• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

15" death rattle

yem

yem

Dec 29, 2007
678
3
The Rockies (close to Denver)
#1
I have a 15" Peavey Black Widow that makes a terrible rattle when I play at normal volume. I thought my speaker was in the process of ripping apart but after inspection, it seems like the internal wire looks its smacking the inside of the cone.

IMG_2788.png


IMG_2785.png


Does anyone have experience with this issue?
 
#2
I have had numerous problems with the black widow speakers over the years. They sound great when they are right. You may have a more serious problem than you think. If the speaker has some age on it, it could be on its way out. The voice coil gap can sometimes get corroded and cause binding of the coil, which can cause all kinds of wierd sounds. Peaveys are really easy to dissassemble, Three bolts and you can remove the magnet structure from the basket and coil assembly. The gap can be cleaned out with a piece of folded over masking tape.(sticky side out). The basket assembly can then be inspected for problems. Inspect the coil for burnt spots, or for evidence of binding. Cleaning the gap might not fix the problem. You may have a loose connection on one of your leads to the voice coil, under the dust cap of the cone.That is rather difficult to repair without further damaging the speaker. However replacement basket assemblies are available and easy to install and will repair the speaker to like new condition.The replacement baskets are not overly expensive and are available numerous places. They come with detailed instruction on dissassembly an reassembly.
Hope this helps.
 
#3
From all my days where I was destructing speakers on purpose, I've learned a lot by finding out the hard way.

Any speaker that has had any melting of the glues that are used internally (this is caused by heat over the life of the speaker/glue), the speaker will not function the same anymore. Much like your car wheels go out of alignment, this can happen to a speaker. Speakers are under tremendous stress to produce low notes.

Usually, these alignment issues are not so significant if they happen on the cone, but when it happens to the spider or the voice coil the speaker will now be twisting itself little by little as it moves back and forth. This causes a farting or rattling noise at xmax, or a catastrophic failure at/near the xlim of the driver.

Basically, you should re-cone this speaker. The kit is cheaper than the driver.


EDIT: Taking a look at the pictures, it appears that the glue that has held the spider onto the frame has come loose. This is Xlim damage. there might be some other problems happening that caused it, but your problem is caused by the failure of the spider.
 
#4
Gently move it away from the cone... Those little wires are what makes the speaker go. But they shouldnt be pulled tight or leaning on the cone either. Once gently moving them away Play the thing, if you still have the rattle its broke. BOB
 
#13
Hey Yem, I'm just wondering here and I'm going to pop this out there into the vapors... Are you trying to play this speaker outside of the cabinet? Does it rattle when mounted IN AN ENCLOSURE or just sitting there while you are playing it.

This may seem like a dumb question, but I see the speaker out in the air there in your photo so I thought I'd ask. Speakers dont work in free air... All it is then is a rattling cone with the air cancelling the sound in both directions. It wont take any power to speak of and will blow up in short order.

Just thought I'd ask. BOB
 
#14
rbonner said:
Hey Yem, I'm just wondering here and I'm going to pop this out there into the vapors... Are you trying to play this speaker outside of the cabinet? Does it rattle when mounted IN AN ENCLOSURE or just sitting there while you are playing it.

This may seem like a dumb question, but I see the speaker out in the air there in your photo so I thought I'd ask. Speakers dont work in free air... All it is then is a rattling cone with the air cancelling the sound in both directions. It wont take any power to speak of and will blow up in short order.

Just thought I'd ask. BOB
Click to expand...

Hi Bob,
I only removed the speaker for pictures. I've been playing it in the cab. Thanks for the help.
Brian
 
#16
I've tested this cab with two different amps that were resting about 10 feet away. Each test produced a rattle which seemed to come from the cab. When I repeated this test with a different cab, the rattle was not there. This, along with the abrasion on the inside of the speaker cone, led me to believe the speaker was the problem.
 
#17
OK, I guess my eyesight WAS fubar. Spider looks OK now, but the voicecoil wires do look awfully close to the spider. But that's the way it's made and I expect that it originally worked fine. They do look like they might hit the back of the cone if the speaker was pushed fairly hard. But that would probably be more of a slight buzzing rather than a rattle. Can you carefully push on the cone (near the apex) and feel something rubbing? Does the rattle sound like it's coming directly from the speaker itself or could it be somewhere else in the cabinet? Does it happen only on one or a few notes or doesn't it matter what you are playing?
 
#18
gerryjazzman said:
OK, I guess my eyesight WAS fubar.
Click to expand...

Nah, it was just a weird picture.

gerryjazzman said:
Spider looks OK now, but the voicecoil wires do look awfully close to the spider. But that's the way it's made and I expect that it originally worked fine. They do look like they might hit the back of the cone if the speaker was pushed fairly hard. But that would probably be more of a slight buzzing rather than a rattle. Can you carefully push on the cone (near the apex) and feel something rubbing? Does the rattle sound like it's coming directly from the speaker itself or could it be somewhere else in the cabinet? Does it happen only on one or a few notes or doesn't it matter what you are playing?
Click to expand...

Perhaps "rattle" is not the best word. It does not sound like something is loose. Describing the noise as a "buzz" might be more accurate but "slight" does not fit - the noise is quite noticeable.

In the original pictures, I was trying to show the abrasion that lines up with one of the voice coils wires. I think the buzz is coming from the wire hitting the cone. I could be wrong, but I cannot find anything else wrong with the speaker or the cab.

The buzzing seems to happen most often when I play low notes. That said, I can hear a buzz in the mids too.

If the wire is the culprit, is there a solution?
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back