Peavey 1820

[Jared Houseman]

I've read past threads on this cab but the results were mixed.

Long story short, I need a rig for marching band season coming up. I'm not willing to use any of my current gear because i know what ever i use is going to take a beating. I'll have good pa support but i need something for personal monitoring.

I found Peavey 1820 cab on Facebook that I'm considering if i can talk the guy down to $100 or less. I have a 100 watt pa head I'm planing to use as my amp. I am not worried about the weight. The guy says "there is some distortion coming from the 18"

My questions are
-Is there a large risk of blowing that 18 if it's already damaged?
-Will 100 watts in this cab even be usable?
-Am i wasting my time and money?

My other option is a fender keyboard 60 that the school already has(60 watt, 12in) but I'm worried it will be too quite to deal with the drummer and rack cymbals.

If i go with the peavey, ill use it for the season then try to sell it and hopefully make most of my money back.

What do you think TB? (sorry for the long post)

 

[byacey]

You're going to use that rig for a marching band? How many extension cords is that going to take?

 

[Jared Houseman]

You're going to use that rig for a marching band? How many extension cords is that going to take?

We have a good generator we have pretty nice sound system that we got a few years ago, but it doesn't help me lol.

 

[BassmanPaul]

That cabinet is up there in my most hated list. I wouldn't want it even in a practice room let alone buy one.

 

[arbiterusa]

The 18 is blown. Don't buy it.

A hundred watts driving an unblown version of this would do just fine. But this one is blown. So move on.

 

[Spaghetti Lee]

The 18 isn't "blown." Read below.

BTW, I love that cab. It's a midrange beast. If you like a generic modern hi-fi invisible "everything has to be set at 12 noon!!!" tone this cab isn't for you. BTW, you won't break it.

The distortion from the 18 is easy to fix. In that era, Peavey used foam inserts on the vent on the back of the magnet on the Black Widows. This foam disintegrates and must be removed; it just lifts out or just vacuum it out. The remnants get stuck between the voice coil and magnet gap. Easy to clean with alcohol and masking tape. The baskets unscrew from the magnets and it takes about 15 minutes to make them like new.

The drivers are quite heavy and attached with two cables, simply remove all the surrounding screws from the speaker and lay the driver on a flat surface clean of particulate. I found that laying it down on my legs while all my tools were within arms reach works best, as it allows for good access and I didn't damage the cone so, all is well!

Remove the Magnet

This is where the problem lies, the grill has foam that degrades, clean whatever foam may be left from the grill before doing anything else as the problem could reoccur.

Removing the Magnet:

The magnet is the heaviest part of the driver, remove the three allen bolts with an allen wrench. Then twist the magnet to unseat it and lift directly up to pull it off of the coil. The bolts may be difficult to remove, but be patient and unthread them all the way and remove them and place them where they won't be attracted to the magnet. It would be catastrophic (although unlikely) if the bolts were to be attracted THROUGH the cone. You've been warned. The same goes for all of the other bolts in the build.

Cleaning:

I used an exacto knife alternately with rolled masking tape into the magnet to clean out the gunk, but you can use whatever makes sense for you. Then, vacuum out the loose particulate. It would be stupid to just let it sit, and it's difficult to shake it out.

Next, Clean the Coil

As you can see, there is a substance on the inside of the coil. I used 91% alcohol to get it off. But, if it is really stuck, you can carefully use an exacto knife to remove it...but this is not usually necessary.

I have run into matter on the outside of the coil as well. If there is gunk on the outside DO NOT USE A KNIFE TO REMOVE IT! YOU COULD PERMANENTLY RENDER THE SPEAKER DYSFUNCTIONAL. Just be careful! Use alcohol for the outside, do not use acetone as it could remove the coating on the coil and damage it as well!

Now follow the steps backward to reassemble.

Another thing...on these old Black Widows, they are extremely efficient because the voice coil gap is very narrow compared to newer versions. But, the narrow gap can lead to rubbing of the voice coil against the gap. But, if this happens, when reassembling simply rotate the basket on the magnet until you feel no rubbing and then tighten the basket down in that position with the three allen bolts.

 

[Jared Houseman]

The 18 isn't "blown." Read below.

BTW, I love that cab. It's a midrange beast. If you like a generic modern hi-fi invisible "everything has to be set at 12 noon!!!" tone this cab isn't for you. BTW, you won't break it.

The distortion from the 18 is easy to fix. In that era, Peavey used foam inserts on the vent on the back of the magnet on the Black Widows. This foam disintegrates and must be removed; it just lifts out or just vacuum it out. The remnants get stuck between the voice coil and magnet gap. Easy to clean with alcohol and masking tape. The baskets unscrew from the magnets and it takes about 15 minutes to make them like new.

The drivers are quite heavy and attached with two cables, simply remove all the surrounding screws from the speaker and lay the driver on a flat surface clean of particulate. I found that laying it down on my legs while all my tools were within arms reach works best, as it allows for good access and I didn't damage the cone so, all is well!

Remove the Magnet
View attachment 3826392
View attachment 3826393
View attachment 3826394
View attachment 3826395
This is where the problem lies, the grill has foam that degrades, clean whatever foam may be left from the grill before doing anything else as the problem could reoccur.

Removing the Magnet:

The magnet is the heaviest part of the driver, remove the three allen bolts with an allen wrench. Then twist the magnet to unseat it and lift directly up to pull it off of the coil. The bolts may be difficult to remove, but be patient and unthread them all the way and remove them and place them where they won't be attracted to the magnet. It would be catastrophic (although unlikely) if the bolts were to be attracted THROUGH the cone. You've been warned. The same goes for all of the other bolts in the build.

Cleaning:

I used an exacto knife alternately with rolled masking tape into the magnet to clean out the gunk, but you can use whatever makes sense for you. Then, vacuum out the loose particulate. It would be stupid to just let it sit, and it's difficult to shake it out.

Next, Clean the Coil
View attachment 3826396
View attachment 3826397
View attachment 3826398
As you can see, there is a substance on the inside of the coil. I used 91% alcohol to get it off.

I have run into matter on the outside of the coil as well. If there is gunk on the outside DO NOT USE A KNIFE TO REMOVE IT! YOU COULD PERMINANTLY RENDER THE SPEAKER DYSFUNCTIONAL. Just be careful! Use alcohol for the outside, do not use acetone as it could remove the coating on the coil and damage it as well!

Now follow the steps backward to reassemble. And you're all done, get back to enjoying your listening experience!

Thanks

 

[Jared Houseman]

Thanks

The 18 isn't "blown." Read below.

BTW, I love that cab. It's a midrange beast. If you like a generic modern hi-fi invisible "everything has to be set at 12 noon!!!" tone this cab isn't for you. BTW, you won't break it.

The distortion from the 18 is easy to fix. In that era, Peavey used foam inserts on the vent on the back of the magnet on the Black Widows. This foam disintegrates and must be removed; it just lifts out or just vacuum it out. The remnants get stuck between the voice coil and magnet gap. Easy to clean with alcohol and masking tape. The baskets unscrew from the magnets and it takes about 15 minutes to make them like new.

The drivers are quite heavy and attached with two cables, simply remove all the surrounding screws from the speaker and lay the driver on a flat surface clean of particulate. I found that laying it down on my legs while all my tools were within arms reach works best, as it allows for good access and I didn't damage the cone so, all is well!

Remove the Magnet
View attachment 3826392
View attachment 3826393
View attachment 3826394
View attachment 3826395
This is where the problem lies, the grill has foam that degrades, clean whatever foam may be left from the grill before doing anything else as the problem could reoccur.

Removing the Magnet:

The magnet is the heaviest part of the driver, remove the three allen bolts with an allen wrench. Then twist the magnet to unseat it and lift directly up to pull it off of the coil. The bolts may be difficult to remove, but be patient and unthread them all the way and remove them and place them where they won't be attracted to the magnet. It would be catastrophic (although unlikely) if the bolts were to be attracted THROUGH the cone. You've been warned. The same goes for all of the other bolts in the build.

Cleaning:

I used an exacto knife alternately with rolled masking tape into the magnet to clean out the gunk, but you can use whatever makes sense for you. Then, vacuum out the loose particulate. It would be stupid to just let it sit, and it's difficult to shake it out.

Next, Clean the Coil
View attachment 3826396
View attachment 3826397
View attachment 3826398
As you can see, there is a substance on the inside of the coil. I used 91% alcohol to get it off.

I have run into matter on the outside of the coil as well. If there is gunk on the outside DO NOT USE A KNIFE TO REMOVE IT! YOU COULD PERMINANTLY RENDER THE SPEAKER DYSFUNCTIONAL. Just be careful! Use alcohol for the outside, do not use acetone as it could remove the coating on the coil and damage it as well!

Now follow the steps backward to reassemble. And you're all done, get back to enjoying your listening experience!

If I get a chance to try the cab out is there anyway to determine that this is the issue and not some other problem?

 

[Spaghetti Lee]

If I get a chance to try the cab out is there anyway to determine that this is the issue and not some other problem?

Yes, if the Black Widow makes sound it is not "blown." If it makes no sound then it is dead/blown.

I've never seen another problem cause this distortion on a Black Widow except on some 45 year old early 70's 12" examples where the glue that holds the surround on fails. But, this is rare and by the 80's when the 1820 was made that problem was gone.

The crossover on the back of the cab will be OK, and you can biamp this cabinet and run the 10's direct as well as the 18 if you wish. Just don't overpower the 10's if you biamp. But, biamping is a relic of the 80's, no one does it anymore.

Even if the 18 was "blown" you can buy a new basket for the magnet for little money. That's why Black Widows were so popular.

 

[Jared Houseman]

Yes, if the Black Widow makes sound it is not "blown." If it makes no sound then it is dead/blown.

I've never seen another problem cause this distortion on a Black Widow except on some 45 year old early 70's 12" examples where the glue that holds the surround on fails. But, this is rare and by the 80's when the 1820 was made that problem was gone.

The crossover on the back of the cab will be OK, and you can biamp this cabinet and run the 10's direct as well as the 18 if you wish. Just don't overpower the 10's if you biamp. But, biamping is a relic of the 80's, no one does it anymore.

Even if the 18 was "blown" you can buy a new basket for the magnet for little money. That's why Black Widows were so popular.

Thanks for all your help!