15" Speaker Shootout with the Fender Vibroverb - SRV
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Comparing the stock 15" Eminance speaker to a vintage JBL E-130 and a new Celestion Fullback in a Fender Vibroverb Reissue. Is it worth upgrading? Side by side comparison towards the end of the video with SRV licks.
Myself and Stevie became tight in 1986 and from there I was always spending time with Cesar Diaz up where he lived in the Pocono’s,PA. Yes, Stevie used JBL’s fir a while but finally through Cesar settled on EV Force speakers. The Force stayed clean but gave a little when amps were pushed. 5751 phase inverter tube in all amps and solid state rectified section. What most people don’t know is Stevie absolutely loved certain Marshall amps, Blackface Bassman amps and Telecasters. Reason he didn’t use Bassman heads or Marshall’s that much was because lack of reverb and Telecaster’s not getting used was lack of trem and pickup positions that a Strat could get with a 5 way switch. No Stevie himself along with Cesar did not like the 160 watt Dumble amps.
stevie used 15inch EV force speakers? did he have this in his vibroverb cab?
@@usernameunk : He did fir a while in 1 of them but 2 of the Vibroverbs still had D130’s. The EV Forces ended being his favorites Cesar’s favorite and I myself when I was around thought they sounded and felt best in his amps.
@@theirritatedirishman5440 appreciate all the knowledge. take care of yourself 🫡
@@theirritatedirishman5440 That makes sense. JBL D went into JBL E to handle much power. But I have heard customers complains about JBLs not being able to handle too much distortion. So maybe EV do that better. Maybe Steve kept the JBL Ds in his not for gig 40W Vibroverbs because he likes more their sound when playing alone. Thank you for sharing.
This is not the first time I’ve seen that Stevie wasn’t a fan of his 150w Dumble Steel String Singer’s. Do you know why he continued to use them as a staple of his live rig ever since he got his first one, SSS #007, in January 1984, all the way through until his death? Also why he kept ordering more of them from Dumble? It’s kind of strange to me why he would end up with 3 Dumble Steel String Singer’s with a 4th having been ordered by the time he died? No sarcasm here, genuinely interested in this!!
Thanks Chris, an excellent comparison video.
Vintage JBL all the way... What a nice sound test... Congrats... Nice playing..
Great comparison video, bravo! Really surprised by how much I liked the Fullback, probably going with that one.
Other surprise is how much I didn't really enjoy the JBL's too much, sounds congested to me...
Cheers!
This is awesome thanks. The JBL adds some nice warmth and is classic SRV. Hmm.
I liked the stock Emminence. It was richer. I have a 1964 Vibroverb with a stock D-130F and it is only good on 4 with a Strat - a bit of a one trick pony with that speaker. When i plug it into my 2X 2-12" Bandmaster cab with Celestion Greenbacks in one and original G30Hs' in the other - that's when it sounds magical.
The Jbl D 130 is a hi fi speaker that remains clean, allows the lows to sound unrestrained, and gives the unique glassy highs. I cant imagine a more quality speaker. But after 50 years of abuse most have been reconed with alternative components loosing their magic. The original gasket is light grey with a red little round seal stamped on it, its one piece rim which breaks in three or four pieces when reconed, the diaphragm is of the same paper not glossy nor black, and the original cone has stamped the code 21057.
@@leonardo.rafael my JBLD130 was first reconed by JBL using their heavy cone, then again by Weber to factory specs. It sounds great after break-in, but is a one trick pony and doesn't stand up to being on '7' well.
@@andrewsrea I read there never existed original JBL recone kits, so recones were made with E 130 ones (which were designed to handle 150 watts). If that is true, I dont know how that may affect the sound. The original D 130 cones have stamped the 21057 code. Thanks you for sharing your experience. That shows us there are sweet spots we must expect, look for, and accept in our own particular gear.
@@leonardo.rafael This JBL is an E130, and that is a whole other story than a D130, and the prices are FAR apart.
Love JBL tone, it tends to give that smooth round tone match dearly with single coils attack, heard many times on SRV tone
Thanks great vid. All nice. That amp is the ticket.
The stock Eminence delivered across the board, with a full range of frequencies. JBL was kinda generic sounding. The Fullback had that sort of Vintage "Speaker Cone" sound, but lacked a Full Range.
I liked the stock Eminence best followed by the Celestion.
I like the Celestion Fullback sound, nice test
Awesome vid and thanks for the back info
JBL to my ears. Nice playing too!
I play bass and have K151-4 ohms 18 inches speakers and they are Alnico, don't remember the year I bought them
I liked the JBL most (nice full lows with mellow highs) but they're all pretty close. I would suggest a 2nd 🎤 way back, a "room mic", to capture the character of each speaker. When they're all on the cone, its difficult to get a sense of what the general 'flavor' of the speaker is. Good vid!
I don’t know much about recording - but my favorite guitarist - Doyle Bramhall II recorded his 2nd or third album with on mic in the room and it sounds killer!!!!! Moreover, Chris thanks for the video - I’m on the hunt to buy a Vibroverb RI for the 2nd time except this time used 🤦♂️
Thanks for the consistent comparisons. The JBL is my least favorite in this video with the track played. The fullback seems to lean toward honk, but I love the punchy full range availability. What did you stick with?
Maybe it's just the way it sounds on u tube, the Eminence And celestion sounds close to the same, the JBL sounded a little darker and warm.
I heard SRV used an EV EVM15L. Might be another to try.
Eminence for me
The JBL is the tone we recognise but that Celestion is pretty nice and tight /musical. The metal dome in the middle of the JBL makes it more dynamic...If I could choose only 1 then JBL wins . Maybe a beefy cab would open up the Celestion?
The Fender is probably the best all-rounder because of the nice mids, but I could see how if you were SRV you'd want the JBL because of the tighter lows and mids.
Personally liked the celection fullback the most
Great vedio :)
JBL for sure.
Eminence then JBL then Celestine. Eminence vs JBL is a tough call for me.
Fullback wins it hands down. Definitely has a more well rounded and clear midrange bite. Kinda has vintage 30 properties. Which is a good thing. I do wish there were more options in the 15” speaker market. I don’t know why they can’t make basically every model that’s available in 12” available in 15”.
First speaker, the eminence, seems to have low to mid-range tone, the vintage JBL E130-8 had a more mid range tone with less low end, and the Celestron had more highs than the other two, at least that was the way that I heard it, I would go the middle of the road, for a more balanced sound, you could dial the mids back a little to smoothin it out too!
Good video! thanks for the test! Was the OX used in between the amp and speaker in the test or was the amp straight out to the speaker? Cheers
Ya the OX was being used between the amp and speaker.
JBL for this style
Incredible playing!! Do you mind sharing that loop track for others to experiment with? (With credit, of course)
I think ima have to go celestion fullback I think the eminence sounds close to identical I don’t really dig the jbl sounds compressed and dark.
I liked the Fullback the best. I have an Eminence 15 in my Randall RS125CX which sounds pretty good but I'm looking for something with a more bass punch.
That's why I think the Fullback sounded best. It just had a better bass tone imo.
I have the same cab and I am also looking at trying out a different 15 inch speaker. Did you ever swap the stock emi out ?
IMO JBL have less lowers, but clips less so gives more clean and glassy highs.
The JBL is the go.
How would you describe the difference between a 15inch speaker and 12? ... do you think a 15inch would be worth if for a home setup?
I would say the 15 fits in between a 1x12 and 2x12 in the sound, the frequency response. The vibroverb is actually a really powerful amp. It can blow away a deluxe, its more like taking the power of a super reverb and using a single speaker, so its more midrange focused than a super.
JBL. But none of them had much bass to them ... were you just not running much bass knob?
Do the JBL E130 fit in there, with the original baffle?
do you have a recording with the mic away from the amp, to listen the ambience?
Stock eminence
Just curious, if you’re doing a SRV tone comparison, why not turn on the Diaz mod and SS rectifier? Also, how did you get the E130 to fit in the baffle? It was too heavy for mine and the screws didn’t clear the chassis of the speaker.
That celestion sounds too tight and sterile, like it def needs more break in,,,, the JBL seemed just the opposite like it was a little bit tired. The emminence seemed to be a general all around consistient match overall for thst amp. It was not anything super special but just seemed just about like what it should be expected. Surely Stevies tone did not rely on a specific speaker and I would believe that his choices werent 100 percent tone. He likely considered many things when deciding what speaker was loaded in his cabs
I got the same Amp installed is a 15 Inch warehouse speaker. Sounds great playing clean but if I put an overdrive pedal in front of it it sounds awful..
Have you tested those speakers with an overdrive pedal?
Which speaker was your final choice?
Yes, I decided to go back to the stock speaker because it sounded a little closer to SRVs Texas Flood tone than the others. I like the JBL but its lacking in the low end compared to the other speakers. The highs on the Fullback I thought were a little harsh.
@@streetrockusa my thoughts exactly on all 3 from this great video!
Warehouse speakers are a great affordable budget speaker!
Cost no option, I would suggest trying the 90watt celestion alnico creambacks
@@streetrockusa yup agree
Sound the same to me
Wow on those chords from the first sample riff, you can really hear the extra low end of the fullback. May I ask what the thing on top of your amp is? Attenuator?? Thanks for the demo
Yes, attenuator and much more :)
www.thomann.de/intl/universal_audio_ox_amp_top_box.htm?sid=0e67b0039c0a6265a36b80bbab85ff1a&ref=intl&shp=eyJjb3VudHJ5IjoiZnIiLCJjdXJyZW5jeSI6MiwibGFuZ3VhZ2UiOjJ9&reload=1
Wanna sell me that eminence? I can’t find them anywhere.
The Eminence Legend 1518 is the best 15" speaker I've ever heard. Actually, they're one of the best speakers I've ever heard period. A well designed 1x15 cabinet with a Legend 1518 in it sounds like a 4x12 with Greenbacks. Ironically the Celestion Fullback 15" sounds awful. It's all choked up with Mids. I looked up the frequency response graph on Celestion's website and that explains it. There is a huge roll off of the bass starting at 150 Hz. Then it's flat from 150 Hz through all the low mids until there is a small bump at 900 Hz. Another small bump in the high mids and that's it. That's what makes it sound small and boxy (all Mids). The Legend 1518 sounds WAY better. Most online retailers like Sweetwater stock them for $145 USD.
I love JBL, but the E120 (while okay in other applications), sounds sterile and one dimensional in a guitar amp. This speaker lack the complex harmonics you hear in well know guitar speakers like the Vintage 30.
Eminance in a Fender, the Fullback in a Marshall.
Jbl sound more accurate
I think that amp sounds awful no matter what speaker you put in it.