I feel silly now...

Yes, the powered kabinets are awesome--but I can top your silliness! I used a black instrument cable on mine instead of a speaker cable for longer than I care to admit. When I finally popped in a speaker cable it was so much better.

Quote from Eldointheweeds

Yes, the powered kabinets are awesome--but I can top your silliness! I used a black instrument cable on mine instead of a speaker cable for longer than I care to admit. When I finally popped in a speaker cable it was so much better.

No need to use a speaker cable for a powered Kabinet, instrument cable is the correct one. Unless you have a Powered Kemper and a Passive Kabinet

Quote from Kellerblues

No need to use a speaker cable for a powered Kabinet, instrument cable is the correct one. Unless you have a Powered Kemper and a Passive Kabinet

Shouldn't it be a balanced cable?

Quote from tomoinn

...just taken delivery of a powered kabinet and spent a couple of hours playing it, and I feel pretty dumb for not buying one as soon as they came out. Fantastic piece of kit. I know this is a pretty low information post but hey, if you're on the fence about it just get one, your life will be better

I am glad it is working out for you.

What were you playing through before?

Quote from Kellerblues

No need to use a speaker cable for a powered Kabinet, instrument cable is the correct one. Unless you have a Powered Kemper and a Passive Kabinet

I have a stage and a powered kabinet. It sounded muddy with the instrument cable and with a speaker cable sounds clear and rich. Bad cable maybe? I suppose I could test that easily enough. I just checked the manual and it shows a speaker cable should be used with an unpowered Kab. Don't see what to use with powered kab.

Quote from Eldointheweeds

I have a stage and a powered kabinet. It sounded muddy with the instrument cable and with a speaker cable sounds clear and rich. Bad cable maybe? I suppose I could test that easily enough. I just checked the manual and it shows a speaker cable should be used with an unpowered Kab. Don't see what to use with powered kab.

Oops now I see the problem---I was plugged into the main out on my stage and not the monitor out! I will test with an instrument cable.

update--that was it--needed to use "mon out" and not "main out." amazing what you learn when you read the manual

Quote from Michael_dk

Shouldn't it be a balanced cable?

Monitor out is not balanced

Quote from Kellerblues

Monitor out is not balanced

If I had thought for a second I might have realized that - thank you for the correction

Quote from Eldointheweeds

Oops now I see the problem---I was plugged into the main out on my stage and not the monitor out! I will test with an instrument cable.

update--that was it--needed to use "mon out" and not "main out." amazing what you learn when you read the manual

I see you've already corrected the issue, but just for future reference; speaker cables are meant to occur after the amplification stage and therefore are not shielded, so even though they will carry an audible signal in this situation, they will not prevent interference the way an inst cable will.

Quote from dfdfan

I see you've already corrected the issue, but just for future reference; speaker cables are meant to occur after the amplification stage and therefore are not shielded, so even though they will carry an audible signal in this situation, they will not prevent interference the way an inst cable will.

...and more importantly, speaker cables are designed to support greater loads so also should not be used in reverse i.e. instrument cable to run between a power amp and speaker...

My day job is the computer world where cables come in different sizes for different purposes--USB vs Audio vs ethernet vs video for example. Would be nice if instrument, speaker, and stereo cables were not all 1/4". Fat chance that gets changed soon. Maybe color coding of the ports and the cable ends?

Well, the industry's relied on peeps' awareness of:

Whether or not they're connecting an amp to a speaker.

Whether or not a 1/4" jack has 3 metal rings (stereo) or two (mono).

Also, it's a bonus that stereo / balanced and mono / unbalanced are interchangeable in "emergencies".

Quote from Monkey_Man

Well, the industry's relied on peeps' awareness of:

Whether or not they're connecting an amp to a speaker.

Whether or not a 1/4" jack has 3 metal rings (stereo) or two (mono).

Also, it's a bonus that stereo / balanced and mono / unbalanced are interchangeable in "emergencies".

I am connecting my Stage to a powered Kabinet--a speaker so I use a speaker cable, right? Nope, manual says instrument cable. Fun times.

Quote from Eldointheweeds

I am connected my Stage to a powered Kabinet--a speaker so I use a speaker cable, right? Nope, manual says instrument cable. Fun times.

You might want to think of it this way: The Stage is a pre-amp which sends out a line level signal. The input of the Power Kab is an input to a power amp. So connect them with a cable designed for line level - eg an instrument cable - as you would between any pre and power amp.

Quote from Eldointheweeds

I am connected my Stage to a powered Kabinet--a speaker so I use a speaker cable, right? Nope, manual says instrument cable. Fun times.

A speaker cable is to connect an amp to a speaker.

The stage isn't an amp, the amp is in the powered Kabinet, so its fairly straight forward but agree that the industry standards aren't great.

The stage, just like the unpowered Rack or toaster or any other modeller ( Helix, tonex etc.) never need a speaker cable as they don't have a power amp built in.

Quote from Eldointheweeds

I am connecting my Stage to a powered Kabinet--a speaker so I use a speaker cable, right? Nope, manual says instrument cable. Fun times.

Couldn't be simpler really Eldo; I stand by what I said earlier:

Quote from Monkey_Man

Well, the industry's relied on peeps' awareness of:

Whether or not they're connecting an amp to a speaker.

....