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Long(ish) speaker leads


b7l4s
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So, just looking for reassurance here… the issue is that for gigs in tight venues my rig often ends up where I can’t reach it once we’re playing. I don’t go through the PA for these gigs, and I often only use a head and cab(s) i.e. no pedal board or effects etc. but especially if it’s going well we tend to get louder as the gig goes on, or I sometimes want to tweak the EQ to compensate for something mid-set. I am then in the situation where I have to rely on the keyboard player (or in dire circumstances the drummer) to twiddle the knobs, with sometimes less than predictable results...

For these venues I’m happy enough with my class D micro head, so one solution would be to have my cabs in their usual place (on top of the keyboard players combo) and the head discreetly positioned in front of all that keyboard and drum nonsense, so I still have control of my own sound/volume. The question then is how long can the speaker lead be before I get problems? Rightly or wrongly, with something beefier pushing the watts, like my old school TE head, I wouldn’t worry so much about long leads, but with a 200-watt class D working at 80% or more on the volume control it just feels like I’m asking a lot of it already, and doing this means asking even more… is that nonsense?

I’m hoping that decent quality 6 metre speaker cable would look the same to the amp as a 1 metre one… but like I said, just looking for reassurance. I don’t want to provoke the magic smoke.

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You should be fine going with a (much) longer speaker cable.

At the kind of cable lengths you are talking, I can’t see a cable length increase affecting the amp’s ability to drive the speakers. I doubt you’d notice much of difference until you start going to 3 digit cable lengths in metres... 

I don’t think the amp being Class D makes a difference here (other than that the headroom / volume constraints you referred to)

Edited by roman_sub
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I use them with my 'big' speakers, but this small setup doesn't have them at either end... That said, we tend to be quite good at running cables where they won't be a trip hazard, so I would do what I could to make sure I didn't tempt fate. The amp would be side-stage rather than anywhere it could cause a nuisance. We all go wireless for guitars and mics, which helps enourmously with keeping the stage area clear.

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6 hours ago, bertbass said:

Over 50 feet in length and you'll start to hear a drop in volume.

Not so. Use heavy (at least 2.5mm cross section per conductor) cables and you'll be fine. I sometimes use 25 metre cables with my PA speakers (4mm cross section) and they're absolutely fine. Of course, if you use doorbell wire, you may have an issue.

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I have nothing constructive to add by way of technical consideration, but what a genius idea! Have all the twiddly buttons and settable things close by with the cab elsewhere. Of course, if the punter in front of you is a bit carefree with their drink you may lose everything rather than just a couple of pedals.

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Thanks for all the replies everyone - I found a picture that hopefully illustrates the problem I’m trying to fix – I’m in the poncey shirt, and that’s my gear behind the keyboard player… It sits on top of his combo, which I usually like because it’s a bit higher up and projects better than being on the floor.

cable_run.jpg.0eccb3ec0157454047a3c75e702463b9.jpg

In a small stage area like this I reckon 6 metres / 20 feet will be plenty for my needs, so I've ordered a good quality cable safe in the knowledge that I’m not tempting bad things to happen! In a bigger area the problem doesn’t really exist.

Regarding putting the amp in the firing line of enthusiastic beer slingers, I’ve hatched a plan involving using one of the flight cases that comes to every gig as a makeshift stand that will fit neatly under the keyboards (by the wall), so everything should be safe and out of the way (i.e. well behind the front-of-stage line) but still easily reachable. Hopefully problem solved 😊

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