Friend's cabinet catches on fire

[arthur31686]

So my friend sent me this picture of his peavy cabinet after it ignited in flames. I don't know much about the cab other than its an old peavy. He spray painted the front of it.

I would like to know what could cause a guitar/bass (I'm not sure what it was) cabinet to ignite in flames. Should I tell him to take his amp to a tech before he plugs it into anything? The amp is in the photo. Its a solid state Ampeg from the 70s (I forget the name).

[PhiDeck]

Stage pyrotechnics?

[kayakbass]

It's da DEB-BUH!!!!

[thumpbass1]

I'm trying to wrap my head around how it caught on fire. I've seen folks do some dumb things with amp heads that might get something in the head to start smoking, and of course some amp heads might have dodgy components waiting to fail in such a manner that is no fault of the owner, but such ignitions were confined to the amp head. It's the first death by fire of a speaker cab I've heard of in regards to the cab itself burning up! Yeah, he'd be best having a tech look at the cab and the head he used with it when the pyro show went down.

[jmattbassplaya]

Looks like his playing was a little too *puts shades on* hot.

[will33]

Cranking the hell out of it, voice coil gets hot enough to catch the paper cone on fire just before it melts and stops working. Not the most common thing to happen but it wouldn't be the first time. Definitley one of the coolest ways to take out a speaker.

[WilliamSandoval]

Was it a metal show?! PLEEEEASE tell me it was a metal show!!!

[Internet Police]

Spray paint is flammable. End of mystery.

[5port]

Looks like a voice coil overheated and ignited the speaker cone which ignited the front fabric cover. Why did the voice coil overheat? That old 70s amp is the culprit in my mind. With capacitors drying out one may have shorted and sent the DC voltage straight thru the coil. My .02.

I agree with Internet Police...the spray paint probably helped it all to happen (over spray on the cone).

[jrfrond]

I've recone a lot of speakers that went on fire. It's either severe overdrive or DC out of the amp. I'd have the amp checked before plugging it into anything else.

[pkmoor]

Here's video of a speaker igniting

[john m]

I don't think he was playing "You light up my life" when this happened.

Probably something like "Sex on fire" or "Light my fire"

I've seen 'em crash, but never burn.

jm

[cassius987]

Originally Posted by Internet Police

Spray paint is flammable. End of mystery.

+1

[BLDavis]

I bet it's the result of one of those "under powered cab" issues I've been hearing about on here.

[will33]

Originally Posted by john m

I don't think he was playing "You light up my life" when this happened.

Probably something like "Sex on fire" or "Light my fire"

I've seen 'em crash, but never burn.

jm

"Let me stand next to your fire", it's rock-n-roll, man.

[WilliamSandoval]

He must've figured out how to turn it up to "11".

[Roscoe East]

I had a speaker cabinet burst into flames while playing once. Had way too much subsonic stuff boosted on the preamp, causing massive excursions of the (admittedly cheap) driver...the voicecoil bottomed out, causing a spark, which ignited the paper cone and, from there, the grillclothe.

Was actually pretty funny.

[Turtle71]

Originally Posted by arthur31686

Now, if THAT didn't get the crowd on their feet, they were sleeping...

[Sifl]

If that happened to me at a show, I don't think I'd be mad. Especially if it was at the end of the set.

At practice? I'd be fired up

[mikeddd]

Coolest (hottest?) thread in Amps right now! I saw this happen once years ago and ironically it was a Peavey cab, though it was a PA cab. Band was jamming away and suddenly there was just all this fire on the grill. There was nothing and then *flash* there it was. The BASSIST grabbed an extinguisher and hosed it down, then went back to playing. Band never stopped playing.