SWR 12 Pack and 12 Stack (2x12 & 4x12)

[RJ]

I’m back home for the holidays and finally had some time to unearth some of my old gear that’s been in storage with my family for the past 13 years.

I was pretty convinced this would all be rotten and falling apart. I left my home state with pretty short notice and ended up moving around the country some since.

I’m really happy to be reunited with some of my old stuff. They cleaned up surprisingly well with minimal effort. The 750x was my first nice amp. The cabs were usually paired with my 100 watt Sovtek Blues Boy. Hoping I can get these cabs back to the west coast without it costing an arm and a leg.

One of the 12s in the 2x12s has a damaged speaker. The nimrod that I bought it from shipped it sans packaging - they just slapped a packing slip on it and dropped it in the mail. Anyone have a good suggestion for replacement speakers?

I still have two SWR 4x10s at the storage unit but those will have to sit tight until my next visit.

 

[mmbongo]

Following as I'm curious about the speakers in that cab! Sadly SWR is long out of business so speakers are no longer available and you have to replace it with the exact same driver. I think your only choices would be to try to find some used, which is doubtful. Or try to find another cabinet like that to harvest the speakers from it.

Or you could try to find a modern equivalent that would work, but the problem there is that you'd have to replace ALL of the speakers so they would all be the same.

 

[RJ]

Thanks for the insight @mmbongo

Thankfully it’s only the one driver in the 2x12 that’s damaged. Maybe it can be fixed?

I plan on taking it to the guitar store here and opening it up. I’ll take a look what speakers are in there then. There unfortunately doesn’t seem to be a lot of info around about these.

Why is it that when you replace one you need to replace both? The one was damaged from shipping negligence not from play. Not sure if that matters though.

 

[mmbongo]

Thanks for the insight @mmbongo



Why is it that when you replace one you need to replace both? The one was damaged from shipping negligence not from play. Not sure if that matters though.

A couple of reasons.

You cannot mix and match speakers, both have to be identical. This is assuming they are both sharing a common airspace. If they are each in their own enclosure, they don't necessarily have to match so you might have that to hope for. You just would have to find a driver that works in that enclosure design.

Reparing a speaker that old just depends on what's wrong with it. If it's just a hole poked in the cone it could very well be repaired. But if it needs a recone then it gets sketchy. Not only is SWR long out of business, but so is PAS who made most of their speakers. So if they are PAS drivers there are likely no recone kits available.

But step one is finding out what's wrong with the speaker.

 

[two fingers]

Thanks for the insight @mmbongo

Thankfully it’s only the one driver in the 2x12 that’s damaged. Maybe it can be fixed?

I plan on taking it to the guitar store here and opening it up. I’ll take a look what speakers are in there then. There unfortunately doesn’t seem to be a lot of info around about these.

Why is it that when you replace one you need to replace both? The one was damaged from shipping negligence not from play. Not sure if that matters though.

If you have two different drivers with different specs they may not interact well together. Phase cancelation and other issues could arise. And if you replace the drivers in the top cab, they could interact badly with the bottom cab.

Speaker specs aren't random. They're specific. And physics come into play. Hopefully you can get that one repaired.

 

[RJ]

A couple of reasons.

You cannot mix and match speakers, both have to be identical. This is assuming they are both sharing a common airspace. If they are each in their own enclosure, they don't necessarily have to match so you might have that to hope for. You just would have to find a driver that works in that enclosure design.

Reparing a speaker that old just depends on what's wrong with it. If it's just a hole poked in the cone it could very well be repaired. But if it needs a recone then it gets sketchy. Not only is SWR long out of business, but so is PAS who made most of their speakers. So if they are PAS drivers there are likely no recone kits available.

But step one is finding out what's wrong with the speaker.

Yikes. Not at all confidence inspiring. Thanks for the info.

I remember finding a tear in the cone. I’ll report back when I learn more.

So when people mix and match cabs, say a 4x10 and a 1x15 they are tuned to work alongside one another. Assuming they are from the same manufacturer I’d imagine so.

 

[mmbongo]

Yikes. Not at all confidence inspiring. Thanks for the info.

I remember finding a tear in the cone. I’ll report back when I learn more.

So when people mix and match cabs, say a 4x10 and a 1x15 they are tuned to work alongside one another. Assuming they are from the same manufacturer I’d imagine so.

Well a couple of things. This is a different situation as the speakers in the 4x10 and the 1x15 are not sharing the same airspace. In your situation it's critical that you have identical drivers because they share the same cabinet. And yes even if you replace both speakers in the 2x12 it is possible they will not work well with the 4x12, but that is not likely to happen. Mesa for example has a wide range of cabinets in their Subway line and all of them are designed to mix and match but that doesn't always happen with other manufacturers.

Secondly, a 4x10 and 1x15 is kind of a bad example because they are mismatched from the start. Say both cabs are 8 ohm and you hook them both to an 800 watt amp. That means each cab gets 400 watts. That means each individual speaker in the 410 gets 100 watts. No problem. But the single 15 gets 400 watts. Not good! That's how you toast speakers

 

[Mrmatt1972]

Your best bet for a replacement ours from Eminence. They make a drop in 10” for SWR, I’d bet they do the same for the twelve.

Honestly, people have been replacing single speakers in cabs for decades! Impedance and power handling (wattage) are the critical specs to match. You can worry about some of the more esoteric things like frequency and tuning if you’re able to, but likely these were Eminence to begin with.
Reconing is a good option.

 

[Lammchop93]

Man, I miss those cabs! I had a 12 stack in the cool ox blood tolex. That 4x12 was a monster to move, mainly due to its awkward size, but it sounded SOOOO GOOD. That was my first cab to play without a tweeter and I haven’t used once since

 

[RJ]

Thanks for all the info, @mmbongo!

Hooking a tube amp up to that 4x12 felt finding my sound. I’ve had zero GAS since getting these cabs and the 100 watt Sovtek. It put the same big smile on my face when I fired it up yesterday. That cab did cause me to wonder ‘What the hell was wrong with us. This is so heavy!’ @Lammchop93

Thanks for the heads up @Mrmatt1972!
I’ll definitely look I to that. I did see these on eBay PAS Professional Audio Systems MB1280C 12" Woofer Speaker | eBay not sure if they’re the same thing yet though.

 

[pepj]

I replaced PAS with Eminence and it wasn't a good swap.
The lighter weight was a bonus but unfortunately the tone was not. I sold the cabs.

However, plenty of ppl say the swap works.

Not sure of the cab vintage but I'd suspect they arent PAS.

 

[Jim Nazium]

...Honestly, people have been replacing single speakers in cabs for decades! Impedance and power handling (wattage) are the critical specs to match. You can worry about some of the more esoteric things like frequency and tuning if you’re able to, but likely these were Eminence to begin with.
Reconing is a good option.

I agree with this. Technically, you should get a replacement driver with the exact same specs. But if the speaker can't be reconed, and the alternative is the cab is useless, I don't see any harm in finding any 12" bass speaker and chucking it in there. If it sounds OK, great. If not, sell the parts on ebay.

 

[mb94952]

What's better than having an SWR stack ?
MORE SWR