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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Weird Speaker/Amp Issue
Weird Speaker/Amp Issue
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LSB
161 posts
Jun 30, 2015
4:38 PM
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Here's the situation:
Bought a used 10" Eminence Red Fang (Alnico) speaker and put it my VHT Special 6. Fired up the VHT and plugged in my electric guitar to test it out before switching to harp but wait..... My VHT now sounds like it has tremolo, WTF?
Picking a single string anywhere on the neck yields a very pronounced beating of reminiscent of the beats one gets when playing octaves on the harp when the reeds being played are not in tune with one another. Strange. I've had 3 other speakers in the VHT and this never occurred with any of those.
Something going on with the guitar? I tried my acoustic/electric and same (annoying) tremolo effect.
Bad speaker? Hmm, I left the speaker installed in the VHT cabinet, but plugged the Red Fang into my HG Double Trouble amp head. Using the DT amp, I noticed only a hint of the tremolo effect with the Red Fang, really had to listen for it at the low volumes I'm currently restricted to in the evening.
Maybe a bad tube in the VHT? I played the VHT through the DT's speakers and no tremolo to speak of.
Back to the the Red Fang through the VHT.....ack! The beats are back! What sorcery is this?!?
Anyone familiar with this particular phenomenon? What's the cause? I'm stumped.
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rogonzab
759 posts
Jul 01, 2015
6:25 AM
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It is the speaker right? you did try the amp whit another speaker and no problems.
It is new, can you send it back?
P.S: a VHT and a HG DT, nice rig!
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Sorry for any misspell, english is not my first language.
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LSB
162 posts
Jul 01, 2015
3:12 PM
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Still not sure where the problem was/is. Oddly enough, the problem isn't reoccurring so far in my tests today. But the speaker seemed to be essentially fine when connected to the DT and and the VHT amp seemed to be fine when connected to the DT's speakers.
Maybe it is still the speaker, but it seems less likely and the only things I can think of are:
1. Bad tube, possibly a problem that is simply more audible due to a more sensitive speaker?
2. Speaker Magnet affecting one or more tubes. The magnet housing on the Red Fang is huge and the power tube is only 1/2 to 3/4 inch from the magnet...... Not ideal. The preamp tube is a little further away, and has an aluminum cover, but still probably only an inch from the magnet housing.
3, Speaker cable signal being affected by the speaker magnet. Is that even possible? In order to run this speaker using the existing speaker cable forced me to have the cable also come within a half inch of the magnet housing.
The Alnico Red Fang Speaker is freaking fantastic, both for harp and guitar. I'd really like to keep it in the VHT, but the lack of clearance is causing me to reconsider. The ceramic version of the Red Fang fits better in the VHT, so I may just go back to that. It's a great speaker too, but the Alnico is a bit warmer, fatter and more complex sounding.
And yeah, I'm lucky enough to have 3 nice amps, but I didn't really plan it that way, and I only need two really. I Bought the VHT first, then, shortly after, a used Double Trouble came up for sale at a good price and I couldn't pass it up. The DT sounds better for harp, but the VHT, still sounds better for the little bit of guitar playing I do, so I kept it.
Oh, and the Alnico Red Fang is used, so I can't simply exchange it for another. I could return it though if I was certain the issue is the speaker, but It doesn't seem that's the case.
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Barley Nectar
842 posts
Jul 01, 2015
4:37 PM
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I sincerely doubt that it is a magnetic coupling problem. I will bet money that this is a tube problem. It will come back. Keep the Red Fang in there and when it happens again stick i n a new preamp tube and see if that fixes it. If not, try another tube one at a time. Buy that I mean if no change, put the old tube back in then swap the next tube. The chassis is picking up vibration from the speaker and makeing a tube go crazy. Other comopnents can do this also suck as caps, resistore and so-on. But tubes are the most common suspect...BN
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LSB
163 posts
Jul 01, 2015
6:27 PM
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Thanks BN, I will try that, and I bet you are right. The tubes that are in there now are vintage, so maybe one is just starting to crap out. Looks like all I have for spares are the original Chinese tubes, but they only have a couple of hours on them, so at least I've got something handy for troubleshooting purposes.
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