Can you identify a speaker cable by looks?

BahamaDada

Roadie
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So today I bought a new (used) amp and cab. At home the realization came: It's been years since I had a head and cab. The last speaker cable I had I gave away bc "Don't need it anymore". Fuck!

Anyway, I have this grey "the sssnake" cable. It's quite old. No marking outside except of the sssnake. It's bulkier (stiffer) than my instrument cables. I googled it and some sites said I should unwind the plugs and compare it. The bigger, bulkier is the speaker cable. Well... I am so bad in comparing, can you lend me a hand?

Standard cordial instrument cable:
20250607_212357.jpg
Cordial (made in Germany?) Silent plug instrument cable: (this is the notsilent side)
20250607_212351.jpg
Mystery grey "the sssnake" cable:20250607_212340.jpg

Damn, I want to play the amp, but I don't want to fry the amp or the cab while doing the first few chords at home.

(Sadly my camera did not make better photos, so I am very sorry about the quality)
 
Last edited:
2nd try with some flashlight and lightly bent metal:
1000061771.jpg


My multimeter crapped out, but maybe I can get one tomorrow. Would I be able to identify it with a MM? How?
 
2nd try with some flashlight and lightly bent metal:
View attachment 45967

My multimeter crapped out, but maybe I can get one tomorrow. Would I be able to identify it with a MM? How?
This does look like a speaker cable.

Normally, an instrumental cable has a thicker, shielded wire for signal and a thinner exposed wire for ground.

Speaker cables have 2 shielded wires.
 
The one with the red and white insulated conductors inside a black sheath is a speaker cable. Note that both conductors are the same size and material.

The instrument cable (cordial?) has a single conductor in white with the outer shielding doubling as “ground”.
 
Part of the reason I bought the light blue/grey Cordial speaker cables was that they are so easy to identify.

Sssnake looks like a speaker cable tho.
 
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