HELP: cabinet buzzing

Camarillo

Camarillo

Jan 2, 2016
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Milano (Italy)
#1
Hey guys
I have "inherited", so to speak, a couple of Ashdown cabinets.
It should be the entry level series I guess.
1 RM-MAG-115 rated at 250W - 8 ohm
1 RM-MAG-212 rated at 250W - 8 ohm
Attached to a MarkBass Nano 300 I can notice 2 things:
1- the volume is not so much, even with both cabinets in parallel using the full 300W at 4 ohm
2- a weird buzzing/distorting sound. This happens less at low volume, of course, and much more at higher outputs. This seems to happen on specific frequencies: a lot on F# in every octave, a little less on G an so on. More in the 212 alone than on the 115 alone.
What's happening here? It's a bad amp/cabinet match? Did a blow the cones (it doesn't sound as a blown cone to me, the distortion is different)?
I read a thread here about the piezo tweeters of these cab series. Could it be that?
Sorry for the poor smartphone video, but it's useful to get the perception of what is happening.
 
#2
I'm BARELY hearing anything unusual with my phone speakers, so I might be missing something.

What I can hear just sounds sympathetic. Give all the screws you can check a bit of a try for a loose one. Are the grills metal? See if there's any metal touching the cab. There should be some kind of fabric or foam between it.

Is this confirmed with each cab alone? If it's the same on both cabs alone odds are the amp is still on the table as the culprit. Confirm the amp is ok through another cab. Try the cabs with another amp. Play in a different room. Sit on the cabs while playing. Take them outside and test it.
 
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#5
Does this happen with each cab by itself?

Lower than expected volume may be due to low cab sensitivity/SPL.
What other cabs do you use that are louder?

Honestly, I heard more as what I'd describe as "clanky" sounding bass. Possibly some muting issues?
There may have been a couple of instances that might have been speaker buzz, or farting out.
You may just be trying to push too much low end at speakers that might not be able to take it.

Just because a speaker is rated for X amount of power, doesn't mean it can handle that much power across the full bass spectrum. Speaker power usually gets derated significantly at the lower end of it's range. Speaker power ratings are usually the thermal rating. How much it can take without burning out the voice coil. At the low end of the range, the power concerns are more about moving the voice coil beyond its physical limits. It is possible to exceed those mechanical limits without ever approaching the thermal limits usually specified in speaker power ratings.
 
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#7
Murch said:
One thing that I don't think has been mentioned yet is that the 2 cabinets may be out of phase with each other, which could be causing the perceived lack of volume.
Click to expand...
Probably not the case given they are both from the same manufacturer. But OTOH, who knows if some schmuck rewired one of them? So not a bad idea to keep in mind after all.
 
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#8
basscooker said:
I'm BARELY hearing anything unusual with my phone speakers, so I might be missing something.

What I can hear just sounds sympathetic. Give all the screws you can check a bit of a try for a loose one. Are the grills metal? See if there's any metal touching the cab. There should be some kind of fabric or foam between it.

Is this confirmed with each cab alone? If it's the same on both cabs alone odds are the amp is still on the table as the culprit. Confirm the amp is ok through another cab. Try the cabs with another amp. Play in a different room. Sit on the cabs while playing. Take them outside and test it.
Click to expand...
Grills are not metal, they’re fabric.
I removed the 212 grill, but seems impossible to do remove the 115 one. Anyway the 212 is the noisiest one and nothing changed.
Confirmed noise is on both cabinets, more on the 212 than the 115. Ill try to change positioning and sit on them. I don’t have another cabinet handy right now, but I’ll try to find one.
 
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#10
Old Garage-Bander said:
Does this happen with each cab by itself?

Lower than expected volume may be due to low cab sensitivity/SPL.
What other cabs do you use that are louder?

Honestly, I heard more as what I'd describe as "clanky" sounding bass. Possibly some muting issues?
There may have been a couple of instances that might have been speaker buzz, or farting out.
You may just be trying to push too much low end at speakers that might not be able to take it.

Just because a speaker is rated for X amount of power, doesn't mean it can handle that much power across the full bass spectrum. Speaker power usually gets derated significantly at the lower end of it's range. Speaker power ratings are usually the thermal rating. How much it can take without burning out the voice coil. At the low end of the range, the power concerns are more about moving the voice coil beyond its physical limits. It is possible to exceed those mechanical limits without ever approaching the thermal limits usually specified in speaker power ratings.
Click to expand...
The EQ on the amp was flat, all at noon.
The bass sound was clanky because of that, it’s not a sound I like or I would use. Pushing the bass to my likings gets things worst.
 
#12
Camarillo said:
Hey guys
I have "inherited", so to speak, a couple of Ashdown cabinets.
It should be the entry level series I guess.
1 RM-MAG-115 rated at 250W - 8 ohm
1 RM-MAG-212 rated at 250W - 8 ohm
Attached to a MarkBass Nano 300 I can notice 2 things:
1- the volume is not so much, even with both cabinets in parallel using the full 300W at 4 ohm
2- a weird buzzing/distorting sound. This happens less at low volume, of course, and much more at higher outputs. This seems to happen on specific frequencies: a lot on F# in every octave, a little less on G an so on. More in the 212 alone than on the 115 alone.
What's happening here? It's a bad amp/cabinet match? Did a blow the cones (it doesn't sound as a blown cone to me, the distortion is different)?
I read a thread here about the piezo tweeters of these cab series. Could it be that?
Sorry for the poor smartphone video, but it's useful to get the perception of what is happening.
Click to expand...

It's the grille and/or the logo plate.

I just removed my grille on my abm 15 because of this.

100% solved. I hate metal grilles. For that reason.
20220913_185803.jpg
20221211_180853.jpg


My 210 hasn't started doing it yet, but it will sometime. Then, same.

But, take the grille off and see if it still happens
 
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#13
JeezyMcNuggles said:
It's the grille and/or the logo plate.
Click to expand...
That would be my suspicion as well. Had this happen with a GK MB210 combo with a metal grill. My solution was putting a layer of electrical tape along the outside edge of the grill so that it seated more snugly into the cabinet frame. Sort of like a gasket. (The noise was the vibration of the grill against the cabinet frame. The resonation was side-to-side against the frame where the grill was seated, not against the face of the cabinet, so it didn’t matter how much I tightened the screws.) Problem solved.
 
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#14
red_rhino said:
That would be my suspicion as well. Had this happen with a GK MB210 combo with a metal grill. My solution was putting a layer of electrical tape along the outside edge of the grill so that it seated more snugly into the cabinet frame. Sort of like a gasket. (The noise was the vibration of the grill against the cabinet frame. The resonation was side-to-side against the frame where the grill was seated, not against the face of the cabinet, so it didn’t matter how much I tightened the screws.) Problem solved.
Click to expand...
I tried on mine, with little success. But, with the grille off, it wasn't there. So, I decided to fix the problem.
 
#16
Since both cabs are doing this, try another amp to eliminate that possibility. The sound is coming out the speakers but it could be generated within the amp.

Don’t place the amp on the cabinets when performing the tests.

Check that the phase of the two cabinets together is correct.
 
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#19
agedhorse said:
Try it outside to eliminate the potential issue of things in your surroundings vibrating.
Click to expand...
I had this problem once, after my daughter moved out I turned her room into my practice space. Immediately started to hear a buzzing noise that I swore was coming from one of my cabinets so I went about tightening every screw I could find on the cabinets with no luck stopping the buzzing. Then one day I happened to be standing in near the heat vent and put my foot against it while playing and the buzzing stopped. Never overlook the possibility of an "Environmental" cause.
 
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#20
Sounds pretty good to me. I had a few ABM Mini cabs some time back. The boxes and hardware items themselves were solid, but I felt that the drivers were straining to keep up. It seemed like the cones were farty, for lack of a better term. OTOH, I tried a Gladstone Lil G. It was nothing more than a very loud kazoo. Literally everything attached to it would rattle or wheeze without even getting anywhere past bedroom level. I really wanted it to work out. I think he had misplaced his tape measure, t-square, and center punch the day that one was put together. Just awful.
I don't hear anything offensive in the OPs recording.
 
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