Strait from the techs mouth the truth about inst. cable

[Loren Littlejohn]

So like I said I called both Voodoo amps and FJA mods about the whole "safe or not safe to use instroment cable between head and cab".

Here were both there answers:

Voodoo (I talked to trace himself)- Well there really isn't a good reason to do it, your gonna get all kinds of wierd phasy issues. Although I have not seen it personally do damage to an amp that doesn't mean it isn't true because I have seen heads come in with the power tubes fried and the OT toasted and the customer had said that, that was what they were doing. I would just use speaker cable, it's gonna sound better and your airing on the safe side.

FJA mods (talked to Jerry)- NO! No it's definitly not a good idea to use instroment cable, you could fry your head. <I ask why> <he says> Because instroment cable is a lesser gauge and there is actually alot of current flowing from head to cab and there is a possibility of frying the cable...<at this point I chime in with "and not having a load on the head yada yada>. He said it's not worth the risk plus it sounds like shit use speaker cable.

So right after these calls I call up the other guy in the band and tell him "buy a speaker cable I just talked to both FJA and voodoo and..." well you get the rest.

 

[Radd]

Thanks for sharing this and confirming what everyone has already said about this. I can't believe I never knew about it. I am very curious to hear the difference. I just can't believe that it will sound that much better.
I'll find out soon enough.

 

[Kevin Kitchel]

I fail to see how using high gauge cable would cause phasing problems that you would notice at speaker level. I do see how even the thickest instrument cable could freakin' melt and be a serious fire hazard.

 

[Radd]

I believe he was saying that the lower guage (instrument cable) will cause phasing issues.

 

[KeithRT99]

im pretty sure lower gauge = thicker wire, which is what w're supposed to use for amp to speaker connections.

 

[Radd]

<he says> Because instroment cable is a lesser gauge and there is actually alot of current flowing from head to cab and there is a possibility of frying the cable...


I don't know.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I think he meant thinner. I dunno this isn't ver batim because I didn't type it as he was telling me. I always thought inst. and speaker cable weren't that far apart as far as thickness went. It's aparently the shielding that fucks you over I guess, and well the phase thing I don't really hear a out of phase sound but something certainly is lacking if you use it.

 

[Kevin Kitchel]

Lower gauge = thicker, not thinner. I still fail to see how electrons traveling down the surface of a braided wire causes phasing issues. What speed do electrons travel at when running through copper at room temp? Close to, and for all intent, the speed of light. So if you took the shortest distance that a single electron will travel, vs. the longest (which could be thousands of times farther) at the speed of light over a few feet...you get...no discernable difference even at 100 KHz. This is more of a safety issue than a sound quality one.

 

[MetalWorks]

Still the biggest concern is the amount of power coming through the speaker cable that could cause the instrument cable to short out.

Having a shorted cable means no speaker load.

No Speaker load with a tube head on could damage it if not caught in time.

I would think that anyone who tried to use an instrument cable for a speaker or speaker cable for an instrument would have noticed some noise issues from the start anyways.

To me the concept of using cables in this manner is just as far out there as using a Marshall JCM800 Half Stack for a bass.

 

[NickL]

Still the biggest concern is the amount of power coming through the speaker cable that could cause the instrument cable to short out.

Having a shorted cable means no speaker load.

No Speaker load with a tube head on could damage it if not caught in time.

I would think that anyone who tried to use an instrument cable for a speaker or speaker cable for an instrument would have noticed some noise issues from the start anyways.

To me the concept of using cables in this manner is just as far out there as using a Marshall JCM800 Half Stack for a bass.

No no, using a JCM for a bass is ignorance. Using an instrument cable on a cab is just plain lazy or cheap.

 

[Ben Johnson]

Lower gauge = thicker, not thinner. I still fail to see how electrons traveling down the surface of a braided wire causes phasing issues. What speed do electrons travel at when running through copper at room temp? Close to, and for all intent, the speed of light. So if you took the shortest distance that a single electron will travel, vs. the longest (which could be thousands of times farther) at the speed of light over a few feet...you get...no discernable difference even at 100 KHz. This is more of a safety issue than a sound quality one.

Actually, the speed of signal through cable is about 2/3 the speed of light, not that it has anything to do with disputing your argument.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(speed)

 

[2012]

Use speaker cable when connecting to speakers, and instrument cable when connecting to instruments. Speaker cables carry a low impedance signal (amp > cab) at high voltage. Instrument cables carry a high impedance signal (guitar > amp) at almost no voltage. The cables are constructed differently. Also, the lower the gauge, the thicker the cable, not the other way around. 8 gauge is a good size speaker cable while still being flexible.

If you can't hear a difference between speaker cable and instrument cable, you've been standing in front of your amp too long. It makes a big difference. Try using a speaker cable to connect your instrument! I can't believe people will spend hundreds, thousands of dollars on their rig and use a guitar cable to connect their cab! All you need is a few feet to go from your amp to your cab.

 

[Kevin Kitchel]

Still the biggest concern is the amount of power coming through the speaker cable that could cause the instrument cable to short out.

Having a shorted cable means no speaker load.

No Speaker load with a tube head on could damage it if not caught in time.

I would think that anyone who tried to use an instrument cable for a speaker or speaker cable for an instrument would have noticed some noise issues from the start anyways.

To me the concept of using cables in this manner is just as far out there as using a Marshall JCM800 Half Stack for a bass.

A shorted cable means worse things than just no load!!

 

[Kevin Kitchel]

Actually, the speed of signal through cable is about 2/3 the speed of light, not that it has anything to do with disputing your argument.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(speed)

Thanks for the info! 200,000,000 m/s vs. 299,792,458 m/s across 5 m? Hmmm. I also looked into this a little further since I posted, and while there is some hard science to expensive cables, it has all to do with interference (between the outside world and the cable, and between leads).

 

[everybody's x]

FYI,
a jcm800 half stack for bass fuckin rules
try it

just sayin

 

[everybody's x]

*edit* for recording bass that is

 

[dreamcatcher]

I think he meant thinner. I dunno this isn't ver batim because I didn't type it as he was telling me. I always thought inst. and speaker cable weren't that far apart as far as thickness went. It's aparently the shielding that fucks you over I guess, and well the phase thing I don't really hear a out of phase sound but something certainly is lacking if you use it.

Yeah, cuz instrument cables may be as thick in gauge, but there is only 1 wire to them. So if you use it as a speaker cable, the power is running through the 1 wire and the shielding.

Speaker cables have two wires.

 

[Kevin Kitchel]

Yeah, cuz instrument cables may be as thick in gauge, but there is only 1 wire to them. So if you use it as a speaker cable, the power is running through the 1 wire and the shielding.

Speaker cables have two wires.

What?

 

[Noumenon]

What?

He means that instrument cables has just one core and a shield.
Speaker cable has two cores, but no shield.