Were JBL Speakers That Good?

admin · Post by **admin** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 9:17 am

In discussing older amplifiers with friends who played in the early 1960s, the JBL 12 inch speakers with the aluminum dome covers keeps coming up.

Were these speakers that good or has their reptuation improved as memories fade? What speakers sound closest to these today?

I am not aware of newer ampifiers that use speakers with the aluminum dust covers. Is there a reason for this?

triode · Post by **triode** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:19 am

JBL made several different version of these speakers for Fender, Standel, and other guitar amp cos. There were slight variations in voice coils, magnet size and design, etc.

Then there were different models in the 1950s, some were specifically for hi-fi and can only handle about 25 watts! The Fender model was the D120F, sometimes painted orange. It handled more power. Fender stopped using JBLs in the 1980s I believe due to high costs.

Later pro 12 inch JBLs were used in PA systems and guitar amps. My personal favorites were the K-120s which came out in the early 1970s. They handled 100 watts RMS and were serious speakers. They can be a bit on the bright side, due to the aluminum dustcap-HF radiator. I say try them out if you can. They are not for people who like a lot of speaker break up at low volumes like Tone Tubbies, Emminence, Weber,etc. They generally are for clean players who play loud. Great for country, steel guitar, clean rock rhythm.

bassman · Post by **bassman** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:50 am

Peter,

I remember the chrome dome JBL's being excessively bright. They were great in PA and guitar cabinets.

I used a Traynor YTL-15 twin fifteen cabinet one week back in the late 60's while I loaned my Traynor YC-810 to a friend. The YTL-15 had two JBL D140 15" speakers in it.

Man it was a cool looking cabinet.

But for bass, this cabinet with these speakers sucked. You couldn't get any really good bottom end out of it. I'm sure it had a lot to do with the design of that cabinet, as it had no porting to release the sound in the back of it. But then again neither did my YC-810 and it was a awesome cabinet for bass.

One of my guitar player friends connected the YTL-15 to his Gibson Titan amp head. We were all blown away by it as a guitar cabinet. He was using a Titan cabinet with twin 12's. His guitar was a single cutaway Harmony Rocket with twin D'Armond pickups.

He tried to trade his Titan cab for the YTL-15, but couldn't swing the deal. Those were the days.

admin · Post by **admin** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:50 am

Thank you Charlie. You touch upon another interesting topic. How does one best select a speaker wattage to fit an amplifier?

Do you select speakers that will match the wattage exactly so that they break up or do you allow for more head room by selecting a rating that exceeds the maximum wattage so that the speakers are not pushed as hard.

Is there some general rule that is applied here?

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 12:08 pm

A friend of mine just finished modding and restoring one of the master volume twins from the 70's and brought it down to a jam I go to. The amp sounded good, but you could definitly hear that it had JBL D120's in it. The high end was just a little but harsh and ice picky sounding. I heard his amp through another cabinet a couple days before with eminence speakers in it, and all that high end harshness was gone, so it was definitly the JBL's that were doing it. I've heard from Ted Weber that you can change the dust cap to paper and it gets rid of it. Ted Weber makes his "California" model speaker which is similar to the JBL's.

For bass, the JBL D140 15 inch is a very nice speaker, but it does need a good cabinet to work with. The old Sunn amps sound best with the original two JBL D140 ported and rear loaded cabinet that they came with. Also, Ampeg used JBL D130's in the old Portaflex amps as an optional upgrade, and they sounded very nice.

Peter, you want to select something that won't blow up first of all! I used to have an 80's Fender Concert amp, and put a 70 watt Celestion speaker in it. The amp was 60 watts, and I didn't play it super loud all the time, but I blew the speaker 3 times before I learned my lesson and put in something with a higher wattage rating. An AC30 has two 15 watt speakers, and the amp is 33 watts. But that is misleading because the 15 watt rating for the Alnico Blue speaker is conservative, and I've known people who put them in Twins and have them survice. The closer you get to the clean RMS wattage an amp puts out for the speaker wattage level, the more risk you run of blowing the speakers up. Theres probably a happy medium somewhere, but personally, I prefer to not blow my speakers up all the time, so I aim a little high on the wattage of the speaker.

ken_j · Post by **ken_j** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:44 pm

The JBL D130 speakers I listed for sale awhile back are still available. They are 15" guitar speakers (not bass) taken out of a Sunn cabinet.
link

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:00 pm

I have a number of older amps/cabs with JBL speakers and I agree that they tend to be much brighter than other brands. Personally, I prefer the D-series, yellow label ones, over the others. An example is my 2x15" D-130 Sunn Sentura II cabinet:

This cab, in spite of its closed back, sounds OK for bass. Well, at least for my hack bass playing ... good for avenging the neighbor's overly loud stereo, dog, etc.

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:27 pm

I've got at least five D130's, and four D140's. Only one of the D130's works, and two of the D140's work. Gotta get the rest reconed. I plan to build myself two Sunn style bass cabinets, one to match my 200S, and the other to match the 2000S. One of these days anyway. I love the sound of those speakers for bass, but don't like them for guitar at all.

admin · Post by **admin** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 1:51 am

Gary: I very much appreciate your posting of the Sunn cabinet with the JBL 130s. A blast from the past.

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 1:37 am

You are most welcome, Peter. I really like the vintage stuff.

My first encounter with a friend's Fender Dual Showman cabinet (2x15 D-140Fs) sold me on how good JBLs were. I played my 1968/1969 Bandmaster Reverb through that cab, and while the made-for-Fender Utahs in the Bandmaster 2x12 cabinet started distorting at a volume of 4-5, the JBLs were crystal clear all the way up to 10 (this was outdoors!). Besides the Sunn, I have the following, all with original JBLs: 1968 Fender Twin Reverb, 1969 Dual Showman Reverb, 1968 Showman Reverb. I also have a 2x10 cab with D-110Fs (one a recone, the other original with orange dustcap), an Avatar 2x12 with D-120Fs, and another pair of D-110Fs, one of which needs reconing, for another cab in the future.