Speaker question

[EVOL!]

My amp is an old Silvertone 1484 with the matching 2x12 cab. The cab has the original Jensen "blue label" Made in Chicago speakers. Lately I feel like I've been having to push the treble knob higher and higher and I wonder if the speakers are due for a cleaning. Does this sound like something to do? Can a competent person clean speakers? With a 40+ year old cab would you expect a lot of dust and grime to get in there?

 

Thanks in advance. I know a lot about guitars, but very little about the inner workings of amps and speakers.

[Silenced Fred]

You could just the head and cab to me, and you won't have to worry about it then

[EVOL!]

Nice try, but you'll have to get your own. They don't make these beauties anymore.

[KL]

I know a lot about guitars' date=' but very little about the inner workings of amps and speakers.[/quote']

 

I'm in this same category. I think there are a lot of us like this. I am always trying to learn more about amplifiers, and whenever I take one for repair I try to see what they are doing so I can learn.

 

I am envious of those guitarists who really understand the inner workings of their amplifiers and I suspect it enables them to get better sounds.

[Silenced Fred]

I'm in this same category. I think there are a lot of us like this. I am always trying to learn more about amplifiers' date=' and whenever I take one for repair I try to see what they are doing so I can learn.

 

I am envious of those guitarists who really understand the inner workings of their amplifiers and I suspect it enables them to get better sounds.

 

 

[/quote']

 

Exactly, I wish I knew more, because then I would be able to get better sounds. I am a hack at most things in life, I can bang out chords, lyrics, but I'm not as artful or graceful as other people. Part of me wants to take some time off and just learn about it. Learn about it all

[RichCI]

I don't know of any way to clean speakers outside of maybe carefully blowing out dust with some compressed air, but there are some other factors you can consider.

 

If you haven't changed your strings in a while, that will definitely make your tone duller.

 

Speakers do mellow with age; perhaps getting them reconed would bring them back to life. I'd consider this to be a last resort though as they're nice old speakers that you probably want to keep original.

 

This is a bit of speculation based on observation but... Humidity seems to effect speaker performance; the more humid it is, the more moisture the speaker cone absorbs which would add weight to it so it doesn't move quite as quickly (high frequencies cause a speaker to move quickly, lower frequencies more slowly). I have this problem at our rehearsal space, especially during the summer time, but it clears up after playing for a while as the air movement seems to cause the cone to dry up. Try cranking up the amp and playing through it for 20 minutes and see if that improves your sound; if it does, you'll still have the same problem the next time it's humid though.