Peavey 115BX Speaker Cabinet

Basic cab with metal grille to protect speaker. Single 1/4" jack on back, carpeted exterior with stout handles on each side. No casters so it's a pain to carry; I added casters immediately.

This is a simple 15" cab with bottom slot-type port, no tweeter. if you're looking for a traditional 15" tone similar to old Fender cabs, then this will serve well. The cab is VERY solid and durable, and stands up to being moved and bounced around very well.

The cab came used with a Scorpion speaker rated for 400W, but the speaker started rattling after the second gig I played. I bought a reconed Eminence speaker rated at 400W and replaced the Scorpion. Because it was used I can't speak for its prior treatment, but I suspect the Scorpion just isn't that great a speaker. You can buy a recone kit for the Scorpion (great idea) but it costs within $10 of a new Scorpion, so why bother?

I rated it 9 because it's basic but does what it is designed to.

The Eminence speaker sounds very much like the Scorpion. I play a Behringer BX4500H head (450W) with this, and I've never had to turn the volume over 3 out of 10. It generates strong, deep bass, although it's not a very articulate speaker. it's more into rumble than brightness. If you want old-school rock and motown tone, this speaker delivers. if you want a brighter, jazzy tone with great note articulation, pass on this speaker - that's not its forte'.

I play any of 8 different basses through this - P, J, Beatle Bass, Turser '54 P clone, EB-0, Univox hollowbody and others. All work well; the hollowbody really delivered a nice plunky tone with somewhat better note definition than expected.

Rated 10 because it does EXACTLY what you expect a 15 to do - make the bandstand bounce and delivery deep, thumpy bass.

This cab would come through a nuclear strike with no damage other than melted carpet. It's really stout. However, the original Scorpion speaker was a real disappointment. It started getting fuzzy and breaking up after the second gig (qualifier: remember it was bought used) and that was disappointing. As noted above, Scorpion re-cone kits are available but they only cost-effective if you want to keep the original speaker type. UI decided there was no point in replacing a failed speker with an identical one, so I paid half as much to buy a re-coned Eminence and ditched the Scorpion.

Rated 7 because of speaker failure. Cab is solid.

No experience - no contact.

Overall I'd rate this cab about an 8. I'd like to be able to get a bit more arcitulation and note definition, and I've heard other 15" cabs that can do that - but to be fair, Peavey didn't really design this cab to do that. What it does is delivery lots of deep, thumpy bass and put it in a rock-solid cab that can be transported anywhere with no damage. For the $90 I paid in a pawn shop, it was a great deal even though I ended up spending another $40 on a reconed replacement speaker.

This one is a 1980's era 115BX. Basic 15" setup with an 8 ohm Scorpion and a couple of sound ports (hole type) near the bottom of the front of the cab. No horn tweeter or attenuation pad was included on this model. The unit started life with a single 1/4" input jack installed with a small plastic dish retainer. Ther retainer has since been replaced with a double-jack outlet that allows me to run a second cabinet directly from this one. This is a reasonably large cabinet with indented handles on either side. Came without casters (added aftermarket casters, very simple). You probably won't want to lug one of these around very often without the casters. The front cloth grill (later models have a metal grill) has the standard brushed aluminum frame pieces on the right and left hand side and the old-style, angular Peavey emblem.

The Scorpion-loaded cabinet emanates a fairly basic 1x15" sound. As with most Peavey amplification, the sound tends to be rather two-dimentional (flat, not a full stereo-like or tube-like tone). Most Peavey users believe that the Black Widows sound considerably better, but this upgrade will often come at a premium price at the local music stores (and I'm not sure that I agree that the BW's are that much better considering the cost). As with almost all 15" speakers, this unit has tons of low rumble (which can get pretty darned muddy if not EQed correctly), fair mids, and less-than-glassy highs. However, I run this cab as a stand-alone with a Peavey Mark VIII head at most gigs (small and medium size clubs, as well as a few outdoor shows), and it always has PLENTY of volume to cut through the mix. This "half stack" runs about 200 watts of output (at 8 ohms), and I've never had a problem keeping up with a full band at or below 50% on my volume knob.

Like all Peavey products, this thing is a tank. The only repairs made due to damage was the exchange of the plastic input jack housing for a metal duplex unit. All other hardware (as well as the speaker itself) show normal wear with absolutely no structural damage. I beat on this thing pretty good during load-in and load-outs. I've never had an issue. The tolex, corners and handles can take extreme abuse without breaking. A metal front grill would be nice (the newer versions have this feature), but the cloth grill has held up remarkably well. I've never had any issues with the speaker or wiring. The unit has always functioned flawlessly.

Abosolutely THE best customer service on the planet!!! A human actually answers the phone, and emails are usually answered the same day (if not within an hour!). Their technical service guy, Aubrey, is Da Bomb! He has answered a million stupid (and 3 smart) questions that I've thrown his way. They will even (very patiently) help with non-Peavey-specific questions (he's done a great job of helping me with genenric wiring and watt/ohm problems). Thumbs up to teh great Southern hospitality!

As noted in my review of the Mark VIII head, this is not a box for tone freaks. However, if you are looking for a great, gig-quality cab that you can rely on forever, this may be your box. Peavey is the staple product in pawn shops and used guitar shops in Houston. As such the bang-for-the-buck with a cabinet like this one is usually pretty good. For rock, country, blues, and reggae bassists, this would be a great investment.

This cabinet was probably made around 1998-2000. it looks very new. Still had the plastic over the handles when i took it home. It's pretty basic. the standard BX is 4 ohm, but mine has a brand new Scorpion 8 ohm 15". just one 1/4" input. it is rather large, semi-light, and has a large front port. good features. i don't like horns, so i'm glad it doesn't have a horn. i'm not totally sure of the specs, but i'm pretty sure the cab is tuned to 40HZ. the efficency is somewhere around 100db 1w/1m, so its fairly efficient. nice big casters. i rolled this across a lawn just fine with no problems.

I'm using this with an Essex SJB-62 MG and a Rickenbacker 4003, along with a hartke 4x10 XL. it is powered by an Ampeg SVT-3 Pro (one amazing amp...) This cab doesn't sound very good on its own, but is totally killer with a 4x10. i always thought my 4x10 had enough low end, but i added this and BAM! instant balls! huge sounding low end.

its just a basic 1x15. it feels very solidly built.

i've never dealt with them.

i've been playing for about 5 years. like i said, i use it with a hartke 4x10 XL and Ampeg SVT-3 Pro. it has alot of balls and a great overall sound. Very good add-on, but i've seen better stand alone 1x15's.