Black Widow Speakers Good Speakers?

[Fred Mott]

I use a Peavey Lowrider 15 which is another Black widow, and it rocks. It can take's a lot and put's out some decent sound. When I use to play Metal I used EVs are Black Widows. I think they are as good as about any speaker out there. My years of playing Christain Metal I have Blown a lot of speakers. The Peavey BWs held up as well as the EVs and sound pretty good.

 

[Russell L]

Only had one, a 15" in a Combo 300. Sounded fine, is all I can say. No probs. What it might be better or worse than, I have no idea.

 

[greenboy]

If I recall (it's been years) and neo prices go through the roof, one of the Peavey Lowriders might be a good substitute for 3015LF in my designs. Other Peavey models are each designed for specific purposes, and some do admirably, others not. Just like any other company.

 

[Basshappi]

Black Widows are very good speakers, I've used many different ones over the years for both MI and SR and they have always served me well. I still have and use BW equipped cabs.

 

[jumbosilverette]

Let me ask something then. Why do you bother answering in a thread where you have no knowledge in what's being asked?

Good question.

 

[greenboy]

I would be *very* interested to know the actual part history here

If I really *cared*, I'd do an exhaustive search on the history of Peavey speakers.

As I have found most Peavey gear to be well beneath my standards, I'd just don't care that much.

Your standards seem to be at odds with one another ; }

 

[godofthunder59]

I like Black Widow 15s. They take a lot of abuse and sound very good. I use one in a cube 15 to record with. A much better choice than Celestions imho. I have and use both. The BW gets my vote.

 

[MNAirHead]

Without context you'll just get silly TB "love my XYZ" or "XYZ sucks"

I've been in far reaches of the earth and silly me destroyed a speaker (I caused it)... quickly swapped the basket and back in business. This was the intenion of the design.

The rest depends on the model, application, how much math you did for the cabinets etc.


First step for you is to establish what Widows you're asking about and the box size of the cabinet.

 

[DaZombieWoof]

If I recall (it's been years) and neo prices go through the roof, one of the Peavey Lowriders might be a good substitute for 3015LF in my designs. Other Peavey models are each designed for specific purposes, and some do admirably, others not. Just like any other company.

They have a low rider 15 that has similar Xmax but efficiency is almost 6 dB down from 3015LF. Black Widow stuff demonstrates what a company with money, focus, and a mission can produce. I've used them in the past and they are not something I would dismiss. That being said, they sound like an unaugmented 15 which is either reason for raves or it not working for you.

 

[groovaholic]

Back to the original question; the 215D is a big beast of a bass cab -- considered the better of the Peavey 215s -- and the BWs are Peavey's upgrade drivers.

Its gonna be a big, loud, heavy, bassy cabinet -- perfect for old-school round, traditional tones.

 

[MNAirHead]

In my arsenal... I have JBLs, Hartke, EV, Eminence, Widows, Scorpoions etc...

The Hartke sounds different (not sure if it's the cab or driver - could care less)... they look different

The snobbiest of snobs have not been able to play a cabinet and tell me what it is loaded with.

Silly thing.. the biggest snobs comment on my silliest of cabinets.. I've had a single 10 Scorpion and a single Emininece in it... ... they coiuldn't tell when I changed the driver (you can't see it).

TB folks are foolish at times.

 

[greenboy]

Yep, there are many many models. For 15" bass cabs the 1502 - 4 BW or 1502 - 8 BW have usually been Peavey's preferred load. But if one has a little more power the 1505 - 8 BW takes a lot more power before overexcursion and sounds better I think (avoid the 1505 - 8 KA DT though! - it's WRONG for bass!). Also some of the newer 1508 variants are great for bass. Peavey's transducer catalog lists them all.

 

[MNAirHead]

And Greenboy...


Probably smart to note there are a bunch of BW without complete identifiers.

 

[greenboy]

Another note: the magnet/motor structure for 1502 and 1505 variants is the same, so you can simply buy a different basket if you want to go from one to the other.

 

[MNAirHead]

There's a ton of this interchangeability...

NOTE TO LURKERS... IF you have a discontinued driver, contact the factory (phone)... commonly it will just morph to anohter model number.. they'll guide you through their options.

I'm guessing our friend BigOldHarry hasn't field swapped a basket OR had the event where he needed to change the ohm rating from 4 to 8.... My favorite are when some folks will claim "I wish it hat Eminence drivers" (relating to a 70s cabinet) when the cabinet already has them in there.

Not sure if there is an icon for a can of worms

 

[bjabass]

I used a BW 2X15 Peavey cab and drove it with a much maligned Peavey Centurion head for 10 years playing classic rock in the bars and only had one issue with it, a loose solder connection on a BIG freakin wire wound resistor (read it runs kinda HOT) in the Centurion. I would have to call it bulletproof. It sounded like a 2 X 15 cab, lows for miles, not much punch....BW was the benchmark back in the 80's.

 

[greenboy]

NOTE TO LURKERS... IF you have a discontinued driver, contact the factory (phone)... commonly it will just morph to anohter model number.. they'll guide you through their options.

Yeah, they are a great CS company for both dealers and end users. They are hard to beat in both their support and generosity.

They also have (or did anyway) a downloadable guide to what all cabs current and discontinued have for speaker contingent, and what baskets are used. But if you are a newbie, the phone is often easier.

 

[WINGS012345]

Well, I had the Peavey 1820 loaded with a BlackWidow back in the day and thought it sounded great. Also owned Peavey 2x15 (Not the deep version and with Eminence speakers) Thought that was great as well. Owned a Few peavey bass heads 400 series,Mark III and Mark iv. I always thought they were nice solid sounding bass heads. Peavey is def one of my all time favs. Place where we rehearse has a mark III and I love it. I owned all kinds of gear. 69Svt, GK700rb, 1001rb, 4/10 cabs, 2/10 cabs 1/15 cabs. I just always loved the sound of a 2x15 cab. And I think PEAVEY makes one hell of a 2X15 cab with the D version. thats is def transportable. I play in a Classic/Modern rock band and in a 70's Elvis Tribute band and a Beatles band. I have a fender jazz. Fender PJ and a 60's Hofner. My current bass heads are the New Acoustic 600bh and a 70's Fender Bassman. The Cab I use now is a 4/10 ampeg svt and Bassman 2x15 cab. I'm picking up the Peavey 2x15d saturday. I think I will def give the BW's a shot.

 

[greenboy]

I like the Peavey 215D sound a lot. I put it up there with dual TL606 loaded with good drivers, as my favorite "traditional" sound.

 

[SundanceChile]

I read some history articles on Peavey's site out of curiosity once. Well worth a read. The "hard to break" reputation came about from a dedicated mindset to build stuff that way.

YouTube - Peavey TNT 150

They weren't kidding.