Weber vs Scumback greenbacks

[j-po]

So has anyone tried those warehouse green berets?

[billyz]

Jim,
Update on the ScummyH75, Weber reconed it for me. He did not Charge! I only paid for shipping. Thanks.
I got her on the filament transformer.
Jim , what is your take on the Acetone treatment? I know there is no substitution for real playing, but as a quicky breakin along with the filament tranny.
I know you like the variac, but mine is out right now.

[Ron Worley]

Jim-

Can you elaborate on the test box that you use? I have a Variac, but I think that you must be using something additionally than just plain AC voltage?

Thanks,

Ron

Ron,
There's no test box involved for the speaker/variac break in. You wire the speakers in parallel (if you're doing more than one), and leave them in your cab, ISO cab, or if they're loose, lying magnet down, cone up. They can't be setup with the cone down, or anything that restricts the cone movement by sealing the air around the front of the cone. The cone will move with the variac sending it's annoying 60 cycle signal to the speaker. I advise the garage, closet, or ISO cab if possible.

You set your variac to the proper voltage per the chart above, double check it with a multi-meter, turn it on and let it buzz/grate your teeth for the appropriate amount of hours or days needed.

Thanks Jim, I appreciate the info... and sorry for the late response.... busy as hell at work....

Ron

[Structo]

Man, I had no idea that Celestion's took that long to break in.

I was thinking about buying a variac.

My local Parts/surplus place has a new Chinese variac for $48 (I think).
It's a smaller 120v one.
Anybody have an opinion on these units? I think I read once that the Chinese variacs were junk but not sure. I mean, as long as it varies the voltage what can go wrong.

Also, how in the world do you know when, a speaker is broke in?

I have probably ditched speakers before because I didn't wait long enough and put enough hours on them.

For instance, I have a pair of Tonkerlites in my 2x12 open back cab right now. They may have 8 hours on them since I am a hobby player.
They just don't seem to sound that great. Is that the speaker or do they need more hours?

[D-Day]

Jim, I would like to thank you for the info as well. I live right around the corner from Soldano so they're my go to guys with any questions. When I asked them what was a good variac to get Mike pulled out this ancient filthy old thing that a few years ago had literally been submerged in a flood for several days. But it worked so I cleaned it up, painted it and put it to work on an emi Legend. I ran it at 15 volts for four eight hour sessions and I can't believe the difference it made.

Now my buddy wants to bring over his cab with some sort of Jimi Hendrix reissue Greenbacks in it. He was about to sell the thing because it doesn't sound like the one he has with vintage GB's.

Thanks again.

[David Root]

Structo, I have had a Chinese Variac, 1 kVA, for about two years now. The only problem I have had is with the ancillary parts, specifically the power on-off switch. The coil and sweeper are fine.

The switch is a real cheap lighted switch and it was not soldered right--dry joint that went from OK to intermittent to dead quite quickly. Also very cheap hook-up wire.

This is characteristic of Chinese stuff I have come across. The basic machine, whatever it is, is mass-produced on decent machinery and is pretty reliable. The ancillary components and quality of manual work on completing the item generally suck.

[David Root]

Structo, I have had a Chinese Variac, 1 kVA, for about two years now. The only problem I have had is with the ancillary parts, specifically the power on-off switch. The coil and sweeper are fine.

The switch is a real cheap lighted switch and it was not soldered right--dry joint that went from OK to intermittent to dead quite quickly. Also very cheap hook-up wire.

This is characteristic of Chinese stuff I have come across. The basic machine, whatever it is, is mass-produced on decent machinery and is pretty reliable. The ancillary components and quality of manual work on completing the item generally suck.

[Structo]

Thanks, I believe that is what the one I saw was, a 1KVA.

[Scumback Speakers]

Jim,
Update on the ScummyH75, Weber reconed it for me. He did not Charge! I only paid for shipping. Thanks.
I got her on the filament transformer.
Jim , what is your take on the Acetone treatment? I know there is no substitution for real playing, but as a quicky breakin along with the filament tranny.
I know you like the variac, but mine is out right now.

I had mixed results with acetone. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. When it didn't, even though I used the same technique each time as told to me by the old drdecibel (pre 2004), I concluded that it was just hit or miss on how effective the acetone was on the doping...which could have been different batches of acetone, doping, or who knows what else.

The bad news was that if you did screw it up, the speaker sounded like you it was dead, no highs, muffled, blanket over it type tone.

With a 50/50 success ratio (I did this about 12-15 times total) I decided that it wasn't reliable enough to continue doing, so I went to just playing them in, pumping 20-25 watts of classic rock through them for days at a time, or doing the variac thing.

[rooster]

Jim - Yeah, thanks for posting this, FWIW, 60 cycles translates to the note "D flat". And when you do the math, at 60X60X60 (1 hour of Variac time), you have played that D flat note 216,000 times on your speaker.

The length of time you quote, which I don't doubt, doesn't address the fact that even 2 hours on a fresh speaker will be a great improvement.

BTW, I have a quad of old CTS 12s that were put on the shelf in 1972. They have this very interesting voice but they are amazingly rigid. You have convinced me to go for the gold here with your story of the Celestions. When I hit 8 days I will get back here and let you know. Thanks again.

[rooster]

OK, 16 hours of time on the speakers and I am pretty happy here, I may be done. Its an amazing transistion actually.

(I should mention that six months ago I cutout the original dustcaps and replaced them with the Celestion/Mueller versions, as the original caps were rather ice-picky. Eh, not to confuse things, I thought I should mention this.)

The most signifigant thing about all of this, breaking in a speaker using a Variac, is that you get the chance to monitor the change. Having heard the transistion, you start to listen to all your speakers in a different way. You begin to realize that certain things about the speaker can be changed with a better break in. Eh, I hope the Variac survives the winter...

This was a very cool post, thanks to all, especially Jim at Scumback!!

[Scumback Speakers]

Rooster, glad my info helped you out, and that your speakers are responding to the change with the higher number of variac hours.

I'm one of those "test it to destruction, have to see for myself" type of guys, so I usually won't post any info unless I've done it myself and KNOW that it works.

Glad I was able to help you out a bit, and you could verify that speakers do "break in" to a better tone with the proper break in procedure. Now go get back to playing, would ya?

[Bob-I]

Variac break in times are as follows:

Code: Select all

Speaker 
Imp        Power Rating      Break in Voltage                 How Long? 
8___________ 65____________13.165____________2 to 3 hours - light break in
8___________ 30 ____________ 8.9 
16___________65 ___________ 18.61 ____________8-12 hours - medium 
16__________ 30 ___________ 12.64 
8 __________ 100 ___________ 16.325 ____________20 to 25 - full break inl 
16 __________100 ___________ 23.094

I usually limit the break in to 8 hours per session so the speaker doesn't overheat.

I put them on the variac for five days (40 hours). Still not enough. Put them back on the variac for another 2 days (16 hours)...still not there.

well damn... I have a little practice amp with a 10 in it. I installed a Celestion tube 10 I had laying around and even after 5-6 hours of practice it still sounded like garbage. I figured what the hell and put it on an AC adapter at 12VAC for about 4 hours and WHAT A DIFFERENCE. I never believed that a speaker cound need this much break in, I stand corrected.

these adapters seem to work fine for break in. The hum was as loud as a filament xformer and it held the 12VAC without getting hot.

What started as a thread about BBQ boy speakers turned into a great source for breakin info. Thx!

[billyz]

What started as a thread about BBQ boy speakers turned into a great source for breakin info. Thx![/quote]


Is BBQ boy T.W. or G.W ? I know G.W. and I can see how he might referred to BBQ boy and he did/does sell speakers. But I always buy my Weber Speakers form T.W. I don't personally know T.W. is he also a BBQ boy?
I am confused.

[D-Day]

Okay, I'll bite. What is a "BBQ boy"?