Peavey Black Widow 12" speaker?

John Russell · Post by **John Russell** » 19 Jul 2003 7:24 pm

Several years ago I built some monitor speakers and bought a pair of 12" BW's from Freeman-Tuell in Dallas. These aren't quite a matched pair. One has a label with a spider and a red heart, the other, I think, is just the silver magnet, no graphics and it's noticeably heavier.

Are these 8-ohm speakers? They sound great as monitor speakers for vocals, but I've always wondered how they'd sound in an amp. I now have a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and have been pondering a speaker switch. It would make sense to use a 4-ohm speaker to maximize the amp's output. Does Peavey make these as 4-0hm, 8-ohm, or both. Mike B.?

What other speaker can you guys recommend for this amp for a little more clean headroom. It's fine for smaller combos but doesn't quiet cut it when playing louder with drummers, etc.
--JR

John Bechtel · Post by **John Bechtel** » 19 Jul 2003 10:03 pm

I made a similar request to Mike Brown, several weeks ago, concerning a more efficient 12” speaker for the Classic 50/212. Mike informed me that there are more efficient speakers, however; an 8ohm BW had not yet been evaluated for Steel Guitar in the Classic 50, and therefore; I assume it hasn't been evaluated for many other Peavey Guitar-Amplifiers! Maybe Mike has more advice on the subject by now! At the present time, my Classic 50 has (2) 12” Peavey-Marvel Speakers, which are doing pretty well!

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“Big John” “Uh~” ƒƒ< wknsg®
Franklin, D–10 w/9 & 8
Fender, T–8 “The Custom”
Peavey, Classic 50 – 212 http://community.webtv.net/KeoniNui/BigJohnBechtels

Steven Welborn · Post by **Steven Welborn** » 19 Jul 2003 11:00 pm

yea...what might them more efficient 12 inchers be I wonder?
Arent the BW's rated at 100 wts. ea.? Not a good match for the classic 50 is it?<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Steven Welborn on 20 July 2003 at 12:09 AM.]</p></FONT>

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 20 Jul 2003 11:57 am

I've got a 4-ohm, 12" BW in a '70 Vibrolux Reverb. I bought it that way and I didn't think I would like it, but it sounds great. The BW sounds much better for guitar in this amp than it does in any of the Peavey solid state or hybrid amps IMO.

It's very similar to a Deluxe Reverb w/JBL kind of tone, if that makes sense.

John Russell · Post by **John Russell** » 20 Jul 2003 1:21 pm

Oh yeah, a Fender Deluxe Reverb with a JBL makes very good sense.

My brother had a cherry blackface Deluxe with a fresh EV 12" speaker that he let go for a pittance a few years ago. Possibly the best all-round amp ever made. Tone was spectacular.

Actually, I was wondering if some of these speakers that are available through Musician's Friend, Sam Ash, etc. might suffice. They offer several varieties of Celestion speakers in various wattages. I'm assuming the higher wattage a speaker is rated, the less clipping at higher volumes, no? --JR

Len Amaral · Post by **Len Amaral** » 22 Jul 2003 5:23 am

Hi John:

Most Peavey 12 inch speakers are 8 ohms except the 1203-4 that are used in the Nashville 112E series. Tube amps can be finicky when you change speakers to a different omage. Some tube amps have different speaker output jacks labeled 8oms/4ohms/16ohms.

Maybe post a question or send an email to Mike Brown as he can provide a more detailed answer?

You can also try a more efficient 8 ohm speaker like the EV 12L that will produce a more robust sound than a stock amp speaker.

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » 22 Jul 2003 11:50 am

John, from your description I believe you have two different series of BW speakers, ie; BW Super Structure(250 watts) and a old original Peavey/Spider "flat magnet"(150 watts) Black Widow.

We have manufactured both an 8 ohm and a 4 ohm BW speaker.

The Fender amp is only going to produce XXX number of watts cleanly and replacing the speaker will not really provide more headroom(clean power). Now this is not to say that the speaker won't "sound" louder, but I don't believe that a new speaker will totally solve your problem. You need more clean "headroom" for those peak periods when your bandmates crank their volume knobs up!

The only Peavey BW that I would recommend for your situation is the 1203-4 ohm, but that won't work for you in this situation as it is a 4 ohm speaker and the Hot Rod Deluxe is not recommended for a 4 ohm speaker load. However, we do offer the 1203-8 ohm BW(#00021400), which is a guitar speaker. But I can't verify that it will sound good for steel has no R&D has gone into the 1203-8 ohm version as it had with the 4 ohm version.