Wire to make Peavey reverb cables

[glebert]

I've got a few older Bandit's, Specials, and Classic Chorus amps that lost their reverb tanks and cables along the way. Ordered up new tanks, but I've read that Peavey no longer stocks reverb cables with the molex connector, although I have not confirmed that. The cables should be easy enough to make, but was wondering if anyone has a suggestion about what kind of raw cable to use? It looks to me like the original has two separately shielded conductors with each having a drain wire. I don't know that it is critical to have it exactly that way but it would make it easier to have separate drain wires rather than having to split one.

Thanks,
Greg

[drewl]

Any shielded cable will work.

Save yourself some time and just use any RCA cables you might have from an old stereo or VCR.
I know I have a ton of those.
Just cut the connectors off one end.

If you don't have a Molex connector you can just figure out which pins are which and solder the RCA cables directly.

[glebert]

Any shielded cable will work.

Save yourself some time and just use any RCA cables you might have from an old stereo or VCR.
I know I have a ton of those.
Just cut the connectors off one end.

If you don't have a Molex connector you can just figure out which pins are which and solder the RCA cables directly.

I didn't think those would have drain wires so that is why I wasn't planning on going that route, and if the shield is foil it is a pain to attach to anything. I guess I could hack some and see if they are foil or copper braid.

[mac dillard]

Give Peavey customer service a call. They will probably give you the info...Those Mississippi folks are really helpful.

[Enzo]

I didn't think those would have drain wires so that is why I wasn't planning on going that route, and if the shield is foil it is a pain to attach to anything. I guess I could hack some and see if they are foil or copper braid.

Drain wires?

Plain old RCA cables have a shield around a center conductor. That is all you need. It is a great way to go about this. I do this all the time. Cheap RCA cords, lop pone end off and crimp on Molex pins.

I also became a fan of Belden 8451 decades ago. it is a basic pair with foil shield. There are many versions of similar cable. Anything with foil shield will have a drain wire. The drain is necessitated by the foil being not solderable. But there are few things easier that stripping the end of the foil shielded cable, tearing off the foil exposed, then solder one or two hot leads to whatever, and the drain wire IS the foil connection. I would use my foil shield wire in a heartbeat. You will never be required to solder to foil itself, that is what a drain wire is for. And braid or spiral shield will not have a drain wire because the braid or spiral is already wire.

My choice depends upon what RCA plugs I want to have. Commercial RCA cables will have the molded part sticking out, which may make the bag a tight fit. I can get commercial RCA cables with low profile right angle plugs. If I want to have those little body-less RCA males like Fender used on the chassis cables, then my foil shield wire is my choice.

Foil versus braid? Foil shield cable is intended for use where it won't flex. Such as within a piece of equipment, or semipermanent cables in a rack case. We would not find foil inside the patch cords we connect the stereo set with. Those are expected to be moved around.

The Peavey cable is simple, two separate shielded cords to the pan. Use either type cable.

[Axtman]

I think the question was more about the Molex connector than the cable or RCA jack. I took an old RCA to RCA cable, cut it and stripped, then took apart a new Molex connector and individually soldered the female connectors on the cable. I had to read the schematic to figure out how it was wired up, but it worked perfectly on an old Peavey Musician amp.

[Enzo]

When you buy a Molex connector, the pins come separate from the nylon housing. You crimp the pins on the ends of your wires, and slip them into place in the housing.

[glebert]

Axtman, the question was actually more about the bulk cable. Mostly anytime I work with consumer cables like stereo RCAs the shield braid ends up being some pathetic bit of metallic fairy floss and you can't even twist it into something you can solder or crimp. The original Peavey cables looked like they had a drain wire for each of the conductors, and I haven't seen any bulk cable that had that.

[Enzo]

The drain wire is part of a foil shield cable. Spiral and braid don't have a drain wire.

I never had any trouble using cheap RCA cords from Radio Shack, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with soldering RCA males onto cable of your own choosing.

Use a foil shield cable. The drain wire is the conductor for the foil, you never have to make a connection to the foil material itself, that is what the wire is for.

I used Belden 8451, but there are many cables similar. I bought similar from Weico Wire and Cable for a lot lower price. But you need like three feet of the stuff, not a 100 foot roll. So you might look local. Ask at a local repair shop, see if they would sell you a few feet of the stuff. We had a long snake cable, like 48 pair or some such, big heavy cable, and inside each pair is foil shielded with a jacket. When we finished the cable, it had been cut short by a few feet, and I saved the stub, slit it open, and have a ton of jacketed pair foil shield wire. Free. Companies that do sound system installs often use foil shield. All you need is a scrap or roll end piece. If you had come to my shop, I would have given you a few feet for nothing. Ask them if they have any single pair foil shield signal cable.

I know you don't need pair, you only need one signal lead. That's OK. We have far more uses for pair, but if you only need one, then only use one of the pair. I use the red myself. That leaves the black. You can either snip off the black ends and leave the wire in the cable unused, or if you feel anal, solder the ends of the black cable to the same places as the drain wire. I bet if you look at the old PV cables you might find an unused extra conductor peeking out from the cable end.