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Bought a wrongun (again)


bigjimmyc
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Lesson: If it look too good to be true then it is.

Found a nice bundle on facebook marketplace. Ashdown amp and GK cab. Good price, nice bloke, not too far away, etc..

Got it home and it works pretty well. Amp is decent and compact - happy with that.

Cab is a 1x15, front ported. Heavy old-school construction. Rear jackplate says 8 ohm, 400W. I can use that.

However it also says model 410BLX. Oh sh!t.

Quick google tells me that this era GK 1x15 would be 200W, and not the same dimensions as this cab. Clearly someone has taken a GK 4x10 shell and replaced the baffle to fit a 15" driver instead. 

No way of knowing what the make, power rating or impedance of the driver is - it's unmarked [as far as I can see through the backplate aperture]. Hence I can't really use it other than on it's own at moderate power. Gutted!

Any suggestions?

Jim

IMG_8771.jpg

Edited by bigjimmyc
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are there no markings on the driver at all, sometimes there are printed codes on the basket that can point to a certain manufacturer, sometimes the labels are small and in strange places.

is there evidence inside that the baffle has been replaced? do the dimensions match up to the BLX410 cab?

certainly some pictures and measurements should help to throw some light on what  you actually have.

 

matt

 

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Contact "dr.decibel" at Celestion and give him the long code on the side of the magnet, beginning 070 K 4670 / 09.  15" cast-frame etc. They will be able to tell you the identity of the speaker & probably some of the specification, quite quickly.


https@//celestion.com/contact/

 

Edited by Balcro
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on the upside that looks like a fairly beefy driver as it has a cast frame rather than stamped, and at least is a recognisable brand, i was once given a pair of 8" drivers that were "zebra" brand, i spent many fruitless hours trying to find some specs so i could decide what to use them for, in the end they got given away.

Hopefully you can get the specs then one of the resident Basschat WinISD experts can help out with port sizes etc.

Matt

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You may have actually lucked out on this one... as the baffle looks to be properly ported. It may be the case that you are getting something from somebody that knows that you shouldn't just slap a driver in a cab and hope for the best.

Edited by EBS_freak
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1 hour ago, Balcro said:

Contact "dr.decibel" at Celestion and give him the long code on the side of the magnet, beginning 070 K 4670 / 09.  15" cast-frame etc. They will be able to tell you the identity of the speaker & probably some of the specification, quite quickly.


https@//celestion.com/contact/

 

Message sent! Top tip, thanks Balcro.

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1 hour ago, bigjimmyc said:

Dimensions match the 410BLX from mid 2000s: 23"W x 23"H x 18"D

A BLX 115 would have had the driver central I think.

I think you're right - i've had two GK Backline / BLX / whatever 1x15s and they were centrally located. They were also very good cabs for not much money.

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This is why I always recommend verifying that when buying any used cabinet you always check that the driver is original to the cabinet (the driver the manufacturer designed the cabinet around) and that the cabinet/crossover hasn't been screwed with. I see with enough regularity cases where the original driver was expensive and was either swapped out with a cheaper driver (and the original driver sold), or that the original driver was damaged and rather than spend the money they just slapped a cheap driver in the box. 

If the modification to your cabinet was done by somebody knowledgeable, you might be ok, but that will take a little research and effort to sort out.

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10 years ago I replaced a 200 watt 8 ohm driver, with a 400 watt 4 ohm driver, in an old Ashdown cab.

I had no technical knowledge and it shouldn't have worked but sounded great and was a big improvement on the original, in both tone and volume.

The only way you'll know if you've been sold a pup, is to play it at band levels. You may be pleasantly surprised.

 

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So long as the impedance is ok for your amp and it makes nice bass noises it doesn't much matter what the power rating is on the driver.

It will tell you when it's getting too much power by failing to get any louder as you turn it up. Turn it back down from there a squirt or it will fry.

If it's making nasty flappy noises you have too much low end in your signal. Turn down the bass EQ and or volume.

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