Epi UL 310 rattle. Any ideas?

[Big B.]

I have a used Epifani series 2 UL 310 that I picked up recently and playing through it today I am hearing a loud rattle. I am running an Alembic F-1X preamp and a QSC PLX 1202 that put 1200 watts into 4 ohms. It is worse on the B and E string but oddly enough it does it all the way up the B or E string on any note. I also thought a speaker might be blown but I cant tell any difference in sound listening from speaker to speaker and I still hear the nice punchy bass sound. To my ears it sounds more like a physical rattle than speaker distortion and I can really hear it if I put my ear against the box. At first I thought something in my house was rattling but as I moved around the cabinet I can tell it is the source. I have used the the cab for several different sized gigs and havent noticed this problem but I havent had the cab long enough to really have a feel for it. Unfortunately I have a show tonight I need it for so I need to either fix it or borrow another cab to use for the evening. Is there something in there that may be loose? Any other suggestions?

[Vic]

Do the obvious first. Pull the grill off and check to make sure all the screws are there, and tight. Same for the crossover plate. Given all that is ok, the next step is to yank a speaker and just start looking around... maybe something popped loose from the crossover assembly or something.

Bottom line is, if you can't fix it by tightening something up, that the problem is "something else", I'd recommend you get a substitute for a gig until you do get it figured out. You don't want a short to burn up your amp, and you don't want an open to cut you off in the middle of a song/set.

[Shawnmixednutz]

It could very well be a blown driver, great advice from Vic. When you get to the part where you are removing drivers remove them one at a time, be careful of the wires as you remove the speaker. Inspect the paper & the dust cover for tears or rips. You can also push down on the cone and see if there is a rubbing sound. If there is a rubbing sound that is an indication of a burnt voice coil. (Blown Speaker). You can also make sure that there are no wires touching the rear of the speaker or that there are no screws that attached themselves to the magnet

[Rockman]

I had a similar experience as you, just a weird rattle coming from the cab. What I found out was that the tweeter was actually shot/allowed air to pass through it which made a rattle like sound whenever any kind of loudness was used. To fix it I just removed the tweeter and blocked over the hole with a piece of plywood, still sounds great but no annoying buzzes

[Big B.]

Thanks for the reply guys. Fortunately I solved my little "problem" before the gig. The room I store my amp and gear in is a room I never practice my DB in because it just sounds bad. I find the sound to be weak and lacking depth in this particular room. I thought about this and moved the amp into the room I use for practicing (I keep a small amp there for practicing and the bigger rig gets stored and used for gigs and rehearsals only) and the problem went away. I realized I really was driving the speakers too hard because in the first room the sound was just disappearing. Combine that with being used to the sound of an Eden D410 XLT and it took me a minute to put it all together.

I used it for the gig that night and it worked great. I have used the cab for some lower volume gigs but this was the first time I ever really got to open it up at a show and it delivered in spades. I find that it even though it isnt as loud as the Eden the sound just makes its way through the mix somehow. Not so much cutting through the mix but sitting in a perfect spot. Thank you guys for the input. Its what makes TB so great.