Possible project with a Peavey 1516

[kuys]

Scratch all the 3 way cab talk, not worth it but I do have plans to replace the speakers on one thats got some nasty rattle from the 15 and distortion from the 8's.

Incidentally guitar center should be the ones paying for replacement work but they are trying to cheat me out of it since I ordered it form a store in NJ and not the local store and because it's "used". NJ store is saying it's not their problem take it up with the local store. I've about give up. Those headaches for a $125 cab just aren't worth it.

I do want to get the broken cab going again though. Peavey support said the 8's are no longer made. I'm mainly needing an idea on what would work. They said they were "Generic" 8 ohm 8's (90watts).

Would dropping some guitar speakers in there hurt? When I run two amps I usually run my dirt channel to the 8's (60watt tube head) anyways. I keep hearing guitar speakers do better with dirt and aren't as affected by box size and shape.

[will33]

Yeah, it can be done. You'd have to redo the crossover if going to 1 mid changes the impedance. IIRC those were designed as 4ohm woofers and mids. I'd also cut out the part of the mid subchamber that isn't needed for the second mid and let the 15 have that room which may prompt a tuning adjustment.

[cableguy]

I had one of those cabs in the 90's. Not a bad cab if I remember right. You might just look into replacing the speakers with some that are close. You should be able to get the speaker spec from Peavey. Maybe Eminence or Carvin would have some that are close. That would most likely keep the cost reasonable.

[will33]

Did you totally rewrite your initial post?

Yes you can cross to a guitar speaker for dirt but I wouldn't do it lower than 200hz.

Don't know of many 8" that are made for anything better than a beginner practice amp. Maybe the eminence ladyluck used in the valve jr.'s but I'm not sure of it's power handling (even though I have one). Plenty of good 10's out there though.

[Caca de Kick]

I used to have one of those 1516's my dad bought me new around '89. Yeah those 8's were really generic and wouldn't hold up to much. The sound box they're in is really small, and back in the 90's I picked up a pair of Carvin 8's I wanted to put in there, but sold the cab to a friend.

If that were my cab, I'd search ebay for some Eminence replacement speakers all around and call it good. Mine had the black widow 15, but I never though it was all that great if a speaker either. So the new stuff would be a pretty significant upgrade.
125 aint bad, I've see a few at 100-120 locally on CL that had damaged or missing speakers as well.

[kuys]

Originally Posted by will33

Did you totally rewrite your initial post?

Yes you can cross to a guitar speaker for dirt but I wouldn't do it lower than 200hz.

Don't know of many 8" that are made for anything better than a beginner practice amp. Maybe the eminence ladyluck used in the valve jr.'s but I'm not sure of it's power handling (even though I have one). Plenty of good 10's out there though.

Yes I did. I apologize. Instead of cluttering the forum with yet another thread I figured it would be more beneficial to amended this thread. Again, I apologize for the confusion.

I talked to support today and they simply said, "The 8" speaker isn't available anymore. It was a 8 ohm 90 watt speaker." My idea was to simply replace the 15' with the 1502-4 Black Widow and get some Jensen MOD8-20's for the 8's.

Like I said I bi-amp with a little 50-60watt guitar head which I use for my dirt channel anyways.

Setup goes like this; Peavey VB-2 into the low inputs of the two Peavey 1516's and the guitar amp goes into the two hi inputs of the 1516's. I normaly run all effects to the guitar amp and 8's. Dirt, flanger, etc; It allows me to get a really nasty distortion/fuzz with out loosing any bottom end.

[will33]

If you're already biamping you could leave the crossover out of the cab. If you ever find yourself running one amp only just plug into the 15 only.

If you're doing replacement baskets the 1505 model BW has more xmax/better lows than the 1502 but I don't know if that holds true for the 4ohm versions so check that before buying anything.

IIRC those were fairly small for a good 15. That's why I say cut out the 2nd mid space to give the 15 a little more room. 1 mid, especially a guitar driver can hang with a 15. I'd cut out opposite sides on each cab so when you stack the top one upside down on the bottom one the 8's are as close together as they can be and vertically aligned. That'll give the best dispersion, least combing, best overall sound.

If your amps have 8ohm taps or if you always use both cabs you can look at 8ohm replacement 15's. Better selection of good stuff in 8ohm versions.

[1n3]

Originally Posted by kuys

I talked to support today and they simply said, "The 8" speaker isn't available anymore. It was a 8 ohm 90 watt speaker."

The original speakers were probably OEM Eminence. The Alpha 8a would probably be similar, I'd think.

[kuys]

Originally Posted by will33

If you're already biamping you could leave the crossover out of the cab. If you ever find yourself running one amp only just plug into the 15 only.

If you're doing replacement baskets the 1505 model BW has more xmax/better lows than the 1502 but I don't know if that holds true for the 4ohm versions so check that before buying anything.

IIRC those were fairly small for a good 15. That's why I say cut out the 2nd mid space to give the 15 a little more room. 1 mid, especially a guitar driver can hang with a 15. I'd cut out opposite sides on each cab so when you stack the top one upside down on the bottom one the 8's are as close together as they can be and vertically aligned. That'll give the best dispersion, least combing, best overall sound.

If your amps have 8ohm taps or if you always use both cabs you can look at 8ohm replacement 15's. Better selection of good stuff in 8ohm versions.

The bass amp has 2, 4, 8 ohm tap. The guitar amp being the custom job it is, goes 2, 4, 8, 16.

I'm a bit ashamed but I haven't even looked inside cabs to see what type of bracing it even has.

By your recollection will33 the 8's are in their own sealed box? If that is in fact the case your recommending pulling the 8's out and cutting the box in half then sealing it with a good guitar speaker?

Since I have two and one is already making some serious noise that sounds like a plan. Any recommendations on the guitar speaker? Would I have to re-tune the cab for the 15 after making the changes to the internal volume? I have a feeling this is going to be fun. Don't be surprised if I start flooding your PM box over the next month with questions.

[bassbrad]

You need to check all the components and find out where the problem is; maybe faulty speaker(s), may be a faulty crossover or electrical connections, or loose joints or hardware in the cab.
If the 15 is a Black Widow or Scorpion get a replacement basket.

[will33]

Both 8's are in 1 sealed subchamber running across the top of the cab. I'm saying I would cut out half of it, stick a side on the remaining half so you have one 8 sealed off from the 15 and a little more room for the 15 to work in. I also know the mid chamber is bare inside so it needs some polyfill stuffing. I can't remember if the 15 portion in mine had any lining or not, it's been a while. If not it needs some.

1st thing I'd thing do is open it up and take measurement of the inside and the port and post them here. Also figure how much space you'd gain by going to one mid. Someone can run the numbers and see what's worth messing with and what's not. My computer's crashed so I'm doing all this from a phone.

I know they're a little smaller than they should be but there are a couple 15's that are workable in smallish boxes. I also suspect they're tuned too high, a lot of older stuff is (newer stuff to some of it). It makes them sound louder but can also reduce powerhandling in the lows makes a lot of boom out in the room.

[will33]

Originally Posted by bassbrad

You need to check all the components and find out where the problem is; maybe faulty speaker(s), may be a faulty crossover or electrical connections, or loose joints or hardware in the cab.
If the 15 is a Black Widow or Scorpion get a replacement basket.

The crossovers in those were the weak link. I've seen many more of them with fried xovers than blown drivers.

Other improvements can be made. They were an attempt at a 2-way cab......but not a very good one.

[kuys]

Originally Posted by will33

The crossovers in those were the weak link. I've seen many more of them with fried xovers than blown drivers.

Other improvements can be made. They were an attempt at a 2-way cab......but not a very good one.

Tonight, that's what's going to happen. I'm going to pull apart the offending cab and get some internal pictures and measurements and then we'll go from there.

Also I might want to add, if any of you are ever in my neck of the woods, stop by for a beer and bring your bass! I owe you.

[will33]

My singer's from KY but he lives here now. Got one friend in Nashville that I only see once a year but he made the trip here just last weekend so it'll be a while.

[kuys]

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...8&l=f36ee1c6f6

Internal Measurements:
Depth 13 1/4'
Width 20 1/4'
Height 28 1/4 from bottom of cab to the top (back of cab)
21 1/4 from the bottom to the top of the 8's section (back)
17 1/4 from the bottom of the cab to the top of the 8's section (front)

Sealed section 8's
Width 20 1/4'
depth 6' 1/4
Height back 6
front 10

Give or take a quarter inch from every measurements except the height measurements in the sealed 8's cab. On a side note I couldn't figure out how to get this cab apart. I had to do all the measurements from through the speaker holes.

[themacinator]

Subbed, own one of these and it works fine. Just curious to see what you do with yours.

[will33]

Wierd, I thought they seemed smaller when I had mine.

Fudging a little for the odd shape and 3/4" ply the mid chamber has I'm getting 3.5 - 3.6 cu.ft. before the driver goes in or any ports are lengthened. Black Widows, emi. CB15 or the 4ohm basslite 15 would all work in that size. Taking out 1/2 the mid chamber would bump it up to 3.8 - 3.9. That'd give more lowend extension from these drivers and may also let a delta15LF work without too big of a hump in the midbass.

It's also a good size for the 3015LF but I'd advise against it in this case due to cost and the fact that you don't have enough power to take full advantage of it.

There should be a couple ports in there. Measure those, may end up lengthening them a bit.

[will33]

With a 10" internal height and getting narrower at the back I wonder if there's enough room to stuff a 10" guitar speaker in that mid chamber.

Guitar speakers are loud already, running 2 per woofer I don't think you'd have enough lows to keep up although with 2 amps you can blend them. A CB15 and a guitar speaker you could blend in would sound pretty nice without having to cut out the mid chamber, just plug the one hole and make the other one big enough to fit a 10".

You using a crossover or does the vb2 have one built in or you just dialing the lows out of one amp and mids/highs out of the other? Should be using a xover or at least stick an eq in the chain to suck more lows out of the guitar speaker.

[kuys]

Originally Posted by will33

Wierd, I thought they seemed smaller when I had mine.

Fudging a little for the odd shape and 3/4" ply the mid chamber has I'm getting 3.5 - 3.6 cu.ft. before the driver goes in or any ports are lengthened. Black Widows, emi. CB15 or the 4ohm basslite 15 would all work in that size. Taking out 1/2 the mid chamber would bump it up to 3.8 - 3.9. That'd give more lowend extension from these drivers and may also let a delta15LF work without too big of a hump in the midbass.

It's also a good size for the 3015LF but I'd advise against it in this case due to cost and the fact that you don't have enough power to take full advantage of it.

There should be a couple ports in there. Measure those, may end up lengthening them a bit.

So it's seems my options aren't that limited in terms of what speakers I can replace them with. That is very good to hear.

The only ports I saw were at the bottom of the cabinet, I'll get measurements tonight. I can't believe I forgot them. They didn't seem to be ports to my eyes. Not ports in the traditional sense anyways. Basically a triangle (with the edges rounded) shaped hole on both sides of the of the bottom of the cab.

With a 10" internal height and getting narrower at the back I wonder if there's enough room to stuff a 10" guitar speaker in that mid chamber.

Guitar speakers are loud already, running 2 per woofer I don't think you'd have enough lows to keep up although with 2 amps you can blend them. A CB15 and a guitar speaker you could blend in would sound pretty nice without having to cut out the mid chamber, just plug the one hole and make the other one big enough to fit a 10".

You using a crossover or does the vb2 have one built in or you just dialing the lows out of one amp and mids/highs out of the other? Should be using a xover or at least stick an eq in the chain to suck more lows out of the guitar speaker.

I've been dialing all the lows out of the guitar amp going into the 8s side of the cab's crossover. It can be a bit middy and I have to be careful with the eq. One 10 with the other side sealed up seems like a pretty good idea. I actually have a bunch of 1968 CTS Alnico guitar speakers at the house, 8 to be exact. I've been thinking about building a box with them anyways. They are ridiculously low wattage though. I bet 15-20w max. Hell, maybe not even that.

[will33]

Do you still have the 15 that was in there or is it blown?

Check with peavey to be sure but I think the magnet structures were the same. You might be able to get a replacement basket for the 8ohm 1505-8DT for about $80. That'd get you the best black widow from that era for lows that'll work in that box size and cut down on your cost too. I still play that 15, they were pretty advanced for their day and still spec as good or a little better than some stuff people are using now.

Lot's of figuring here before you cut or buy anything.