| Author | Message | ||
| willie
Member Username: willie Post Number: 93 Registered: 11-2003 |
I've been using a JBL E-140 and a JBL E-145 in some custom cabinets my brother and I built. There is a thread here somewhere showing pictures of them. Anyway I was talking to someone at at repair shop for musical equipment about what is the best 15 inch driver out there for a bass guitar cabinet that will be used in a bi-amp situation with 4X10 on top of it. I was wondering what are your opinions on the JBL's and which driver would you reccomend that could do a better job. Thanks Willie | ||
| funkyjazzjunky
Advanced Member Username: funkyjazzjunky Post Number: 217 Registered: 5-2007 |
I love JBL and ElectoVoice | ||
| bkbass
Intermediate Member Username: bkbass Post Number: 178 Registered: 11-2003 |
What's the price of a red car...how long is a piece of string,etc.? How much power do you want to push it? How big is the box? How low do you want to go? Do you want it slamin? Smooth? Articulate and punchy?What kind of budget are you working with? Not a easy question to answer for sure. JBL's are one of my favorite speakers too bad they got out of the guitar and bass amp speaker biz. EV's are another favorite company that has gone away from musicans needs.Gauss the ultimate IMHO also has gone away.Just about every bassamp manufacturer seems to gravitate to Eminence.Their website will get you informed. My personal preference these days are Beymas. They make MI speakers and sound reinforcement speakers. Their G series work very well in small MI cabs.You can check them out at US SPEAKER.COM I can't get enough of them,I use several neo 12's. Selenium has out a 15" 500watt neo that I'm hearing good things about.Although it is a sound reinforcement speaker. Celestion and Jensen make MI speakers.Faital is new to this country and offers some choices as well. Again,how much power,what size box. Large personal monitor system at great expense? Half a sound system just for you. Typical amp volumes small stage and/or studio? I like the tone, damm the cost I'll just mike it? So many trade offs so many things to consider. Start with what you think you need then reduce that price by a third to what you actually need and that will help you decide the speaker that will be a best fit. Hope this both helps and drives you crazy. My humble two cents. Good hunting. | ||
| keith_h
Senior Member Username: keith_h Post Number: 1138 Registered: 2-2005 |
"JBL's are one of my favorite speakers too bad they got out of the guitar and bass amp speaker biz" I've had discussions with JBL engineers about K140's (my personal favorite) and have been told they still make 15" drivers with the same mid-range bump. Of course they don't have the cool aluminum dust covers. I think they took away the instrument or PA only to open up more sales. Keith | ||
| willie
Member Username: willie Post Number: 94 Registered: 11-2003 |
Well, as far as power, the high pass outpt from an F-1X goes to a Crown PB-3 power amp and than to 2 Eden 410 XLT's. The low pass outfrom the F-1X goews to another Crown PB-3 power amp and than to the 2 1X15 cabinets. Each power amp is in bridge mono mode and is rated at 1500 watts. So I don't think power is the problem. I've had these drivers since the early 80's and always thought they sounded good. Originally they were in a 2X15 cabinet my brother and I built. They are now in seperate 1X15 cabinets that we built for them. 4 cubic feet interior volume and 25 square inches of vent. We followed JBL's recomendations for these drivers for a cabinet tuned to 40 HZ. I'm not really worried about price as I'm not under any pressure to replace them right now. The person I was speaking to had reccomended Eminence drivers and he didn't like JBL's because they accurately repoduce everything sent to them. He said the Eminence drivers don't reproduce the harmonics of the original notes like the JBL's do. Sounded to me like someone who played a Fender Precision and than picked up an Alembic and didn't like it because it revealed any faults in his playing that the Precision did not. I'm looking for my rig to be able to reproduce a bass sound that is crystal clear from the deepest lows to the highest highs at concert volume levels. And actually it does that now with the two 1X15's with the JBL's and two Eden 410 XLT on top of them powered by the 2 Crown amps. An Alemic F-1X as a preamp with an Alembic SF-2 and DBX 160A compressor and Aphex Aural Exciter in the effects loop. I was just wondering since those JBL's are kinda old and the technology has changed so much would there be a better 15" driver to use in those cabinets. Newer speakers have higher power handling abilities than the JBL's. The reason I used 2 different drivers in the first place is to get the bright punchy sound of the E-140 and the pure deep uncolored bass of the E-145 to blend with the 2 4X10's for a studio sound quality at concert levels. So any info on 15" drivers that would this fit application is greatly appreciated. Thanks Willie | ||
| lmiwa
Member Username: lmiwa Post Number: 65 Registered: 2-2008 |
If you're using a low pass output from the F-1X, then the high end of the 15 makes no difference. The crossover is removing all of it from the low end signal going to the 15's. I used to run two 2x10's stereo full range with a single 1x18 below 250hz. They were all JBL drivers and it sounded great! Quite honestly, cabinet design, port tuning, and driver selection are part science and part art. The factors involved are really beyond the scope of this forum. When I was involved with it, I had an entire lab and manufacturing facility at my disposal and numerous drivers to play with. Without those kind of resources, I now leave it to the pro's. | ||
| gtrguy
Intermediate Member Username: gtrguy Post Number: 157 Registered: 9-2004 |
I kinda like EV's over JBLs. They seem to have a little more punch and hold up better, in my experiance. | ||
| cozmik_cowboy
Advanced Member Username: cozmik_cowboy Post Number: 360 Registered: 10-2006 |
I used to know a guitarist who played through 2 4X12 cabs - loaded with 1 JBL, 1 Altec, 1 EV, 1 Cerwin-Vega, 1 Pile Driver, 1 Black Widow, 1 Jensen & 1 Eminence. Of course, he was insane. Peter | ||
| gare
Senior Member Username: gare Post Number: 422 Registered: 11-2003 |
Love JBL's too. Use to play thru Sunn cabinets with D-140's. Beyma also lists a speaker built to JBL specs..replacement/replica ? I was told once that Bag End used Beymas in their cabinets. Gay | ||
| crobbins
Intermediate Member Username: crobbins Post Number: 181 Registered: 6-2004 |
I've been a JBL fan since the 60s, and have several 12", and 15" speakers from that era. I use them in my guitar amps. My buddy has an 18" JBL in his bass rig..  | ||
| poor_nigel
Senior Member Username: poor_nigel Post Number: 570 Registered: 7-2003 |
$0.02. Old Alnico JBLs are prime examples of very efficient drivers that will put out more sound for every watt put into one. Gotta 50 Watt head and a pair of these in a cabinet? Playing a gig is no problem. However, with the new high-wattage amps out, blowing them is easy now. Once blown, chances are you will not find an original D or K 140 cone to replace it with and end up with an E-Series cone or one for a PA that is left over in someone's shop. Also, few people ever bother to get their old JBL and Gauss speakers re-gaussed over time, so their magnets are actually weakening and falling way be low specs for their models. Always, have your speakers regaussed when getting them reconed. Alnico holds its gauss less heartily than common ferris, but it will hold 2.5 times as much. The new series of rare earth magnets being used these days are the same. They hold more per mass, but they will dispell it quicker over time with jarring and temperature changes. Old speakers or new Neodymium ones are sounding a bit weak? Hit a shop with a re-gausser. The going rate for a single JBL for Fender cabinet replacement is $250 to $400 for D-140F gray basket (Especially if they have FENDER stamped on the basket/frame). However the price goes down for a reconned one, and keeps going down for other cosmetic issues. So blowing an old JBL can be 'double' costly, and they do cost a pretty penny to recone, even with after-market cones. Just another issue to contemplate. Are your JBL, Gauss, or Altec drivers worth more to you as collectors items, than gigging equipment? I have seen mintish orange basket D120F's sell for $500+ each. I have one pair of orange basket 12" JBLs left, and an ever rarer pair of orange basket Gauss 12's left, and they will be inheritance for someone, but never sold by me. Personally, I have retired and sold off much of my old speaker collection, sound gear, and amps (They were retired, not me - Dang!). I now use four E-110s for above 800 Hz and 2 SD 21" P. Audio's for 30 to 800 Hz. I can abuse the hell out of these, and they just keep sounding better and better. IMO - P. Audio and Beyma are the new James B. Lansings of the current speaker world, and EV is a close third and a good, steady choice, also. Bottom line on all gear issues is that the resolve to the quest for the right sound is in the ears of the searcher. So let's hear it for the retirement of the Altec Lansing era of drivers, and long live the new driver kings, who ever you deam them to be. (Message edited by poor_nigel on October 22, 2008) |
