Vintage 15" Speaker Shootout. JBL vs. Altec

[Fender4Me]

Which do you prefer and why?
JBL -D140 or Altec-Lansing 421A ?

[JB696]

Did the Altec have the silver dust cover in the middle? That's what would decide it for me.

[Jeff Scott]

Originally Posted by JB696

Did the Altec have the silver dust cover in the middle? That's what would decide it for me.

Yes! A friend still has my old 421A.

[JimmyM]

They both have aluminum dust covers.

[rodl2005]

The one that sounds best 4 me ;-)

[andertone]

I've played both, even though the hype is on Altec 421, I have always liked the K140 sound much better, this from a guy that used to play several Showmans through JBL cabinets in the 70's, and I still own a bunch of D140F's

[JimmyM]

Been years and years since I used a cab with either of them, but from what folks tell me, the Altec has a more pronounced upper mid. This can be good in cabs that have a bigger internal volume, lower port tuning, and naturally suppressed upper mid like the 70's B-15 Thiele cabs. And the JBL has a more "neutral" upper mid voicing, which works better in the smaller B-15 cabs of the 60's and comes across as slightly scooped in a Thiele cab. Mind you, this is all from other sources, not direct experience, but that's what everyone says.

[jnewmark]

I myself prefer the E140 JBL, used them for going on 30 years now. Very nice upper mids to highs with these 15's, and can take more power than the K140, although the K140 has a very sweet tone and is great in a B15N cab. Never played the Altec. The E140 is certainly a heavy beast, but, if weight does'nt bother you, try two of them in the appropriate sized cab. I had Don at LDS build me one, and , if you like that sound , you can't beat the E140. JBL bass speakers in general have a certain tone to me, one that I have never heard in any other brand of bass speaker. Never will compete with the SPL and Xmax monsters of today, but, a very nice tone for bass guitar, imho.

[chadds]

Back in the '60s right before the earth cooled we used these sweet 15"s.
I love JBLs if you don't crank them. Stellar big punchy bass tone. Crank them too much you get that "Mountain" distortion. I prefer the Altec 421As. Interestingly the CTSs of those days while not as clear and punchy at low to medium volumes didn't get ugly when cranked like the JBLs.
The Gauss 15"s of the early 70's had no particular character. Now, we might like that but they sounded blah compared to a JBL. Our amps were very tubilicious and musical then with so much harmonic distortion. Cabs were either well designed, like the B-15 and later Sunn 200s or poor like the Fender 2-12" Piggyback Bassman. The tall 2x15 Showmans weren't all that good by today's standards.
Now we are better able to describe and pick and choose what we like about those vintage components.

[username1]

I have used both back in the past. The altec was punchier and a little crisper sounding but i prefered the warmth and bigger bottom end of the JBL.

[throbbinnut]

My regular gig rig is an 80 Watt tube amp through an Altec 421A stuffed in a Peavey 1x15 box. I love it. So round, so firm, so fully-packed!

Chris

[Mojo-Man]

Originally Posted by username1

I have used both back in the past. The altec was punchier and a little crisper sounding but i prefered the warmth and bigger bottom end of the JBL.

Same here, I prefer the bigger bottom of the JBL.
A Gibson EBO, and two JBL's is a beautiful thing.

[topcat2069]

I used an Altec 421a in an old guild cab on top of an EV SRO ( I believe) 15' in a folded horn cab (home made, but similar to the EV Eliminator cab)

The combination had great presence and long throw. I then went to a JBL design 2X15 cab with two Altec 421s (the rig I toured with)

I was using an Acoustic 450 to drive them both. (only one or the other)