Black widow speakers

[Larry F]

Anyone have any experience with these? They are made by Peavey, it appears. I'm looking for a 12" or two 10"s to use with a Ceriatone Trainwreck clone.

[billd13]

All through the 80's and 90's I used a Peavey Heritage with 4 6L6's and 2 12" Black Widows. It was a match for a 130W Twin. I still have a 115BW bottom and 2 SP2's with 15BW's in use in my studio. Very efficient speakers, if my memory seves me correct they are rated at 102 or 103db. Smooth sounding, very clean. I used to set the passive channel to a bluesy overdriven sound with the pregain about 6 or 7 and the postgain where necessary and the active eq channel with scooped out mids giving the classic Twin cleans-pregain down around 3 or 4 and postgain to match output level to the passive eq channel.

[strat a various]

Hey, Larry- I've used them on and off over the years. I have one in a MusicMan combo right now. They are very heavy speakers, in the league with those big EV speakers. I believe the efficiency is roughly 98 or 99 dB for the 12", it's a 300 watt RMS speaker. Surprising high end clarity, but kind of a clean, transparent sound ... they won't add anything to the end tone, and will put any problems like cab design, for instance, under a microscope.
I don't like them in a closed back cab for guitar: I tried a couple in a big Fender cab, and they were dry and nasally. I believe that's the nature of the 2x12" cab. In an open back cab or combo, much better.
These speakers don't add anything to your sound, and so you get out what you put in. This can be useful if you're going after crystal cleans, but less so if you like a little dirt, as any hiss, overtones, EQ spikes, will be reproduced in a hi-fi manner.
BWs are great keyboard speakers- my main pianist uses them in several amps for piano and organ. For guitar, the sound lacks character, so I use them for specific purposes, but in a closed cab especially, I prefer Jensens or Eminence models.

[BigDaddyLH]

Peavey makes 15" BWs, too. Steel guitarists love them -- the Nashville 1000 is a 1x15" SS ultra-clean combo with 300W of giddyup. The BW speaker in it seems like a PA speaker to me -- stiff and uncolored. I like my guitar speakers a little warmer.

[studio1087]

Black Widows are PA speakers.

The Black Widow is Peavey's answer to a JBL type speaker....they are supposed to be very loud and clear....big huge magnets.

I sold Peavey gear in the 80's and I found that they broke up really easily when pushed.

A JBL speaker that was supposed to handle 300 watts at 8 ohms could do it's job.

A Peavey Black Widow that was supposed to have the same capability would throw up at 1/2 to 2/3 the volume of the JBL.

We sold Black Widow PA enclosures to small bands that never pushed them therefore they never complained.

I'm skeptical about Black Widows. I always liked the Scorpions for guitar. I still think that the Scorpion is the best design by Peavey when it comes to doing what Peavey says it will do.

I would take an old JBL recone for steel pedal or bass before I would take a Black Widow.

Just my opinion.

[BigDaddyLH]

On clean 15" speakers:

Does JBL still make these speakers, or would you have to get a reconditioned D-130? I see the specs for their replacement to the D-130, the E-130, here:

http://www.usspeaker.com/jbl%20e130-1.htm

300 watts
50Hz - 6kHz
105dB SPL
40 Hz Resonant Frequency
8.5kg magnet

That's the kind of speaker that says "PUNY HUMAN I WILL CRUSH YOU!"

[RomanS]

I have a PeaveyCombo 300 amp with a 15" Black Widow, as well as an early 90s Peavey 1x15" bass cab, alos BW-loaded, an both sound great, better than some much more expensive cabs (Ampeg 1x15" - not sure about the speaker type in there, Hartke 1x15").

[RodeoTex]

I hated those. A buddy had two matching Peavey amps and he always gave me the one with the Black Widow speaker in it. It weighed a ton and and soundeed like mush.
I don't know what his amp was but I learned to hate Black Widows early on.
Black Widow was a big sales pitch from the '70s as far as I know.

[BigDaddyLH]

So it's resolved: Black Widows sound either great or like crap.

[studio1087]

Black Widow - debatable
Scorpion - Great

They need another dangerous spider/insect....

The Peavey Black Wishbone.....get bit!



It's a good thing that I don't work in marketing. I would be some kind of failure!

John

[Jahmbie]

Here's a page that offers descriptions of various BW speakers:

http://www.peavey.com/support/techno...blackwidow.cfm

Back in high school a buddy of mine had a 300w Peavey bass amp with a 15" BW. It had a real clean sound and never seemed to break up. We would even run keyboards through it if we needed to, and it never crapped out. This was the early 1980s, so I doubt if this was a kevlar cone BW.

[Middleman]

My old Peavey had the black widow and I can't say that I enjoyed the sound live. They were a bit mushy and uninspiring in my old Peavey amp. After about 6 months I sold the amp and went back to a Fender amp with Celestions. The sound of the speaker did not live up to the intimidating name.

[BigDaddyLH]

Originally Posted by studio1087

Black Widow - debatable
Scorpion - Great

They need another dangerous spider/insect....

The Peavey Black Wishbone.....get bit!



It's a good thing that I don't work in marketing. I would be some kind of failure!

John

Then again "Funnel Web" might not be a bad choice. nature's speaker cone makers!

[strat a various]

Originally Posted by studio1087

Black Widows are PA speakers.

The Black Widow is Peavey's answer to a JBL type speaker....they are supposed to be very loud and clear....big huge magnets.

I sold Peavey gear in the 80's and I found that they broke up really easily when pushed.

A JBL speaker that was supposed to handle 300 watts at 8 ohms could do it's job.

A Peavey Black Widow that was supposed to have the same capability would throw up at 1/2 to 2/3 the volume of the JBL.

We sold Black Widow PA enclosures to small bands that never pushed them therefore they never complained.

I'm skeptical about Black Widows. I always liked the Scorpions for guitar. I still think that the Scorpion is the best design by Peavey when it comes to doing what Peavey says it will do.

I would take an old JBL recone for steel pedal or bass before I would take a Black Widow.

Just my opinion.

I've had a lot of old JBLs and I find them more prone to getting blown than about any other premium speaker. The original D-130 was rated at 25 watts continuous, but the engineers at JBL upped it to 60 watts after Fender started using JBLs in the 60s. They simply put them in amps and turned them up til they blew, at about 60 watts. The coil gaps were enlarged on the F series models, because Fender was having trouble with the D series failing so often. You see them rated at 100 watts. It ain't gonna happen.

I have several Black Widows and Scorpions. Never had any trouble with any of them at full time gigs at loud volumes. They sound EVish, but I've never blown one, and I've blown EVs.

[BigDaddyLH]

I've asked this in other threads, but is JBL currently making 15" guitar speakers, or are they all vintage?

As for wattage, I think their 15" E-130 8ohm speaker was rated at 300W.

[Schnauzer]

I used a lot of Peavey gear, PA enclosures, guitar, and bass amps with BW's in them. They are very heavy. We found them very durable and reliable. One nice feature of the BW is the field changeable basket. Gives a good sense of security when on the road setting up and tearing down and bumping down the road. I use BW1501-4 for pedal steel. Other speakers are much better choices for a Tele and a 5E3.

Jim