Weird screech with ED 1x12...cone cry?

[firefly1235]

Me and my Electra Dyne have had a pretty rocky relationship, it took me a long time to really appreciate how killer this amp could sound, for several months it just sat in my living room waiting to be sold. However one Sunday afternoon on a whim I decided to plug my trusty Les Paul into it and see if I couldn't get what I wanted out of it. I don't know if all that time collecting dust made the amp change, of my ears changed, but I fell in love that day. I've been playing it regularly ever since then.

But the other day something happened, I was jamming at my buddies house with a full band (including another guitar player and keyboard) so I had the volume set a bit higher than I do usually (it was probably around 10 o' clock...really freaking loud!). Everything was fine, we were jamming on Cocaine (no...not the drug, the Clapton tune, but hearing my strat through Vintage-Lo made me feel pretty high!) and it was my turn to take a solo. When I wandered up the fretboard I noticed that the notes had a really horrible screechy quality to them, it's tough to describe...but it sounded really bad. Low notes sounded fine, and even really high notes didn't suffer the affliction, but everything around the 11-15 fret on the B and E strings made this horrendous noise.

Now every time I play my Dyne this happens, it's really driving me nuts! I was thinking it might be cone cry...but I'm not positive
Would it be prudent to replace the speaker? I had been thinking about swapping it with something with a bit less high end anyway, but I only want to drop the cash on one if it will fix the problem.

Thanks for reading my rather long post, and for the help!

 

[ifailedshapes]

I would always start with the tubes. An easy way to check tubes is to take a pencil (I'm a drummer, so I use a drum stick) and gently tap the glass. If you hear any noises coming though your speaker, you've spotted a bad tube.

Have you ever changed the tubes?

 

[primal]

I agree with starting with the tubes.

The MC-90 that comes with the 1x12 combo is a 90 watt speaker and can probably handle much more then that. I don't think it is that.

Also, make sure you don't have any fret buzz.

I had a similar issue with a Les Paul I used to own where the guy who had it before had the neck relief set to high and set the bridge too low to compensate. So when I got higher on the neck some of the notes started choking and the fret buzz sounded like crap through the amp. Once I figured out what he had done and did my own setup it worked well after that.

 

[screamingdaisy]

I had a similar issue with a LoneStar Special. Turned out to be the setup on my guitar (fret buzz). I think it's that the MC90 does a good job of accentuating those frequencies.

 

[firefly1235]

It's not fret buzz, all my guitars do the same thing into the ED, but none of them do it into my LSS.

It could very well be a tube, I'll unscrew the back and check them tonight!

Thanks guys!

 

[J.J]

My C90 speakers can be pushed into cone cry long before 90 watts, but the volume is still very high. Cone cry will not happen at low volme unless the speaker is very badly damaged. By damaged I mean the cone would have to have quite a lot of physical damage like a large tear.

If you are getting the "cry" at low volume it is probably a pre amp tube. Does it happen with the clean mode ? Clean mode uses a different set of tubes to the vintage gain side, so it should be fine.