Help! Vintage Peavey/Trace Elliot gear

[Ostie]

Century was my first non-tube amp back in the early 89s. I had it for 25 years and it was still going strong when I sold it. I sometimes used it for a monitor amp.

 

[6thplanet]

So did you actually play the Trace through the cab or literally as soon as you powered it on the speaker burnt up?

 

[AudioTaper]

If you just want to repair the cabinet back to OEM specs, I would just replace the BW basket assembly. Just make sure you get the right one.

It's pretty easy, there are 3 bolts securing the hanger to the frame, you can see them in post #19. (Even though those are Scorpion speakers shown in his post, note the squared off frame)

If you are going to attempt this, make sure the voice coil gap is clear of debris. These older BW assemblies had a vent with a piece of foam to act as a dust filter. After 42 years, the foam has probably either come loose of disintegrated. It's an absolute pain to clean out and depending on how bad it is I may not trust its clean enough to use again.

Also, depending on your climate, some of the plating on the magnet may have turned to yellow dust. If it's not too bad (you can still see the silver plating) you can clean it off. I think we used to use higher purity isopropyl. If its thick, I would hesitate reusing it. It's just going to get worse.

Heres an ebay link to a 1505-8 KADT (not affiliated with the seller) they even have a how-to video.
Peavey 1505-8 KADT SF Black Widow Replacement Basket for 150-8 KADT BW SP, New! | eBay

I cant remember offhand if that part number is 100% interchangeable with yours. Peavey should have a compatibility list.

 

[J Wilson]

Same problem with 1/4" -- lots of people using guitar leads to connect amps to speakers.

I vaguely remember some high end companies using XLRs in their basses too in the 80s -- I think maybe Wal or Alembic ?

Alembic uses a five pin XLR cable between the bass and the off board power supply that passes signal out of the box to the amp or preamp on Series basses.

 

[Andy Jones]

I assume you're in the UK?

Riis

I am in the UK yes.

Were either of these amps ON when this speaker plugging, and unplugging occurred?

Nope! Made sure to turn everything off first when switching between the two.

I'll throw in an additional wrinkle (sorry) - I also have an older (late 70s/early 80s) Peavey 1x15" cab rated at 4 ohms. I believe it has a Scorpion driver in it. Yours may have one as well. Scorpions look like this -
View attachment 4929685

Also the Century is a pretty sweet head. I bet yours sounds awesome.

It's definitely neither a Black Widow or Scorpion that's in there at the moment and is the problem. It's Peavey but unbranded/serial numbered, I assume it was just the stock one at the time. And has a square magnet back rather than the round ones.

So did you actually play the Trace through the cab or literally as soon as you powered it on the speaker burnt up?

I played it at 1-2 volume for about 15 seconds and that's when the smell came and the sound whimpered to a crackle.

If you just want to repair the cabinet back to OEM specs, I would just replace the BW basket assembly. Just make sure you get the right one.

It's pretty easy, there are 3 bolts securing the hanger to the frame, you can see them in post #19. (Even though those are Scorpion speakers shown in his post, note the squared off frame)

If you are going to attempt this, make sure the voice coil gap is clear of debris. These older BW assemblies had a vent with a piece of foam to act as a dust filter. After 42 years, the foam has probably either come loose of disintegrated. It's an absolute pain to clean out and depending on how bad it is I may not trust its clean enough to use again.

Also, depending on your climate, some of the plating on the magnet may have turned to yellow dust. If it's not too bad (you can still see the silver plating) you can clean it off. I think we used to use higher purity isopropyl. If its thick, I would hesitate reusing it. It's just going to get worse.

Heres an ebay link to a 1505-8 KADT (not affiliated with the seller) they even have a how-to video.
Peavey 1505-8 KADT SF Black Widow Replacement Basket for 150-8 KADT BW SP, New! | eBay

I cant remember offhand if that part number is 100% interchangeable with yours. Peavey should have a compatibility list.

Thanks, though the original speaker was neither a black widow nor scoprion. Unless as stock with the cab they just didn't brand them at the time.

I'm looking at a second hand Black Widow speaker rated to these specs: Impedance: 8 Ohms Power capacity: 1400 W Peak 700 W Program 350 W Continuous Sensitivity: 99.0 dB / 1 W 1 m Usable freq. range: 40 Hz ~ 2 kHz - however I'm just wanting to know if I can drop this straight into the existing cab shell with no issues, but as previously mentioned in the thread it may not be that simple in terms of the cab shells tuning. Hoping Peavy come back with an answer for that.


Thanks for all the help all, I love the gear but my understanding of the inner workings of them leaves a little to be desired!

 

[Redbrangus]

Measure the cab to determine the internal volume and measure the dimensions of any ports, including the depth of any ducts, if present. Then report back here with that data and probably someone will help you out. It's not as if anyone can figure out if something is going to work based only on the description of "a vintage (late 70's) Peavey 115 Bass Enclosure Cab". And technically, you really need to know exactly which version of BW driver you're considering -- there were several variations.

Or... just do it...drop a BW in the box and go. It will be close enough. It's not as if a late-'70's era Peavey cab was a highly engineered device to begin with. It sounds as if it would almost have to be better than what you have now.

 

[agedhorse]

I don’t think that’s the right BW driver for bass guitar, it’s going to be very dark.

 

[eddybuzzard]

I am in the UK yes, Leeds. And my repair guy is MAC AMP, has always been brilliant if anyone's in the area and needs a recommendation.



Nope! Made sure to turn everything off first when switching between the two.



It's definitely neither a Black Widow or Scorpion that's in there at the moment and is the problem. It's Peavey but unbranded/serial numbered, I assume it was just the stock one at the time. And has a square magnet back rather than the round ones.



I played it at 1-2 volume for about 15 seconds and that's when the smell came and the sound whimpered to a crackle.



Thanks, though the original speaker was neither a black widow nor scoprion. Unless as stock with the cab they just didn't brand them at the time.

I'm looking at a second hand Black Widow speaker rated to these specs: Impedance: 8 Ohms Power capacity: 1400 W Peak 700 W Program 350 W Continuous Sensitivity: 99.0 dB / 1 W 1 m Usable freq. range: 40 Hz ~ 2 kHz - however I'm just wanting to know if I can drop this straight into the existing cab shell with no issues, but as previously mentioned in the thread it may not be that simple in terms of the cab shells tuning. Hoping Peavy come back with an answer for that.


Thanks for all the help all, I love the gear but my understanding of the inner workings of them leaves a little to be desired!

If I were replacing the speaker, I would get the Trace amp checked out too, anyway,
before possibly blowing the new speaker.

EDIT-Peavey's CS has always been very good in the past, I'm not sure about presently, but you might get better service by phone, rather than by email.

 

[AudioTaper]

I am in the UK yes.



Nope! Made sure to turn everything off first when switching between the two.



It's definitely neither a Black Widow or Scorpion that's in there at the moment and is the problem. It's Peavey but unbranded/serial numbered, I assume it was just the stock one at the time. And has a square magnet back rather than the round ones.



I played it at 1-2 volume for about 15 seconds and that's when the smell came and the sound whimpered to a crackle.



Thanks, though the original speaker was neither a black widow nor scoprion. Unless as stock with the cab they just didn't brand them at the time.

I'm looking at a second hand Black Widow speaker rated to these specs: Impedance: 8 Ohms Power capacity: 1400 W Peak 700 W Program 350 W Continuous Sensitivity: 99.0 dB / 1 W 1 m Usable freq. range: 40 Hz ~ 2 kHz - however I'm just wanting to know if I can drop this straight into the existing cab shell with no issues, but as previously mentioned in the thread it may not be that simple in terms of the cab shells tuning. Hoping Peavy come back with an answer for that.


Thanks for all the help all, I love the gear but my understanding of the inner workings of them leaves a little to be desired!

What part number BW is it? There are different parts for bass and PA subs

 

[definenredefine]

It's definitely neither a Black Widow or Scorpion that's in there at the moment and is the problem. It's Peavey but unbranded/serial numbered, I assume it was just the stock one at the time. And has a square magnet back rather than the round ones.

Oh. That's unexpected.

 

[InkCow]

XLR speaker cables were actually a thing for a while back in the day. Even early Ampeg SVTs used similar 4-pin speaker connectors. The extra two pins were used as a safety interlock with the SVT. This was to prevent the amp from being set to operate without a speaker connected.

View attachment 4929440

I believe the XLR plugs are a bit better than 1/4", but using the same connectors as mic cables probably led to a few unfortunate accidents.

I could not find a schematic for the AH250 with an XLR.

The V-Types use this configuration:
Pins 3 and 2 are tied together and carry the signal. Pin 1 is ground.

V8 on left. V4 and V6 on right.
View attachment 4929457

It occurred to me tonight when I was playing with it, that my Carvin V210T has XLR input and daisy chain jacks on it. They were still accommodating this in the mid-90s!

 

[Wasnex]

They were still accommodating this in the mid-90s!

Trace Elliot made amps and cabs that used XLR speaker cables into at least the early 2000s.

 

[Heavy Blue]

Ask any gearhead about British electrics of that era…

Lucas...the Prince of Darkness. Need I say more?

 

[InkCow]

Trace Elliot made amps and cabs that used XLR speaker cables into at least the early 2000s.

Today I learned!

 

[Wisebass]

While we're talking UK Trace, can someone explain to me how they used XLR connectors on speaker cables, and moreover, WHY?

Because all European companies did it at that time! (and this includes P.A.!!!),

Amp or mic to P.A mixer, Mixer to P.A. amp, P.A. amp to cab(s), cab to cab

= all XLR!!!!

Some had both (1/4" and XLR) to connect older cabs to newer amps or vice versa

Having all sorts of adapters and different combinations (XLR female and male) was and is a must over here!

Trace Elliot made amps and cabs that used XLR speaker cables into at least the early 2000s.

They only stopped that when speakons became a thing.

Speakons are great!

Added a bunch of adapters which are a must have to the game!

Speakon to male XLR and Speakon to fem XLR...



greetings

Wise

 

[agedhorse]

There was a lot of equipment damaged by careless plugging in of the wrong cables during setups.