Tone Tubby Purple Haze JBL-Type Speaker?

Matthew Dawson · Post by **Matthew Dawson** » 23 May 2015 1:23 am

Anyone played one of these? Would they be suitable for steel? It doesn't look like they are as efficient as the JBLs.

http://www.siegmundguitars.com/TTpurple.html

Brad Sarno has the first review up on the site for guitar. Looks pretty cool!

Len Amaral · Post by **Len Amaral** » 23 May 2015 10:43 am

I think the name Purple Haze says it all. I have several of the standard Tone Tubby speakers and they are Smokey and nice. Pardon the pun.

Cartwright Thompson · Post by **Cartwright Thompson** » 23 May 2015 3:43 pm

For $325 I'll just buy an overpriced D-120.... and have $75 bucks left in my pocket!

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 23 May 2015 6:42 pm

Yup, the Purple Haze is expensive. It's an alnico magnet and hemp cone like all of Tone Tubby's speakers. This one is interesting and is very different from the rest of their line that many people know about. They developed it to get an EQ and general voicing of a JBL K120, but the great advantage is that it's a lower power speaker and lacks the metal dustcap. My experience with JBL's is that they really sing best when they're moving some air. At low volumes, the metal dustcap really dominates the tone, but at high power, the paper takes over and they balance out beautifully. But for guitarists using 10 to 40 watt amplifiers, the Purple Haze will sing nicely in that power zone and won't ever have that issue with the metal dustcap. It's only rated to 40 watts, so it's not for everyone. Most steelers work at higher power levels, but guitarists seem to live in the 12 to 35 watt range for the most part.

I did play steel thru the Purple Haze and it was quite beautiful sounding, but that was with a low power, Fender-esque amplifier. You could put a pair of these in a Twin though.

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Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 23 May 2015 7:41 pm

My experience with JBL's is that they really sing best when they're moving some air. At low volumes, the metal dust cap really dominates the tone, but at high power, the paper takes over and they balance out beautifully.

Well said Brad.

I am having good luck with a Jupiter alnico 50 watt speaker in my hot rodded Deluxe Reverb. I had a jbl K120 and kit's a great speaker but just too much. I have 6L6 power tubes and a 1968 Bandmaster output tranny and with the 4 ohm Jupiter speaker it works great. I rarely need more watts than that and the jupitor has some jbl qualities about it, maybe would have more if it had a metal dust cap but like Brad was saying, you really have to move the air and by then it's too loud. I like it the way it is. It's a great double duty duty (tele/steel) rig.

Tone Tubby is right down the road. I may have to tryout the Purple Haze.

Matthew Dawson · Post by **Matthew Dawson** » 24 May 2015 12:27 am

Thanks Brad! These do seem pretty expensive but I bet in a 20-30 Watt blackface-ish combo they would be great for non-pedal steel.

Tim Marcus · Post by **Tim Marcus** » 24 May 2015 8:45 am

I have D120s in both of my 20 watt amps. Maybe I need to try this too - would be cool to compare it to the real McCoy

The price is high, though. Keep an eye out for original d120s - you can get two for that price

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 24 May 2015 11:49 am

I'm a HUGE K120 and D120 lifer, always will be. The Purple isn't a total replacement in general, but for guitar amps or low powered steel amps under 40 watts, it is very interesting and nice sounding. Regardless of how it relates to the JBL's, it's a real nice speaker in its own right. They DO take a lot of break in time. I think it has to do with the hemp paper. But after they've been beat up a bit, then that's the sound.

Recently, Trey Anastasio consulted with me on some gear advice as he prepares to take the role of Jerry Garcia for these farewell Dead shows. I turned him on to the Purple Haze speaker, and he fell in love with them. I think he's bought 6 of them so far and is loading his main cabinets up with them and will be using them for these Dead shows. They were a nice shift away from his traditional Celestion Vintage 30 and Celestion Alnico Blue and more towards a Garcia-esque, JBL-esque tone without going full on JBL which seemed to have been too big a shift for him when trying out a K120 he recently got. The Purple seems to have a lot of what people like in an alnico JBL, but without the things some people dislike.

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Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 14 Apr 2016 1:10 pm

Brad, did you get to try the Tone Tubby high powered Nashville speaker?