Is It Possible To Have Fried Wiring In The Cab?

Wangus67

Wangus67

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Dec 2, 2018
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#1
Hey All-

This may be a totally noob kinda question, but here's the situation:

I acquired a Fender Bassman 1x15 cab and had always assumed that the speaker had fried (due to the fried sound). It is a JBL D-130F 8 ohm that had been re-coned.
Well I just bought a used Peavey Black Widow 1505-8 for $50 at Music-Go-Round to replace it, installed it, and am experiencing the same thing. ***?

Is it possible that it is only the wiring in the cabinet that is fried?

If so, it seems like it would be an easy fix..?

Thanks
 
#3
Try it with a different: amp, speaker cable, instrument cable, bass.

Also, open up that cab and listen to it and see if you can localize the buzz.
Maybe the grill cloth is loose is one thing to check.

Oh, btw, you can send that D130 to me...I'll take good care of it.:laugh:
 
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#5
Yeah... My other cabs/speakers work great with my cables/instruments so I think I have narrowed it down to the jack or connector or wires.
It is not a matter of the BW sounding ‘off’ or buzzy, but FRIED (in the same way the JBL is). Both are 8 ohms. The box is solid and insulated.
I do understand that the D130 is a guitar speaker, however a bass was played through it for years, which is why I just assumed it was blown...(Imma still keep it:))
So does an ohm meter determine the actual impedance of the speaker?
AND, what would a faulty jack look like? (Sorry, not in front of it now)
 
#6
It is also possible the internal speaker wiring is falling on the rear of the speaker(s) cone causing the buzzing. I had it happen to me in a cab using different speakers. The darn wiring kept falling against the back of the cone, even after replacing the speaker, so in the end I stuck the length of wiring loom to the aluminium speaker frame using a strip of black gaffa tape. I never had an issue after that. Most likely though as others have said its likely cab buzz so check for gaps, delaminating ply baffle if the cab got wet etc etc as wood (ply, chipboard etc) will buzz if glue issues occur or loose or overtight speaker mounting nuts. Check cab corners, baffle, speaker fixing to the baffle etc etc...its trial and error unless you can see a glaring fault.
 
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#7
Wangus67 said:
Yeah... My other cabs/speakers work great with my cables/instruments so I think I have narrowed it down to the jack or connector or wires.
It is not a matter of the BW sounding ‘off’ or buzzy, but FRIED (in the same way the JBL is). Both are 8 ohms. The box is solid and insulated.
I do understand that the D130 is a guitar speaker, however a bass was played through it for years, which is why I just assumed it was blown...(Imma still keep it:))
So does an ohm meter determine the actual impedance of the speaker?
AND, what would a faulty jack look like? (Sorry, not in front of it now)
Click to expand...

An ohm meter is used to measure the DC resistance. For an 8 ohm speaker, reading across the disconnected speaker terminals will read around 6.8 ohms. Something less than 8. If the wiring to the jack is good, it should read the same.

Plug a speaker cable into the jack. Read from the tip to the sleeve on the other end of the cable.

How to inspect the jack depends on the type that is there. Posting a clear image of the jack would help. You want to look for any shorts between the two speaker wires at the jack.

I’m assuming that there isn’t a crossover and a horn or tweeter.
 
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#9
I dunno... It looks clean to my untrained eye?
It’s such a simple machine that there are just not that many things to it to go wrong.
I think I’ll just try to re-solder some new wire as step one, then get a new jack, etc... and maybe take your suggestion Mr. Foxen and go speakon.
F5A282CB-97F2-4274-AD56-D39EDC25057D.jpeg
648D319D-E845-48E3-8C2C-EC38C46AD11A.jpeg
 
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#10
OK, yeah, I see now that its only happening when its screwed in. When the speaker is just resting in the cavity it sounds great. It sure does sound fried out, I gotta say!
Anyway, can I assume that I should get some sort of baffle ring (something like what you mentioned Giffro) that should go between the speaker frame and the wood cavity?
(FWIW, its plywood)
Sorry if its a dumb question...
 
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#11
If it’s only happening when it is screwed in to the baffle then it is likely that the baffle has warped over time. When you tighten the speaker against the baffle it is causing the basket to distort. What you are hearing is likely the voice coil rubbing on the magnet. If you have a straight edge check the baffle to make sure it is flat. If it’s not then it needs replaced. If it is flat Thaler either get a proper speaker gasket or some really thin foam rubber weather stripping... under a 1/4 inch thick.
When you reinstall the speaker tighten the screws a little at a time. And don’t just go in a circle. Use more of a star pattern similar to tuning a drum. And don’t over tighten. Stamped frame speaker baskets are easy to warp if you just tighten one screw all the way and then move on to the next. Good luck.
 
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#13
Wangus67 said:
Hey All-

This may be a totally noob kinda question, but here's the situation:

I acquired a Fender Bassman 1x15 cab and had always assumed that the speaker had fried (due to the fried sound). It is a JBL D-130F 8 ohm that had been re-coned.
Well I just bought a used Peavey Black Widow 1505-8 for $50 at Music-Go-Round to replace it, installed it, and am experiencing the same thing. ***?

Is it possible that it is only the wiring in the cabinet that is fried?

If so, it seems like it would be an easy fix..?

Thanks
Click to expand...
I read this post title as “Fried Wings”, and thought... sure, why not?
 
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#14
Wangus67 said:
I dunno... It looks clean to my untrained eye?
It’s such a simple machine that there are just not that many things to it to go wrong.
I think I’ll just try to re-solder some new wire as step one, then get a new jack, etc... and maybe take your suggestion Mr. Foxen and go speakon. View attachment 3417521 View attachment 3417522
Click to expand...

So far so good, that looks fine. The jack does look a little worn where the tip contacts.
 
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#15
Wangus67 said:
I dunno... It looks clean to my untrained eye?
It’s such a simple machine that there are just not that many things to it to go wrong.
I think I’ll just try to re-solder some new wire as step one, then get a new jack, etc... and maybe take your suggestion Mr. Foxen and go speakon. View attachment 3417521 View attachment 3417522
Click to expand...
Jack looks fine, solder joint is bright. If it's an older Bassman cabinet they were not particularly well made and were better suited to guitar. The baffle should be fine but if there is any doubt place the driver on it and press down on it at several points around the outside to see if it is out of azimuth. If it is it will be obvious as the driver will rock a bit. If it seats flat put a thin bead of 100% silicone around the basket where it will meet the baffle and screw it down by hand alternating side to side. Use the rest of the silicone to seal all the joints on the inside of the cabinet. They were loose cabs and built out of whatever was around the shop. I've seen many from the 50s through the early 70s some were solid, some not so much.
 
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#17
The wire from the jack in the cabinet to the driver is almost certainly larger than the voice coil wire; it's very unlikely that the wiring "fried" from too much current. You can, however, have mechanical issues ( wire that's been shaken to where the strands have broken, or a bad jack) or bad solder joints that'll cause issues. Most (maybe not all) of that is stuff you can figure out pretty easily.
 
#19
Fried wiring and fried chicken is possible within a cabinet, but unlikely. I must think a voice coil or crossover component would over load and over heat and open before 18 gauge connecting wire. That said, a failed solder connection or intermittent jack is possible.
 
#20
BassmanPaul said:
Possible but unlikely. It could simply be that the BW driver is simply not suitable for the cabinet. As for the JBL the D130 is more of a guitar speaker than a bass driver. You would need a D140.
Click to expand...
While BassmanPaul is absolutely correct about the D140 being a better speaker, the D130 was used in a lot of Fender Bass cabs. Problem was they kept getting blown because they were NOT an instrument speaker but a hi-fi speaker. JBL redesigned the speaker as an actual instrument speaker and called it the D130F. Fender touted that F as "specially designed for Fender". That lived a lot better but then they designed the D140 which was a new design specifically for Bass. Easy to tell the difference because the D130 and D130F both have smooth cones while the D140F has a ribbed cone.
 
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