Need help on cables

[Pete121]

Hi, how is everybody. I'm new here and I wanted to ask a question about cables. I'm an electronic dj/producer and I'm thinking about trying something new and doing a bit of mixing for my brothers band. I have all the mixing/PA gear for the job but I am unsure of what sort of cable I can get away with. I have a few 10-15 metre high quality shielded RCA cables lying around that I don't use anymore so I was thinking of soldering 1/4" plugs on the cables and using them to connect their combo amps to the mixer. They all have 1/4" inch mono line out sockets on their amps including the speaker they use to monitor the vocals.

 

The venues they will be playing at are only small to medium and I would like to be in front of the stage and not to the side. Can I get away with high quality 10-15m RCA cable with 1/4" plugs? or will I have to fork out for other cables or maybe a DI box and multicore? Any help would be much appreciated.

[paulears]

As long as you don't go to silly lengths (maybe think of 7-10m as a long way!) then unbalanced physically strong cable isn't a major snag as long as it fits into the connectors. S short cable, into a di box, then into a mixer balanced at microphone level may well reduce any noise/hum problems you could have - but if the places you play with the band seem to work, there isn't really much difference in effectvely swapping a guitar for a mixer output. If the mixer has a line level output, then your 15m cables will probably be fine - just be aware that the longer you go, the more top end you lose. Cheap, thin cable is worse than thick, decent cable.

 

One bit is a touch worrying - speaker outlets. Big no-no. You can get some DI boxes that are designed to be plugged in to speaker level outputs, but they are not that common - quality is also an issue. I'd stick to a line level feed from the device feeding the PA, usually much cleaner.

[lightsource]

The venues they will be playing at are only small to medium and I would like to be in front of the stage and not to the side.

 

If this is the case, then I think the multicore / DI box approach would be much better.

[jamesperrett]

I was thinking of soldering 1/4" plugs on the cables and using them to connect their combo amps to the mixer. They all have 1/4" inch mono line out sockets on their amps including the speaker they use to monitor the vocals.

 

If they are using distorted guitar sounds then you don't want to use the line out from the guitar amp. A major part of distorted guitar sounds is down to the particular speaker used so for good results you really want to just stick a microphone in front of the amp.

 

Cheers

 

James.

[Pete121]

Thanks heaps for the help people. I'd love to mic the amps, but I can't really afford a heap of good quality mics. One more question about the cables.. will I lose much of the signal through the long cable runs or is it mainly the top end you miss out on? because I'm not keen on having to really crank up my amp just to have the volume at a nice level. I wouldn't mind a bit of headroom.

[jamesperrett]

Thanks heaps for the help people. I'd love to mic the amps, but I can't really afford a heap of good quality mics.

 

Even a cheap mic is going to sound better than connecting direct. My favourite guitar amp mics cost me 14 quid for a pair. If you are using distorted guitar sounds then connecting direct really isn't an option - you'll possibly end up frying the HF drivers on your PA due to the high levels of high frequencies.

 

Cheers

 

James.

[fogg]

Take a look at these mics SM 57 copy for the price they are very good, very similar sound to a real 57. But like the last guy said pretty much any mic is going to sound better than a line out from the amplifier. you just end up wit ha very clinical sound with no guts. If its a acoustic guitar then line out would be fine. but for a electric distorted guitar jsut stick a mic infront of the cab, can't go wrong!