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Mold on speakers under normal conditions possible? What to do?

fendersurfer

fendersurfer

Guest
Apr 10, 2013
80
1
#1
Dear bass community and everyone owning/using a cabinet with amp.
After summer-break (around 3 weeks) I found my 4x10" cabinet speakers covered with mysterious coat. Small flat grey spots mostly on the middle of the speakers. My 15" on which the 4x10" is standing has nothing. Only 3 of the 4 had this coat on it. One 10" had a paper with distortion settings pinned in front, so maybe that held of the "whatever" was on the speakers.
On the first look I said "mold", but maybe it could be dust? Or other things in the air that settle in summer-break? The cellar is kind of dry, even compared to a normal living room, the band takes care of it as they love their equipment.
So what do you think? Could it really be mold? Dust? Or maybe room freshener spray that settled on the poor bassists gear while others have cloth-covers on their speakers while I have grills?

My reaction was to blow it of with air-pressure-spray, didn't help. Then I carefully used papercloth with chlorine-solution and wiped it of. We even had a hairdryer, so I used that too afterwards. From now on I have a blanket to cover up.
 
#3
We have a dehumidifier, that runs a lot, even a small window to open, wenn not performing.
I guess, the non-moving air was a bit of a problem. No people in the room for some days.
I don't know why the 10" cone with the paper over the grill did't show the spots.
Same with the 15" above -and I'm glad about that, because the 15" is a lot younger than the 4x10 cab-.
So maybe no blanket over the cabinets?
I compare with the drummer and his set, he covers his equipment with a blanket. And the drumset is quite expensive and has a lot of wood on it.
 
#6
No sun in Germany for the next 6 months. ;-) But thats a good idea.
The "splashed-theory" is something our singer suggested, too. (Especially because the one cone with the paper clipped in front of it showed significantly less "mold".) And then the singer never opened his mouth again, cause the band used air freshener spray to get a better smell in our rehearsal room. I told him "You didn't spray the equipment, did you?!" I wasn't there when they sprayed around. Still don't completely believe it's mold, but who knows.

Maybe buy a specially designed cover from the cabinet manufacturer? They might know, how to cover up best?!
 
#7
Just asked a experienced painter specialized in removing mold in rooms and so on. He said UV is good, if you have some. Chlorine also removes, also do all fruit acids.
Will try to find some sun and also use the blanket because band members like to spray around. ;-) At least my 15" survived and maybe I can keep my 4x10" alive for some years.
As a friend of mine told me, their guitar player has a 4x12" that came with mold as it's from the 80's bought in England and sounds great. Maybe he just wanted to cheer me up.
 
#8
Open up the cab a take it outside on dry sunny days.
Check room humidity and use a dehumidifier as needed.
Usually a heat pump or A/C pulls enough moisture out of the air, but not always.
 
#9
It's the singers fault.

Make him stand holding the cabinet above his head, cones pointed towards the sun, for 6 consecutive days while chanting "Bass is good. Bass is good".

On the seventh day, he can rest with the rest of you.
 
#10
Sounds more like overspray chemical reaction rather than mold. Mold usually creeps from the bottom up, from the source of humidity, which is usually the ground, a baseboard, etc. This is top-down, with nothing under the driver that had the paper pinned in front of it. I'm wondering if whatever was sprayed in the room reacted with the speaker cones.

What are the speaker cones: traditional treated paper, Hartke aluminum, some other composite?
 
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#11
It's traditional paper. Standard ones.
And there was more "mold" on the round covers that are above the magnets (the ones that kids love to stick their fingers in), which on my cabinet has pores, so the air can pump I think. Of course there was also dust an the edges of the cones (bottom part). Sadly I didn't make pictures beforehands, was so busy wiping with chlorine and face-mask/rubbercloves. :-D
Airpressure-spray didn't help and the crazy thing is, that under one 10" (that was kind of covered with a paper-sheet over the grill) was no dust/mold. And on the 15" nothing, thank god.
Blanket now for a week, next rehearsal today, fingers crossed.
 

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