Speakon Q

[Spencer]

I went to guitar center today picked up my new ash p bass mim wich I love the feel and tone more than my j bass. Anyway I go to buy a speakon connection since it was right infront of me and said 14 gauge. wich I need. So they tell me its only for ampeg since thats who made it. They asked what head I had and gave me a free cable. Problem is I plug it into the back of my 400rb head and I heard this high pitch noise [its not pluged into the cab]. Is there diffrent types of speakon cords? Wich do I need? Does my head work with speakon? btw I have a avatar cab. One more thing whats better about speakon than regular 1/4"

[Mr. Pickle]

wow, umm...

As far as i know speakon cables are universal. Your head will work with speakon if it can hook to a speakon cable :rolleyes: Speakon cables can all differ in quality depending on who produces it, much like guitar cables or pretty much any type of cable for that matter. Speakon cables are much more heavy duty that a 1/4" cable and speakon is more efficient in my eyes. Speakon also snaps in and locks so you dont have to worry about it falling out or accidentally pulling it out or w/e.

basically:
speakon > 1/4" IMO. speakons are better quality, but with better quality comes a bigger price tag.

[Psychopsilocybin]

I don't think GK 400rb's have speakon outputs, but Avatar cabs do have speakon inputs. Your going to have to use 1/4 cables, which aren't that bad

[edgebass5]

All speakon cables are not the same, and they are definitely not universal. Gallien-Krueger products require a special type of speakon cable. Email GK about it and see what cable you're going to need.

[epsilon42]

i'm pretty sure speakon is universal - it's a standard. i use a GK speakon cable on my Ampeg stack - works fine.

as far as i know there are a couple of different speakon cables available:
one pair (2 conductor cable)
two pair (4 conductor cable)

i'm unsure as to what the difference is between the two, i'm guessing two pair can handle higher power or something? someone mentioned you'd probably use a two pair cable to connect more than one cab to an amp.

where's the buzzing coming from when you plug your speakon in? did you say that you didn't plug it into your cab?

advantages of speakon over normal cables are that they're just a hell of a lot more chunkier, the connection locks in. they're designed to handle more power.

[Spencer]

I forgot to metion it was a 1/4 to speakon . The noise seemed to be comeing from the head unless it was somehow affecting the cab without being pluged in. Also it started to get hot. It is old but it should work I mean how would it know the diffrnce.

Also I pluged the speakon from the head to cab and a 1/4 from the head to cab and it made a really distored sound when I played. One more thing it only makes that high pitch noise when im not playing. If I plug a string the high pitch noise goes away but still no real sound.