Using a guitar cord as a speaker cord?

George Kimery · Post by **George Kimery** » 17 Mar 2014 5:34 pm

I just acquired an Ampeg bass amp. The rack mount pre-amp/power-amp combo sits on top of the amp. I am using a guitar cord to connect the amp to the speaker. I don't have a short speaker cord. Am I OK, or should I make up a short speaker cord? I hate to use the long speaker cords that I have to only go a couple of feet.

Thanks.

Craig Baker · Post by **Craig Baker** » 17 Mar 2014 6:03 pm

Hello George,
Depending on the power, and depending on the gauge of the wire, if it's ONLY a foot or two, you might get away with it. Best to make up a cord that you know will handle the current drawn by the speaker. (a short piece of lamp cord should do the trick.) Otherwise, the resistance of the wire will convert the music into heat. Many people fail to realize that a piece of wire is a solid state device, and you certainly wouldn't want the solid state to become liquid.

Best regards George,
Craig Baker 706-485-8792

cmbakerelectronics@gmail.com

C.M. Baker Electronics
P.O. Box 3965
Eatonton, GA 31024

Bob Lawrence · Post by **Bob Lawrence** » 17 Mar 2014 6:16 pm

re:I hate to use the long speaker cords that I have to only go a couple of feet.

Check your junk boxes or storage for a broken electronic device(i.e an old table lamp or a broken extension cable ) and cut the power cord . Snip the ends and use that.

Keith Hilton · Post by **Keith Hilton** » 17 Mar 2014 6:16 pm

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 17 Mar 2014 6:26 pm

what keith said.

you will be fine till the smoke comes out of the transformer.

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 17 Mar 2014 10:57 pm

Do not let the magic smoke out, it is very expensive to put it back in.

Stephen Cowell · Post by **Stephen Cowell** » 18 Mar 2014 5:11 am

A long speaker cord is better than a short guitar cord, depending on what's in the guitar cord. Cheap cords have very thin conductors and you're asking it to carry lots of current... plus the capacitance of the cord can cause problems. Do it right!

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 18 Mar 2014 5:33 am

Even the most expensive speaker cable known to man will be cheaper than blowing up your amp. The old cliché -- penny wise, pound foolish -- certainly applies here.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 18 Mar 2014 7:02 am

I usually make up my own cords, both instrument and speaker. You can always make a shorter cord from a longer one but it's almost impossible to go the other way!

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 18 Mar 2014 7:53 am

Always use a "speaker" cord.

One of our club members bought a GK MB200 amp and connected it to a speaker using a guitar cord. It didn't work and he couldn't figure out why. Replaced the guitar cord with a speaker cord and it worked properly. The guitar cord checked good.

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 18 Mar 2014 10:16 am

My buddy Neil Zaza blew up a very expensive Wizard Amp by accidentally using an instrument cord. DON"T DO IT! Output transformers can be quite expensive!

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 18 Mar 2014 9:03 pm

What Keith said. What Bill said. What everybody alluded too. Just don't. And Craig may be correct--it could be possible, for a short run, but that would lead to temptation---"I'll use ths 20-footer, Shouldn't hurt anything..."
A guitar cord has one conductor. A speaker cable has two. They aren't interchangeable.

Mike Wheeler · Post by **Mike Wheeler** » 19 Mar 2014 7:29 am

May I humbly correct you, Stephen? A guitar cord has 2 conductors, also. One is the ground/shield, and the other is the small center conductor/signal wire.

The source of the problem, when using a guitar cord for a speaker hookup, is the center conductor. It's a very small gauge wire, and it can melt, due to the heavy current, causing an open circuit (bye bye tube output transformer). Or, it can get so hot that it melts through its insulator and can short to the ground/shield (bye bye solid state amp). Either way there's too much risk involved to ever use a guitar cord for a speaker connection.

George Kimery · Post by **George Kimery** » 19 Mar 2014 8:01 pm

OK, the forum has spoken. I have a coil of some really heavy duty speaker wire,so I will make up a short speaker cord ASAP.

On a related subject, my brother has a Peavy Bass system that has a rack mount pre-amp and a separate, rack mount power amp, then to the speaker. It is clear that he needs a speaker cord from the power amp to the speaker, but how about from the pre-amp to the power amp? Which is preferable, a guitar cord or a speaker cord or does it make no difference.

Thanks.

Stephen Cowell · Post by **Stephen Cowell** » 19 Mar 2014 8:28 pm

Use shielded cords for all but speakers. Sometimes you can use TRS (stereo) 1/4" cords to do balanced signals between pre and main amps... both amps have to support this, though... and they're shielded as well. Ken Metcalfe's Revelation/Stewart rig works like that.

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 20 Mar 2014 1:57 am

I'd use XLR (mic) cables, if possible. But yeah, shielded cables for all signals (Speakers are power, not signal)

George Kimery · Post by **George Kimery** » 20 Mar 2014 5:25 pm

Thanks so much for all the comments. You guys are great. All my questions have been answered, so you can close this down now.

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 22 Mar 2014 10:58 am

Mike Wheeler wrote:May I humbly correct you, Stephen? A guitar cord has 2 conductors, also. One is the ground/shield, and the other is the small center conductor/signal wire.

The source of the problem, when using a guitar cord for a speaker hookup, is the center conductor. It's a very small gauge wire, and it can melt, due to the heavy current, causing an open circuit (bye bye tube output transformer). Or, it can get so hot that it melts through its insulator and can short to the ground/shield (bye bye solid state amp). Either way there's too much risk involved to ever use a guitar cord for a speaker connection.

Thanks for the correction. I don't think the shield acts like a conductor, though. Ever dealt with a ground loop, that'll only go away if the ground (shield) is disconnected at one end? And I wouldn't necessarily blame the center conductor, either. I've seen some(lots) of cables that had only a few strands of wire, ar that foil stuff, as shielding. So I can't say, for sure, that the center conductor is always the one that failed. I think we're saying about the same thing, just worded differently.

Mike Wheeler · Post by **Mike Wheeler** » 22 Mar 2014 11:43 am

Well, my friend, I don't mean to be argumentative, but I have to say that the ground loop analogy you site is the result of having 2 different ground paths that have resulted in a difference voltage between them (which causes the hum). By disconnecting one of them the hum (difference voltage) is eliminated, but you still have a ground (conductor) for the signal through the remaining ground. Every signal path must normally have a ground path of some kind.

Yes, there are other possibilities where a signal cable can cause a problem when it's used as a speaker cable. I didn't intend to mention those. I was just referring to a normal, good quality, signal cable. Those cheap foil shielded cables are junk anyway, and, yes, their shields can cause failure as well.

But back to the OP's question, I think we've both nailed it down to....never use a guitar signal cable in place of a speaker cable. In that, we are in total agreement.

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 22 Mar 2014 12:39 pm

It's easy to make your own short speaker cord out of an old extension cord. Just cut it to the right length and solder 1/4" plugs to it. Speaker cords don't need to be shielded. Any thick 2-conductor wire will do.

Stephen Cowell · Post by **Stephen Cowell** » 22 Mar 2014 7:37 pm

b0b wrote:It's easy to make your own short speaker cord out of an old extension cord. Just cut it to the right length and solder 1/4" plugs to it. Speaker cords don't need to be shielded. Any thick 2-conductor wire will do.

I can't pass a vacuum cleaner left out on the curb without stopping and clipping the cord off of it... appliance wires make the best speaker wire.

Make sure not to reverse the phase... note that most of the twin-lead 120V cords have a plain and a striped conductor, easy to tell apart... use your ohms meter if you're not sure!

Craig Baker · Post by **Craig Baker** » 22 Mar 2014 8:15 pm

Vacuum cleaner cords huh Stephen?

So you're the other guy. I knew I couldn't have been the only one !

Craig

George Kimery · Post by **George Kimery** » 23 Mar 2014 3:21 pm

Will, sometimes you get lucky. I go the Ampeg Bass amp from the estate of a deceased friend. In going through his other boxes of "stuff" I found a 14 gauge speaker cord about 4 ft. long. So this was apparently the cord for the amp, so I didn't even have to make one. I feel so lucky. Now if my luck holds out when I check my lottery ticket tonight...........

Thanks for all the help and you can close this down at any time.

Dennis Detweiler · Post by **Dennis Detweiler** » 24 Mar 2014 3:07 pm

About 40yrs ago, I used a guitar cord for a speaker wire on a Supro amp. The wire arched and caught fire and fried the amp. It would have looked cool if it was a rock band?

Matthew Walton · Post by **Matthew Walton** » 24 Mar 2014 10:50 pm

Stephen Cowell wrote:Use shielded cords for all but speakers.

Am I correct in thinking that you could use shielded cables, as long as it's heavy enough gauge? I know that they're not shielded because the signal is too strong for interference to matter.

The Steel Guitar Forum

Using a guitar cord as a speaker cord?

Using a guitar cord as a speaker cord?

A couple plugs and a chunk of zip cord will work just fine

Using a guitar cord for a speaker cord

Using a guitar cord for a speaker cord?

Using a guitar cord for a speaker cord?