Ripped Celestion Bulldog

Non-Rickenbacker Guitars & Effects

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Ripped Celestion Bulldog

Post by admin »

I was listening to a Bulldog howl in a music store the other day in a Vox Lead 125 amplifier that I think was manufactured in the 1980s. I thought I could hear a problem with a speaker and pulled off the front panel only to find one of the Blues ripped. It had been repaired using some type of glue.

I am wondering what that glue might have been and, given the cost to replace a blue, is this ripped speaker anyway near its original after such a repair. I did not sound like it to me, but many listening nearby could hear the difference. Don: How do you repair a torn speaker if at all? Is it a waste of time?
Life, as with music, often requires one to let go of the melody and listen to the rhythm

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toneman

Post by toneman »

Peter; Depends on the tear. If it's a clean line and on the cone and easy to get to then I use tissue paper and white glue. Had pretty good luck fixing those like that.
If it's on the surround (edge) and due to fatigue, then best recone it.
Speakers suffer from fatigue like any other moving item. You can only bend/flex that paper so many times before it doesn't want to flex anylonger. Same with the spider material that holds the voice coil in the magnet.
FYI, if you recone a speaker with the original materials that the factory used then it's as good as a brand new one. There use to be this myth that a recone was an inferior speaker. Not so!! You are replacing all of the moving componets and reconditioning it to new.
toneman

Post by toneman »

One other myth I need to clear up here:
Celestion never made a speaker called a "Bulldog" until a couple years ago when Vox/Korg had them made for the Vox Cambridge's.
The original Celestion's were a T530 and T1088(Blue and then Poly Grey in June of `64).
The Celestions that were shipped to Thomas Organ-Vox in Sepulveda, Ca. the sixties got a Bulldog speaker sticker put on them by Thomas Organ. This was only done in the U.S. market. I've seen some of these in the Thomas Organ Beatle speaker cabinets. The gold frame speakers that Thomas used were also called Bulldog's and were made by Oxford in the States.
The old U.K. made Celestion's are usually referred to ask "Blue Alnico" or "Grey Alnico".
Sorry, not trying to nit-pick...
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Post by admin »

Don: Not at all. I appreciate the history lession. Thanks for the information on speaker repair. Now what do you know about the Vox Lead 125 amplifier?
Life, as with music, often requires one to let go of the melody and listen to the rhythm

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toneman

Post by toneman »

Vox V-125 is an interesting amp. It's more Marshall than Vox really. It uses inductor coils for the EQ/tone control section. The output tranny is more the size of a 50 watt amp than a 100 watter and gets saturated pretty quick. Great for guitar but if you have the bass version you might want to consider using a Mercury Magnetics 100 watt plexi Marshall o/p tranny. The input section also uses an FET in conjuction with the tube for the sensitvity section.
These can be found for a very reasonable price( when you can find one)
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