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SWR Goliath II...alive again!!!

Mar 24, 2006
8,757
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If anyone remembers, a couple of weeks ago I picked up a Goliath II from Craigslist. It was advertised as "blown", for $75.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=464111&highlight=blown+goliath

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=464384&highlight=blown+goliath

In a nutshell, the speakers were in fact blown. Pushing on the cones did make a noise, but not a "scratchy" noise as I have read before. Just a noise of friction, to say the least, and quite audible at that. Sound reproduction yielded distortion. I tried one speaker at a time, a different crossover...same. Definately the speakers.

So, I was looking around a replacement speakers and decided on Eminence Legend BP102's, 4 ohm. The cabinet was originally 8 ohm, but I wanted to make it a 4 ohm for the simple reason that my SVT2-Pro works with 4 or 2 ohm loads; nnot 8 ohms (efficiently). No other reason. My current 2x10 and 1x15 are 4 ohms each.

So I got my speakers in today, beefed up the speaker wiring (series/parallel), painted the horn silver (to make it look new again), and cleaned up the cab. I spent a little more than I wanted to on a used cab because of the speaker replacement, so I'm about $390 into this thing total (including the cost of the cab itself).

I first plugged it in to my old SVT 200T, which kind of sucks. The sound was mediocre, but it pumped a LOT of bass; speakers moving TONS of air.

Then I brought it to my 2-Pro and that's where the magic happened. It actually sounds pretty good with gobbs of low end. I didn't get to wail on it because my wife is studying, but I can tell it will absolutely kill.

Coupled with the 2x10 (Eminence Neo Deltalite I equipped), it's interesting. The 2x10/1x15 combo is very BIG sounding, but this faux 6x10 is more "in your face" and to-the-point sounding, but still with big bottom end. Thats most probably due to the BP102's resonant frequency of 35 Hz. The 2x10 is louder in the mids (but not by too much), that would be obvious due to the difference in speaker parameters. But as I did play at the volume I did (gain on 5, master vol on about 2.5), it shook the house and the speaker cones were barely moving. I can tell that they'll go loud without farting, definately.
I will need to crank it and see how it fairs. Until then, here are pic's of both rig combos. Will report back after the wailing has commenced.

DSC_0542.gif


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here's a bit of an update.

I was able to fiddle with it some more, but not that much.

1st thing. massive, massive....MASSIVE low end out of this sucker. I think it has more low end than my 1x15...honestly!

Not too bright, though. Has a "vintage" sounding tone. Not trebly or "Honky" at all. Thick & warm.

It sounds fantastic by itself. No need for a 1x15 under it.
Coupled with the 2x10, at louder volumes, I have to turn the treble on the amp down. The 2x10 overpowers it in the mid- and upper register. With my treble at about 6, the two cabs blend together very well. I normally would keep the treble at about 7.5 or so with the 1x15/2x10 stack.

At this point, I'm not sure if I will keep it or sell it. I was very happy with the 1x15/2x10 stack. Very punchy and BIG sounding. Like I said, the 4x10 sounds great by itself (totally killer). Maybe I'll keep it for those days where I don't need 2 cabs...don't know yet.
 
The PAS baskets are probably worth something to someone.
Those should be nice cast baskets. PAS makes nice drivers.
Reconed they should be nice as well.

yes, they have cast baskets. I would like to sell them if I could.
The cones are also creased, so they are pretty much due for a re-cone. Other than that, they're is pretty good shape cosmetically.