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It appears that 15", 4 ohm, 300w speakers funny exactly grow on trees

Rimbo

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Rimbo

Rimbo 25915

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edit: that's supposed to be DON'T exactly grow on trees. Damn phone keyboards...

 

So, 35 years into ownership, my ancient Peavey Combo 300 amp has blown its speaker. Amp's still fine, but the speaker is done for.

So... weighing several options, have come to the decision that I'm casual enough not to be able to justify a new amp. Plus, there's something to be said for the sheer insane loudness of this damn thing; outside of large PA systems, there are few things that call overpower it.

But it seems that the old 1502-dt-4 Black Widow isn't made any more, only in 8 ohm versions, and cutting the power in half like that defeats the whole purpose. 

So I'm having fun looking into third party speakers. (It's a 1984 Peavey; not like I need to preserve the original spec.)

Half the fun is just realizing that these things, as per the title, don't grow on trees. I've seen lots of 15" and even 18" speakers, and I've seen a good number of 4 ohm speakers, but both? 

Eminence makes one. Celestion makes one. The remnants of Carvin supposedly have one in their remaining stock (the appeal of Carvin is: Don't have to pay for shipping, they're in town). Either way, I'm looking at about $100 before shipping, which is just fine.

The other oddity is, having lots of experience buying home and car audio but not this sort of thing, the way I judge a speaker isn't necessarily what you want from a bass amp. Don't really want a flat frequency response, you know?

I know some folks here know a bit more about this, so wondering if any of y'all have tips.

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topochico

topochico 1049

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To be honest, you lost me at "being casual enough to not be able to justify a new amp".....  Talkbass is usually pretty positive on the Eminence bass speakers. 

Looking at Sweetwater, one purchaser had the exact same amp as you and it works well/easy swap. 
 

 Rated 5/5Great Speaker at a Great Price Point I recently bought one of these Eminence CA154 Legends to replace a 30+ year old Peavey 1505-DT 4 Ohm Black Widow in my mid-80s Peavey KB300 Keyboard amp. The original speaker had developed a nasty rattle when pushed with my Vox Continental organ. The new Eminence speaker was a simple swap out and used all the same screw holes. The magnet is much lighter than the original, 56 oz compared to over 14 lbs on the old one. I didn't know if that would make a tonal difference or not but I figured I'd chance it and see since the 1505-DT 4 Ohm is not one of the speakers that Peavey offers a simple re-cone kit for. I installed the Eminence Legend today which took all of 5 minutes and the amp sounds better than new. If you're unfamiliar with the KB300, it's a typical old Peavey - LOUD and a ton of low end - and this speaker handles my Vox organ through it with no problem at all - not a rattle to be heard anywhere and the full range of even my Korg SV-1 stage piano is clean and clear even when pushing the volume. For just over a hundred bucks, this is a great speaker. I might be upgrading my old GK Backline 115 with one of these soon too now that I've heard it.  close
by Bob McGrath from Poestenkill, NY on October 2, 2019
Music background: Keys, Bass and Guitar in local Classic Rock bands for almost 60 years
 
 
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VABuckeye

VABuckeye 2472

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8 hours ago, Rimbo said:

edit: that's supposed to be DON'T exactly grow on trees. Damn phone keyboards...

 

So, 35 years into ownership, my ancient Peavey Combo 300 amp has blown its speaker. Amp's still fine, but the speaker is done for.

So... weighing several options, have come to the decision that I'm casual enough not to be able to justify a new amp. Plus, there's something to be said for the sheer insane loudness of this damn thing; outside of large PA systems, there are few things that call overpower it.

But it seems that the old 1502-dt-4 Black Widow isn't made any more, only in 8 ohm versions, and cutting the power in half like that defeats the whole purpose. 

So I'm having fun looking into third party speakers. (It's a 1984 Peavey; not like I need to preserve the original spec.)

Half the fun is just realizing that these things, as per the title, don't grow on trees. I've seen lots of 15" and even 18" speakers, and I've seen a good number of 4 ohm speakers, but both? 

Eminence makes one. Celestion makes one. The remnants of Carvin supposedly have one in their remaining stock (the appeal of Carvin is: Don't have to pay for shipping, they're in town). Either way, I'm looking at about $100 before shipping, which is just fine.

The other oddity is, having lots of experience buying home and car audio but not this sort of thing, the way I judge a speaker isn't necessarily what you want from a bass amp. Don't really want a flat frequency response, you know?

I know some folks here know a bit more about this, so wondering if any of y'all have tips.

Switching to an 8 ohm speaker doesn't mean it will be less loud because the amp power is less.  There's way more that goes into determining volume than just raw amp power.  A good amp will always put more power out at 4 ohms than 8 but that doesn't means it's quieter with an 8 ohm speaker.  What's the sensitivity of the 8 ohm version?

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Rimbo

Rimbo 25915

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7 hours ago, topochico said:

https://8thstreet.com/Product/Get/20305/peavey-1508-4-sps-bwx-black-widow-15-inch-2000-watt-4-ohm-speaker

 

Listed as a PA speaker. Would it work? They have a 12% off promotion going on too

Someone on r/bass mentioned that one. Main hesitation is that it's 2x the price of the Eminence https://www.eminence.com/speakers/speaker-detail/?model=Legend_CA154 and Celestion https://celestion.com/product/166/bl15300x_4/ that I'm looking at.

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Rimbo

Rimbo 25915

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20 minutes ago, topochico said:

https://usspeaker.com/us speaker 4 ohm speakers-1.htm

More options here. Some are significantly more than you are looking to spend.

Oh my God. The specs on that Beyma 15G40. But yes, probably too good for the amp. :) 

This. This here. This is the link I've been looking for. Thank you, @topochico!

 

(Actually the Beyma 15WR400 that they recommend is almost a perfect match to the BW's specs. As they suggest, too. But better!)

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topochico

topochico 1049

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6 hours ago, Rimbo said:

Oh my God. The specs on that Beyma 15G40. But yes, probably too good for the amp. :) 

This. This here. This is the link I've been looking for. Thank you, @topochico!

 

(Actually the Beyma 15WR400 that they recommend is almost a perfect match to the BW's specs. As they suggest, too. But better!)

The Beyma 15G40 works out to less than $10/year if your amp track record longevity continues. You could possibly have the worlds first sleeper amp. Looks like an old clapped out 80's Peavey. Plugged in, it sounds like the wrath of God....

 

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Rimbo

Rimbo 25915

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4 hours ago, topochico said:

The Beyma 15G40 works out to less than $10/year if your amp track record longevity continues. You could possibly have the worlds first sleeper amp. Looks like an old clapped out 80's Peavey. Plugged in, it sounds like the wrath of God....

 

To be fair, the Combo 300 already did sound like that, if God was screaming into a pillow and had gastrointestinal issues.

And the distortion I was getting before it blew? I was dropping all the strings a whole step and playing down at the bridge (AT, mind you) with my 2mm pick. Snapping the strings against the fingerboard with that noise...

it was gloriously awful noise

 

fortunately my wife was out of the country at the time and couldn't hear it to complain

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