Peavey Backstage 30 - speaker surround gone, looking to replace

Cucurbitam0schata

Well-known member
Hey Folks -

I got an old Peavey Backstage 30 from a pal, I'm going to use for pedal troubleshooting, bedroom noodling, and home-karaoke wail-a-thons. :cool: 🎤 My larger amp likes to stay at the band's practice space, so this is a great solution.

The only problem? The speaker surround is completely gone. I'm either going to snag a replacement speaker, or replace the surround. I'm leaning speaker replacement, but am looking for advice.

I've never swapped out a speaker, or replaced surround gasket. But, I'm up for trying out both. Hoping the hive mind can nudge me in the right direction. Should I just get a new speaker? Should I replace the surround? Looks like the originals sell on Reverb for $125-250. Here's the user manual. I'm in the states, so holler for any US-based companies that sell supplies for this project.
 
Awesome, @Gordo - great company to check out. Appreciate it.

Took off the old speaker and... Well, looky here! I still have some vintage gasket I could tape back together. :ROFLMAO:

Reading the specs and the schematic (and testing the busted speaker), the replacement speaker needs to be rated at 8 Ohms and it's power rating should be more than 15-18 watts output, right? From a little research blitz, looks like
  • Ohms - needs to match the old speaker
  • Watts - always be equal to or greater than the amp's power rating

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Hey Folks -

I got an old Peavey Backstage 30 from a pal, I'm going to use for pedal troubleshooting, bedroom noodling, and home-karaoke wail-a-thons. :cool: 🎤 My larger amp likes to stay at the band's practice space, so this is a great solution.

The only problem? The speaker surround is completely gone. I'm either going to snag a replacement speaker, or replace the surround. I'm leaning speaker replacement, but am looking for advice.

I've never swapped out a speaker, or replaced surround gasket. But, I'm up for trying out both. Hoping the hive mind can nudge me in the right direction. Should I just get a new speaker? Should I replace the surround? Looks like the originals sell on Reverb for $125-250. Here's the user manual. I'm in the states, so holler for any US-based companies that sell supplies for this project.
First amp I ever had back in the late 70’s
 
I might get blasted for this but I actually like the WGS Veteran30 better than vintage 30s ... and I’m an admitted V30 fanboy.
Vintage 30s are kind of a crapshoot in my experience. Some are exceptional, some are beamy, icepicky garbage.

I mean, sure, some of that has to do with the enclosure they're mounted in. I kinda wish I still had my old mesa recto vintage 30 - loaded 4x12...as impractical as it was...cause that thing was a killer.

Regardless...I've found there to be a lot of variation in them over the years that I've swapped them out. Could just be age, break-in, etc...some are smooth and crunchy, some direct all the highs in a tight beam that slices through your eardrums at 50 feet.

I've got two WGS v30s in an earcandy buzzbomb 2x12...I'm not crazy about them. They seem to tend a bit more towards the Vintage 30's that I've disliked in the past...That mid spike is located a hair too far into the upper mids if you ask me, and they retain that "beamy" quality. YMMV.

Truth be told, though, I used to have a pair of swamp thangs in there that...woo. Certainly not the clearest, most articulate, most sparkly speakers out there...but ohhhhhh man those things could punch you in the gut.

Huh. I still have those. I'll just add that to the list or "shit I need to do".
 
I have only ever played on one set of V30s and WGS veteran30s. So my experience with both is narrow I felt like the WGS were tighter without the midrange hump and woofyness(is that a word?) of the V30s and sounded like what I wanted the V30s to be... I think your right about there being a lot of variation from speaker to speaker of the same type. And that doesn’t even take the “I’m not feeling it today/or my Amp sounds awesome right now” effect..
and I feel ya on the 4x12 cab mine just sits under a cover now. The only speakers I use these days are in headphones... maybe one day I can get loud again
 
All - After some extensive research, I went for a Retro 10 from WSG. I'll report back!

@Coda - I'll probably pop on a new rubber surround edge to the old speaker, too. Will be nice to have a spare and a good project. Thanks for the boost of confidence.
 
Go to your local Craigslist and look under "for sale" - "musical imstruments". Find a cheapo 10 speaker for replacement. I haven't seen the label of your speaker but with that type of surround, I can pretty much guarantee that speaker is not the original to the amp.
Or buy a new nice speaker.
 
Well, the amp came out in '77 - plenty of time for a speaker to be replaced, I suppose! I searched Google for answers, didn't come up with anything on these serial numbers. What do you think, @danfrank ?
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Little update on my 'ol Peavey. I'm in the midst of a bunch of other projects, but I'll be back to my pedals soon enough. Been missing out on all of your lovely banter, comrades - hope ya'll are well in your corners of the world.

I saw a post about someone modifying the grill cloth to their old Peavey amp on Reddit, and I was immediately inspired. The cloth and aluminum edging on my Backstage 30 are worse for wear, and this sounded super fun and totally ridiculous - right up my alley. Went over to JoAnne Fabrics, aimed straight for the bargain bins, and I was on a roll. $2.50 later, got some classy fabric. With some old plywood laying around, I made a new frame for the fabric, slapped some staples around the sides, tagged some hot glue to hold down the corners, and presto - easy peasy, rock and roll, gaudy as hell, love it. As the kids say, it slaps.


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