Peavey Black Widow voice coil gap cleaning - old foam problem

Do you have an older Peavey speaker that needs to have the speaker basket replaced? Be sure to check the condition of the acoustic foam dust screen in the magnet.

[@keanermers8990]

Very good information even in 2024 thank you very much from Holland!

[@ansol68]

Thanks for your info and great tips. I've just purchased a B.W. 15" for my Peavey amplifier and this will be of great help to me. Thanks

[@lhadrummer5756]

Awsome, thank you so much, really helped!!

[@FS.DJParty]

Thank you. I have a pair of Sp2 Ti that quit this weekend. Tweeter works no mid/low. Took the magnet off and I have the same issue. Will follow your lead and clean well and replace basket. Luckily I bought one as a spare couple years ago. Guess it’s time to use it. Thanks for the info!

[@dnews9519]

Very good information I'm glad you left this video up. Thanks

[@barnabywilde374]

thanks. Just bought a Peavey 115BW cabinet with an all-distorted speaker. Sure enough, the voice coil was all burned in spots, and the coil gap on the magnet was full of crap. Ran a Dremel sanding wheel through the center air hole and got all that crumbly foam out of there. Found that 4 stacked business cards was a good thickness to run through the magnet's coil slot to get out all the debris. Once nice & clean, put on the new basket and it sounds great!

[@joejenkins7811]

Ben, thanks for the info. I have a set of 12” Black Widows in the same cabinets from your other video with the MB-2 cabinets. Mine don’t look to be cooked. No darkening or open wires but with the magnet on, the cone didn’t float. So some black goo but not much. Everything is still silver with no sign of heating up.

[@redryder4]

Thanks so much for the video! My son's bass amp was making an ungodly farting noise. Touching the dust cover stopped the noise, but it returned as soon as I took my hand off. This lead me down a "loose dust cover rabbit hole", but the dust cover was properly attached with no signs of coming off.. Enter your video... I followed your instructions and removed the magnet to find the accoustic foam filter in the dust cap. It was mostly in 1 piece, but there was definitely foam shrapnel in nooks and crannies. Removed it, cleaned up what goop was on the Coil and inside the magnet groove. Reassembled and beautiful bass notes now boom out, without the fart noise! Thanks so much for the tip! 👍👍

[@ve3cda]

Redryder4 - Glad that worked.

[@tauntauntaun42]

I just bought a cab that starts farting once the amp is turned up past 5-6 (100W head and 1x15" BW cab - the amp is not overdriving it). I'm betting this foam is the culprit, going to tear it down when I get a chance.

[@JerryHawk250]

I just had this happen to me over the weekend on a DJ gig. Speaker worked fine on last gig and quite within a couple of seconds the last gig. Had that same old goo on the voice coil. I'll be sure to clean the magnet groove out well.

[@THEKOSCKOHACKERCHANNEL]

Aboslutely on point please name the video Peavey black widow voice coil gap cleaning I have a set of so old peaveys and the gaps get dirty from time to time because i dont have the original foam screens only the metal ones so i pull em apart and clean them before each gig And they work like a champ The voice coils are the original gold color even no dicoloration at all If you take care of peaveys they will take care of you Simply an on point video Exceptional As a proud owner of 2 SP-2 Ti s i approve

[@ve3cda]

Koscko Hacker - Thanks for the suggestion. I've renamed the video.

[@THEKOSCKOHACKERCHANNEL]

yeah man its a very usefull video

[@ve3cda]

I can't emphasize enough that the magnet voice-coil gap MUST be completely clean before reassembling the magnet onto the replacement basket. If your bad speaker had the acoustic foam dust protector and it has dried out and crumbled over time, it will be very difficult to see the foam residue when you look down into the voice-coil gap as the residue is on the sides of the voice-coil gap, not at the bottom. I wrapped a bit of paper towel with alcohol on it around a zip tie and ran it around the gap numerous times. I kept on doing this (and changing the paper towel) until it came out squeaky clean. That acoustic foam goo is stuck on there pretty good, so it will take you a bit of time to get it clean. Ben Price - San Antonio

[@jonsampson9714]

If you catch these early, you can clean everything up, but you have to be really careful cleaning the voicecoil and groove in the driver. I've found that alcohol and toilet paper works best on the voicecoil. I rebuilt a pair of peavey 115 internationals of mine and then several makes for a friend that had a rock band. All of them had this foam problem. This was all done back in the early 2000s. The pair of internationals that I fixed are still in use by my cousin that has a rock band in Detroit.

[@ve3cda]

Jon - I agree that careful is the name of the game. People doing this should take their time and double triple check that the voice coil groove is squeaky clean. Also, what a wonderful story that the speakers you repaired are still in use. I still have mine and bring them out for larger outside shows. Ben Price - San Antonio

[@redbird523]

Gonna go clean my 15in magnet up now. Im still looking for a replacement tho as this is what happened to me recently...

[@danieldrita5351]

Your a good man

[@kavajamusic5411]

Peavey is a serious brand. Don`t understant why deejays in USA keep buying crap like EV, QSC, JBL or shit like that!

[@Yousitech]

I have a pair of peavey sp4g speakers and the goo (almost) killed one of the black widow 15s. Luckily I noticed it in time to clean it out with alcohol

[@ve3cda]

After reviewing a number of similar videos, it seems the consensus is to replace the foam dust filter to prevent small dust particles from getting into the coil. I considered ordering them from Peavey but had no idea how I would install them, so I decided to cut a piece from a our house A/C filter and glue it to the back of the speaker (easier for me to change in the future - if necessary). You can buy these filters at Home Depot, they are inexpensive and it doesn't matter which size you purchase as you will only use a small piece anyhow. If anyone has other suggestions or solutions, please share. Ben Price - San Antonio

[@MrRODSTER426]

I haven't pulled my apart yet and I have the same vintage 12" Black Widow speakers in a Fender Twin Reverb... I replaced a mismatched set of JBLs that a prior owner had installed giving it a hum that just wouldn't go away... Mine have low mileage so i wouldn't think there would be much damage but that foam from other videos I've watched has a bad habit of degrading... I think I'll get a flash light and take a real close look and if it isn't obvious I'll get the wrenches and take a closer look... In as far as replacing the foam goes, what do you think about gluing a scotch brite pad cut to fit in it's place? ...or maybe even a finer mesh metallic screen? I would be curious as well as to what others who encountered this problem as well... Thanks for the video and your thoughts regarding this solution...

[@guillermocandia1676]

thanks

[@robertanderson4913]

i did this too! i used a BRASS feeler gauge (reg. steel grabbed by magnet !!) to clean the gap with scotch tape on it. it is a laborious process, but works. lighting a problem also. the goo laughs at a vacuum cleaner. my attempt at this repair resurrected the speaker which is still working to this day. i used a piece of linen glued in several spots on the OUTSIDE of the screen to hopefully prevent any fresh dust entrance! what a foolish design peavey (usually a great company) should be embarrassed !

[@ve3cda]

Robert - Excellent idea! These older Peavey speakers are available frequently for very little money, work quite well, and will last a lifetime. I agree with you that the design (with the foam dust cover) wasn't the best. But, to be fair, I had a set of Altec Valencia 846B home theater speakers and the entire front cover was made with that same kind of foam. Over the years, the foam front panel completely disintegrated. So maybe it was just a fad at that time. Thanks for your comments.

[@FS.DJParty]

Robert Anderson i wonder if at the time of design and manufacturing in the late 70’s and early 80’s if Peavey had even considered there speakers would still be used 30/40 years later? I have several peavey speakers from the 80’s and gig they weekly. When I talked to peavey they were aware of the problem and offered the same solution as this video. But the guy said he was amazed at the amount of speakers from that era that were still being used.

[@xxmanx1]

great video! my question is when u get a new basket, will it sound the same as an old BW1502? I hear the new ones have Kevlar in the cone and have way more high end...I would think that if u want the same tone you had, that you have to go and find another speaker of the same vintage...the new basket will change ur sound...no?

[@ve3cda]

Charlie X - I have both the old and new baskets in front on me and, other than the original basket being 30 years old, they look the same. The superstructure is visibly different, but I called Peavey and they assured me that they are "functionally equivalent". In my case, these speakers are used as subs in a 4-way system. So, they never see frequencies above 250 Hz. As well, I play in a classic country band so the sound levels are quite low. Having said that, you could be right on both the Kevlar issue and the added highs, but I'm not noticing anything that would keep me from recommending a replacement basket (if you need one). As to the option of looking for vintage speakers with the thought of keeping the original sound, I suppose that is a possibility. Another option is to purchase a complete replacement speaker, either from Peavey or from another manufacturer. For me, at the end of the day, the replacement baskets were a cost effective way of getting the speakers back in action. I'm very happy with the results.

[@xxmanx1]

Thanks for your detailed response!

[@guillermocandia1676]

Hi, I'm from Argentina. I have about 18 inches of DS1803. I need to know what product you used to clean the coil

[@ve3cda]

Guillermo - I used alcohol from the drug store. The challenge is to find a tool that is thin enough, yet stiff enough to allow you to get down into the voice-coil cavity to clean off the goo. Using only a paper towel or a business card won't work. I used a zip tie wrapped with a bit of paper towel soaked in the alcohol. The zip ties are available is different sizes and thicknesses, but anything fairly stiff and made out of plastic will do. It's very difficult to see down into the voice-coil gap, so take your time and ensure that it is super clean before reassembling the speaker. Ben Price - San Antonio

[@santosgonzales9980]

Buena limpieza

[@chuckabraham5380]

So waitaminnit. After you cleaned the residue out, you didn't even need to replace the voice coil? Just cleaned it, replaced the filter, and put it back together and it worked fine?

[@ve3cda]

Chuck - No, I purchased a replacement basket which includes a new voice coil. Actually, the only thing the replacement basket doesn't have is the magnet structure. In the video, the old basket is silver in color, whereas the replacement basket is black. So, once I completely cleaned the gap in the magnet, I put the magnet on the new replacement basket and it worked fine. The old basket and old voice coil will be discarded.

[@noternunstoned]

compressed air with no residue contact cleaner to blast the gap will be your friend

[@ve3cda]

Javier - thanks for the input. As long as the voice coil is completely clean of any goo or other debris, you're good to go.

[@santosgonzales9980]

Son calidad las black widow

[@santosgonzales9980]

Dios te bendiga

[@joesanders4605]

Well here I go again was that thing start breaking down into fiber little fragments and they get caught up in the coil obviously the heat melted away and turns it into powder well that is material that is no longer where is supposed to be so you can imagine that plastic or Rubber seal whatever that is is no longer 100% so how many times can we use that same magnet until that plastic thing will be so destroyed that he will no longer be usable from what I understand I'm the black widows the only thing we have to buy is the speaker and we just put in the old magnet by the old magnet is the one that destroyed the speaker because the seal started disintegrating started turning into powder then get caught up in the voice coil so once you put that magnet on a new speaker the very good chances they will do the same it won't destroy the new speaker

[@joesanders4605]

The robber becomes briddle

[@joesanders4605]

It would be nice when replacing the basket we could replace bad plastic seal or rubber whatever is made out of

[@joeleoffler3174]

unintentional asmr

[@davidhigginbotham5451]

All that and you didn't replace the foam or explain why you didn't replace the foam. Otherwise... good video.

[@ve3cda]

David, I did call Peavey and asked how significant the foam is to the speaker - and they said "not so much". As the foam is integrated into the magnet of the speaker, it's not something you can just pop off the old one and pop on a new one. You certainly can replace the functionality of the foam by using something else (like a piece of A/C Filter) and attach/glue it to the back of the speaker magnet. I get the impression that with or without the foam, the speaker is in little danger of getting stuff into the voice-coil slot. Ironically, the most danger is from an old and disintegrated foam dust cover that has turned to dust and fallen into the voice-coil slot. I would say this is one of those "your call" situations. Ben Price