Grateful Dead Music Forum

Hi Gang,

Hope all is well. I have this pair of vintage JBL E-120’s. As you can see, there is a lot of rust and corrosion.

Does anyone know of someone that can restore them and get them back up to spec for use? Or once they get in this condition is there no way to get them going again?

Thanks!

I would take the one that is in the best shape to Ted weber speaker service i have someone in my area that used him and his speaker looks and sounds good . They can be totally taken apart stripped, cleaned, and repainted if weber does not offer the cleaning and repaint you could possibly do that yourself and then send out for a recone. One e120 is plenty loud and very heavy.

^ Awesome and thank you! Just reached out to them in case they can help.

Ken from Upland Speakers http://www.repairspeakers.com is the VERY BEST! Trust me!

I have first hand experience with upland and strongly do not recommend him had a very bad experience he seemed like a good choice and maybe was at one time but I used him about a couple years ago and very very bad check out his reviews on yelp . a neighbor had his jbl done by weber it was done when expected and done very well ,my future jbl recones will definitely go there.

Weber makes great speakers, but last I knew, used their own kits to recone NOT JBL recone kits.

merryrunaround wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 10:17 am I have first hand experience with upland and strongly do not recommend him had a very bad experience he seemed like a good choice and maybe was at one time but I used him about a couple years ago and very very bad check out his reviews on yelp . a neighbor had his jbl done by weber it was done when expected and done very well ,my future jbl recones will definitely go there.

yea I wouldnt go with him either. Had him do a recone and it took forever, like months with very little communication or updates. The speaker sounded fine and looked good but given the time it took and cost Id look elsewhere.

I would look for someone who uses JBL kits which is not Weber.

There are lots of bad options for re-coming these… JBL stopped making kits. Weber and others haven’t tried to hard to replicate the materials. Ken at Upland has. He also sells the kits on his eBay store.

I was given two E120s with very bad cones. Any new or different places that could repair them? I assume there are no factory recone kits available anymore.

I am reaching out to Tone Tubby, definitely not factory spec but less bright would be OK for me. Just don’t know if their cones would physically fit.

A friend has used The Speaker Exchange in Tampa for recone kits. They also service JBL speakers. Has anyone used them?

BoogieMK2 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 14, 2026 8:26 am I was given two E120s with very bad cones. Any new or different places that could repair them? I assume there are no factory recone kits available anymore.

I am reaching out to Tone Tubby, definitely not factory spec but less bright would be OK for me. Just don’t know if their cones would physically fit.

A friend has used The Speaker Exchange in Tampa for recone kits. They also service JBL speakers. Has anyone used them?

Dan Jamison does recones. He's in Elizabethtown PA. Hit him up on Facebook or www.dan-jam.com

I had one of my K120s reconed in hemp many years ago by John Harrison at Tone Tubby before he passed away. As surmised above, it mellows the high end just a smudge. In my “big rig” I run my guitar through both channels of an Alembic F-2B preamp/Carvin DCM200L power amp into two 1x12 cabs. I tweak the stock K120 to accentuate the highs and the hemp coned K120 to accentuate the lows, then adjust the relative volumes. The hemp coned K120 works great for this set up.

Bill, tgo

Only my personal experience, but the one time I tried to have Weber recone an E120 did not end well. They sent it back to me twice believing that they had repaired it, but it still made crackling sounds.

Anyways, I found The Loudspeaker Store here in WA state and took it to Paul and he was able to get it up and running perfectly. I can’t say what he’d be able to do in your case, but it would be worth reaching out. Highly recommend.

http://theloudspeakerstore.com/home.html

The current best option as far as I can tell is Jeff Maxwells. He supposedly has the training, experience, and parts and he was also involved in the Milkman project. [email protected] 619-862-8235

As far as Ken at Upland, he still does great work from what I hear, but he has had a pair of speakers of mine for 2 years now.

Given the Rusch thread's tales, I hope you see those speakers again in your lifetime!