Breaking in V30s sucks!

[steve_k]

Take a 9VDC converter and snip the pin off. Solder the two wires to a 1/4" plug (tip and sleeve). Lay your cab face down and plug in your contraption. Leave it for 24 hours to moan and groan.

Complete satisfaction the next day!

explain further, in more detail.

Take a 9VDC converter or any wall wort plug commonly used for your pedals.
Or, use a Pedal Power and one of the power leads.
Cut the pin off the end.
Separate and strip the wires.
Get a normal 1/4" TS plug.
Solder one of the wires to the tip and the other to the sleeve, just like making a cable.
You now have a 1/4" 9VDC phone jack.
Plug it into the wall or power up your Pedal power and plug the other end into the speaker jack.
This will flex the speaker in and out 60 times a minute (hertz cycle).
I always lay mine with the grill to the ground as it makes a bit of noise.
Let it run for 24 hours for break in.

Steve

Never did this, but its an easy way to work a speaker that most people dont know of.

You can do the same thing with a 9V battery as well, if you don't want to use a converter.

 

[glpg80]

Take a 9VDC converter and snip the pin off. Solder the two wires to a 1/4" plug (tip and sleeve). Lay your cab face down and plug in your contraption. Leave it for 24 hours to moan and groan.

Complete satisfaction the next day!

explain further, in more detail.

Take a 9VDC converter or any wall wort plug commonly used for your pedals.
Or, use a Pedal Power and one of the power leads.
Cut the pin off the end.
Separate and strip the wires.
Get a normal 1/4" TS plug.
Solder one of the wires to the tip and the other to the sleeve, just like making a cable.
You now have a 1/4" 9VDC phone jack.
Plug it into the wall or power up your Pedal power and plug the other end into the speaker jack.
This will flex the speaker in and out 60 times a minute (hertz cycle).
I always lay mine with the grill to the ground as it makes a bit of noise.
Let it run for 24 hours for break in.

Steve

Never did this, but its an easy way to work a speaker that most people dont know of.

You can do the same thing with a 9V battery as well, if you don't want to use a converter.

Careful Steve - wall warts are half wave rectifying the AC sine wave into 9VDC. however a DC battery is straight DC with no oscillations what-so-ever, the only thing a 9V battery will allow you to do is check the polarity of a speaker by either pushing it in or pulling it out. half wave rectified is also harder on the speaker - its not oscillatory.

The variac method i mentioned before is much more controlled, is a true sine wave, and allows you to fine tune this more for the wattage ratings and the amount of glue used from the manufacturer on the spider. Celestions, EV's, Eminence, etc. all have different manufacturing processes so each one will take more or less time. variac's allow you to up the voltage to account for the difference of speakers and how they are wired - either series or series parallel or direct parallel.

Also, if the rectifier in the transformer wall wart is shot and you plug your speakers into it, the current and voltage will not be linear on a reactive load because of the diodes anymore, basically it could cook the coils if the diode shorst or do nothing if they short open. never do this test unattended if you choose either one.

 

[steve_k]

Take a 9VDC converter and snip the pin off. Solder the two wires to a 1/4" plug (tip and sleeve). Lay your cab face down and plug in your contraption. Leave it for 24 hours to moan and groan.

Complete satisfaction the next day!

explain further, in more detail.

Take a 9VDC converter or any wall wort plug commonly used for your pedals.
Or, use a Pedal Power and one of the power leads.
Cut the pin off the end.
Separate and strip the wires.
Get a normal 1/4" TS plug.
Solder one of the wires to the tip and the other to the sleeve, just like making a cable.
You now have a 1/4" 9VDC phone jack.
Plug it into the wall or power up your Pedal power and plug the other end into the speaker jack.
This will flex the speaker in and out 60 times a minute (hertz cycle).
I always lay mine with the grill to the ground as it makes a bit of noise.
Let it run for 24 hours for break in.

Steve

Never did this, but its an easy way to work a speaker that most people dont know of.

You can do the same thing with a 9V battery as well, if you don't want to use a converter.

Careful Steve - wall warts are half wave rectifying the AC sine wave into 9VDC. however a DC battery is straight DC with no oscillations what-so-ever, the only thing a 9V battery will allow you to do is check the polarity of a speaker by either pushing it in or pulling it out. half wave rectified is also harder on the speaker - its not oscillatory.

The variac method i mentioned before is much more controlled, is a true sine wave, and allows you to fine tune this more for the wattage ratings and the amount of glue used from the manufacturer on the spider. Celestions, EV's, Eminence, etc. all have different manufacturing processes so each one will take more or less time. variac's allow you to up the voltage to account for the difference of speakers and how they are wired - either series or series parallel or direct parallel.

Also, if the rectifier in the transformer wall wart is shot and you plug your speakers into it, the current and voltage will not be linear on a reactive load because of the diodes anymore, basically it could cook the coils if the diode shorst or do nothing if they short open. never do this test unattended if you choose either one.

Yeah, all that and the voltage is a little higher than any speaker maker would recommend for a wall wart.

DISCLAIMER - do this at your own risk. But, I have never had a problem doing it this way.


Steve

 

[SBlue]

How about letting your good buddy who rehearse more often than you use the cab a few times?
I've dont that a couple of times and my friend told he could tell the difference in sound every rehearsal he used the cabinet.
Took him about 4 good rehearsals. Speakers broken in, I got a better sounding cab and my friend got to enjoy a different cab for a few days.
Oh, by the way, he liked them better before breaking them in, when mixing with the entire band. Go figure.

 

[Anonymous]

Take a 9VDC converter and snip the pin off. Solder the two wires to a 1/4" plug (tip and sleeve). Lay your cab face down and plug in your contraption. Leave it for 24 hours to moan and groan.

Complete satisfaction the next day!

explain further, in more detail.

Take a 9VDC converter or any wall wort plug commonly used for your pedals.
Or, use a Pedal Power and one of the power leads.
Cut the pin off the end.
Separate and strip the wires.
Get a normal 1/4" TS plug.
Solder one of the wires to the tip and the other to the sleeve, just like making a cable.
You now have a 1/4" 9VDC phone jack.
Plug it into the wall or power up your Pedal power and plug the other end into the speaker jack.
This will flex the speaker in and out 60 times a minute (hertz cycle).
I always lay mine with the grill to the ground as it makes a bit of noise.
Let it run for 24 hours for break in.

Steve

Never did this, but its an easy way to work a speaker that most people dont know of.

You can do the same thing with a 9V battery as well, if you don't want to use a converter.

even though some would caution against this, i think it's absolute genius! LOVE this idea....easy to mod, simple to do!!!!
thanks man...this is what i thought you meant, but wasn't sure!!


+1


another way to do it is just use 2 cabs, place one grill down, use the broken in cab you already have and the other one will blast away at the floor and break in albeit a bit muffly.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

So do the Hellatones (broken in by Avatar) really make a diff in that sure they will need to be broken in more but they already come a little warmer and less stiff? I really like the sound of V30's recorded and have been toying with the idea of getting one for home recording. They handle higher wattage too... perfect for 50 watters.

 

[glip22]

you can break em im VERY Quickly .......... try this:

clean channel, turn the amp LOUD and set the mids a bit high, and play full round basic chords like E, A, F for 10 minutes of so.............the speakers should feel a lot better.

Hmm....I'll have to try this out

I really think this is why some people hate V30s, they haven't played a properly broken in speaker.

Big time right! They never give them a chance because they do suck when not broken in.

 

[kasperjensen]

Well I learn new shit every day! Never knew they had to be broken in.

Does this apply to most speakers? I have a couple of Mesa 1x12s that I don't like that much but I did like my old 2x12. Maybe this could be the issue. That and they are open backed.

The neighbours arent gonna be happy when I start to break in my custom made 4x15 Emminece Delta cab...

 

[Ventura]

Virgin V30s sound like ass... Broken in though, they're one of the best. I concur with Joey's post above, if you have the time, just crank the tar out of a clean or mid-crunchy channel and let it rip. Gain = saturation = compression of the sound wave, so there's less movement the speaker needs to adopt. By keeping the signal crisp and percussive, it works the speaker more. Variac is great as well. I've also done what Steve Fryette suggested which is pump my MP3s through a poweramp into the cab face down at higher-medium volumes. Done.

V30s may sound like ass before they're broken in, but I'll take a virgin V30 over a V30 that's getting overpowered any day Flubbing V30s are just hideous.