Question on Series cables

[Spoilers!]

This might be a dumb question, but when I read old threads on cables for Series basses there are a lot of recommendations about four-conductor (star quad) cable.  When I look at the couple of diagrams for the connectors, there are wires to each of the five pins (ground, neck pup, bridge pup, + and -).

So for the potentially dumb question: if the cable has four conductors, where does the fifth one come from???

[edwardofhuncote]

Doesn't really answer your question, but here's the FAQ page on 5-pin wiring. https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=266.0


Jimmy J will probably be along in a few... he's your huckleberry for questions like that. 


Congratulations & Compliments on that new-to-you Series I... Rob's the best.

[Spoilers!]

Thanks!

That is one of the diagrams I had checked.  I know I must be missing something with the connectors.  I've been checking specs and diagrams on a couple of manufacturers' and vendors' websites and I just can't see where the fifth wire is coming from.

Ken

[JimmyJ]

Hey Ken,

Pin-1 is the shield so that’s your 5th conductor. Several of the quad cables have unhelpful color schemes presuming you will use them as balanced mic cables. As in: 2 blue wires and 2 white ones. You need to be careful in our application to identify (and mark) the individual wires at both ends so you don’t mix them up.

So yeah. 4-conductors in a shield, and we use the shield wires as pin-1 ground.

Jimmy J

[Spoilers!]

Thanks Jimmy.  I suspected that would be the case, but something seemed wrong about shielding doubling as grounding.

Ken