Instrument cable as speaker cable...

Zaxist · Jul 27, 2012

Hey I have a question,

Ive been using instrument cable with my Mesa Boogie Mkiv to plug it into my Randall 4x12.
Ive just found out that this is not right, and I now know all the problems with what Ive been doing and I'm now using speaker cable.

My question is: Even though my amp has not blown up, could this have caused long term issues to my tone regardless of what cables I now use?

Boogiebabies · Jul 27, 2012

Most likely, no long term damage but **** that's dangerous.
That guitar cable was probably very hot and the tone must have been terrible.

To make sure I never do this, I use speaker wire that's thicker than a car battery cable. :mrgreen:

Whoopysnorp · Jul 27, 2012

The reason it's dangerous to use instrument cable to connect an amplifier to a speaker is that instrument cable uses much too light a gauge to properly handle the amount of juice coming from the amp. Instruments put out a teeny-tiny signal, compared to your amp's big fat signal. If the signal gets so hot that the cable's integrity fails, it'll melt the insulation between the two conductors, which will cause a short circuit and make bad things happen to your amp immediately. If you never experienced a catastrophic failure, your amp should be safe. But don't do it again, obviously.

Zaxist · Jul 27, 2012

Yeah thanks guys.

McBarry · Jul 27, 2012

The spkr cable connects back to the output tranny, although in a Mk 4 there's probably additional items - haven't been inside one nor perused a schematic...
Thus, the O/T will bear the brunt of a cable failure and the sequelae could range from very little to an overheated O/T and failure. I'm with BB that if the amp seems OK thus far, it may well remain that way..

More important though is you've had the presence of mind to question it and also learned some good info along the way which can only enhance you relationship with your rig.
Bravo!

topalchohol · Jul 30, 2012

Back when I fist started playing guitar I bought my 1st 1/2 stack, the dreaded Blue doodoo 120. The noob whom sold it to me gave me a short guitar cable in place of a speaker cable. I didn't know any better until the output tranny took a dump, just out of the 1 year warranty period. $200 and a new correct speaker cable later, I learned 2 valuable lessons. 1. Always, always make sure to use a speaker cable to connect cabinet to amp. 2. Blue Doodoo's are garbage, and I had to find out who made that amp that made the bone crushing crunch that pounded my chest at my 1st Metallica concert. Now you know the rest of the story.

If your amp sounds O.K. I wouldn't sweat it. Boogies are built like tanks and they are the only amp you can plug into at a Guitar Center and know that even there, the true place of noobery amp punishment, will work when you flip it off standby, (if you didn't get a bad guitar cable from the sales rep to plug int the front). :lol: :lol: