Repairing Punctured Speaker Cone

[Commodore 64]

So, my Pro Jr. is the gift that keeps on giving. I was hearing some odd things while playing through my amp. Cone cry or something. So I decided to try a new speaker, and I ordered an Emi Ramrod. That speaker arrived yesterday, so I took my Pro Jr. apart and removed the speaker (blue, alnico Eminence). And sure enough, there's a tear in the cone. I've just googled and found that many people repair tears/punctures with various methods, from glue and tissue paper layers to simply superglueing the tear. I'm sure someone here has repaired a speaker cone, so I'm looking for advice.

Also, on another note. I installed the Ramrod speaker. It's a pretty efficient speaker. I noticed immediately that the subdued squeal from pedal board (Powered by a One-Spot) is now terribly loud. Like loud enough that it's not useable. Wondering why the difference is so huge from a speaker swap.

 

[FrankenFretter]

Do you like the new speaker, or is it a little too efficient?

I've heard of people using clear nail polish to fix small tears.

 

[Commodore 64]

I think the new speaker is a little too efficient. I really liked the tone of that alnico speaker (tear and all). I don't know if it's the speaker or the tear in it or both, but it had a very nice dirty sound to me. With the Ramrod, there's a lot more clean. It's not quite as nasty as the original. Of course, it needs to be broken in, and I've only got about 30 minutes of playing time on it at the moment.

But that squeal from my pedal board...It's horrific. I gotta figure out what the deal is there. I suspect the "deal" is that I may have to drop some coin on a Voodoo multi power unit.

 

[Eric]

But that squeal from my pedal board...It's horrific. I gotta figure out what the deal is there. I suspect the "deal" is that I may have to drop some coin on a Voodoo multi power unit.

If you're using that Samick, it might be the buzz from the P90s. Is it 60-cycle hum or something different?

 

[Commodore 64]

No, it's a high pitched squeal. I'm gonna get a sound/vid clip tonight because I really want to get to the bottom of it.

 

[Spudman]

I've gotten 30 years of service from a glued punctured cone. I just used Elmer's. If there is not a gap between the sides of the tear any glue might work. I used Elmer's because it dries rigid. I don't want any flex around the tear. If it flexes then it could tear even more over time. I've also used a paper glued on patch for a larger hole and it worked fine too. As long as it isn't in the folds you should be okay with the above suggestions.

I'm curious about the squeal though. You shouldn't be getting that from a power supply. I sounds like something that is coming from an audio source (cable, pedals or amph).

 

[Commodore 64]

I didn't have enough time to mess with it last night. I'll troubleshoot it tonight. Pedals on the board are TC Polytune, Lovepedal Amp 50 and BYOC British Blues Driver.

 

[Commodore 64]

High pitch squeal is from my One Spot. It's exacerbated mostly by TC polytune, but it's still there if I take it out of the chain. I had my local store order me a BBE SupaCharger (He can't get the Voodoo Pedal Power pedals), but he's giving me a pretty good deal ($116).

I gotta say that I prefer the tone of the original speaker, even with the tear. The Ramrod is crisp, clean and freakin LOUD. But I was digging the early breakup of the original Alnico. Once I fix the original speaker, I'll put it back in the Pro Jr. I finally cleaned out my garage so I think I'm gonna build a cab for my Valve Jr that will house a 10-inch speaker. Either that or maybe I'll just make a 10-inch external cab. It's too bad the Valve Jr 8-inch speaker is 16 Ohm (and my 10s are 8 Ohm) because it would be cool to make a cab with both an 8 and 10 inch speaker.

 

[Eric]

High pitch squeal is from my One Spot. It's exacerbated mostly by TC polytune, but it's still there if I take it out of the chain. I had my local store order me a BBE SupaCharger (He can't get the Voodoo Pedal Power pedals), but he's giving me a pretty good deal ($116).

That is a good deal. Kind of weird that your OneSpot was the problem.

 

[Commodore 64]

Got the Supa Charger yesterday. He only charged me $110. Must be darn near wholesale cost. Anyways, it works great. No more squealing. I can run the outputs at 9, 12 or 16v so I ran 16v to my BYOC British Blues overdrive. Seems to be a bit tighter with the increased voltage, not as much fizz.

I also repaired the original speaker. I used craft glue, diluted 50/50 with water. The first coat, I worked it into the tear with my fingers, to get the paper fibers to start meshing together again. Once that dried, I gave it 6 more coats for good measure. We had rehearsal last night, so it powered through a 3 hour session with no troubles. Now I just need to figure out what to do with this spare Emi Ramrod speaker.

 

[Spudman]

Now I just need to figure out what to do with this spare Emi Ramrod speaker.

Time to build an extension cabinet?