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JBL & James B Lansing timeline

The first 100 years

1902 – James is born in Illinois 9^th of 14 children

1927 – Moves to L.A. and continues his work on loudspeakers with his partner Ken Decker. Together they work on the development of loudspeakers.

Due to the first talking film “ the Jazz Singer “ there’s a push to develop audio systems for movie theaters. Westinghouse is part of the development projects.

1938– Congress forces Westinghouse to sell off it’s amplifier/speaker business to a group of engineers for $1. These tech form the Altec Lansing company.

1941– Lansing and Altec merge and James signs a 5 year contract with Altec as VP and chief engineer. During WWII Altec works on a submarine detection system which leads to the Alnico magnet.

1945– Leaves Altec to form his own company

1946– Founds JBL and works of the “Voice of the Theater” full range speaker. He forms a partnership Arnold engineering to supply Alnico magnets. ( Aluminum- Nickel- Cobalt ) used in his new speaker line.

1948– JBL develops the D-130 15” speaker with a 4’ voice coil. Which becomes JBLs first successful product. James is a great engineer, but a bad business person and the company falls into hard times.

Marquart Aviation invests in the company , but is soon to be bought by General Tire which has no interest in the speaker company.

1949– James commits suicide and leaves a $10k insurance policy to his partner which helps revitalized the company.

1950’s– the D-130 is used extensively in high-end home hi-fi systems.

1955– Leo Fender offers the JBL speakers in his guitar amps leading to the first use of JBL’s in the music industry.

1960– Sound companies use JBL in there professional systems and engineers like Bill Hanley create the first touring systems.

Capital records begins using the 4320 studio monitor in it’s recording studios.

1969– Hanley uses JBL’s in his system at Woodstock.

Sydney Harman buys JBL .

1970’s – Recording studios become fond of the JBL studio monitors and by 1977 the 4320 is used by more studios than all other companies combined.

1979– the Cabaret series is introduced and is a hit with small sound companies and local bands.

1995– the JBL EON – a big gamble for the company because of R&D costs becomes a huge success.

2000– the Vertec Line Array is introduced to the Pro-touring market and becomes one of the most successful pro-audio products of the 21^stCentury.

This timeline is the product of my research into the James B Lansing company and the mark it has made on the music industry. It is my hope that these points are found to be as interesting and give some insight into the development of the sound industry.

Andy Bergsten. 4/20/17

We at Bergsten music are saddened to hear of the passing of our good friend and guitar guru Jim Mouradian. For decades whenever there was an issue I couldn’t fix on a instrument or a vintage instrument that I wanted Jim’s opinion of, I would go to Jim for his expert opinion. It also was a time to just chat about things – life , kids guitars and mutual friends in the biz. The picture attached is of a visit to his shop with my good friends and band mates. Jim proudly wearing his Bergsten music hat. I think we all can learn a lesson by reading the posts that have been written about Jim and strive to be that kind of person where some many people said such kind and honorable things about this gentile giant of a man.

Andy Bergsten

As posted on Paiste.com:

It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Robert Paiste, family member, visionary cymbal maker and perennial company principal.

In the four generations of family members to guide the company, Robert was a foremost presence. His contribution was of immense importance, and he shaped Paiste in major ways.

Robert’s life-long focus was the development and production of cymbals and gongs. As an uncompromising perfectionist, he established the benchmarks for quality, fidelity and consistency that are the hallmarks of Paiste today.

Along the way, his work led to numerous innovations, inventions and patents, and among his many accomplishments, the Formula 602, the 2002, and the Signature Series continue to stand out in the cymbal world.

Robert’s contributions to the realm of cymbal and gong instruments in fact transcended his activities within the Paiste Company. Through his efforts, he shaped and influenced the direction of the entire field in the past half century. Never satisfied, he forever thought of new directions and possibilities to create instruments, indeed, he lived his life for sound:

«Sound is vibration, and vibration is energy. Life energy is vibration and sound, also. So, for us, sound is part of a very deep, basic truth. We are not the only ones who feel like this. There are so many musical-minded drummers who get the same exciting feeling from playing their cymbals. It’s not j
ust the sound. It’s the vibration, the touch, how it feels, and how it speaks to the drummer. It’s a wonderful feeling to produce something, hand it over to the drummers, and see them get the same response. There’s a deep truth behind it.» – Robert Paiste

Robert was born in the family’s country of origin, Estonia. The disruptions during the mid 20th century brought the family through Poland to Northern Germany, where in the late 1940s he joined his father Michail in cymbal and gong making. He moved to Switzerland in 1957 to found the company’s new and present home base. Robert went on to lead Paiste together with his brother Toomas throughout the second half of the 20th century. Together, on the foundation of their father’s and grandfather’s work, they built a cymbal company of world-wide significance.

We are grateful for Robert’s lifetime achievements.

A couple times a year we like to go through our rental inventory and phase out certain items depending on the demand, condition of the item etc. We will rarely list gear that is beyond ideal function- but if we do, we’ll always communicate that clearly.

We have several pieces of gear listed at the moment with many more to follow- so we encourage you to take a look at our Ebay page! If you live local and would like to arrange a pickup, that would be great – but please be sure to proceed through the Ebay platform (we are always getting requests to sell outside of Ebay and we try to avoid that unless we’ve listed elsewhere like Craigslist). We will send an invoice without the shipping fees.

Into the Vintage gear? Keep an eye out- we are going through our vast Vox collection and though we’ve already sold a few amps and pedals, there will be more to come. We’ll also have a variety of pro audio and  backline gear. We will typically sell at a “Buy it Now” rate- but will entertain the best offers as well.

If you would like more information on the items we’re selling, please email or call us and we will do our very best to answer. Sometimes we will list things for our employees who are looking to let go of their gear- so there may be a slight delay in getting you the requested info.

If you are looking for something specific, feel free to ask- while we are not a retail store (and therefore don’t carry stock with intent to sell) – we do forget about certain items over time. If your request happens to overlap with something we’re willing to part with- it’s worth your while to submit an inquiry!

Check us out!