Need 400w 10" drivers for cab - please advise.

[M. Owen Santy]

Just had the opportunity for a great deal on an Eden WTB300V (will upgrade the tubes to "Gold Lion" right off the bat), and am going to need to change out the drivers in my 2x10 Seismic cab.

Have always liked the cab - very solid, durable and has sounded excellent with my Line6 head, but sounds like s**t with my all tube Traynor YBA200-2 so I'm going to need to change out the drivers and line/insulate the cab.

Would like a few cost-effective opinions on what and where I should be looking. Figuring 400W speakers in series, upgraded wiring to14 gauge (as I do with all my cabs).

Did my Seismic 1x15 like this and sounds as good or better than most 1x15's I've played - was easy to find a 400w Celestion-Pro not so easy to find high wattage 10".

Thanks in advance.

[Eric Moesle]

I'll be the first here of many to tell you that the wattage rating is the LEAST important of all speaker specs. It doesn't tell you when the speaker will fart out or when the cones will become damaged, it only tells you when the voice coil will melt..... which is almost never the case. You get cone damage way before coil damage in most instances.

You need to model your cab dimensions and porting info with the t/s parameters of several different drivers to see which ones will give the best performance when paired with your cab. Wattage rating will not tell you that.

[Arjank]

Originally Posted by SpectorErector

am going to need to change out the drivers in my 2x10 Seismic cab.

Have always liked the cab - very solid, durable and has sounded excellent with my Line6 head, but sounds like s**t with my all tube Traynor YBA200-2 so I'm going to need to change out the drivers and line/insulate the cab.

So why do you think it's the drivers?
Looks(sounds) more like an impedance mismatch with your all tube amp.

[M. Owen Santy]

Originally Posted by Arjank

So why do you think it's the drivers?
Looks(sounds) more like an impedance mismatch with your all tube amp.

I'm running two 8 ohm cabs with the amp set to 4 ohm (4-8 Ohm switch on rear of amp). IF it's an impedance issue could it be because I'm running a separate line to each cab ~vs~ jumping one cab to the other?

If that's not the issue (and I don't think it is) I'm reasonably sure it's the drivers. The Traynor is so flippin' loud I'm getting speaker distortion with the preamp @ "0" and the master @ "6". Quite frankly I've never heard a 200w that pushes like this (especially since I changed out all the tubes to very high quality US JAN nos 5751's in the preamp, Genalex 12au7 Gold Lion phase inverter and Genalex KT88 Gold Lion Power Tube "Soft" Quartet).

Definitely a different kind of animal than the Line6 head.

[will33]

Originally Posted by SpectorErector

I'm running two 8 ohm cabs with the amp set to 4 ohm (4-8 Ohm switch on rear of amp). IF it's an impedance issue could it be because I'm running a separate line to each cab ~vs~ jumping one cab to the other?

If that's not the issue (and I don't think it is) I'm reasonably sure it's the drivers. The Traynor is so flippin' loud I'm getting speaker distortion with the preamp @ "0" and the master @ "6". Quite frankly I've never heard a 200w that pushes like this (especially since I changed out all the tubes to very high quality US JAN nos 5751's in the preamp, Genalex 12au7 Gold Lion phase inverter and Genalex KT88 Gold Lion Power Tube "Soft" Quartet).

Definitely a different kind of animal than the Line6 head.

Did you set the bias when you changed all the tubes? Did it use KT88's in the power section originally? Is there perhaps a higher gain tube in a distortion circuit or something than there was originally.

Is the cab ported? Some drivers that have a really high impedance spike in a ported box don't play nice with some tube amps.

[B-string]

Wasn't the Traynor equipped with EL34/KT77? Did you change screen resistors and re-bias?

[M. Owen Santy]

Originally Posted by B-string

Wasn't the Traynor equipped with EL34/KT77? Did you change screen resistors and re-bias?

No. The YBA200-2 comes stock with KT88. Everything was re-biased and checked by a pro tech (and a good one @ that)

Yes - cab is ported, closed them off from the inside to check and was even worse than before. Both current drivers are 8 Ohm. Which leads me back to my search for new drivers. Any suggestions?

[BassmanPaul]

Yes - go find a cabinet that works well with your amp and buy two of them. Don't waste money trying to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. It'll be cheaper in the long run.

[M. Owen Santy]

Anyone have experience with EMINENCE DELTA-10A's?

[Arjank]

Originally Posted by SpectorErector

Anyone have experience with EMINENCE DELTA-10A's?

Wouldn't waste any money on those, those are a ticket to fart out city.
Well, they are better then the 10B's (which are not usable for bass).
I also had the deltalite 2510 but they farted out fast too.....

[T-Bird]

Hi.

I have pretty much the same amp, save for the cosmetic nuances and several hundreds of dollars, and just like any other CP generic tube amp it's very forgiving as far as the cab(s) go.

My main cab is an older cheap Laney 410, and I have no trouble in keeping up in a moderately loud rock band. If I need more volume and more bottom, I add a 15" PA cab (and as I'm frequently told, will end up in hell using a 115+410 combination ).
If even more volume is the requirement, two EV TL505's will fit nicely underneath the amp.

If I was faced with a 210 "limit", Deltalite II's would probably be my choice of drivers.

Regards
Sam

[M. Owen Santy]

Originally Posted by T-Bird

If I was faced with a 210 "limit", Deltalite II's would probably be my choice of drivers.

Thanks - will look at them!