Speaker in my amp rattles

Bric · #1 05-08-2010, 07:50 PM

Well I bought a used Ibanez 25W Sound Wave bass amplifier, and the guy let me check it out with his bass guitar. At some points, we heard a rattling noise. I brought it home and played my active-pickup bass guitar through it, and it rattled like a bitch every time I slammed a string. I pulled out the speaker and swapped it into my guitar amplifier, and the speaker continued to rattle as it did before, so it wasn't any loose screws or the head unit of the bass amp. No wires seems to be touching the cone while it's virbrating. Can anybody give me troubleshooting instructions to see what's wrong with it?

P.S. There are no tears or holes in the speaker either.

craig.p · #2 05-08-2010, 08:11 PM

So it's definitely the speaker, then?

My guess is that the amp was abused and the cone is torn somewhere down near the voice coil. Or the coil is heat-warped. Or it's gone misaligned due to a physical "event." But it doesn't really matter because it sounds like you need a re-cone or a new speaker altogether.

By the way, you might want to read some reviews: http://reviews.harmony-central.com/r...ound+Wave/10/1

Not sure what to make of the inconsistencies. Did you get Bob the godly dude's unit by any chance?

Bric · #3 05-08-2010, 08:15 PM

Is there any outlet or website where I can get a new speaker for it? I can't seem to find any luck with ebay.

Bassmec · #4 05-08-2010, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bric

Well I bought a used Ibanez 25W Sound Wave bass amplifier, and the guy let me check it out with his bass guitar. At some points, we heard a rattling noise. I brought it home and played my active-pickup bass guitar through it, and it rattled like a bitch every time I slammed a string. I pulled out the speaker and swapped it into my guitar amplifier, and the speaker continued to rattle as it did before, so it wasn't any loose screws or the head unit of the bass amp. No wires seems to be touching the cone while it's virbrating. Can anybody give me troubleshooting instructions to see what's wrong with it?

P.S. There are no tears or holes in the speaker either.

Well if the rattle is sound level dependent you have probably reached the limit of the amps output.
The amount of bass boost you have from your active bass guitar and amps eq may bring the death rattle earlier in the general volume scheme of things.
The other very worrying possibility is that if its an open ported cabinet and you got it from a church goer in certain areas of the good old US of A
Call you local herpetologist right now to inspect it very carefully for the ingress of snakes.

Good Luck mate! you can't be too careful about this sort of thing.

craig.p · #5 05-08-2010, 08:34 PM

Hm. I hadn't thought you might simply be asking too much of it. See if you can get a second opinion in person.

But anyway, IF the speaker really is blown, you could pick up a cheap Jensen at http://usspeaker.com. Click the 10" woofers link. The Jensen "mod" series. This is just a swag, though, in terms of tuning, because who knows what it'll sound like in that Ibanez box. On the other hand, probably anything's better than that buzzer you have now, IF it's truly broken & you're not simply overdriving it as Bassmec suggests. You could get something better than the cheap Jensen but in my opinion that would be throwing good money after bad.

craig.p · #6 05-08-2010, 08:35 PM

1 more thing: I was just assuming it's a 10". Hope that's correct.

Bric · #7 05-08-2010, 08:42 PM

That sounds about right. Sucks, though. The speaker says 8 ohm and 60w max on it, sounds like it should do better than it's doing now. It's also laughing in my face due to the fact that my electric guitar sounds great through it.

craig.p · #8 05-08-2010, 08:50 PM

You can't get by with less bass boost, like Bassmec said?

Or is it just plain unusable for bass, period?

Bassmec · #9 05-08-2010, 08:52 PM

If you are running the speaker out of the cabinet as your viewing the loudspeaker pig tails not contacting the cone suggests.
Its in extreme danger of damage through over excursion due to no back pressure from the cabinet.
I think the chances are you are trying to get a quart out of a pint pot to be honest. To be certain borrow a bass cab that has far better power handling but the same impedance, connect it in place of the original and test thoroughly.

Bric · #10 05-09-2010, 01:52 PM

Well now my bass guitar causes the speaker to emit a buzz/hum about 5 sec long in continuous patterns, and the knobs on the bass change the frequency of it. It's weird because now the thing rattles no matter how hard I hit the string. I tried running the bass throgh my guitar fx processor to dampen the signal from the bass but it doesn't do anything. Just gives me a more polished buzz with nice reverb or chorus, lol. So I'm thinking that the bass is just too overpowering for the speaker and it's going to hell anyway. Guess I could just keep it backup for a guitar amp? Thanks for the link.