Fender steel king rattle

[Steve Norman]

I am not sure if I have a blown speaker or if something is loose.

When I play base notes I get a rattle/buzz during the note decay. I still hear a good solid note ringing through, but There is a buzz that kicks in on base notes as the sound fades. It is not an electronic buzz, and seems to depend on the frequency of the note. Like I said, the note is still ringing well under the buzz,

I took the casters off, moved the amp location from a bookcase thing to the floor, then onto a carpet,

I laid it on its side, tightened all the screws I could see including the speaker mounting screws.

It still buzzes real bad. Anyone else using a steel king have these problems?

[Lee Baucum]

Make sure none of the Velcro straps, in the back of the amp, are touching the speaker.

[Steve Norman]

there clear of it

[Bob Hoffnar]

oops wrong thread....

[Rick Johnson]

Steve
You will need someone to help to
try this.
When you hear the rattle, try and get
the tip of your finger to touch the
cone of the speaker. Apply light pressure
That will dampen the speaker a little,
if the rattle stops and starts while you do this
then your speaker is failing.

Try another speaker cabinet too.

Check your volumes, I like the master
just a bit higher that the channel volume.
I've never tried to overdrive the SK but
it guess it will overdrive.

Check the rear cleats and baffle board cleats
they are glued and screwed
and could be loose. Check the baffle, it could
be vibrating some.
Check to see if the grillcloth is vibrating too.

I'm sure its something simple.

Let us know what you find.

Rick

www.rickjohnsoncabs.com

[Steve Norman]

I actually did that a bit yesterday. It did stop when I touched the cone. I was hoping it stopped because the sound was reduced and whatever was rattling was being less affected. Can the fender speakers be re-coned?

[Michael Johnstone]

Sounds like an excellent opportunity to put a Black Widow speaker in there - which is the first thing I and many others did when we got a Steel King.A huge improvement and it sounds like it will fix your issue as well.

[Rick Johnson]

Steve
I would verify the warranty status
of the SK. If you got it used, I don't
know if the warranty would be transferable.



Rick

www.rickjohnsoncabs.com

[Rick Johnson]

Steve
I would verify the warranty status
of the SK. If you got it used, I don't
know if the warranty would be transferable.



Rick

www.rickjohnsoncabs.com

[Steve Norman]

Its new (8 or 9 months old),, which is why I questioned the speaker blowing. It has been on 1 tour and played out a lot, but I rarly crank the M volume above 12, and the gain is always about 9:00. Must have been bad on its own I guess.

I kind of want to put a black widow in it,, which Im sure would kill the warranty anyways. the timing is bad tho,, got shows and studio dates booked soon, and apparently the world is out of 1501 4ohm sb's till feb.

My recent experiance with Fender tells me warranty issues will take months and months to resolve anyway.

thanks for your help!

[Donny Hinson]

I laid it on its side, tightened all the screws I could see including the speaker mounting screws.

Uh-oh, bad move! A speaker can be permanently damaged by over-tightening the mounting screws. (It warps the basket.) Try loosening the screws, one by one, and see if the rattle changes.

[Steve Norman]

will do,, I didnt torque them to hard,, just made sure they where snug. I will loosen them tho and try that, thanks

what is weird to me is that it doesn't always do it. its more there than not, but it comes and goes

[Mark Bocko]

Steve -

I had an Ampeg bass speaker cabinet that had a speaker buzz and I eventually tracked it down to the magnet not being firmly attached to the speaker web. I don't know how the Fender speaker is constructed but if you can access the speaker from the back check to see if the magnet is loose. In my case I just super-glued the magnet to the web - I know that sounds pretty slipshod but it worked. Superglue is great stuff.
I hope this helps.

Mark