JBL D140F (circa 1960s–late 1970s)

Name: JBL D140F
Brand: JBL

The JBL D140F is a 12-inch guitar loudspeaker. Its big credential is simple: Jimi Hendrix used four of them - two in each of his Fender Bassman cabinets - during his late-1960s full-stack days. Enough independent sources confirm it that it is the anchor fact for this driver.

The D140F came from the alnico-magnet era at JBL, and it was built seriously. It used a 3-inch edge-wound aluminum voice coil, a ribbed curvilinear paper cone, a cloth accordion surround, and a cast aluminum frame. It was rated at 100 watts into 8 ohms and designed specifically for electric guitar frequencies. Players consistently describe its voice as warm, smooth, and detailed. Some find it almost too polite for hard rock, and prefer the grittier Celestion G12M Greenback for that job. The low end is tight and well-damped, particularly in a sealed enclosure.

The D140F was the 8-ohm member of the D-series. The K140 was the 16-ohm variant. The later E140, with its ceramic magnet, is generally regarded as its successor. Period reviews of the D140F itself are scarce. Audio (August 1966, p.60) ran a survey of speaker mechanisms that included the model, though the surviving record from that piece is thin. Most of what is known about the D140F's sound comes from the guitar community that has kept these drivers going for decades.

Collectors pay real money for these. Single drivers in good working condition typically list for $200-$400, and pairs in original Fender Bassman cabinets command more. The main caveats are the usual alnico-era problems: degaussing over time, torn surrounds, and voice coil rub in abused examples. Original cone kits are rare, and aftermarket re-coning is common. Re-coned drivers generally sell for noticeably less than unmodified originals.

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