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Replacement speakers for SWR Baby Blue II

thejumpcat

thejumpcat

thejumpcat
Sep 30, 2007
719
58
66
metro-Detroit
www.2stonesevents.com
#1
I read several previous threads, but they were a little old. Just wondering if any different ideas have popped up since the Eminence and Dayton suggestions.

I'll probably contact Don at LDS about his long throws.

I played a gig that got too loud for this amp last Saturday. Now one speaker doesn't work; the other 8" makes a fuzzy sound and the tweeter might be shot too! I'm so pissed at myself because I love this amp. (Next time, I will just set the bass down and go have a beer while the rest of the band blows their brains out.)

The 8s are the original Celestion BG8-60 and the 5" tweeter is a Bag End E-5S.
 
#3
Bag End now offers a 5" that is a replacement for the E5-S. It's a tight fit in the BB box (slightly larger basket) and it has extended highs that lets more hiss through :(

It cost me about $100 as I recall.

The 8" woofers are the real problem. SWR did have Eminence design a replacement for the Celestions, no idea if they have any left (or recone kits) at this point.
 
#6
the run of celestions that were in my year, don't remember what year, died easy. so did the bag end mid. i used a bose mid and 2 beta 8's. upped the power handling and sounded unbelievable. i never should have sold it. the guy that bought it actually specified in his want ad "wanted baby blue II with emeinence speakers".
 
#8
Mine BBII was a later model; I never had trouble with the speeks, but I never pushed it too dang hard as I'd read they were fragile-ish.
I already had an LDs 2x8+5" mid cab I used under it sometimes, and I liked the way it sounded, so, I pulled all the guts out of the BBII, and put LDS supplied parts in there. I think they were all B&C. Good stuff, but, heavy.

I've heard Don has sourced neo 8's he likes now, but I've not talked to him, or played them. He's been making 8" powered cabs for a long time now, so, I'd expect if he likes them, they'd be good.
 
#10
The Celestions have a white label with all the info on the back of the magnet. I have a blown one sitting in my basement. :hmm:

The Eminence's were unmarked on the magnet, and I'm not sure if the Bag Ends were marked or not since I've never seen one.

I can confirm that Eminence Beta 8's were excellent replacements, but I was always curious to try the LDS extended range speakers.
 
#11
Eric Moesle said:
The Celestions have a white label with all the info on the back of the magnet. I have a blown one sitting in my basement. :hmm:

The Eminence's were unmarked on the magnet, and I'm not sure if the Bag Ends were marked or not since I've never seen one.

I can confirm that Eminence Beta 8's were excellent replacements, but I was always curious to try the LDS extended range speakers.
Click to expand...

Thanks Eric. Mine must be Eminence. There is nothing stamped on the drivers. It's a chrome grill, 160 watt rev.
 
#12
I just found this thread as I was been searching for replacement speakers for my 1992 BB. Since people on this thread have been asking about markings on the original speakers I have attached a photo of the original Bag End E-8s driver which finally gave way after 20 years of use.
 

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#14
A bit of a bump to this thread. The five inch speaker on my BB II has been cooked for a while. I ordered the E-5A replacement from Bag End and installed it this week. No problems with the fit. It is still $99 with a six year warrantee. The Bag End customer service was great, less than a week from order to doorstep. They indicated this speaker is not used in any current production enclosures, just custom installations and a lot of Baby Blue owners needing a replacement. They indicated the many BB II folks they have sold these to have been happy with the replacement. That sold me so that's why I figured I would give it a shot.

I was sad the original cooked. When swapping it out I noticed the build quality of that speaker was fantastic, better than the new one and I liked the idea of sticking with the original parts and their carefully chosen specs for that combo.

The cab definitely has more sizzle with this full range E-5A compare to the original but my cone had been cooked for so long its hard to say how much more than the original and make a fair comparison. Even with this full range E-5A it's still nothing like an SWR cab with a horn.

The aural enhancer does a lot more now and I pretty much always had that dialed back to zero. Definitely will continue to do that. I get enough sizzle even for slap to leave it off and I don't kick up the treble parametric either.
 
#15
davel66 said:
A bit of a bump to this thread. The five inch speaker on my BB II has been cooked for a while. I ordered the E-5A replacement from Bag End and installed it this week. No problems with the fit. It is still $99 with a six year warrantee. The Bag End customer service was great, less than a week from order to doorstep. They indicated this speaker is not used in any current production enclosures, just custom installations and a lot of Baby Blue owners needing a replacement. They indicated the many BB II folks they have sold these to have been happy with the replacement. That sold me so that's why I figured I would give it a shot.

I was sad the original cooked. When swapping it out I noticed the build quality of that speaker was fantastic, better than the new one and I liked the idea of sticking with the original parts and their carefully chosen specs for that combo.

The cab definitely has more sizzle with this full range E-5A compare to the original but my cone had been cooked for so long its hard to say how much more than the original and make a fair comparison. Even with this full range E-5A it's still nothing like an SWR cab with a horn.

The aural enhancer does a lot more now and I pretty much always had that dialed back to zero. Definitely will continue to do that. I get enough sizzle even for slap to leave it off and I don't kick up the treble parametric either.
Click to expand...

LDS had a direct replacement for the cone tweet years ago when I ordered the long throw 8"s.
Glad peeps are enjoying their BBs & BBIIs.
 
#16
I gave Don a call, that replacement was out of stock, had been for a while. It was substantially less money than the Bag End but I wanted to get this thing going again in a hurry for some practices I'm schlepping the rig to. Definitely worth future consideration for folks looking for a replacement.
 
#19
I have searched far and wide for a comparable 5 inch. The only thing I have found is from Eminence. A 5 in mid- tweeter. Can't recall the numbers. But it's about 86 bucks. And it's about 1/4 in too big for the BB ll opening. Not only does the whole have to be enlarged but you have to cut off some of one of the corners to make it fit in that triangle slot. It can be done. But oooooo what a pain.
 
#20
FiveG said:
I have searched far and wide for a comparable 5 inch. The only thing I have found is from Eminence. A 5 in mid- tweeter. Can't recall the numbers. But it's about 86 bucks. And it's about 1/4 in too big for the BB ll opening. Not only does the whole have to be enlarged but you have to cut off some of one of the corners to make it fit in that triangle slot. It can be done. But oooooo what a pain.
Click to expand...
Yikes... Sounds like a lot of work!
 

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