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JBL - Does anyone have...

Bill M

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a picture of an original JBL D-120F? I'm trying to figure out if the ones I have are original. They are grey frame, yellow sticker, aluminum dust cap, single ring, apparently all paper and heavy as hell.
 

davebc

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"apparently all paper" Even the dust cover? (please excuse my lack of knowledge on the D's).I used whatever series JBL was offering in the very early 70's.I've been looking for a pair of D's,but everything I've found has been reconed,and ridiculous bucks.
No one seemed convinced that the recones sound even close to the original.
 
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Bill M

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I meant it looks like an all paper cone (vs cloth surround - although I haven't seen one so I'm not sure how to tell). The dust cover is metal or aluminum. My understanding is the recones (E-120's) have a double ring on the edge of the cone. Based on my limited knowledge the one's I have here look like original cones. I'd like to see a picture of the an original though if someone has one they can post.
 
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davebc

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Hey Bill,How do they sound?What amp are you using them in,and what guitar?
 

Bill M

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Hey Dave,

I haven't installed them yet. I plan to put them in my Vox 2x12 cab tomorrow and check them out. Both JBLs look to be in good shape but I might have a bad voice coil in one of them. When I depress the cone I hear a scraping sound. My amp is a moded Marshall 1987X and guitar is a McCarty.

I'll post a follow-up here tomorrow.
 

Flavum

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Here are a few picts of one of my D120Fs. You can see the single-ring cone pretty clearly, as well as the "21032" on the original cone. Hope this proves helpful:

L1270020.JPG

L1270021.JPG

L1270023.JPG

L1270024.JPG

L1270025.JPG
 

585960

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Hmmm, I'd say reconed. No cork gasket, and a whole lot of dope on the paper edge. JMHO.
 

Flavum

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585960 said:
Hmmm, I'd say reconed. No cork gasket, and a whole lot of dope on the paper edge. JMHO.

I have 6 D120Fs, and none of them have cork gaskets. They have varying amounts of doping. And even if this was reconed, it was done a long, long time ago with a correct JBL D kit, the same as you'd find on the original.
 

davebc

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Flav,I'll bet that thing sounds as sweet as it looks.I'm sporting a speaker woody
 

Bill M

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Flavum,

Thanks for the pictures! As far as I can tell mine are identical to those, about the same amount of dope too. My cones also have 21032. I agree with you about the recone. If mine were reconed it would have been over 20 years ago because that's the last time they traded hands.

Bill
 

Bill M

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I just noticed one of mine has the cork gasket and the other does not. Yikes bad news, I can see a bit of daylight at the edge of one of them. The other one is making the scraping noise (bad voice coil?). Looks like both need work.

Is JJ's in Chicago still the best place to get recone's done?
 
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Crunchyriff

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I've got two of those. Originals- not reconed. Mine has the same, cardboard layered looking gaskets.
 

Stratocat

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Flavum,
Those are the correct cones but missing the cork gasket's they look like early 70's recones, all of the stock JBL D-120F's I own Have cork gasket's but they do look correct other wise.
 

Bill M

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Here we go again. Will the real JBL D-120(F) please stand up.

I know some of this stuff has been posted before but here's what Ted Weber says about his recone kit.

"The original D120's had an all paper cone whereas the later ones had a cloth surround cone. We offer both. If you elect to go with the all paper cone, I would limit the power to about 30-40 watts per speaker or they won't last long. That was the problem with the originals. We used original parts to spec our reconing parts, so they are just like the original parts on the D120's and D120F's."

"We designed and spec'd our own parts for all JBL guitar amp speakers because we do 200 to 300 JBL's a month. We have the following available for 120's."

4, 8, or 16 ohm impedance.
cloth surround or all-paper cone.
aluminum or paper dome.

"You are correct, there aren't any all-paper cones nor the aluminum domes left. That's why we had to measure and spec them and buy a large quantity for our reconing operation."

I think Ted is talking about original kits in the last paragraph. He also mentioned that he uses the 4 inch voice coil. $60 plus shipping.
 
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585960

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I have about 50 D 120s and D120Fs, and about the same in D 110s, and a few D130s. None of the 10s have a gasket. Most of my original coned speaks do have the cork gasket, and even a few recones do too. I have never seen an original D 120 or 120F, that didn't have a cork gasket. But I can honestly say, "I sure have not seen'em all! Just lots of them, though."
 

Bill M

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585960,

Maybe you can clear something up for me. What does the F stand for, Fender? Was there a spec change when they added the F and if so what is the difference?


Thanks
 

585960

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Well for years I was told by a speaker tech, and it seemed correct that the letter next to the model designation was the ohmage rating. But now I am not so sure. It seems to go along with the reasoning F= 8 ohms. But I have seen other things that make me wonder the accuracy of that. First off, don't believe everything you read in forums, including what I post. I do try to be as accurate as I know, but you just 'cain't' know's it alls! Also I found an old website with JBL literiture, and it mentions the F as a slightly exteneded range for a guitar speaker, not F= Fender. Heres the link,
http://www.lansingheritage.org/. I still think only dogs can hear the difference between a D120 and a D120 F. I have been a player using JBL D series since 1974. So I have played with JBL speaks in Marshall 4 x 12s, and all combinations of Fender amps for 95% of my musical life. I also can't hear the difference between an original speaker or a correct parts recone. That also means an E kit on a D speaker. And I really think I know what sounds good, for any kind of sound. Not just what I like and prefer. I am on the TQ advisory board since its inception. But thats neither here nor there. Check out the website, and you'll see, that the more you know and learn, all companies did things how they felt at the time, and exceptions are always the rule.
 

thunder75

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I had a pair of these in a '69 bandmaster reverb cab that I was happy to get rid of. They were pretty tired and lasted about 1 month before they blew. I sold the blown pair on ebay for $300 and got 1 reissue jensen and 1 mojo tone black beauty. I am much happier with these speakers. The JBL's were way too bright, piercing and metallic sounding for me. They also made the cab very heavy. The replacements are warmer, but still cut through fine. I was happy to get that much for the blown pair.
 
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