buying shielded cable

[mad_dog]

I'm looking at the coaxial cable from this guy on ebay

stores.ebay.com/QualityChinaGoods

He has RG174 that looks pretty cheap, would any of the other cables be ok??

I know I could get some stuff from Steve at Apex Jr but don't really need anything else and don't want to have to bulk up an order to make it $20 plus shipping to Australia

[andrew_k]

If you're looking for a local supplier, Mal & Carole at http://evatco.com.au/ have some very good shielded cable for amp signal use.
Ignore the old product photo on their site, it's not the grey crap the Jaycar etc stock.

[mad_dog]

cool thanks that could be a good option for just a small order.

[azzaaa]

Mad dog i have used evatco before and found them very good. always got a discount and cheap shipping. However i rang them earlier today and they are not there at the moment due to death in the family. azz

[nickm57]

If your in Sydney http://www.herkes.com.au/ Sell all the top brand cable. Canare Kloz Belden.In all styles.
They also sell switchcraft and neutrik connectors at better prices than all of the "music/amp suppliers" in Australia.

Nick

[mad_dog]

In WA. To date I haven't found anything locally (in perth) that has been particularly useful, so for the most part I just try to do a large order from the US.

[Phil_S]

In the USA, I'd got to Apex Jr. for wire and cable. He's got just about anything you want and deep discounts. If you don't see it on his rather disorganized website, just send Steve an email.

[davent]

I've bought some really nice Teflon/Kapton coax at a good price here but no idea what shipping might be to down under, can't hurt to ask. http://stores.shop.ebay.ca/Johns-Silver ... ec0Q2em322

dave

[Ken Moon]

+1 on John's eBay store - his eBay username is navships.

The 20 ga shielded wire he sells is Belden p/n 83306E, which is very high quality mil-spec wire.

You can buy this same wire from online sources like Mouser, but it usually comes in a minimum of 100 ft, at about $275, so the eBay option is great for smaller quantities.

[rp]

I'll use 22 awg teflon if it's a tight fit but most times Canare GS-4 floats my boat. http://www.canare.com/ProductItemDispla ... tItemID=62

[Ken Moon]

What is the working voltage on that Canare GS-4 cable?

All I can find is that it has a dialectric strength listed as 500VAC for 1 min. That is the maximum voltage the insulator can take before it breaks down. Usually there is a working voltage (in VRMS) in the specs somewhere.

I generally don't like to use hookup wire with a working voltage of less than 600V.

I also can't see what the conductor jacket is made of - is it teflon or PVC or something else?

The capacitance of the Canare cable is lower than the Belden 83306E, at 47pF/ft (69pF/ft for the Belden), and the braided shield has nice 93% coverage (vs 85%).The Canare's center conductor resistance is 65% higher, but all these differences are negligible in use.

Last question - how do you deal with the extra shield layer (the super thin conductive plastic one)? Just cut it off?

Thanks!

[rp]

What is the working voltage on that Canare GS-4 cable?

All I can find is that it has a dialectric strength listed as 500VAC for 1 min. That is the maximum voltage the insulator can take before it breaks down. Usually there is a working voltage (in VRMS) in the specs somewhere.

I generally don't like to use hookup wire with a working voltage of less than 600V.

I also can't see what the conductor jacket is made of - is it teflon or PVC or something else?

The capacitance of the Canare cable is lower than the Belden 83306E, at 47pF/ft (69pF/ft for the Belden), and the braided shield has nice 93% coverage (vs 85%).The Canare's center conductor resistance is 65% higher, but all these differences are negligible in use.

Last question - how do you deal with the extra shield layer (the super thin conductive plastic one)? Just cut it off?

Thanks!

Never gave it much thought, I don't use much of it, for myself I don't like very high gain amps, If I need it it's at the input jacks and one run to the pots, the pots aren't rated above 250V either. It is instrument cable so it might not be rated to 600V. Canare is a very serious company I'm sure if you emailed them they'd let you know.

The jacket is not teflon, but made of something wonderful and has lovely colors, rubbery soft and flexible, nicest jacket on any cable anywhere. It's nevertheless mechanically very durable, resistant to hot cold and UV, stomping feet, and never becomes microphonic on me. All their shields are copper. If you never made a guitar cable out of GS6 treat yourself, you'll hear the difference instantly, but it may add clarity you weren't used to or want. And Star-Quad mic cable is something special and very useful for may things. Both GS6 and Starquad make very very fine hi-fi interconnects cheap. Their speaker wire is fine too - it's a quad so you can double the gauge or bi-wire if for hi-fi. I knew a tech that swore by the video cable, LV-77S?, as a guitar cable, but I'm not sure I want that much bandwidth and it's thick.

There is no extra foil in GS4 otherwise I'd avoid it, and why it's so nice and flexi. That other thin layer is either another dialectric or more likely anti-microphonics. I just went and put a lighter to the inner core, it's teflon-like, took a few seconds of fire then slowly melted back but didn't burn. Go for it I really doubt it will fail inside the amp.

[Structo]

Just as a FYI I emailed that John guy about the white mil spec 20 ga shielded coax and asked him what the pf/ ft is.

He said it measured at 65.52pf/ft

That is pretty high so you would want to use it sparingly if at all.

[Ken Moon]

Yeah, it's spec'd at 69 pF/ft, that's one of the reasons I've been on the hunt for something better!

rp, thanks for the info on the Canare cable - I'm going to order some and try it.

[Ken Moon]

Just to follow up on this, I spoke with Eddie at Canare, who is going to send me some samples.

He actually recommended a shielded twisted-pair cable (p/n L-2B2AT), which is apparently used in some well-known boutique amps.

http://www.canare.com/ProductItemDispla ... tItemID=59

The capacitance is only about 20pF/ft between conductors (37 pF/ft between either conductor and shield) - I think the folks using this are either stripping out one conductor, not using one conductor, twisting the two conductors together (my guess, since the conductors are only 25 ga), or not using the shield.

I'll give it a try - btw Canare seems to be a good group of folks to work with, even though guitar amps is far from being their main business.

I'll try it in my TW Express clone- that should be a good test