Rumble NCD and a connection related question

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hi folks, just picked up a matching 1x15 to go with my rumble combo. The guy I bought it from said that I should use a jack to speakon lead to connect them up.
the combo only has a jack out and the cab has either a jack or speakon connection. I've been trying it out with just an ordinary jack to jack speaker cable and all seems fine. I can't find any info out there about this specific jack to speakon connection but there is mention of a live wire connection between combo & cab.
should I be cautious here? I don't really understand this live wire connection thing. It's sounding very nice but I don't want to blow anything up!
https://i.imgur.com/lSWSokf.jpg
The Swamp City Shakers
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Comments

  • As long as you have a proper speaker cable, the connections don't matter hugely. I prefer speakon purely because it is a locking system and so there's less risk of accidental disconnection, but tbh it's really a minimal concern.
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  • martmart Frets: 5205
    edited January 2018
    Yes, it doesn’t have to be a jack-to-speakon cable, but it should be a proper speaker cable.

    You can get away with using a normal guitar cable at low volumes (home practice level), but it’s risky as the volume goes up.
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  • mart said:
    Yes, it doesn’t have to be a jack-to-speakon cable, but it should be a proper speaker cable.

    You can get away with using a normal guitar cable at low volumes, but it’s risky as the volume goes up.
    Never ever ever use a guitar cable, even more so with a bass amp. The output power is far too high.

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  • martmart Frets: 5205
    mart said:
    Yes, it doesn’t have to be a jack-to-speakon cable, but it should be a proper speaker cable.

    You can get away with using a normal guitar cable at low volumes, but it’s risky as the volume goes up.
    Never ever ever use a guitar cable, even more so with a bass amp. The output power is far too high.

    Not when the amp is on 1 it’s not. Sure, it’s safer to always use a speaker cable, but at home practice volumes an instrument cable will cope. 

    But I’ll go back and edit my post to clarify what I mean by “low volumes”.
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  • Cheers fellas. I am using proper speaker cable so no worries there. I've ordered a speakon to jack anyway just to be sure.
    The Swamp City Shakers
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71950
    Don't bother with a Speakon to jack. If the cable has a 1/4" plug on one end then by definition a 1/4" on the other end is fine, unless either the amp or cab only has Speakons. It's actually more important just to use decent 1/4" plugs, really - I would use only Neutriks for speaker cables.

    The only real reasons to use Speakons are if the current is too high for 1/4" connectors (in theory anything over 6A*, but in practice many companies get away with more) or if you're worried about the plug coming out. Or just to distinguish it from an instrument cable, but a speaker cable should be short and fat anyway, so fairly easy to tell apart.

    There is no "live wire connection" between the amp and the cab.

    (*6A is equivalent to 288W into an 8-ohm load, or 144W into 4 ohms - continuous or average power, so if it's a musical signal you can get away with at least double that.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • mart said:
    mart said:
    Yes, it doesn’t have to be a jack-to-speakon cable, but it should be a proper speaker cable.

    You can get away with using a normal guitar cable at low volumes, but it’s risky as the volume goes up.
    Never ever ever use a guitar cable, even more so with a bass amp. The output power is far too high.

    Not when the amp is on 1 it’s not. Sure, it’s safer to always use a speaker cable, but at home practice volumes an instrument cable will cope. 

    But I’ll go back and edit my post to clarify what I mean by “low volumes”.
    The problem is; "low volumes" from a 500W bass amp on 1-2 is still significantly higher current than a 30W guitar amp on 1-2, and guitar cables are outright not designed to handle that type of application.
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  • martmart Frets: 5205
    MattBanshee said:
    ...
    The problem is; "low volumes" from a 500W bass amp on 1-2 is still significantly higher current than a 30W guitar amp on 1-2, and guitar cables are outright not designed to handle that type of application.
    And the problem with dogmatically saying you can never ever ever use a guitar cable is when you face someone who has just been using a guitar cable with a bass amp turned up at gig volume for the last three hours without problem. They take away the lesson that what you’re saying doesn’t match reality, so they ignore you and continue to use a guitar cable. 
    (I’m speaking from direct experience - this happened to me last weekend. In fact I’ve just bought a new speaker cable to give to that guy to try to ensure he stops using a guitar cable).

    Please go back and read my first post, the one that says “it should be a proper speaker cable” and realise that we both entirely agree on what is best practice.
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