#169427  by wabisabied
 
While swapping speakers in my DRRI, I managed to snap off one of the speaker wire tab connectors. Easy and presumably inexpensive cable to replace, but everywhere I’ve looked online they are out of stock. Kind of weird. Any tips for a good resource?

Other option is to get a new tab from hardware store and just fix it, I guess.
 #169428  by Jon S.
 
Can you post a pic of what you're talking about here? For some reason, I'm not getting it.

On the other hand, yes, speaker wire tab connectors are, of course, available everywhere in huge quantities. Why not just do a 5 minute repair? https://www.amazon.com/speaker-wire-con ... connectors

P.S. I'm digging your SoundCloud tracks.
 #169440  by wabisabied
 
Jon S. wrote: Sat Jan 30, 2021 6:53 am Can you post a pic of what you're talking about here? For some reason, I'm not getting it.

On the other hand, yes, speaker wire tab connectors are, of course, available everywhere in huge quantities. Why not just do a 5 minute repair? https://www.amazon.com/speaker-wire-con ... connectors

P.S. I'm digging your SoundCloud tracks.
Hey Jon, it’s one of these. One of the clips snapped between the crimp to the wire and the speaker terminal connector, an obvious weak point:
https://us.amazon.com/Fender-2-Inch-Rig ... B003AYE8FQ

I don’t have much of an electrician’s kit, so don’t happen to have any replacement connectors on hand. I live in the middle of nowhere so it’s a pain to go shopping, but I’ll swing by Ace when I’m out in the next day or so and get some to have around. I’d feel better about fixing it than replacing it, anyway.

And thanks for digging the tunes! I gotta clean that out freshen it up with some new tracks, soon.
 #169441  by Jon S.
 
This is so frustrating. I thought I'd just mail you some because I'm sure I have those clips somewhere in my house but I just went through the gear cabinets in my music room and the parts drawers in my garage and I simply cannot now find them. But once you get them, it should be an easy fix. Good luck!
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 #169445  by wabisabied
 
Thanks to you both! I think I’ll manage, but glad you have my back. I might just cannibalize the speaker harness from another amp for the time being.

No fun swapping out a speaker and then not being able to hear it. I’m anxious to try the Cannabis Rex in place of the stock C12K, but for now I’m enjoying the CR + Copperback in my TR. I’ll report back my feelings on that in the Copperback thread I started, once I’ve put it through the paces, but so far (2-3 hours of playing) I am pleased.
 #169447  by wabisabied
 
So this is kind of interesting: The stock speaker cable/harness that I broke has two black wires, neither marked pos or neg, but one of the wires has some white type on it with branding and some temperature and voltage specs. The other wires has no markings.

I’ve always assumed that markings like this were meant to indicate positive polarity of the wire they are on, but this wire was connected to the negative speaker terminal, and the unmarked wire has a red dot painted on the clip (that I broke off) and went to the positive terminal.

Obviously someone, somewhere, at some time, marked that clip/wire positive, for some reason. Maybe it was an irregular cable with markings on wrong wire? Could have been this way from the factory, but I had some work done on the amp a few years ago, so maybe that’s when it happened.

Is this unusual? Could my speaker have been wired out of phase this whole time?
 #169448  by Jon S.
 
wabisabied wrote: Sat Jan 30, 2021 2:30 pm Could my speaker have been wired out of phase this whole time?
The issue of whether a combo or cabinet with ONE speaker (e.g., a DR) can ever be truly "out" of phase is one of those rabbit hole issues. I myself have no technical knowledge for me to opine one way or the other but the majority opinion on the discussions I've read is no, whether the cone moves first in or out doesn't matter since after it does the first, it then does the second anyway. But you can test this for yourself by simply listening to your rig, flipping the speaker leads/tabs, listening again, and deciding whether you prefer it one way or another.
 #169450  by wabisabied
 
Jon S. wrote: Sat Jan 30, 2021 3:06 pm
wabisabied wrote: Sat Jan 30, 2021 2:30 pm Could my speaker have been wired out of phase this whole time?
The issue of whether a combo or cabinet with ONE speaker (e.g., a DR) can ever be truly "out" of phase is one of those rabbit hole issues. I myself have no technical knowledge for me to opine one way or the other but the majority opinion on the discussions I've read is no, whether the cone moves first in or out doesn't matter since after it does the first, it then does the second anyway. But you can test this for yourself by simply listening to your rig, flipping the speaker leads/tabs, listening again, and deciding whether you prefer it one way or another.
Yeah what little I’ve read on it says it could sound a bit muddy out of phase. Unless I fix and put that cable back in, and A/B the leads, I guess I’ll never know.

I did pull a cable from another amp, that is clearly marked pos/neg, and hooked it up in the DR. Sounds great with the Cannabis Rex, whether it’s in phase or not! Not as great as my TR, at least not in the same way, but it’ll do for a more portable option.
 #169549  by wabisabied
 
Update: I manned up, drove down to Ace, bought a cutter/stripper/crimper tool and pack of connectors, and fixed it myself for less than the cost of a new cable. Yay me.

As far as the pos/neg, in/out of phase issue, I switched them back and forth a couple times and *think* it sounds brighter using paint marked wire on pos terminal. Could be the cable is wired backward or perhaps the amp’s speaker output is. WtFK.
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 #169627  by wabisabied
 
Okay, new update.

It occurred to me while fussing with this stock Fender speaker wire that it's pretty thin and seems like the weakest link in my whole signal chain. Why would the weakest point be right at the speaker terminal, where signal has been amplified the most? Seems dumb, but who am I to argue with decades of collective wisdom?

Well today I happened to drop by a local guitar shop for the first time in almost a year. I had nothing really in mind, just thought I’d poke around. Then I saw these on the cables rack. Divine Noise Handmade Combo Amp Cable.
Image

So I brought it up to one of the employees, and his eyes lit up. “Those are awesome and they’re hand made here in Portland! The guy who makes them literally delivers them himself.” Then he did a demo with one, comparing to stock wire on a EVH head + cab. The difference was profound. Everything just seemed to come through clearer; sparklier highs and punchier lows.

Here it is compared side by side to the Fender stock version.
Image

They’re not inexpensive, but have lifetime warranty. $49.50 for a 1-speaker set, $59.99 for two speaker. There are also 3- and 4-speaker options, and he does custom orders. I had some store credit and was able to get a couple with no cash out of pocket.

We spend so much time and money chasing tone with different amps, speakers, pedals, etc., but I gotta say that this one little upgrade has made a bigger difference to me than most of that stuff.

Here’s the product page. There are links to audio demos.
https://www.thedivinenoise.com/divine/p ... -amp-cable

Lots of other cables available there, too.
 #169628  by lbpesq
 
Usually guitar amp speaker wire is 12-16 gauge, so using the thicker 12 gauge makes sense. Just make sure not to use shielded wire for speakers. That’s just a few dollars worth of parts there, certainly less than five. A good quality right angle plug, a few female connectors R&W 12 gauge wire, and some shrink tubing. Looks like the guy did a real clean job. Clever idea.

Bill, tgo