2x Blown Speakers at the Same Time?

Amps & Cabs
1

Hi there, long-time listener first-time caller. Early 00’s VHT Pitbull UL w/ Fatbottom cab owner - been bullet proof since I carried them outta the store, but somehow during a practice sesh the cab gave out midway, Sound one second, nothing the next… Didn’t know what it was at the time, thought maybe something tube related at the time, but plugged the head into another marshall 4x12 cab and away I went, thinking oh god how much is this gonna cost…

Was only later testing the cab at home and I’m no professional, but was put onto the “9v battery” pop test, and the right hand side speakers both failed. So I guess I somehow blew these two speakers at the same time?

Shipping to my end of the world costs more than the speakers so it approaches new cab pricing, so I’ve been pondering the cost of me getting 2 new p50e’s to get back on the road for a while now and resorting to using my backup amps. Finally getting to the stage of putting in the credit card to order a pair of p50e’s and it’s only just dawned on me that isn’t 2 speakers dying simultaneously a bit weird?

To be honest, I’ve had the tubes changed a couple times with a tune up by an amp tech but this combo has been a tank and i haven’t blown a guitar speaker on any amp in decades of playing… Also, I don’t even push the VHT what I’d consider hard. Loud but nothing crazy and with lotta fx pedals sure but I use pretty standard distortion and your typical loud quiet loud stuff… Not exactly endless powerchugg on destructo settings, ripping face like matt pike, where you’d expect speakers to be waving white flags all the time…

So is this actually a bit weird? Could it point to something else killed the speakers rather than natural deaths, maybe with the pitbull head or wiring or some issue was running or loading them improperly… Again no pro, just seems odd?

If i get replacements, I’m just gonna solder em in and get going again, but if two expensive speakers were to die again because I’ve ignored something stupid cardinal rule or obvious sign something other than the speakers was wrong, my bank manager is going to kill me… Should I be worried and considering an amp tech giving the whole setup a once-over? Or is it just normal and unlucky?

2

Set the switch to Stereo mode and test each input separately. If both sides work separately, you have a bad jack.

If one side still doesn’t work, you probably only have one bad speaker. The speakers in the left and right side pairs are wired in series, so one bad speaker will turn off its mate until the bad one is replaced.

Dave

3

thanks Dave! silly me.. plugged into stereo-chA left side works seemingly normal, but in stereo-chB, dead but i tried the rhythm channel and you can faintly hear left side and top right speakers working, so i guess bottom rights the culprit…

i’d say lucky me, only one speaker but i might as well spring for a spare and make the most of the shipping. hopefully keep me goin for another 20 years! :slight_smile:

i swear i tried the 9v battery test on all of them and the right side failed but but guessing thats more for when a speakers not wired up? just borrowed a multimeter to see if i can confirm the above but also not 100% sure what im doing. seem to be getting odd results on the right speakers, which im guessing is related to them still being all wired up still as well?

on this topic, never messed with the way i plug in. go from use-first on the pitbull to mono-chA and taped off the others since i got it because i never remember and fear messing these things up. what are the usable/safe configurations to connect the single head and cab? one cable mono or two cable stereo to the one cab? always assumed the ch-B stereo was for running a fullstack.