Tube Amp Archive

Like you, I have always read that this ceramic mag speaker was inferior to the D and K series (Alnico both). There does not seem to be a lot of love for it.

OK, so I just bought one (original cone) and put it in a 1/12 cab. Wow, it is actually a REALLY good speaker for guitar, having great midrange detail (that reacts to the midrange control on the amp in a very different way than other speakers!), even bass, and even treble. And it's not as loud or bright as an EV12L or as loud or bright as a K120 for that matter. This is a total surprise to me after having read so many negative things about it.

So give one a try sometime if you get the chance. Mine was found in a local used store for $50.

Wow! Deal!
They weigh a ton though, right?

Ha, yes, it is heavy.

I suspect this one was pulled from a 2/12 combo amp or maybe a 4/12 because it's 16 ohms, although I can't imagine a 4/12 with these speakers. It's 'mate' was there, but reconed with a non-JBL part and a big cloth dust cap, again, non-JBL. Just be wary of a recone, look for the cork seal and the JBL number and markings on the cone.

It seems that SRV used these E series speakers (E130) in his VibroVerbs when he recorded Texas Flood, but I honestly never ever imagined these speakers would sound like this. This was before Cesar Diaz got him into the EV line. I can tell you that the EV15L and EV12L are a completely different animal than this speaker, and yes, I have both of these. Way too loud!

Just get one with an original cone.

E130 is a 15" speaker, I had two of them in an old Sunn cabinet, unbelievable clean tone and megatons of it. Weighed 22 lb each, 4" voice coil.

Never had an EV, but hard to imagine anything louder than the E120. Bought the E120 new in 1976 and it still sounds terrific. It doesn't really distort, but it gets mid-range feedback in a totally unique way. Way too heavy to carry around anymore. Polarity usually needs to be reversed when pairing with another speaker.