Older Peavey TKO 115 - Scratchy speaker noise???

[Irish Luck]

Hey everyone,
Hope you're having a good Saturday night.

I wasn't looking to buy an amp, but was browsing Craigslist last night when I was bored and came across an older combo Peavey TKO 115 for $30! It has a 15" Scorpion in it, and I figured that alone was worth twice what I paid for the whole amp. And the amp is very clean!! It sure doesn't look as old as it is.

Too good to be true? I guess so.

It seemed ok when I was at the guys house and testing it. I did notice a very slight scratchy sound, but was faint. I chalked it up to a cord or dirty input jacks. It had that same sound to it. Much like when your jack on your bass is going bad, and when you move around it makes that sound. Plus. he lives in apartment so I had to keep the volume down.

So I got home and plugged in my P-Bass, turned it up...and noticed the speaker has a "scratchy" sound to it. It's not always present, but about 30-40 percent of the time I can hear it. I hooked the preamp out to my other Peavey 15" combo bass amp, and no scratchy sound at all. I plugged in headhones, no scratchy sound there either, it sounded nice and clean.

Does anyone have any ideas what this might be?
I hope the speaker isn't toasted.
I took the speaker magnet off and the foam was deteriorated in the middle (voice coil)? Bare with me, I don't have lots of experience with this. So I took a can of compressed air and carefully blew the little bits of foam out of the inside. I thought (well, I hoped) that was the problem. I put the magnet back on, re-attached the speaker to the cabinet, fired it up and it sounded the same.

Now I'm all ticked off that I bought a dud. I don't have much "fun" money and don't need another headache project-money-pit. I know, it was only $30. That should have been a *huge* red flag. At least the amp head works well. Running it to the other amp it sounded just fine. So I guess that answers my question...it is the speaker.

I guess I'm just hoping all you seasoned bassists can help a rookie out and offer some other solution to fix this. Maybe you've had this same issue and were able to do something rather than replace the entire speaker. That would cost me roughly over four times what I paid for the amp. I didn't plan on spending that much right now.

Guess I should have known better...$30 for a 75 watt Peavey USA made amp with a 15" Scorpion from Craigslist.
Well, I can look at the bright side. It was Craigslist, so at the very least...I've made a dangerous friend!

And if it is the speaker, do you guys have any affordable recommedations for a good sounding 15" 8 ohm replacement speaker that can handle 75 watts? I doubt I'll want to shell out for a Scorpion right now.

I don't leave the house much due to my back injury and live in a new town, so I have absolutely zero musician friends right now. The local music stores are a joke...little knowledge and way overpriced for repairs. (ask me about my last amp repair done a the local shop sometime, that's just a crazy story!) That's why I feel I have nobody to trust to fix this. After the last repair trainwreck, I just sent the amp chassis to Peavey, figuring they can fix it no problem....they *made* the amp! And they didn't even replace the part I sent it there to be replaced!!! And I was charged for it!! That's why I call myself "Irish Luck"
.... and that's when I learned how to solder, and did the repair myself. Quite well if I say so myself

Help/advice/even jokes at my expense are all welcomed and greatly appreciated!!!!!
Thanks guys, you've sure been an awesome and helpful group in the few days I've been a member here. I'm definitely going to learn a lot from you guys.

Have a great night!
I'm not going to, I'm in my "stressed-out-troubleshooting-mode". It's hard to snap out of until I figure out and/or fix the problem. I'm kicking myself for this bad purchase right now.

Sorry for the long post, I'm kinda bummed and frustrated.

 

[mmbongo]

Sounds like the speaker is toast. Voice coil is probably warped.

You can fix it, though.
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[Irish Luck]

Bummer....I had a feeling the speaker was toast.
With my luck, replacing the basket won't fix it. For another $25.00 I can get a whole new Scorpion.
Anyone have any opinions of the Peavey Sheffield speaker, or the Blue Marvel?
The Sheffield is quite a bit cheaper than the Scorpion is. This is the second Scorpion that went bad on me. The last one was a 12" in a Peavey Renown 212. Not a fan of the Scorpions anymore. They end up costing me more to replace than the amp is even worth.
I'd hate to put $127 into a speaker that goes into an amp I couldn't sell for that amount. That's just throwing good money after bad.
Bummer is i was saving for a nice used Hartke I saw at Guitar Center for $225, but decided I would go for this and save myself some money.
Oh well, no Hartke for me I guess....
The guy who sold it to me offered to let me return it. Super nice guy. I think I'll hang onto it and replace the speaker when I can afford to.

 

[mmbongo]

Bummer....I had a feeling the speaker was toast.
With my luck, replacing the basket won't fix it. For another $25.00 I can get a whole new Scorpion.
Anyone have any opinions of the Peavey Sheffield speaker, or the Blue Marvel?
The Sheffield is quite a bit cheaper than the Scorpion is. This is the second Scorpion that went bad on me. The last one was a 12" in a Peavey Renown 212. Not a fan of the Scorpions anymore. They end up costing me more to replace than the amp is even worth.
I'd hate to put $127 into a speaker that goes into an amp I couldn't sell for that amount. That's just throwing good money after bad.
Bummer is i was saving for a nice used Hartke I saw at Guitar Center for $225, but decided I would go for this and save myself some money.
Oh well, no Hartke for me I guess....
The guy who sold it to me offered to let me return it. Super nice guy. I think I'll hang onto it and replace the speaker when I can afford to.

I know the Blue Marvel is not a bass speaker, I don't think the Sheffield is either so neither of those would work.

 

[Paul Spacebass]

When you took the basket assembly off the magnet, did you clean the voice coil gab in the magnet? The foam bits get in there and then melt with the heat and age creating a black goop. This cause the speaker to hang up and crackle or distort. Use card stock, like 3x5 cards and some nail polish remover to get that gunk out. Worked for me on my Black Widow 18"s.

 

[Irish Luck]

I know the Blue Marvel is not a bass speaker, I don't think the Sheffield is either so neither of those would work.

mmmbongo - Actually, according to Peavey's own Speaker Reference Chart, the Blue Marvel is a bass speaker, and made for the TKO 115.

(see attachment) You ar right, the Sheffield is not. My mistake.
So my choices for a Peavey speaker, in order of price, (highest to lowesr) are a Black Widow, Scorpion, and a Blue Marvel.
Anyone use a Blue Marvel and can compare to the Black Widow and/or Scorpion?

When you took the basket assembly off the magnet, did you clean the voice coil gab in the magnet? The foam bits get in there and then melt with the heat and age creating a black goop. This cause the speaker to hang up and crackle or distort. Use card stock, like 3x5 cards and some nail polish remover to get that gunk out. Worked for me on my Black Widow 18"s.

Paul Spacebass - No, I didn't clean it that well. I just blew some compressed air into the gap. I wasn't aware it gets goopy in there. I'm going to try it right now!! I really hope it works! Thank you very much for that tip!!! I'm crossing my fingers.

 

[mmbongo]

mmmbongo - Actually, according to Peavey's own Speaker Reference Chart, the Blue Marvel is a bass speaker, and made for the TKO 115.View attachment 821362
(see attachment) You ar right, the Sheffield is not. My mistake.
So my choices for a Peavey speaker, in order of price, (highest to lowesr) are a Black Widow, Scorpion, and a Blue Marvel.
Anyone use a Blue Marvel and can compare to the Black Widow and/or Scorpion?


.

It can probably work, but there's a difference in 'designed for bass' and 'it will work'. My Peavey Delta Blues has a 15" Blue Marvel and it's most definitely not a bass speaker, but more kind of a 'jack of all trades' speaker. Heck, give it a try to see if it works!

EDIT! Well I guess it depends on which Blue Marvel you get. The one on their website currently would do fantastic. It's a nice looking speaker for bass.
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However, that's not the Blue Marvel 15 I know. You do not want the Blue Marvel that looks like this:

 

[T_Bone_TL]

I'd also consider rotating the speaker 180 degrees when you replace it after the next time you clean the gap (ie, more or less right now, if you are in fact cleaning it again. Just in case suspension sag has anything to do with it. Also look for shiny spots on the coil, and out-or-roundness of the coil when you have it apart. A gentle squeeze at 90 degrees to the shiny spots (or on the long axis if it's visibly/measurably oval) could help if the alternative is junking the speaker.

Around here, you can pick up 15" peaveys for $100 on a regular basis, some with scorpions, some with BWs. i.e. less than a new speaker. Mind, most will be 4 ohm.

My TNT with Scorpion was $80 a few years ago. There's some nutjob trying to get 150 for one, but he/she's been trying a while now (might have started at $200, I forget.) There's a KB300 for $100 out there and various other things go by. Key word, go by - I'm not acquiring what I don't need, but I cast a glance in case anything TGTBT wanders by. Or I suppose you could resell it for $30 to someone punker than you, looking for that dying speaker scratchy sound, or a project. For $30, the amp and cabinet are worth it. Got some other dreamer flogging a bare cabinet for $50 around here...

 

[Irish Luck]

Thank you for your reply mmbongo. Nice amp! How do you like that Delta Blues? I've heard good things about it.

I truly appreciate any info I can get about which speaker would be best for the money.

I like the amp a lot, so if the most expensive Black Widow would be best, I'll save for it. I don't want to pinch pennies if I'm going to get a brand new speaker for an amp I'm going to use a lot and plan on keeping for a long, long, long time.
But if the Black Widow is overkill for a 75 watt combo amp, i would rather go with another speaker. I'm thinking he Scorpion would be the best for it. I'm curious about the Blue Marvel though. But would be pretty bummed if I got that to save a few bucks and then just didn't care for it. I know I like Scorpions, so maybe just go with what I know?
I have had a few Peavey 2x12 combo amps. I had a Heritage with Black Widows, and thought they sounded great, but were a bit overkill for that amp. Now I have a similar amp, a Renown 400 2x12, and it has Scorpions. I think those are perfect for it. And it saves my back, those Black Widow magnets are incredibly heavy!!!
It's not like you can test the speakers with your amp and your bass and return them if you don't like 'em.

The amp is definitely a keeper for me. I've been cleaning it up and giving it lots of TLC....welcoming it to my little home studio.

Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[Irish Luck]

T_Bone_TL - You replied while I was writing the last post.
What exactly do you mean by "A gentle squeeze at 90 degrees to the shiny spots could help"?
That's a good idea looking for a replacement used.
There's been an 18" Black Widow on cl for $100. Been listed for months and months. Maybe I'll get lucky and find a 15" in good shape.
Ya, I think I got a great deal on the amp and cab for $30. And someday (hopefully soon) it will have a new speaker in it and be an awesome amp for me.
Thanks!!!

 

[T_Bone_TL]

T_Bone_TL - You replied while I was writing the last post.
What exactly do you mean by "A gentle squeeze at 90 degrees to the shiny spots could help"?
That's a good idea looking for a replacement used.

IF the voice coil is showing shiny spots where it's been rubbing the magnet (it might not) those are presumably the high points - so I'm darned if I know why I said at 90 degrees to, actually - the squeeze would be right on them. Old brain fart, I'd better be careful or they'll put me in the GOF club. But I'm not particularly grumpy ATM.

Used replacements will generally come complete with the whole rest of an amp. Once someone else has the brilliant idea to part it out, the prices go up on the parts. The deal is in getting this big heavy thing that reminds someone they never practiced enough to be good the heck out of their house, or the second/old amp out of the GF/Wife's sight before (or after) she says "why do you have TWO of those things!", or the like.

 

[DaveKirkpatrick]

Hey- one other thing to check. I had a peavey combo that had some odd speaker distortion occasionally. It ended up being the solder less connectors on the speaker wire at the base of the amp needing a squeeze from a pair of pliers. Not sure if this combo has the same connectors but it should be easy to check out/try. Good Luck!

 

[Irish Luck]

Well, turns out it wasn't the speaker after all!
I plugged in my bass and turned it on, and it sounded perfect. So I thought I fixed the speaker, and was really stoked!!!

Then today, I plugged in and fired it up and there was no sound at all. So I turned the pre-gain knob up and then at about the 3:00 position sound suddenly came on. So I played it for only a few minutes and the scratchy sound came back! I would wiggle the knob and the scratchy noise would dissapear. So apparantly it's the pot making that noise.

Has anyone had any experience with this? Is the pot broken, or is there a way to clean it?
I have some soldering skills, but have heard these pots are mounted to the board and hard to do. All sorts of problems can happen doing the repair. And I don't want to ruin the amp. I've read and read all sorts of stories online about people trying to do the repair and causing other issues...like wires coming loose when assembling or re-assembling the board. People burning the board who have limited experience with PCB soldeing (like me) and just doing the pot repair, and the amp just doesn't even turn on anymore.

So I guess I should take it to a tech?
Just replacing two pots will most likely exceed the value of the amp.
I'm thinking of trying it myself, but I don't know if I can without damaging it more.

Help please? I've been going crazy trying to get this thing working!!!!
and if anyone here lives in he Sacramento area could recommend an honest, quality amp tech I would really appreicate it!!
I've been burned bad by amp "repairmen" in the past. Even Peavey burned me bad! I sent in my amp chassis for my guitar amp to the Peavey factory after a local amp tech charged me $150 and didn't fix anything...and to top it off, he retuned my perfectly working footswitch in pieces in a paper bag! All that just to have the footswitch DIN input jack replaced. Peavey sent it back and charged me for it, but didn't replace the part!!!!
I've since learned to solder, and I did the DIN input jack repair myself, itwas easy. But changing a pot soldered to the PCB frightens me a bit. I'm not that experienced soldering yet.
Thanks for any help guys! You've been awesome so far!!!!!!

 

[T_Bone_TL]

is there a way to clean it?

DeOxit is the usual recommended product. Someone with more practical experience of the stuff may recommend a "color" of the stuff. I thought there was red and gold and "faderlube", but what I see on their site is "D-series" (perhaps the old red) and several flavors of "gold" and a "sheild" and "fader F-series" and "Fader grease."

Using DeoxIT.......

I have an old can of Radio-Schlock "TV tuner cleaner" that I was going to use on my scratchy pots, but have held off on doing so, thinking perhaps I should spend the money for "the right stuff."

Also - does that amp have an effects return/power amp in? If so, you can sort the question of speaker (or speaker connector) involvement for certain by plugging in from another amp's preamp out.

Using DeoxIT.......

 

[Irish Luck]

I've read about DeOxit. I want to try it.
It's one of those ongoing debates, like Fender vs Gibson, AR vs AK, etc.
I read for hours online and couldn't seem to find a definitive answer. Some people said use regular DeOxit. Some said not to, that it will damage the carbon in the pots. Some say use it, but it has no lubricant, so follow up with FaderLube....while others say the regular DeOxit says it has lubricant in it right on the can, and you don't need FaderLube. Then othes say use DeOxit Gold.
And I have a Guitar maintence book that came with a dvd, and he's spraying regular DeOxit into the pots of a Les Paul.
I'm lost here....so many opinions.....who's correct?

 

[Ken R]

For me, I use the regular DeOxit. Never had a problem. Volume and tone pots, switches,output jacks on basses, volume, tone eq pots, sliders, switches input jacks, on amps. Spray it, twist it, turn it, switch it, slide it. Wipe up excess.
YMMV
Just unplug the amp from the wall first!

Ken R

 

[Ken R]

Irish,
FWIW, I had a Peavey Black Widow speaker do what you thought your Scorpion was doing. I removed the magnet, put masking tape on a business card, sticky side out, and slid it into the voice coil gap in the magnet. Slid it around the slot a few times. Replaced the tape and did it a few more times till the tape stayed clean. Then I sprayed contact cleaner into the slot in the magnet. A lot of it, all around the slot, the little red straw that comes with the can will get deep into the slot. The amount ot old foam and sticky, gooey crap that came out was amazing. Then repeat the masking tape trick again till clean. Re-assemble the magnet onto the basket. No more scratchy noise with mine. 3 years later, still good!

 

[fourteenstrings]

Moot point now since the OP determined the problem was not the speaker, but for the record, there have been Sheffield speakers for bass amps. They were installed on the TKO 115S and TNT 115S. Here's a picture I found on the web as an example. I'm not sure if a person could get a true OEM Sheffield bass speaker replacement now - I don't see them listed on the Peavey site. An authorized Peavey dealer would know. I used to have two TNT 115S combos, and I personally liked their tone.

 

[Irish Luck]

Thanks guys!
Ken - So you use the regular DeOxit? Is that the red can? I forget what they called it, I just saw it at Fry's, but didn't get it because it's costly. Which I don't mind, since I've heard so many great things about it....but wanted to make sure I got the right kind. I believe they had three. That one, the Gold version, and Fader Lube. You don't use the Fader Lube as a follow up? Just the DeOxit "regular version"? That's what the guy in the guitar maintence dvd used, with no Fader Lube.
I'm going to do a full cleaning on that speaker even though that wasn't the problem. If I don't do it, it will be a problem soon. When I took it apart there was plenty of sticky foam. I blew it out with compressed air, but didn't clean the gap.
I remember having Black Widows on my old Heritage 2x12, and that magnet is HEAVY!!! It was tough to make sure I lined the gap up with the voice coil, or SMASH!!! That voice coil wouled turn to tin foil under the weight of that BW magnet.

fourteenstrings - Thanks for that. I knew there were Sheffield equipped TKOs made. Yours is a bit newer than mine. When I ordered the pots from Peavey the other day, we had to pin down exactly which pots they were. So I had to give customer service my serial number, and she said it was a '92. Yep 1992! I think I got my first Peavey 2x12 in '92. Ahhh, to be 21 again! Many beers were spilled on that amp. And those old 2x12s are LOUD!! Never got the volume past 4 or 5. Didn't want to break all the windows. I have an old TNT 115 too. Couldn't pass that up, in perfect shape for $40. I like the tone of all those old Peaveys. I think they're underrated. But I'm not a tone snob....yet. Amazing that the TNT115 is so big and so heavy and it's only 45 watts. It's a huge practice amp, but it does move some air. I have a Hartke B30 (30 watts) that's 1/3 the size and 1/10th the weight. Apples and oranges though. I dig em both.

Thanks for your replies guys! Have a great weekend!

"It ain't heavy....it's just my Peavey!"

 

[Ken R]

Yep, the everyday basic stuff. DeOxit. Regular stuff, not gold, not Fader lube.