Peavey 215BW speakers

[vaccastracca]

Hello.
I recently got a nice Peavey 215BW cabinet in great shape!
Here is a pic of it with my beloved mid 60s Kustom Frankenstein head on top:


It has some issues to the speakers, though, so I would need your help to figure it out.
Speakers work good, actually. In fact, the cabinet overall sounds pretty nice: warm and round tone, loud, no rattles or any kind of problem from the performance side.
The thing is that I'm not sure they are the original Black Widow speakers that this cabinet is supposed to have.
Here is a close pic with the grill removed and with the back of the speakers too:


Upper speaker may be BW, I don't know...they had many runs from the 70s to today, with different shapes, so i'm not sure...
It has a strange shaped carton (not totally smooth but also not thickly 'ribbed' like I usually see with bass speakers), but it looks original I think. The sound is really good! Warm, fat and round but also with nice highs, not too treblish, just good!
Bottom speaker instead really doesn't look like a BW! Besides, it has a small "16 ohm" sticker on it, which has no sense because the cabinet is 4 ohm (I measured it with a tester), so it must be some random speaker which has been reconed...it also bears the signs of a reconing, I think. The sound of the bottom speaker is a bit different from the upper one. The bottom one is a bit duller, still nice warm tone, but less "magic" than the upper one, and missing much more high frequencies than the the top speaker! OK, it's the bottom one, you'll never listen to it good, but I don't like the idea of having two different sounding speakers in one cabinet!!! It also seems a bit less loud than the upper one (in fact, it also moves less when playing).

Apart from the 'originality' thing, anyway, I was thinking about throwing in another pair of speakers! In the last period I can't stop thinking about the JBL K140 or E140! For some reason I think they would be great in this cabinet! (ok, probably the Peavey 215BWD would be better for those...but I like the 215BW more, aesthetically!)
Besides, it has always been my dream to have silver-domes speakers!!! I love them!!!
OR, look for a really old pair of Black Widows speakers as well...From what I saw here and there, it seems that also old BW speakers had silver-domes.
In any case it won't be easy...all those speakers are not easy to find!!!
But I'm not in a hurry, and since I don't really like new speakers, I guess I have not that much of a choice!!! :P

And last thing, is there a way to find out about the year (or at least the period) of the cabinet?
Here is a picture of the backplate with the serial number:


It seems the 215BW started late 60s or early 70s (but with different -better - plywood and with different port holes), then it should have come the version I have, which went on until mid or late 80s...the plastic BW plate on the bottom of the grill says "1979", but it could be anything from then to the late 80s! I would like to be more accurate with my dating! :P
Hope you can help me!
Cheers!!!

[rmkesler]

Can't say either of those look like Black Widows but I could be wrong.

Nice poster!

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by vaccastracca

Hello.
I recently got a nice Peavey 215BW cabinet in great shape!
Here is a pic of it with my beloved mid 60s Kustom Frankenstein head

It has some issues to the speakers, though, so I would need your help to figure it out.
Speakers work good, actually. In fact, the cabinet overall sounds pretty nice: warm and round tone, loud, no rattles or any kind of problem from the performance side.
The thing is that I'm not sure they are the original Black Widow speakers that this cabinet is supposed to have.


Upper speaker may be BW, I don't know...they had many runs from the 70s to today, with different shapes, so i'm not sure...
It has a strange shaped carton (not totally smooth but also not thickly 'ribbed' like I usually see with bass speakers), but it looks original I think. The sound is really good! Warm, fat and round but also with nice highs, not too treblish, just good!
Bottom speaker instead really doesn't look like a BW! Besides, it has a small "16 ohm" sticker on it, which has no sense because the cabinet is 4 ohm (I measured it with a tester), so it must be some random speaker which has been reconed...it also bears the signs of a reconing, I think. The sound of the bottom speaker is a bit different from the upper one. The bottom one is a bit duller, still nice warm tone, but less "magic" than the upper one, and missing much more high frequencies than the the top speaker! OK, it's the bottom one, you'll never listen to it good, but I don't like the idea of having two different sounding speakers in one cabinet!!! It also seems a bit less loud than the upper one (in fact, it also moves less when playing).

Apart from the 'originality' thing, anyway, I was thinking about throwing in another pair of speakers! In the last period I can't stop thinking about the JBL K140 or E140! For some reason I think they would be great in this cabinet! (ok, probably the Peavey 215BWD would be better for those...but I like the 215BW more, aesthetically!)
Besides, it has always been my dream to have silver-domes speakers!!! I love them!!!
OR, look for a really old pair of Black Widows speakers as well...From what I saw here and there, it seems that also old BW speakers had silver-domes.
In any case it won't be easy...all those speakers are not easy to find!!!
But I'm not in a hurry, and since I don't really like new speakers, I guess I have not that much of a choice!!! :P

And last thing, is there a way to find out about the year (or at least the period) of the cabinet?
Here is a picture of the backplate with the serial number:

It seems the 215BW started late 60s or early 70s (but with different -better - plywood and with different port holes), then it should have come the version I have, which went on until mid or late 80s...the plastic BW plate on the bottom of the grill says "1979", but it could be anything from then to the late 80s! I would like to be more accurate with my dating! :P
Hope you can help me!
Cheers!!!

the mounting hardware suggests that things have been altered.....is that baffle the norm or has their been an incident.....

how does it sound would be my question....if it sounds good the way it is maybe use it for a while with a few different heads......if you are determined to use jb's try lansing heritage forums.....they pop up occasionally.... you can probably find chrome dust caps and attach them yourself if it's the look you're after

[JMac4strngr]

Cool posters!

I dont think that they are BW's from what I recall them looking like.

[fu22ba55]

+1 that neither look like a black widow to me.

Top one looks a heck of a lot like an EV15L.

[vaccastracca]

@ Jim Campbell: I have no idea about the mounting baffle...and the guy I got it from didn't know anything either! Maybe it had some problems in the past, they put that baffle, but eventually changed speaker. As a matter of fact, nothing weird happens while playing...I could even remove the baffle, I think!

@ fu22ba55: thanks for the hint! ...i made some research, and it really seems the upper speaker is an EV15L! Which seems to be a very good speaker! So this would be another option: getting another EV15L. Unfortunately, it appears to be deadly rare too!!! ...but I'll start looking!

Happy you all like the posters too!

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by vaccastracca

@ Jim Campbell: I have no idea about the mounting baffle...and the guy I got it from didn't know anything either! Maybe it had some problems in the past, they put that baffle, but eventually changed speaker. As a matter of fact, nothing weird happens while playing...I could even remove the baffle, I think!

@ fu22ba55: thanks for the hint! ...i made some research, and it really seems the upper speaker is an EV15L! Which seems to be a very good speaker! So this would be another option: getting another EV15L. Unfortunately, it appears to be deadly rare too!!! ...but I'll start looking!

Happy you all like the posters too!

it seems to mne that the baffle has been filled but if it's structurally sound,no biggie i guess.....check out the lansing sites for the chrome dust caps and play it .....a good working speaker cab buys you lots of time to compare/shop for deals on future replacement drivers ...

[MikeCollatos]

Those are definitely not BW's. First one looks like it may be an old EV15B.

[4-stringB]

Nice rig!! I, too, have a PV 215(however, mine is a earlier version, with a mid-baffle slot for both speakers)and a Kustom 200 black amp. Had to go look to see if mine was still there...LOL...love the retro stuff...keep us posted(no pun intended)

[fu22ba55]

Originally Posted by vaccastracca

@ fu22ba55: thanks for the hint! ...i made some research, and it really seems the upper speaker is an EV15L! Which seems to be a very good speaker! So this would be another option: getting another EV15L. Unfortunately, it appears to be deadly rare too!!! ...but I'll start looking!

Not that rare...

Many late 80's and early 90's Mesa/Boogie cabs were loaded with these... so they are around.

And they're heavy, so many people are trading them out for lighter (neo) speakers, so they turn up on Craigslist and eBay fairly often.

Condition is irrelevant, since Orange County Speaker will recone them for $99, so you can find cooked ones online for pretty cheap and recone them.

I just found two a couple of months ago for a new (old) cab I got. OEM, Series One, or Series II doesn't matter. They are all reconed with the same kit. (Originals were rated @ 200W, recone kits are rated at 400W, but the reconed ones sound the same as the old ones.)

[fu22ba55]

Originally Posted by MikeCollatos

Those are definitely not BW's. First one looks like it may be an old EV15B.

Could be, but I still think it's a 15L. I've got two of each (15Bs and 15Ls) downstairs, and his looks like a 15L. The cones are different.

[Oren Hudson]

Here goes. I have rehabed 2 Peavey 2-15 cabs in the last year. One is identical to yours except it has the original BWs. I'm a purist and have done tons of research and here's what you've got. As already pretty much established, not BW speakers. Cabinet dates to 1981. Baffle is completely correct as to shape and design. FYI - there have been 3 styles of BWs over the years. Either 1502 or 1505 are the ones used. The current style looks nothing like the previous two. And you're right. Not the easiest speaker to run across and can get pricey. One thing about the aluminum centers. Sometimes tend to increase the upper "noise" of your amp. I have the original Mark IV head that was paired to the BW cab. It requires a good bit of EQing the super high frequencies, but I've found the sweet spot. I'm not sure when, but at some point in the last several years, Peavey stopped using the aluminum center.

I didn't try, but you should be able to put Peavey Black Widow or something like that, in the search function, and get a boatload of information, including pics of the older and newer verisons. When I was doing my research about a year ago, I had a thread that got lots of information.

[FuzzBoxVoodoo]

I put 2 Eminence Legend CB15 Speakers in my Peavey 2-15 and I really like the sound that it puts out,the CB15 speakers are made for small cabs so they work really well IMOP.
http://www.usspeaker.com/homepage.htm
I would not go with BW speakers they are very harsh in my opinion.
Nice cab by the way it looks to be in mint condition.

[vaccastracca]

@ fu22ba55: good to know EV15L speakers are not that rare! I'll definitely keep an eye around for them. I do like very much the sound of the one in my cabinet! If I found another one and get rid of the bottom speaker, I guess that would be the cheapest solution, and the sound would be awesome!
Reconing...if I have to, I'll do it, but I tend to prefer untouched old speakers...in my experience, every time I reconed a speaker, it never sounded exactly the same again! But maybe I've been unlucky!

@ Oren: thank you so much! your infos are really precious!!! Now I have much clearer ideas about everything! So you had both my version of the 215 and the earlier one with different port holes! Can you confirm that the earlier one was made better and sounded better too? I've read that somewhere!

@ FuzzBoxVoodoo: the thing of Black Widows sounding harsh just puts me in a difficult position now! I mean, like Oren, I am an 'originality' freak myself...so, looking for the original Black Widows for this Peavey is a thing I would do until I find them (should it require months or years!). I want to find out how it sounded when it came out! But now the point is: would I like the sound?
What I love is warm, fat, round tone, with sweet low-end, smooth middles and mellow highs (I don't like piercing high frequencies), of course it has to be punchy and aggressive, but in a 'vintage' way! I really don't like modern bass sounds.
My main rig in these recent few years is an Acoustic 220 + 402 (2x15) cabinet. I love that amp! It has almost everything I want, except maybe a bit more power from time to time. Also not very boomy, but it has all the rest of the things I really love in a bass amplifier!
And if I recall correctly, Acoustic used Eminence speakers for many of their amps.
Anyway, this is the kind of sound I like...and if Black Widows took me away from this kind of sound, I would of course avoid wasting my time and money and concentrate on alternatives...

[FuzzBoxVoodoo]

If you really want to try and keep the cab original then I would try the BW and see if you like them at least you will know for sure that way.
Mine was an older model that came with the square magnet eminence with the small dust caps that were in great shape and sounded great I just didnt feel like I could push them very hard so I went with the CB15s.
I also made a tilt back cab out of it with the same hardware that is on my Aggie GS-412 and it is a breeze to move around now.
Steve

[vaccastracca]

Do Eminence Legend CB15 speakers go towards my "requirements" in bass tone, in your opinion?

[hdracer]

The Eminence Kappalite 3015 works good in that cab. They cost less and weigh much less than the BW

[FuzzBoxVoodoo]

The Neo's werent available yet when I bought my Legends,there is a thread or 2 here on TB that talks about suitable replacements also.
To answer the question if the Legends are what your looking for tone wise,I am using the 215 cab as a standalone in our practice place and it has good highs,smooth strong mids and deep but not boomy bass so it is working well for me,not perfect but pretty darn good.
My taste leans towards a mid heavy sound with good clarity in the upper mids and low highs.
I have a GB NEOXT212 that I really like but it can get a little aggresive in the mids just to give you an idea of what I like.

Originally Posted by hdracer

The Eminence Kappalite 3015 works good in that cab. They cost less and weigh much less than the BW

[Oren Hudson]

Originally Posted by vaccastracca

Reconing...if I have to, I'll do it, but I tend to prefer untouched old speakers...in my experience, every time I reconed a speaker, it never sounded exactly the same again! But maybe I've been unlucky!

@ Oren: thank you so much! your infos are really precious!!! Now I have much clearer ideas about everything! So you had both my version of the 215 and the earlier one with different port holes! Can you confirm that the earlier one was made better and sounded better too? I've read that somewhere!

Reconing does change the sound in some instances, although I've never had a problem with it. Steve at The Speaker Doctor in Charlotte, NC (just 30 mins away) does all of my recones with the exception of Altec Lansing 421As and JBL D140Fs. They go to Great Plains Audio in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Those guys use to work at the Altec-Lansing plant and have all of the correct parts to do those rebuilds. They also demagnitize and remagnitize the magnet. A good thing for vintage "old" speakers.

I didn't give much information on the other Peavey 2-15 cab. It is a 1981, and is a twin to the BW one previously discussed, except it has the standard Eminence speakers. It sounds, IMO, as good as the BW cab, just not quite as "pretty" without the aluminum center caps. To my knowledge, there's only been 2 versions of the 2-15 BW cab. The one like you and I have and then one later that was a good bit deeper in size. I've never heard one, but I've been told that they really rock.

I ran across an original 1502 older style Black Widow on CL. I forget where, but if you're interested, I'll recheck. It's the correct one for your cab.

[vaccastracca]

Mh, not a big fan of neo speakers! I tried a few of them, but they never got me convinced. In case of Eminence, I think I would stick to Legends. I am maybe old, but I still think that weight plays an important role when it comes to bass speakers!

About the BW on CL, Oren, yes please, if you can recheck it and let me know it would be great!