So cabs of any kind are affected by all kinds of factors... here are all the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
Made in China: Don't get them, cheap drivers, bad caps, bad glue, terrible workmanship. Every part of it is junk.
Carpeted cabs: can fray and turn to crazy velcro essentially. Don't allow pets around them. If you have a carpeted cab, try and keep it covered to make it last. The carpet was used for good reason, one of ocurse was cheapness, but the main advantage is it affects the acoustic resonance the most, over tolex or laquered. So in the world of HiFi and PA and Bass, you actually usually don't want to hear the cabs resonance... it colors the sound. You want an acoustically neutral cabinet, hence the popularity of MDF in HiFi home speakers. Also, in the world of Bass and PA cabs with carpet, since they get used in all kinds of conditions, make sure that any stage lights or back lights or spot lights are plenty away from them. That carpet will melt, and eventually catch on fire if near those suckers.
Tolex covered cabs: have issues with pock marks from impact damage, and can peel back at seems from the glue going bad either from crapy environmentally friendly glue being used (which sucks), or from too much humidity softening the glue, or from heat and UV shrinking the tolex and making it peel away. Just glue small spots with crazy glue, and larger spots with the red can of contact cement (not the green can of environmentally friendly water based... that stuff won't glue two kleenex together). If the seem lines at the bottom of a cab are peeling, glue them down and then staple along the edge to help hold better. And Peavey's tolex is pretty much the strongest tolex there is. Especially that black/blue/purple-ish hued tolex they made for years... that stuff will grind up any other tolex when giggling next to it in a trailer or back of a vehicle. So be careful with your other gear around it.
Plastic corners: Mostly used in the 80's and on marshall cabs.... they crack and break all the time. Either from impact damage, or from out-gassing and shrinking. Glue or replace as needed.
Metal corners: I they are black, cool. If enough paint is missing, they will rust and you should wirebrush that off and either repaint, or at least hit it with a permanent black marker. If they are chrome or nickel plated, they will oxidize or rust. If oxidized, and you want them shiny, remove them and gently cotton wheel polish them with a compound until the desired luster is achieved. If they are rusty, then remove them, wire brush them on a wheel, then polish them. Afterwards, put them in a tray and spray wd40 on them and let them sit for a day, then dry buff and they will last for several years like that usually. If you live in a crazy humid environment, or such, then you can spray them with a clear paint if needed.
Screws: see above.
Jacks and jack plates: The jacks can get corroded like the metal corners, so see above. I find a 9mm gun cleaning copper brush cleans the inside of 1/4" jacks best. Get all oxidation off the contacts. A dremel helps for the rest. Check all sodler joints and reflow if needed.
Wiring: if you can, double check all connections are good, resolder if needed. The slide on crimped connectors, if removed, or they wiggle, gently squeeze them in pliers to retighten them, then they will work better once reinstalled. When possible, twist pairs of wires, and braid three or more. This does several beneficial things. one, it acts like cabling. Meaning the twisting or braiding creates strength, and they don't get damaged as easy. Next, it adds some RF shielding capability. Then use P-clamps or such when able to for holding them down so they don't get momentum and break free.
Crossovers: Three issues here, one - blowing them from too much power into them. two - the vibration and impacts of transportation and loading on and off stages will often break parts free from it. Often not completely broken free, but will crack the solder joints and make the crossover not work, or trick you into thinking the woofer or tweeter is blown. Resolder and then reinforce the parts so they can't move. Add extra hot glue (do not add silicone as it's a pain to remove when needed). And if needed on things like heavy inductors, add strap steel or those big zip ties, and strap or clamp them down good. Third - if there are any electrolytic capacitors, they go bad. Industry standards say they should last a good 8-12 years. They might last more... but don't count on it. They have electrolytic material in them, which is a blackish syrupy consistency and it's on a pH scale between seawater and battery acid. And it's held in with a rubber seal (hence they all have the crimped in ridge on them). pending you don't blow them with too much voltage, or a reverse voltage, or over heat them, or stuff like that... they still go bad. The rubber dries up and shrinks, like car tires, wiper blades and such. So then the material evaporates and the caps aren't the same value, or are dead altogether. This leads to hum, buzz, loss of lows, or loss of highs, depending on where/how it's used in a circuit. This is especially important in amps, and more so tube amps with their high voltages. But some crossovers also have them, so keep that in mind.
Cables (instrument cables, speakers cables, power cords): don't forget to always check your cables first. Those are so easily broke and lead to cutting in and out, or loss of signal altogether... bring backups of every kind you use.
Batteries (active bass and pedals): bring extras, and replace if at all in question.
The cabinet themselves:
So some are made of "Particle board" and those should be thrown away, or given away. Cheap import cabs, and likely all components will suck also. What most people think of as particle board but is likely MDF, or medium density fiberboard. Now that stuff sonically if great. It's got a heavy mass, dense, fairly non-resonant, thus it's used sometimes in Bass and Keyboard cabs, and PA speakers, bust should mostly be left to the realm of HiFi. In a gigging bass amp/cab, if it gets dropped, it dies, if it gets wet, either by a ton of humidity, or by direct water interaction, then it turns to a sponge and swells with the water, and becomes soft and ruined. Also it can get moldy easy.
Multi ply plywood. It is the strongest and most resilient. It can take a good beating, being dropped a bit, and stacked with tons of weight, and bumped into. Worst case if something makes it parallelogram, then straighten it back out and glue it and add reinforcement. Done. It can more easily be retolexed, reglued, and even bleached to remove mold or mildew. And that's if it ever even needs any fixing.
Solid wood. Rarely if ever used in bass cabs. Old tweed and pretweed fender amps used solid pine cabs. They sing out and add to the tone of the guitar... but not great for bass.
Molded plastic. Mostly used in lower end to mid priced PA cabs, and it's not bad. Though not great either. It's light, strong, and can be made with enough gussets and bracing and damping material inside that they become fairly non-resonant. Best examples are JBL eon, Peavey and Carvin. All others are kinda... meh at best... if not cheap import crap to avoid. If they cracks, or break, try and get all the pieces back together, and use super glue just enough to hold them together, then use a soldering iron and some scrap pieces of plastic, hopefully the same kind, and essentially "plastics weld" it all back together. It's never perfect, but you'd be surprised how good it can come out. Same trick I use on fixing keyboards made of plastic that take a hit. Experiment first to get the feel for the heat and time and all that. I usually use a stitch method first, then do a smoothing sweep after, then sand if needed.
Aluminum or steel. Rare, but GK did make a little 12" combo bass amp with the cab and head all cased in metal. It's actually not a bad product. Pretty good for a little combo, great for practice in a room or song writing. Pretty rugged over all. But heavy and they tend to have stripped screw holes. Just step up to the next size screw and tap and good to go.
On all wood cabs, if the holes become stripped, then fill with wood, like tooth picks, or matchstick ends, And if the holes go all the way through, then glue the filler in place, and predrill a small pilot hole. Done.
Speakers themselves....
So a lot of people on here have talked mostly about how long their cabs or speakers have lasted. That's all anecdotal. Good helpful information, but not actually directly useful.
So speakers magnets can age a bit. Meaning the magnets can slightly reduce over time. Normal and totally fine. Most people never know. There are three common types of magnets, and each imparts a slight tonal difference. Ceramic is the most common, then AlNiCo, usually found in vintage amps, and the new kid on the block (at least by comparison) Neodymium. Ceramic is cheap and common, and works fine. AlNiCo is most expensive and usually found in older amps. And usually in guitar amps. The only good high end speaker that I can think of off hand that is good for bass is the JBL D140, and it's variants after. Massive AlNiCo magnet. One of the best woofers ever. That and the D130, and D120 are what were used in recording studio monitors in the 60s and 70s, in Movies studios, TV studios, radio stations, Music Studios, you name it. The later renditions in the 21XX series are what were used in nearly every Movie theater for Decades upon decades. Think Bench standard... think the yard stick. Then the new kid, Neo. Neo is light weight, often lighter overall than AlNiCo for the power rating. Here's the Achilles heal though... heat. They are light, strong, and offer great sound, closer to AlNiCo than ceramic in fact, and goo power handling... but once overheated, they have kind of a zero tolerance issue. Once overheated, it's toast. Often damaging the magnet, so even a re-conning won't help. There is sooo much about speakers if could be not just a whole thread, but a whole forum all together.
Next, surrounds. So if the surround is paper, like old jbls... it's good, as long as you don't get them wet, or impact them, or have insects of some kind eat them. Otherwise all good for nearly ever, as the paper surrounds are usually an accordion extension of the cone, and thus no glue to go bad. Cloth surrounds overall hold up the best, by a long shot. But the glue is the only issue, if ever. Again, same issues as the paper for longevity. Next is Foam. Foam is the most compliant, and thus common in HiFi and now sometimes Acoustic guitar amps. Sounds great, worst for longevity. It's not that, or at least not just that external chemicals can harm them, like one commenter wrote. It's actually that all plastics, foams, rubbers, and such "out-gas" and the chemicals slowly or quickly break down over time. This can get Exacerbated by things like heat, UV rays from the sun, and Ozone... which if anyone has one of those Ozone producing air-purifiers/filters (with the vertical metal bars you need to wipe down all the time), those produce Ozone for your house, and that sadly kills the lifespan of all rubbers and plastics. Wonder why in the 90's your 5 years old tape deck died... well, that ozone killed the rubber belt inside it. Good news is the foam surrounds are the easiest and cheapest to replace. Just like all things, preparation, preparation, preparation. Last is Rubber, or Butyl rubber surrounds. This is closest to foam, but holds up much better. But not as good as cloth. Especially treated cloth. Same issues over all with it.
The Spider of the woofer is nearly always made of yellow died treated cloth accordion surround. Usually never an issue.
Frames or baskets. Steel or aluminum, either way, usually never an issue unless you impact them. and if they do bend... get a new woofer. You can't fix them.
Dust caps. Paper, plastic, cloth, or aluminum... don't poke them, and no issues, only ever seen a few fall off, and that was on car speakers from the heat. Glue them back on, and only just enough glue to make it hold and not buzz. Don't want to accidentally drip glue into the voice coil gap.
The cone itself... Paper, carbon fiber, fiberglass, nomex, aluminum, etc. So many materials used. Each has their advantages and disadvantages. Usually most are treated paper. Works very well. Sounds very good. Just don't poke it, rip it, or get water on it. If dust accumulates, gently clean it off. You used to be able to reapply the wet look treatment if needed, but I haven't heard of people doing that in years... and even then, it was HiFi guys. If it gets wet. Don't play it until it dries... and hope for the best. Worst case, recone it or replace it.
Lastly, the voice coil itself. Copper, aluminum, whatever. Round, flat wire, oval... all change the tone, and such, but no major difference in lifespan. As long as you don't overheat the coil, then they last as long as the glue can hold them. Which might be longer than you live. And yes, the older the parts are, the better they are. Mainly because of the glues. The EPA restrictions have forced the use of glues that just are crap. They don't last at all as long. And to me, that's counter intuitive to helping the environment. When things don't last as long, and you need to replace or reapply it much much more often... how is 20% better on the environment for the chemical gonna happen. It ends up being 300% worse. If the voice coil gets fried, it will open like a fuse, or boil the glue and make it rub the walls of the magnet former. Either way, the woofer is dead and needs to be reconed or replaced.
There is one other issue they can have... and I've been trying to figure out all the parameters. So Usually more common in car stereo speakers, but can happen in anything... is the dreaded drip, or sag. So woofers facing up or more likely down, like in subs in home, or most Leslie cabs, those last nearly forever. Even if the surrounds slightly weaken, then the woofers voice coil shifts slightly in the gap placement. Ok, usually no big deal, and no one ever knows. When a woofer is on it's side, projecting horizontally, then if the surrounds sag, the woofer can shift downward and if enough, the voice coil and rub against the metal magnet. You will hear it. Woofer will sound quieter, and very distorted, and worst case can short out the coil and kill the output transistors of an amp. You're gonna have a bad day. So I noticed this years ago, and it mostly seems it's related to heat. Not heat from cranking it, but heat from the SUN. So car speakers get very hot, hence everyone freaking out about kids and pets left in cars... jut look up the temps they can get to in the sun. So that weakens the surrounds and the woofers sag. Eventually they sound like they are blown, and people replace them. This can happen in Bass cabs and PAs too. If they are in the Sun a lot in outdoor shows. So if you are getting an older used cab, and the speakers sound good, great. But if they don't, remove them and play music through them and gently pull on the spider and see if the distortion gets better in one direction. If it does, there's your problem. So for preventative to this issue, when you get a used cab, or if you've had it a long time. Take the time to very very carefully remove all speakers and rotate them 180 deg. tighten all down, dress the wires, clean the jacks, check the crossovers, make sure not to puncture anything. This is akin to rotating your tires for even wear. Well, that's literally what you need to do. Rotate your speakers. Plus it will share the dust build up load.
As for the Peavey in Question... Get it. It's one of the few companies on my short list of Highly recommended brands for gear. Can you find better sounding gear than Peavey. Sure. More collectable. Sure. Better bang for the buck. NO. More reliable. NO. Just make sure like all purchases, it's not made in china. As long as the Peavey, or Carvin, Fender, Ampeg, Sunn, Acoustic, GK, SWR, Hartke, etc. bass rig is made in the USA or at least Mexico, then it's worth it. If it's any companies cheap import line from China... try and find something else. Though even then, Peavey is about the best stuff from china there is. NO where near it's USA stuff, but compared to other Chinese stuff... it's better.
I have been playing drums since I was about 5, guitar and bass off and on since I was about 10. Been doing sound engineering for all kinds of bands and venues for over 20 years. I've been a luthier and amp repairman since I was round 8. Been at it a long time now. I have worked on hundreds upon hundreds of amps and cabs. And all that experience has led to my short list of brands I trust. Peavey is one of them. And they have great customer service. They will hunt down old schematics for you, and look in old boxes on the shelves in the warehouse to see if they've got parts for your vintage 70s model... most companies won't do that.
And as a side note... JBL, ALTEC, Cerwin Vega, EV, and Peavey are the only brands who actually make their own speakers. As in the woofers themselves. All other brands, and I mean ALL other brands.. Fender, marshall, Ampeg, Sunn, SWR, GK, you name it... all use other peoples parts. Usually Eminence speakers. In the old days, CTS, Jensen, Oxford, Weber, Utah, jbl, etc. Look for the manufactures code right before the date code near or part of the serial number. Not uncommon really. Ford, chevy, dodge, toyota, honda... not one brand makes tires, or wipers, or seat belts, or much of anything on your cars. It's Belden wires, borg warner, BFG, Goodyear, tremec, NVG/NP, asin warner, dayco hoses and belts... so not uncommon. Fender has never made a resistor or capacitor, or tube or chip. None of them have. Not even when their name is on that part. They still had it made for them.
Hope this all helps.
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