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SWR Basic Black too much to fix, so....

#5
4stringmf said:
Did they say what was wrong? Maybe you should get a second opinion. Anyways. If replacement is the only option, then I would think the cab would be great with a lower powered micro head. I heard trace eliot has one at about 200W.
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I have micro heads. I just wanna convert it into an extra cab to have at home or wherever. Wanting to know if and how I can do this the right way.
 
#8
4stringmf said:
I'm still curious on what they quoted you but, I would think making an offer on this would be a good way to go.....you can use your other one as a second cab and the combo will thump at 160W..... Perfect for garage, home, and small gigs SWR Basic Black Black | Scott's Gear Bazaar
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I have several working rigs and am not looking to drop any more money. My heads are 500 watts and 800 watts. I would just use the Basic Black cab at home, instead unpacking gear if I wanna run through something. They didn't give me a quote; they simply said it would be cheaper to buy a used one. I started a thread awhile back that explained the symptoms. I do not want to fix it. I want to make it into a cab and am just seeing if this is a possibility.

Here's the old thread:
SWR Basic Black question
 
#9
All you need to do is pick one of the jacks on the amp plate (such as the tuner input); disconnect the wires that are connected to that jack; and connect the wires from the internal speaker in place of the wires you removed. Simplest would be to just connect the woofer wires but you can probably also trace the internal wiring back from the woofer and piezo tweeter through the simple filter network and connect from upstream of the filter so that your piezo and tweeter-off switch would still work. If you want to reduce weight slightly since the amp is nonfunctional, the heaviest thing you could remove would be the transformer. Good luck, Bob
 
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#10
bobcruz said:
All you need to do is pick one of the jacks on the amp plate (such as the tuner input); disconnect the wires that are connected to that jack; and connect the wires from the internal speaker in place of the wires you removed. Simplest would be to just connect the woofer wires but you can probably also trace the internal wiring back from the woofer and piezo tweeter through the simple filter network and connect from upstream of the filter so that your piezo and tweeter-off switch would still work. If you want to reduce weight slightly since the amp is nonfunctional, the heaviest thing you could remove would be the transformer. Good luck, Bob
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Sweet! Thanks!
 
#13
Bodeanly said:
Man, the repair shop had it for six months before finally telling me that the amp needed to be replaced. It would be cheaper to just find a used one (this one was free). I figured it maybe would work as a cab.
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I am a tech, I KNOW, IMO, if he had it that long, stands to reason he obviously could not figure it out, RIGHT? That is the typical catch phrase, not worth fixing, WHEN YOU CANT FIGURE OUT THE PROBLEM, UNLESS, it is so blown up, and fried, that a major rebuild, of all many parts, and associated components is needed, THAT MY FRIEND DOESNT TAKE 6 months to come to that conclusion. I owned a shop, I do understand there are difficult repairs, I use to call them "Problem Child's " . Get a second opinion, or send it to me.
 
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#14
when i had a workingman's ten, i made a 'plate' out of plywood, put a speaker jack in the 'plate', removed the head, and used that as an extension cab. i later reversed that mod. no issues whatsoever. be advised that i only used the 'woofer' section of the contrived extension cab. as i recall, there was some sort of resistor in the cab's (tweeter's) speaker wiring, but i would not be surprised at all to discover that the amp uses an internal crossover for the speakers, i.e., a crossover built into the circuitry. maybe the wise old horse knows for sure.
 
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#15
Hand slap said:
stands to reason he obviously could not figure it out,
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Well, requires loads of labour hours spent to figure out the problem is a pretty good definition of too expensive to fix isn't it...

If you want to convert it into a basic cabinet I would:
1) remove the fuse(s) from the amp just in case and label do not use amplifier.
2) disconnect the speaker wires from the woofer and tape them up out of the way.
3) install a jack and a speakon socket in the back and label clearly speaker input
4) wire the sockets up to the woofer.

If on inspection there is a completely separate crossover to the amp then I'd consider wiring up to the crossover rather than the speaker, but if its on the main circuit board I would want a lot more expertise than I have before I tried re-using it.
 
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#18
I did this with my Crate 900 series BXL-80. I removed the amp section to reduce the weight and installed a 1/4" input jack into the back of the cab. I drive it with my Delta Bass. I use it for my home practice rig. I have a combo for small gigs. Been thinking about getting a 210 cab though. . . .
 

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