{mosreview}manufacturer=Behringer/product=CT100/price=20/website=www.behringer.com/score=4.5{/mosreview}

Everyone needs a cable tester in their toolbox, is the CT100 a must have or a load of old junk??

At far too many of my gigs I have had intermittent / odd problems when it comes to sound, I check all of my cables visually each month, but taking each one apart just takes far too long, with over 600 meters of cable to check.

I tended to just grab the multi-meter and check for shorts across each pin, but even so with the relatively small amount of cables that I have it was taking days. Whilst browsing the CPC catalogue this product caught my eye and having heard about it from a few friends, I decided that £20 was hardly breaking the bank.

Behringer seem to struggle at the moment when it comes to getting products in the UK with many dealers struggling to get hold of stock and as soon as they do it literally flies out of the door.  That was my only real gripe with the product; it took around 3 weeks to arrive.

So after getting through the tough packaging I was ready to start testing cables, at  this point Behringer deserve some applause for using AA batteries instead of the expensive and less available 9V batteries. Whilst some of you might not care, it would seem many manufacturers are turning to AA instead of 9V and it is a much welcome change.

Feature wise, it has a fairly comprehensive selection of ins and outs: XLR, Phono, Mini-jack, Mono and Stereo TRS Jack and even a midi connector for the more musical type.  It has a very clear and readable display showing you exactly which pin is connected to which, and after pressing the reset button you then wiggle the cable around to test for intermittent faults. If there is a short, one of the intermittent lights, lights up allowing you to track the fault down and repair it.

As well as having this great little feature, you can also use it to check for the availability of Phantom Power, saving you from going all the way back to the mix position to check if you have it on.

In addition to the two above features it can also generate a test tone, to aid with the debugging of your system, again it is not a needed extra but it does really cut down on the amount of kit I now have to take with me to gigs.

So if you haven't already, go out and buy one of these, they are one of the best investments you will ever make, and coupled with the solid build quality, the CT100 should last you forever!!