The Steel Guitar Forum

Thinking about trying a JBL cab. And a Webb amp.

What model works best in your experience? D130, 130E, F, K?
The Fs were designed for bass but I see them being used for steel as well. Certainly a lot will depend on the nature of the amp driving it. Peavey 400, Webb, Fender etc. May want a second cab to double duty w/guitar and clean Fender sound.

At least one inquiring mind wants to know. Thanks

I thought the F was designating the models made for Fender. Forget where I had read that. Anyway, the 130 series were guitar speakers and the 140 series were the bass speakers. Any of the 130 models would be fine as long as you pay attention to the wattage ratings.

I have used both D 130 and E 130 for many years. D 130 is in my Sho-Bud amp (~100watts out), and the E130 is in my Session 500 (~200+ watts out). If you play loud on a bandstand, you would do better with the E 130 or similar higher power rated.

Thanx,
Jim

D130 is the sweetest in my experience, but it's relatively weak in the power handling dep't. E130 is the latest of the series, but I don't think it's made any more.

A really good compromise is the K130. Better power handling than the D and lighter weight, sweeter than the E. Good luck finding either D or K orig. cone at a reasonable price though.

Also consider the M series 30 and 31. Great for steel. Similar to D series. Low power though.

Duane Dunard has a bass mode K 140 listed. Ribbed cone, but probably an acceptable replacement SG unit.

There's so much stuff on the web about these speakers it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. The consensus is the K is a bass speaker but I've also seen that the F is a beefed up model suitable for bass. I used to have a twin for guitar with D120s back in early 70s but never geeked out until now. Just wanting to know what works for steels. Ii appreciate the input. Keep it coming ... Thanks

Al, K130 was used in early Randall Steelman 500 and Webb steel amps. It is a smooth paper cone speaker that works really well with steel. I'm pretty sure it's the one Peavey used in their early amps that used JBL's but in a 4 ohm version.

I don't know what it was originally designed for, but I know it sounds great in steel amps. We installed one in a Sho-Bud single channel amp that had an old Eminence speaker and it made a big difference tonewise.

A friend of mine and I used to build custom JBL cabinets with K120's and K130's. At that time, the 110, 120, and 130 series were the guitar series and the 140 was the bass series with the ribbed cone.

This link should clear up the model mystery (although just referring to the K series, the earlier series had the same applications) for you. Basically confirming what I said above. The letter designation had nothing to do with whether it was a bass speaker or a full range speaker. The number following the letter determined that. Copy and paste it in your browser. I have tried many times today in other threads to get the url tags to work with no luck.

http://www.jblpro.com/pub/obsolete/k_series.pdf

EDIT: OK so just clicking on the link above will work.

Jerry, my Session 400 that I had, did indeed have a Peavey/JBL K130.

yeah, I've had a couple of them over the years Richard. While my tin ear slightly favors the Peavey speakers in Peavey amps, you just can't get a bad sound with those Lansing 130 line of speakers.

OK guys, Thanks for the enlightenment
Very good stuff and a good example of the forum's value
Keep it coming if anyone has more

I tried that K130 in my Nashville 400, and didn't like it. I put the 1502-4 Black Widow back in and never looked back. I was disappointed, because I had never played through anything except JBL's up to that point. Even my first amp was a Fender Twin with JBL's. Spoiled. huh?

On another note (no pun intended), does anyone know why JBL got out of the musical instrument speaker market?

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... hlight=jbl

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/ ... Gerst-D130

Thanks for the links. The Harvey Gerst piece really sets out the facts and has some great stories.
The F was for Fenders and the 140 was specifically designed for bass. There's more, of course. Right on Richard.

I have a Peavey JBL/K130. It was originally in my Session 400. I also have a LTD400 with the original Black Widow 1502-4. I have been experimenting with three different speakers in those two amps: The Black Widow, JBL, and an Eminence EPS-15c. I play a 1973 round front Sho-Bud LDG with barrels behind 2-hole pullers.

I have mounted all three speakers in each amp. Currently, the Eminence is in the Session 400. I recently mounted the JBL in a Rick Johnson cabinet so that I can switch from one speaker to another faster and compare them side by side. I like both the JBL and Eminence better than the Black Widow. I can EQ the Eminence so that it sounds close to the JBL, but there is something about the JBL the the Eminence doesn't reproduce, a certain sweetness, maybe. Maybe it's the letters in the back of the speaker. Maybe it's the JBL's 103db efficiency. Then again, maybe it's not. I want to throw a SICA into the mix next. I have also compared the Session 400 and LTD400 to my Nashville 400 and its BW 1501-4 DT. The NV400 might be for sale. I want to throw a 15" SICA into the mix next.

I also plugged the JBL into my 1973 Silverface Twin Reverb. My initial reaction? Oh. My. Goodness.

Just played my first gig with a JBL M31-4ohm hooked up to a 71 twin last Saturday night. "Oh my goodness" about nails it. Best sound I ever got with a steel guitar. As of the power handling: we weren't blowing down the walls, but we weren't exactly whispering, either. Plenty of power for me. Mind you, I'm only playing 10 string E9.

Dan

Jerry Overstreet wrote:Al, K130 was used in early Randall Steelman 500 and Webb steel amps.

I believe it is the K130 in my 1981 Randall SteelMan.

I've an E130 in my Randall Steel Man, it runs cooler with the amp wide open than the earlier D and K designs. The ceramic magnet of the E series adds several pounds to the package and I prefer the sound of the alnico magnets (JBL's D&K series), but I won't drive one of those by itself with a 200 watt amp as tragedy inevitably ensues.

I was really a JBL junkie at one time. I even had a Golden Retriever that I registered with the AKC, and his name was Jay B. Ell. Pretty nerdy, I admit.

Hey Al

I used to own the amp that you are looking at, if its the White Webb with the two cabinets.

I ran JBL 8 ohm K 130 speakers in each cabinet. Im almost positive though that they were front mounted. It looks like the current owner has the speakers mounted from the back side of the baffle board. Its been over 5 years ago since I sold it and I can not verify its current condition or the condition of the speakers that have been placed in the cabinets. As an FYI, Webb speaker cabinets are great sounding setups. I would never have sold that amp other than the fact that I eventually drifted toward the warm tube sound and now run tube type preamps and amps.

The bottom line though is that the best speakers for those cabinets would be JBL 8 ohm K 130's or 8 ohm D 130 F's. The F does stand for Fender and it had a heavier duty voice coil than the straight D 130.

The amp probably originaly came with K 130 speakers in it. Thats what was being installed in the older ones. Then Webb went to the massively heavy E 130 JBL as the K 130's were no longer made. The E 130's are way too bright for most players, including myself.

Good luck with your decision as to buying it. It's a unique amp and it's worth investing in new caps or whatever it might need to freshen it up electronicaly.

RD