karlthebassist Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 (edited) Hi Just got back from practice having stopped after hearing some nasty-asss distortion coming from my GS112. There is a kind of fuzzy edged distortion coming out of it at pretty much any volume. I've just had the cover off and checked the cone out - there is absoloutly no visiable damage to the cone or the bit around the edge that flexes to let the cone move in and out (whats it called?). However, when i play a note so that distortion comes in, if i put my finger on certain parts of the flexy edge bit the distortion stops... Almost like there is something loose. I've had the driver out and checked it for signs of damage all over but can see nothing. I have only had this cab a month or two, as I brought it as a replacement for my other GS112 that completely failed (the speaker just stopped and it read open circuit on a pair of multimeters). That one has been sent away for repair, but now this one is buggered too! Driving the cab was my LMII and my Stingray. Nothing else. Cables are all high quality. The amps controls were set to Gain: 2oclock Low: 1 oclock Low Mid: 2 oclock Mid High: 1 oclock High: 2 oclock VLE off VPF: 10 oclock Master: 12 oclock And my Stingray slightly boosted on the treble and bass and cut slightly on the mid (literaly all I do is take them just ouf of the notch and thats how I like it) So I can't really see that I had been driving the cab too hard. I just don't know what to do! Anyone have any thoughts? I'm seriously screwed for cash - my entire music fund stands at £30 at the moment... Cheers Edited March 3, 2010 by karlthebassist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 may seem a sill question but, have you checked the bass(battery) ,the amp head(dirty pots) and the cables? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlthebassist Posted February 19, 2010 Author Share Posted February 19, 2010 Yeah all that stuff is fine. I have checked the amp and everything on my other little bass cab. I have the speaker out again now and have checked every inch of the cone, front and back and cannot see any damage at all. Looks like a brand new speaker (which it pretty much is!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 I hate to say this, but it does sound like a fried coil. The voice coil former has probably expanded because of excess heat and is rubbing against the centre pole. What happens when you press on the surround is that you push the cone slightly to the side, which twists the voice coil, pulls the bulge away from the centre pole and stops the rubbing. Try pushing the cone in and out by exerting even pressure all round on the cone (i.e. not twisting it at all) to mimic the normal in-out movement of the cone. Listen for scraping behind the centre dome. If you do hear scraping, then the voice coil is on its way out. You have to do this very carefully because you can cause the voice coil to scrape if you twist the cone even slightly. I hope that I'm wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlthebassist Posted February 20, 2010 Author Share Posted February 20, 2010 Oh dear I hope thats not it! Multimeter reading for the driver is 7.92 Ohms, so pretty good there, and I cant feel any risistance or scraping when I flex the cone in and out. I could be wrong thought. - cheers for that Stevie. It sounds like its actually coming from the very edge of the cone itself. Im sure I wasn't driving the amp too hard, so I'm baffled as to what could have caused the damage. The practice room we use had pretty dodgy electrics... I'm going to try and see my techy bloke this weekend. I feel another expense coming on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 The prognosis is starting to look a lot better. You need to do one more thing to rule out a damaged coil. (I'm glad you have a multimeter - that certainly simplifies things). It's possible that the coil former has expanded slightly due to excessive heat but that there is still enough gap to allow the coil freedom of movement when it is cold. The scraping and consequent distortion will therefore happen only when the coil is warm. So, allow the speaker to cool down for half a day, then try it. If the distortion starts straight away, your coil is OK. The reason you need to be absolutely sure that the coil has not been fried is that virtually any other fault is covered by warranty. I suspect what has happend is that the glue between the surround and the chassis has failed at the point where you are pressing. The surround is flapping against the chassis here and producing a nasty noise. Whatever is is, your best bet is to make a warranty claim because your speaker almost certainly has a manufacturing defect. It's not quite clear to me whether you bought this cab new, but remember that Eminence in the US offers a 7-year warranty against manufacturing defects. So you should be covered. Let us know how you get on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 One other cause - have you checked to make sure that the cable going from the speaker to the output jack isn't touching the back of the cone. that's happened to someone on here before with a Schroeder cab I think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlthebassist Posted February 20, 2010 Author Share Posted February 20, 2010 [quote name='stevie' post='751635' date='Feb 20 2010, 10:51 AM']The prognosis is starting to look a lot better. You need to do one more thing to rule out a damaged coil. (I'm glad you have a multimeter - that certainly simplifies things). It's possible that the coil former has expanded slightly due to excessive heat but that there is still enough gap to allow the coil freedom of movement when it is cold. The scraping and consequent distortion will therefore happen only when the coil is warm. So, allow the speaker to cool down for half a day, then try it. If the distortion starts straight away, your coil is OK. The reason you need to be absolutely sure that the coil has not been fried is that virtually any other fault is covered by warranty. I suspect what has happend is that the glue between the surround and the chassis has failed at the point where you are pressing. The surround is flapping against the chassis here and producing a nasty noise. Whatever is is, your best bet is to make a warranty claim because your speaker almost certainly has a manufacturing defect. It's not quite clear to me whether you bought this cab new, but remember that Eminence in the US offers a 7-year warranty against manufacturing defects. So you should be covered. Let us know how you get on.[/quote] I've tried the cab again this morning and the fuzzyness is still there. I rang the dealer from who I brought the cab and asked them about my other one that they still have. In that one, the coil had just failed - their expert too the actual driver apart and diagnosed that and that driver is being replaced under warrenty. Fingers crossed I should get it back at the end of next week. I told him about this cab and I'm going to send the actual driver off to him once I get my other cab back for his tech chap to look at. He said that he has only ever had a couple of problems with Aguilar gear in all the time he's dealt them, and for me to have two faults is a bit too much to be a coincidence - to which I agree with him fully. As his expert said, the first cab was definately a fault, but this one... dunno. I'm going to get my amp checked by a pro to make sure its ok. Only other thing that needs checking is the electrics in the practice room. Which we already know to be far from perfect... Rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish [quote name='Delberthot' post='752021' date='Feb 20 2010, 06:28 PM']One other cause - have you checked to make sure that the cable going from the speaker to the output jack isn't touching the back of the cone. that's happened to someone on here before with a Schroeder cab I think[/quote] Yes that was one of my first thoughts, that there might have been something touching the inside of the cone and I checked that first - they had tied the cables in a way that they can't flop onto the cone - so wasn't that. Thanks for your reply though - I only wish it had been something so simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 (edited) [quote name='karlthebassist' post='752069' date='Feb 20 2010, 07:09 PM']I told him about this cab and I'm going to send the actual driver off to him once I get my other cab back for his tech chap to look at. He said that he has only ever had a couple of problems with Aguilar gear in all the time he's dealt them, and for me to have two faults is a bit too much to be a coincidence - to which I agree with him fully. As his expert said, the first cab was definately a fault, but this one... dunno. I'm going to get my amp checked by a pro to make sure its ok.[/quote] But the first faulty speaker had a manufacturing fault - you didn't cause it. It's irrelevant to the current problem and certainly doesn't make it any more likely that you damaged the second one, which is what your dealer seems to be saying. I wouldn't buy that. If you haven't overdriven the speaker (which seems to be the case from what you have said), you should get a warranty replacement. Chin up! Edited February 20, 2010 by stevie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlthebassist Posted February 20, 2010 Author Share Posted February 20, 2010 (edited) [quote name='stevie' post='752131' date='Feb 20 2010, 07:53 PM']But the first faulty speaker had a manufacturing fault - you didn't cause it. It's irrelevant to the current problem and certainly doesn't make it any more likely that you damaged the second one, which is what your dealer seems to be saying. I wouldn't buy that. If you haven't overdriven the speaker (which seems to be the case from what you have said), you should get a warranty replacement. Chin up![/quote] I forgot to mention in my previous post but the dealer is giving me the benifit of the doubt over wether or not this cab is faulty or if something else has damaged it and theyre going to check it out for me. I didn't catch the guys name on the phone, but its definately who ive dealt with before and hes a nice chap. They have given me really good service so far with what i have brought from them in the past, so im positive they will do the best they can for me - if its my fault its damaged then i have to buy a new driver, if its a manufactureres fault then aguilar have to supply a new driver - no the dealers aren't going to loose out either way really. My old cab should be back with me soonish though, so chin is up Edited February 20, 2010 by karlthebassist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.