic yet... just make sure you use good cables or a line level boost on the cable for anythign really long.....
i forget what manf of booster, i have of it but they really work on really long speaker runs..
i forget what manf of booster, i have of it but they really work on really long speaker runs..
pifos_2
des scoubidoubidous wha !
Executioner213
Ultimate Meatbag
I use 2-20ft speaker cables from my rig (SimulClass 2:90) to two Carvin Legacy cabs. Never noticed a difference.
Funny story: Shane from Martriden asked to borrow a speaker cable when we played with them here. I brought one of those over and he looked at me funny like it was going to fuck something up. I just told him it was the same one I had used and everything had been fine. Worked great for him, his amp sounded fuckin great regardless.
Funny story: Shane from Martriden asked to borrow a speaker cable when we played with them here. I brought one of those over and he looked at me funny like it was going to fuck something up. I just told him it was the same one I had used and everything had been fine. Worked great for him, his amp sounded fuckin great regardless.
jrt12
Member
slightly off topic, but something i'm just running across... is there any reason why 1/4" stereo y insert cables are so hard to find? I mean, i'd think any major distributor (musiciansfriend, music123, zzounds, etc) would carry a bunch of them. but all i can find are the cheaper brands (no planet waves, monster, etc). are these obsolete now?
i'm looking to run cables from the amp head's effects loop to a processor. but the amp outs are single 1/4" cables and the processor has stereo ins and outs. i would think this is common right? or am i missing something here and i should just use a mono cable in and out?
i'm looking to run cables from the amp head's effects loop to a processor. but the amp outs are single 1/4" cables and the processor has stereo ins and outs. i would think this is common right? or am i missing something here and i should just use a mono cable in and out?
Well amps are mono by nature (unless it's a stereo amp, and those are rare), so you only need (and should only use) one input and one output on your FX - usually, plugging into the left input/output is the default for mono, but you may need to adjust something on the processor to make sure it's processing in mono. RTFM time! 
jrt12
Member
ah... so i was missing something. thanks for the clarification Mr. Tastic, you 've been a big help as i'm wading into new ground. if you ever come to LA, i owe ya some drinks!
