FourT6and2
Well-known member
I've had this Lava Cable "Tephra" speaker cable plugged into the same amp and cab for about a year. Haven't touched the cable. Today my amp died in the middle of a song. Thought the OT died. Turned out to be the speaker cable, which had both a continuity issue and short to ground on the same plug.
Found a broken solder joint and a short to the case due to the use of way too many individual wires for such small plugs. Keep in mind I never touched the cable. One second it was working, the next... nothing. All four solder joints on both jacks are cold. Zero strain relief. Just some shoddy electrical tape wrapped around the joints. Tore the wire out of the jacket to see what they use. Rubbery hardware store-like wire. Nothing wrong with hardware store wire. Just want to let you all know this is what you're paying for. Here's the marketing hype they use to describe their product:
"Handmade and combat-tested
...Tephra is built tour-tough for the long haul... Designed by Mark Stoddard to withstand high heat and combat while he was deployed in Afghanistan...
I don't know who Mark Stoddard is. But if this guitar amp speaker wire is "combat tested" in Afghanistan then I'm a four-star general. It's clear this cold solder joint has been broken for quite some time but the electrical tape wrapped around the joint held it in place so there was continuity. No strain relief. Cold solder joints. Lacked proper heat shrink on both + and - joints independently, on both ends. The electrical tape was gooey and slimey. Which means it got hot and melted. That's why you need to use actual heat shrink rated for the application. This is unacceptable and could have lead to a costly amp repair had the OT blown. Caveat emptor.
In the end, no big deal. Just a cable. But it's snake oil like this that pisses me off.
Found a broken solder joint and a short to the case due to the use of way too many individual wires for such small plugs. Keep in mind I never touched the cable. One second it was working, the next... nothing. All four solder joints on both jacks are cold. Zero strain relief. Just some shoddy electrical tape wrapped around the joints. Tore the wire out of the jacket to see what they use. Rubbery hardware store-like wire. Nothing wrong with hardware store wire. Just want to let you all know this is what you're paying for. Here's the marketing hype they use to describe their product:
"Handmade and combat-tested
...Tephra is built tour-tough for the long haul... Designed by Mark Stoddard to withstand high heat and combat while he was deployed in Afghanistan...
I don't know who Mark Stoddard is. But if this guitar amp speaker wire is "combat tested" in Afghanistan then I'm a four-star general. It's clear this cold solder joint has been broken for quite some time but the electrical tape wrapped around the joint held it in place so there was continuity. No strain relief. Cold solder joints. Lacked proper heat shrink on both + and - joints independently, on both ends. The electrical tape was gooey and slimey. Which means it got hot and melted. That's why you need to use actual heat shrink rated for the application. This is unacceptable and could have lead to a costly amp repair had the OT blown. Caveat emptor.
In the end, no big deal. Just a cable. But it's snake oil like this that pisses me off.
