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Jbl k140 vs. Peavey Black widow 1502/1505

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prengel_basser

Jan 28, 2010
40
3
#1
I have the Chance to buy One or two peavey 215D cabs (One loaded with 1502's, the other one has 1505's).i Could get them for a decent Price and the only Problem is that i Never Heard a 1502 or a 1505 in Person. They have Great Reputation but at least on paper they just go up to 2k which is rather dark. I mostly like bright 15" like the evm 15l but also LOVE the Jbl k140 which is also rather dark on paper but quite bright in Person. Another speaker i Love is the Jbl m-151. can anyone of you compare the two BW's to those speakers i already heard?
 
#3
Yep, Peaveys have more low end, but the JBL's are more hi fi - cleaner and less colored. If you play rock and need a big bottom sound, then Peaveys. I think the JBL's do a better job on clarity and detail, though. My two cents is I love both, but for different reasons. But if you get both cabinets, you will get a wall of wonderful punchy full bass. I had a pair of those cabs, dead stock and they were killer together, not simply one cabinet twice as loud, but a bigger sound altogether.
 
#4
azureblue said:
Yep, Peaveys have more low end, but the JBL's are more hi fi - cleaner and less colored. If you play rock and need a big bottom sound, then Peaveys. I think the JBL's do a better job on clarity and detail, though. My two cents is I love both, but for different reasons. But if you get both cabinets, you will get a wall of wonderful punchy full bass. I had a pair of those cabs, dead stock and they were killer together, not simply one cabinet twice as loud, but a bigger sound altogether.
Click to expand...

They may have a bit more articulation. But[Invalid or Expired Link Removed] they are not going to have huge extension above the BW's.
 
#5
If it were not for JBL refusing to improve speakers such as the K140, the BW's would not exist. JBL speakers from that era used paper voice coil formers and would not reliably handle rated power, which caused Peavey a lot of expense in warranty claims in the 70's. Also, Peavey was developing next gen products with even higher power output, and was interested in new speaker designs that could handle it. Peavey used CTS speakers in certain applications, but at the time, JBL was the go-to company for certain types of speakers for certain applications. Peavey was content to continue using JBL, but asked that the speakers be improved. JBL not only refused, but gave Peavey the "we're JBL and you're some new company...who are you to tell us to improve, and what choice do you have but to use our speakers?" response, so of course, Hartley Peavey was all like "I'll show you!", and then the BW was developed.
 
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#6
Which is interesting, @BbbyBld...because its hard to remain a leader in a field if you're not willing to improve and/or progress your product. It seems fairly short sighted. Of course in the MI world, JBL doesn't really sell retail anymore and Peavey has only grown, expanded and continued to innovate.

I've been eyeballing buying one of the second rounds of IPR, but I don't know if Peavey is going to put out a 3rd!
 
#8
svtb15 said:
Which 15 would produce a deeper bottom in cleat mids in a full range cab.. the Peavey or eminence 3015
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In pure displacement, it is going to be close, but I think the 3015 (non LF) edges it out. Most of that will really come down to how the cab is ported. Of course the voicing of the mids will be different, so that will change perception of volume as well.

Big difference is that they use different magnets, which will change how they handle large amounts of power, or extended periods of time.
 
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#9
BbbyBld said:
If it were not for JBL refusing to improve speakers such as the K140, the BW's would not exist. JBL speakers from that era used paper voice coil formers and would not reliably handle rated power, which caused Peavey a lot of expense in warranty claims in the 70's. Also, Peavey was developing next gen products with even higher power output, and was interested in new speaker designs that could handle it. Peavey used CTS speakers in certain applications, but at the time, JBL was the go-to company for certain types of speakers for certain applications. Peavey was content to continue using JBL, but asked that the speakers be improved. JBL not only refused, but gave Peavey the "we're JBL and you're some new company...who are you to tell us to improve, and what choice do you have but to use our speakers?" response, so of course, Hartley Peavey was all like "I'll show you!", and then the BW was developed.
Click to expand...

Was'nt the E140 the next step from the K140 ?
 
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#11
The 1505 runs fuller in the lows, takes more power down there without breaking up while keeping definition in the upper mids.

The 1502 is more aggressive in the middle mids and gets a grindy breakup when you push it.

Neither is as bright as a EV15L, but both have enough top to be "one speaker does it all" bass cabs, unless you want tweeter zing or air for slap.

1505 has been a favorite of mine for a long time and for a 30 year old design has been pretty hard to outperform for a very long time. Only recently have some neo designs come along that might have an edge on it's combination of bass handling with overall quite high spl, and enough range on the topend to not be "LF specific" drivers that need crossing to a mid to carry the tone.
 
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#14
prengel_basser said:
Will, did you ever had a chance to compare the top end of the two to a k140? at least on paper the k140 should be a closer relative...
Click to expand...


I haven't played or heard the JBL in a long time, more experience with the EV's, but foggy memory says the JBL's had a, I don't know, richer, more complex, sweeter, more "musical", etc., etc. tone through the mids and highs. They do sound brighter than they look on paper. Don't think they can make the lowend of the 1505 widow though.

The Peavey doesn't sound as "refined", at least up close, little more "blat" sound In the uppermids up close, but does a great job of filling the room with sound, "projecting", and keeping it's definition. Sounds plenty musical to the dancefloor and further audience.
 
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#20
I took a closer look at the frequency response chart of the peavey 1505. we probably all agree that it goes well beyond the rather conservative 2k rating in the upper register.
then I took a look at the chart of the Eminence kappalite 3015 (also a very respected bass-guitar speaker) which is rated to 4k treble response. I think the charts don´t look too different
in the upper regions (beside the 1.5k spike on the eminence). Unfortunately there is only a 2k and a 5k mark on the 1505 chart and the treble rolls off in between there.
so I took the eminence 3015 chart and tried to lay it over the BW 1505 chart. the black one is the BW 1505, the red one is the 3015.
1505 vs.3015.jpg


I wasn´t able to match the charts 100% correctly and you see it´s a bit off at 100Hz, 200Hz and 500Hz. It´s pretty spot on between 1k and 10k since that´s the region I´m interested in.

is it possible that the frequency range rating of the peavey is very conservative while the eminence is rather optimistic?

Edit: of course I had to distort the eminence chart in order to sync it with the peavey one.
here is the original fo reference: http://www.eminence.com/pdf/Kappalite_3015.pdf
 

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