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Speaker rattle from a Mesa EV15L.

B

BobOnBass

Dec 27, 2008
151
0
Cugy (VD), Suisse
www.zeusrock.com
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#1
Hi guys, I just bought me a Mesa Boogie 1516 cabinet, RoadReady, in very good condition overall, apart from some rattle comming from the 15". I'm not complaining though, I only paid 199,- Chf or 199,- USD for it.... YEAH BABY!!!

Anyway, i'm more of a mechanical type of guy myself so my understanding of electronics is just so so.
I took the 15" out, found a loose Mesa grill logo lying around (!?!) hoping that was it but it wasn't...
It sounds like the speaker is ripped only much more subtle, visually all seems to be ok. It is disturbing though. Could this be something other than a ripped cone?

Now, I knew the 15" was not well but it is actually better then I expected so i'm kind off hoping it's fixable for less then the cost of a recone. All I know now is that the paper and rubber seem ok and the speaker is not fried, what else is possible?

Thanks in advance for any info!
 
#3
Check the dustcap. I had an Eden speaker making a really farty sound and it was just a little spot on the dustcab where the seal had broken. I used a bit of wood glue to seal it and its been perfect ever since.
 
#4
Yeah, i know, great deal on this baby! :p

Ok, i'm gonna check the dustcap and give the whole surface another really good inspection, good be something very very small.

What can be wrong with the voicecoil? I figured that bit was either working or fried and nothing in between. No?
 
#6
Ok, I checked it again. Paper and rubbers are mint. I've got a feeling it is the coil. When very slightly and evenly pressing the paper I can hear and almost feel a tiny 'obstruction', for lack of a better word. I hope you guys understand me, it's hard to explain this in english.

I checked against a unit in my 2x15 and that one is moving smooth and silent. I figure there is nothing back there accept the coil and the magnet so it must be the coil.

Now, these babies are suppose to handle a lot, so it's hard to imagine it might have gotten too much to handle, any chance it's something like, say, dirt? Something between the coil and the magnet? :hmm:
 
#8
BobOnBass said:
Ok, I checked it again. Paper and rubbers are mint. I've got a feeling it is the coil. When very slightly and evenly pressing the paper I can hear and almost feel a tiny 'obstruction', for lack of a better word. I hope you guys understand me, it's hard to explain this in english.

I checked against a unit in my 2x15 and that one is moving smooth and silent. I figure there is nothing back there accept the coil and the magnet so it must be the coil.

Now, these babies are suppose to handle a lot, so it's hard to imagine it might have gotten too much to handle, any chance it's something like, say, dirt? Something between the coil and the magnet? :hmm:
Click to expand...
Not a big problem pre assembled cone kits are easily available, how are you at Macramé?.
http://www.soundspeakerrepair.com/speaker-parts-c/EV-Kits/Electro+Voice+Kits:bawl:
 
#9
My 1516 developed a rattling 15" while I was on a road gig in LA back around '96, so I swung into Mesa to have them check it.

The outer cone on mine was coming unglued where it's glued to the rim of the aluminum frame. I bought a new EV anyway, but I reglued the old speaker and it's still fine today.
 
#13
#16
BobOnBass said:
Now, these babies are suppose to handle a lot, so it's hard to imagine it might have gotten too much to handle, any chance it's something like, say, dirt? Something between the coil and the magnet? :hmm:
Click to expand...


The EV 15L will not take a lot of low end and the Xmax is only 3.3mm. Many bass players over the years have blown these speakers by boosting too much below around 60 Hz. I use this as my main gigging cab and I know they fart out pretty easily. Your Mesa cab is based on this design from EV.

Link Removed
 
#17
The only speaker that ever blew on me were ev's and the old jbl d 140 you can't put alot of bottom in them , never blew an eminence or peavey black widow? I had a speaker guy tell me a long time ago that he made most of his money reconing the old jbl's because of overpowering,they do make a great sounding speaker.ev as well but i don't trust them for bass ,i'm sure the new one's are much better.
 
#18
Really? I didn't know that... Always figured those EV's to be industructable and everlasting. My reference is extremely limited though.

I must say I'm generally really happy with the type of sound I'm getting except maybe for the fact they do fart out quite a bit and now and then too soon. Sometimes you just want loud and clean, you know?
Even when playing dirty rock. However, the only amp I used live is my old 400+, which I sold now and then got me a Hiwatt 200. That might be less dirty sounding. Did not have the chance yet to fully test that rig since i'm in between bands. :smug:

I know I like lots of mid in my sound and I don't feel like testing lots of speakers, I'm sort of done testing gear like that. Tried me an Ampeg 8x10 twice, great balanced out type of sound (I can imagine soundguys love it) but not as sexy sounding as the Mesa 2x15, IMO. If there is a speaker that sounds sort of like an EV but can take a bit more, I'm interested. However, I know there are as many opinions as there bass players so I'm not going to ask for advice since it's not gonna clear things up I fear....

I feel in the end 4x12 is probably the way to go for me so I'm saving my ammo for that. A nice Hiwatt cab, maybe EVM12L's. One day... For now I will probably stick with the old EV15L's and recone them.

Thanks for the input though! B.
 

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