There is one piece of equipment that no live sound man should be without and that’s a quality cable tester. In fact, no live musician should go to a gig without having a cable tester in the toolbox. Today I’m going to tell you about the Behringer CT100 Cable Tester. It’s one of the most affordable and most versatile cable testers I have ever found.
The Behringer Cable Tester is controlled by a microprocessor that intelligently checks cables in several different ways. The testing modes are Cable Test Mode, Installed Cable Test Mode and Test Tone Mode. The Behringer CT100 Cable Tester has every connector type that you would find in a live sound situation. The cable connector types are:
- XLR
- Mono and TRS Phone in 1/4″, 1/8″ and TT sizes
- RCA
- MIDI
In Cable Test Mode you plug one end of the cable into the In jack and the other to the Out jack. The tester will then let you know which input pin is connected to which output pin. Separate LED’s indicate proper shield connection as well as the presence of phantom power. The cable tester will let you test continuity as well as display when you have an intermittent connection. The intermittent connection detection is very useful for identifying those cables that are starting to go bad. I really like the ability to test MIDI cables which can be very tricky with just a standard multi-meter.
Installed Cable Tester Mode allows you to test cables in fixed installations or situations that don’t allow you to connect both ends of the cable to the CT100. You can plug one end of the cable to the cable tester and leave the other end plugged into the board or any other jack. The Behringer Cable Tester will then check for continuity and intermittent connections as well as detecting the presence of phantom power.
In Test Tone Mode the CT100 will route a test tone to the “+ pin” (pin 2/tip) of all OUT jacks. This will let you check signal flow to your equipment and help with level adjustments. The test tone level is switchable between +4dBu, -10 dBV, or -50 dBV mic level. You can also select and set the test tone frequency between 1kHz and 440Hz . It’s really handy to use the Test Tone to make sure your board is output is sending a good signal to your amps.
The best thing about the Behringer Cable Tester CT100 is the fact that it’s only $29.99 in the Live Musician Central Store. You just can’t go wrong for that low price! It also makes a great Christmas gift for the performing musician.
