Replacing speaker in SWR Bassic Black

IamGroot

IamGroot

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Jan 18, 2018
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#1
I have an old SWR Bassic Black 120watt combo w 15". I just pulled the trigger for about $120 to replace the woofer/tweeter*. Used combos now sell for around $300. Did I do the right thing???

Electronics seem to work fine and I remember I liked the sound when it was working years back. I was looking for some extra bottom with the 15" for a disco club gig. Will run in parallel to with 2 Aquilar 2x10 cabinets with a GK 700RB or a Mark Bass Little Mark II.


* Eminence American Standard Beta 15A 15" replacement speaker , 300 Watts at 8 Ohms plus Pyle PDBT28 1" Heavy Duty Titanium Super Tweeter.
 
#4
The Beta is fine but the tweeter you picked needs a different high pass crossover than what SWR had in that amp . They used LeSon piezo tweeters . Here's a link Replacement Speakers Piezo Horn Tweeter T-1011GR. If you would get the LeSon you could just swap it out with the blown one . The one you ordered will need the extra wiring and crossover parts .

If you want to use the tweeter you ordered this high pass would work for it .
"Dayton Audio 4k-HPF-8 High Pass Speaker Crossover 4,000 Hz 12 dB/Octave" from www.parts-express.com!
 
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#5
That 15 reaches up pretty high on it's own, 3.7 KHz. If you like a darker sound, you might try it alone (no crossover/tweeter), especially when run with another cab if the other has a tweeter. Otherwise, as BB2 said^^^

I like titanium horns for home/car stereo, but they need to be padded for me. Don't care for them in a bass cab. I have one I use for fretting practice, because it brings out all my suckiness, but I get it out when doing anything other than that.

Stuff changes with the parameters when you put a bass speaker in a box. I'm not so good at predicting the future, but others like @AstroSonic are very good at it. Take a look at the frequency response chart:

http://www.eminence.com/pdf/Beta_15A.pdf

I see a large, but gradual 10 db climb starting around 600 or 700 Hz, peaking at around 2K, then coming back down at a steeper rate. The hump is not uncommon, this is just higher in db than what I'm used to seeing. This might sound good to you, or might need to be tamed a bit. I would try the 15 alone first with and without the other cabs you use, and see if you can eq it to taste. Eminence rates the 15 at 98.2 db (averaged across the rated freq. response), but for the sake of determining what will work here, I'd call it 95 db +10 db.

If it sounds good alone with or without cutting the hump with eq, then decide if you want to have a tweeter. I'd swap the one your ordered for a nice soft dome type, but you might like what you have coming.

If you can't eq it for your tastes, you might look into a lower crossover frequency and a tweeter or mid that will reach down to the crossover frequency. The Dayton crossovers are probably good. These are good and accommodate a prewired easy $25 L-pad:

Crossovers | Eminence Speaker

Crossover Detail | Eminence Speaker

I'm a hack. If Astro says to not listen to me, take that advice. This is just what I would do, and I have no problem with buying stuff to experiment with, because i enjoy it.
 
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#6
The Beta 15a is excellent for use full range (no tweeter). The Pyle PDBT28 suffers from 1) a lack of specs, and 2) narrow dispersion. I understand that some folks get by with it, but, if you really prefer extended highs in your cabs, this $10 part is a bit harsh (IMO) and has very narrow dispersion - a short coming in small practice spaces. For a low power cab this part is smoother and has much wider dispersion: "Peerless by Tymphany H26TG06-06 1" Silk Dome Tweeter with Waveguide 6 Ohm" from www.parts-express.com!. Any non-piezo tweeter you use will need a crossover designed for non-piezo drivers. For this project, you can use this pre-assembled crossover: "Dayton Audio 3k-HPF-4 High Pass Speaker Crossover 3,000 Hz 12 dB/Octave" from www.parts-express.com!. You'll run the Beta 15a with no crossover (it works fine this way), while the tweeter is high pass filtered. As BadExample said, you're going to want to be able to attenuate that tweeter, so here's a L-pad for that ("Parts Express Speaker L-Pad Attenuator 50W Mono 1" Shaft 8 Ohm" from www.parts-express.com!), along with a 2 ohm 10w resistor ("Dayton Audio DNR-2.0 2 Ohm 10W Precision Audio Grade Resistor" from www.parts-express.com!) to wire in series with the tweeter (which is 6 ohms between about 2.5k Hz and 8 kHz). I know that this driver and crossover parts cost more than what you were planning on, but they will way outperform the Pyle in your application (well, in just about any application but cool looks). Even so, they are really quite inexpensive, as these thing go. The Eminence L-pad and crossovers recommended by BadExample would work well. They would be excellent for a high power cab, but are a little overkill in your application unless you plan on using distortion with a lot of high frequency content or push the amp for a heavy overdrive type tone.
 
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#8
@Blues Bass 2,
@BadExample
@AstroSonic

Thank you so much for your input!!! The existing tweeter works, so I will just forgo installing the tweeter. Your input was really helpful.

I have pretty much only needed one small amp for the type of work I usually do, but now I am subbing for cover bands and need more horsepower. My big gear was sold years ago, but I am patching a rig out of what I have left for cover band gigs and was going to use the 1x15 for more bass (disco and Pump Up the Jam, Bruno Mars, etc) :

Proposed setup:

Warwick Thumb 5 BO w/ active electronics ---> A/B Selector (A,B or both )

A Channel---> Effects ---> Mark Bass Little Mark II or GK 700 RB head ---> Aguilar 2x10 plus no name 2x12
B Channel ---> SWR Bassic Black 1x15 120 Watts (boosted bass for the disco and Pump Up the Jam tunes)

I also have a SWR Super Red Head (Pre Fender) .

I know I am breaking a fundamental rule by mixing speaker sizes, but I am just looking for the volume.
 
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