Black Widow Speakers Good Speakers?

[greenboy]

Really, if Peavey had used more plywood and less MDF they'd probably be revered even by modern day corporate-gathering elitist giggers ; }

That weight, feh... enough to make one park their car right in the lobby and deal with the hotel security afterwards.

 

[Rockmusician]

In the early 80's I had a Peavey with a "Black Widow". The name was nothing more than a marketing gimmick. "Black Widow" sounds menacing. Peavey figured it would give the impression of quality. I wasn't impressed but I know some other players who like them.

 

[greenboy]

Actually at the time BW were introduced there weren't too many companies making any drivers that had the xmax and the actual real world power handling. So: gimmick name, or canny advertising? There was definitely a lot of R&D behind the BWs and Peavey really ate a lot of club-level PA market share because of it.

 

[spiritbass]

It sounds like the OP's question has been answered in the affirmative. I was surprised to find not one, but two previous Centurion users posting in this thread. I bought a new one with a 1 x 18" BW cabinet "back in the day". The amp was completely bulletproof for me and I never maligned it once. It was the first amp I owned with a semi-parametric mid control (far out, man!). 1979 was a long time ago, but I remember that eighteen as sounding pretty decent. I ended up selling it and getting a used non-tuck & rolled Kustom cabinet with two 15" SRO's to move more air and get more mids.

 

[hdracer]

"Black Widow" sounds a lot better than
Cannabis Rex
Lil' Buddy
Swamp Thang
KAPPALITE
DELTALITE

The list goes on....

 

[will33]

They are the kiss of death, man. Look, listen, but do not touch, at least not mine.

 

[hrgiger]

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.

Ah the Peavey 215D. this cab is one of the very best 215 cabs ever made - IMHO. The 215D was actually listed as a 'subwoofer' cab for 1986 by Peavey in their book. It has a very smooth deep sound but also a very surprising amount of sparkle and mids/highs which sound just heavenly. I mean its one of those cabs that you just hear an open E or B string, and you just stand and listen. I am lucky enough to have one that is nearly mint in condition, with mint condition original 1502 drivers with the aluminum dust caps. I took the grille off once and I don't think it had ever been off before. one of these days I will take a bunch of pics this really is a nice looking cab. I wish I had the ability to record from it to really give a sample of how nice it sounds.

 

[BassmanAd]

Really, if Peavey had used more plywood and less MDF they'd probably be revered even by modern day corporate-gathering elitist giggers ; }

That weight, feh... enough to make one park their car right in the lobby and deal with the hotel security afterwards.

Too true. On both counts.

 

[swspiers]

I dunno. time may make the memories more fond than they should be. But in about `1978-ish I got a TNT 100 that was BW equiped. That speaker was indeed pretty indestructable.

If memory serves, it was actually only about 45 watts- but that little beast held it's own against a fender twin amp, a marshall half-stack and a loud as heck drummer.

At any rate. it was the loudest low-power solid state combo I've ever hear, or felt. Combined with a T-40 bass, it was a pretty potent combination. I got laughed at by A LOT of gear snobs back then, but now they seem to be treated like classics.

Great to see Peavey getting some respect!

 

[DWBass]

Did an outdoor gig a few years back and the backline supplied was a 'mint condition' Peavey rig! Cab had 2 18" BW woofers! Nice! Too bad the head sucked!

 

[blockinlay]

Comparing a 20 year old EVM15 L, a Peavey Scorpion, an old 50's 60's Magnavox alnico, and some Eminence kappalite neos, I wasn't too impressed with the neos. Maybe I didn't use the neos enough to thoroughly break them in, but I did try them with three different amps and gig with them. After swapping back to the Peavey, I found that I really like the sound of the Peavey much better in my 115 EV cab. My old Peavey may not be designed to handle the power of a high watt amp, but I am not driving it to extremes either. They still sell replacement baskets for it, but in 30 years since I bought it new, I never had a problem.

 

[Rockbobmel]

I bought a Musicman RH-115 about 10 years back and it has a BW in it. That cab can play a 5er as well and sounds sweet. I tried to put in an EV15L and I think I liked the PV better.

 

[username1]

I've used black widows years back and thought they were a top notch speaker. I was using jbls and altecs before that and prefered the black widows. They are a punchy crisp sounding speaker with good lows. The construction of them was also good using flat ribbon wire on the voice coils like jbl and also they have field replacable baskets so if you ever blew one they are cheap and easy to repair compaired to reconing. I wouldnt hesitate to use them, i think they will impress you.

 

[thumpbass1]

Really, if Peavey had used more plywood and less MDF they'd probably be revered even by modern day corporate-gathering elitist giggers ; }

That weight, feh... enough to make one park their car right in the lobby and deal with the hotel security afterwards.

What MDF? All of my Peavey gear has been made out of good sturdy plywood. I've spent 32 years in the furniture industry and I can tell the difference. Besides that, I've been inside of my Peavey gear, no MDF can be found anywhere on the stuff I own. I can't say that Peavey has never used MDF on some it's products, but my stuff is all U.S. made Peavey and it's been all ply so far. Yes some plywood can be as heavy as MDF too.

 

[greenboy]

I've seen a lot of MDF use over the decades in Peavey's US-made products. Either that or I've seen some MDF use (investigated by pulling drivers and so on), and the other similarly heavy gear of theirs from this span of decades is using concrete.

 

[georgestrings]

Ah the Peavey 215D. this cab is one of the very best 215 cabs ever made - IMHO. The 215D was actually listed as a 'subwoofer' cab for 1986 by Peavey in their book. It has a very smooth deep sound but also a very surprising amount of sparkle and mids/highs which sound just heavenly. I mean its one of those cabs that you just hear an open E or B string, and you just stand and listen. I am lucky enough to have one that is nearly mint in condition, with mint condition original 1502 drivers with the aluminum dust caps. I took the grille off once and I don't think it had ever been off before. one of these days I will take a bunch of pics this really is a nice looking cab. I wish I had the ability to record from it to really give a sample of how nice it sounds.

Yeah, I've played every quality 215 on the market, and the 215D-BW is as good as any of them, IMO... I ended up replacing the drivers in mine with Kappa LFAs, and it is just a great cab:

 

[thumpbass1]

I've seen a lot of MDF use over the decades in Peavey's US-made products. Either that or I've seen some MDF use (investigated by pulling drivers and so on), and the other similarly heavy gear of theirs from this span of decades is using concrete.

I'm not doubting you at all. Like I said, all of my admittedly older Peavey bass stuff has been made of ply and not MDF. Yes I've repaired rips and noogies in the Peavey Tolex hide on this stuff a few times. I can't say they've never used MDF, as most of the big name amp makers have used it, and still do so, on a lot of their gear. It wouldn't surprise me if Peavey were to use MDF to trim costs down as well. Maybe I should go look at my 2003-2004 Classic 30 amp, which I do know at least, has a ply speaker baffle, a bit further. Even then, the use of MDF doesn't upset me at all. A lot of good to great gear has been made using it, and it is what it is for good and bad. If you want to talk about the use of MDF, my St.Louis Music era Ampeg stuff might qualify. I also really don't have any gripes about my Ampeg stuff either. I do know my SVT15E cab really ain't a bad haul to lug around, compared to other single 15 cabs, and I haven't opened that cab up to look around and see what it's made of. It does sound good for what I use it for.

 

[robb.]

What MDF?

for one, TVX cabinets are made from MDF. they are still made today. how else does a 410 weigh over 100 pounds? only the high end products (like the Invalid Link Removed) use plywood.

robb.

 

[greenboy]

Having been primarily involved with Peavey products like enclosures and amps mainly in the eighties and early nineties, the products I've seen mainly span from about 1970 to 1993, though occasionally a combo or an enclosure from later has crossed my path. But there are gazillions of those older Peavey years out there still doing service.

 

[craig.p]

A 215 is constructed with MDF for cab back, baffle board, and separator plank. The cab sides are plywood. (Not sure about the top -- don't feel like yanking driver to find out.) How do I know this? I have the top half of a 215 sliced in two just below its mid point, i.e. separator board upwards. I converted it to sealed. Frickin' thing weighs a ton even empty. The original 2x15 weighed two tons. I bought it in the mid to late '70s. Wish I'd bought the D variant instead but the D was slightly more and I was broke at the time. I have a Peavey Pro 15 in it now, which does a credible job, especially at around seventy-five bucks, and I'd rate it somewhere between the original square-magnet job that came with the cab and a BW.

Last summer I heard, outdoors, a TNT combo with a BW, and it was able to get ungodly loud and stay clean at the same time. Impressive. Makes me think maybe I should stick a 1508sps into this Peavey box, except my Avatar B212 cabs each weigh less and could probably at least match its output, especially down low, so there'd be no point to the exercise.