Nostromo Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 Hi all, I've picked up a pair of vintage "new old stock", JBL D140F 15" drivers. These are "as new" and have been well stored in their original boxes since manufacture and thus not used at all since they were originally purchased in the mid 1970's I'm told. Can anyone out there tell me if these would be any good as drivers in a Bass cab ? I thought they probably were originally designed for bass work and that assumption, coupled with the amazing condition they are in, probably tipped the scales when I was deciding whether to buy them or not. So, I took the plunge and got them ! ! . . . . . However, one of my mates has now told me they are just 15" versions of the more common JBL D120F which was itself an upgrade offered by fender in some of their top guitar combos (like the 65 Twin Reverb) in the 70's, and, that these D140F's were designed as a 15" guitar speaker upgrade for 15" loaded fender combo's of that time, and, that they are therefore not bass speakers at all ? ? I'm not at all sure he's right - but cant find any info about them to prove it or confirm their purpose one way or the other ? So, any info on these would be very very much appreciated especially any ideas on their power handling capacity and the frequency range they were designed to handle ? They are vintage 70's drivers so I'm not expecting they will have much headroom in the power handling department ? They each have 8 ohms printed on them but nothing else except a serial number and the original JBL/Fender sticker. The guy I bought them from said that he also had originally had two more that were grey in colour with just JBL stickers on them, but that he'd sold those years ago. These two have cast chassis' painted bright red with black covers over the magnet. They look great - not that that's gonna be of any significance once they were tucked away in a custom build vintage cab ! . . . . but, if they sound as good as they look they'll be good ! As I say any info most welcome . . . I'm hoping I haven't bought a pair of unusable red lemons ! ! ! . . . ha . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 They were bass guitar drivers, although I believe they worked with guitar too. If they sound anything like the later K140, to which they are closely related, I'm sure you'll like them. However, because of their vintage, power handling is a bit limited. I think they were (perhaps rather conservatively) rated at 75W rms. Give 'em a try. You too can build an original Sunn 2 x 15"! Some interesting info here: [url="http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=2555.0"]http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=2555.0[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nostromo Posted November 9, 2009 Author Share Posted November 9, 2009 Hi Stevie, Thanx for that gold mine of JBL info . . . . wow . . . . Im now very pleased I took the plunge with this D140F sort of impulse buy ! ! . . . and sense yet another vintage cab project coming on ! (I've only just got round to fixing up a vintage Hiwatt cab I have with no speakers in it !) Now i guess I'll have to research what the vintage cab design should be that these speakers ought to be fitted in ! Ah well . . . . . Anyone got any ideas ? Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 [quote name='Nostromo' post='650182' date='Nov 9 2009, 10:23 PM']Now i guess I'll have to research what the vintage cab design should be that these speakers ought to be fitted in ! Ah well . . . . . Anyone got any ideas ?[/quote] A used Fender Bassman cab would be nice. Or build your own. The Fender grill cloth is available on eBay. I know you can use the K140 in cabinets as small as 70-litres. Here's one example: [url="http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Bass-Rig.html"]http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Bass-Rig.html[/url]. You'll have to email the guy for dimensions, as they are not clear from the drawings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bumnote Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 I had a dual showman cab many years ago with two jbl d140s in with an HH top sounded great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Or something like this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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