Product: J Design Cabinets Custom 115 Cabinet
Price Paid: US $300
Submitted
06/21/2004
at
09:39pm
by
lochry
Email: lochry at comcast<dot>net
Features
:
10
I was looking for a small, versatile cabinet for use with both bass and guitar. I asked Jeff Earl at J Design to help me design a cabinet around a JBL E-140 (c. 1985). I sent Jeff specs from the JBL online archive as well as feedback from cabinet designers with comments on the characteristics of the speaker. Jeff made modifications to his standard 2x12 cabinet (adding a few cubic feet), installed 3 ports, tuned it, added appropriate dampening material, installed wiring and hardware to my specs, and shipped it to me empty. I installed the speaker.
Sound Quality
:
10
Exceeded all my expectations. Full, round and loud when used with bass with no drop off on the low end. Clear and crisp with guitar with no woofyness. The JBL is not a speaker that can be easily overdriven, but it will faithfully reproduce anything your amp can crank out.
Reliability
:
10
Jeff does beautiful work. Great attention to detail (for example -- the baffle cut and mounting t-nuts matched the oddball JBL specs perfectly, so I had no problem installing the speaker). Well thought out design and impressive technique (not just another fender/vox/marshall copycat clone) with no shortcuts or cheap materials.
Customer Support
:
10
Jeff communicates well. Great to work with. Backs his work with a two year warranty, but I doubt I'll ever need it.
Overall Rating
:
10
I've been playing for over 35 years, so I have a pretty good idea of the sound I want and a lot of experience with gear. Tube wise, between my brother and me we've owned most of the American makes including Hilgen (try to find one of those now), Gibson, Fender, Sunn, Ampeg, Aims, Peavey, etc. I'm currently using a pre-1969 Traynor YBA-3 tube head for guitar and bass(thanks bro).
I checked out at least a dozen cabinet makers before I went with J Design. You won't beat Jeff's price or turn-around time for true custom work. What has impressed me, however, it that Jeff took my idea for a passable bass/guitar compromise and turned it into something I would gladly put up against most dedicated bass and guitar cabinets. That's talent. I'll be ordering from J Design again.
