any Sunn Coliseum 300 owners out there?

MikeD1687 · #1 01-02-2011, 11:58 AM

So this has probably been discussed quite a bit before, so I apologise in advance.

I have been playing a Sunn Coliseum 300 head for the past few months, and it's been a strange experience for me. For the most part, I've been using to 8 ohm 4x10s, therefore running it at 4 ohms. My main issue with the amp is that it seemed to start clipping way sooner than I expected it to, but I had the chance to add another 4x10 to it and it got way louder and totally cured the clipping issue.

My question is: for those of you who own Coliseums, what cabs are you running with it, and how is it working out? I just got a 4 ohm 2x15 that I'm going to add to the two 4x10s, making it a 2 ohm rig. I was always weary of going that low in impedance, but it really seems like this amp is begging for it.

Anyone have any similar experience? Or is my amp maybe having some problems...

christw · #2 01-02-2011, 12:14 PM

Is the head 2 ohm capable? If it is then I see no issue with using tons of speakers. It will make it seem VERY loud.

PS- You discovered on your own what people get told here all the time. "Not loud enough? Add more speakers!"

RobJ · #3 01-02-2011, 12:52 PM

I have one in storage and I'm pretty sure it likes 2 ohms, I think the amp is rated at 300 watts @ 2 ohms. Great sounding amp.

MikeD1687 · #4 01-02-2011, 12:53 PM

It actually only has a power rating for 2 ohms on the back. Doesn't mention any other load. Just "300 watts 2 ohms" above the speaker outs, haha. I've never had an amp that reacted like this. I played ampegs and mark bass amps up until now, and my reason for concern was how quiet and how quickly it would distort when I was running it at 8 ohms. I was wondering if everyone that had this amp experienced the same issue.

christw · #5 01-02-2011, 01:07 PM

Power ratings for the amp I found with a quick google: 120W @ 8 ohms, 200W @ 4 ohms , 300W @ 2 ohms.

I thought it was a tube head at first. Now I understand. It's just a normal SS amp that'll put out 1/4-1/3 as much power at 8 ohms than at 2.

MikeD1687 · #6 01-02-2011, 01:15 PM

I guess the one drawback with this amp is that it needs to be driving a truckfull of speakers to reach its mammoth capability. It's almost useless at 8 ohms.

Oren Hudson · #7 01-02-2011, 07:11 PM

I've used that same head for years. Run it at 2 ohms for max power and sound. I've used mine with several cabs that work well. If you want to take fewer cabs, my suggestion is a vintage and matching Sunn MV118. These cabs were fairly short but fat and contained a 300 watt 4 ohm Cerwin Vega 18" in a semi folded horn layout. I have 2 of these cabs, but find that 1 works great. The ultimate for that head is the Sunn MV118 and an Acoustic 301 cab (also a CV 18" cab.) A few weeks ago, I was experimenting with this set-up. You won't need any PA support with this. My wife was in the neighborhood walking the dogs. When she returned, she told me that she could hear me a few blocks away. I was inside the house. I've used 2-4 ohm 2-15 cabs with it before and that worked well also.

R Baer · #8 01-02-2011, 07:17 PM

Played one for many years and always love the sound. Always regretted selling it. I've been searching for a mint condition one to pop up on E-bay, but it's pretty rare to find one in mint condition these days.

ilovenofrets · #9 01-02-2011, 07:18 PM

Wish I had one at my disposal. I got to try one a few years ago. It was hooked up to a Hartke XL 2x15 cab, real sweet!

KramerBassFan · #10 01-02-2011, 07:29 PM

I've got one, great amp.

Pretty clean too....

Interceptor · #11 01-02-2011, 09:06 PM

I'd love to try one again, now that I've aged and now give a rip regarding tone.

I ran a Coliseum for a couple of years when they were new. It was loud. I usually ran 2 2x15 cabinets. We didn't have PA assist for bass those years. Frankly, all I cared back then was if it was loud enough and didn't break down. Given my current set of ears, I really can't comment on its tone other than I didn't have any issues being heard in a band known for be loud as H#((.

The Sunn was very reliable.

Jim

ZachM · #12 01-03-2011, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeD1687

So this has probably been discussed quite a bit before, so I apologise in advance.

I have been playing a Sunn Coliseum 300 head for the past few months, and it's been a strange experience for me. For the most part, I've been using to 8 ohm 4x10s, therefore running it at 4 ohms. My main issue with the amp is that it seemed to start clipping way sooner than I expected it to, but I had the chance to add another 4x10 to it and it got way louder and totally cured the clipping issue.

My question is: for those of you who own Coliseums, what cabs are you running with it, and how is it working out? I just got a 4 ohm 2x15 that I'm going to add to the two 4x10s, making it a 2 ohm rig. I was always weary of going that low in impedance, but it really seems like this amp is begging for it.

Anyone have any similar experience? Or is my amp maybe having some problems...

If the tone of the amp sounds healthy & good to you, I don't think you're having any problems. I think you're probably just hitting the limitations of the Sunn, as it's a very capable head but pretty low wattage at high impedance.

I do somewhat the same thing as you, as I run my Coliseum 300 into an Ampeg 810 at 4 ohms, and only once did I run into a volume problem... but I think the cabinet was farting out before the amp... it's very loud for it's wattage rating. It replaced an Eden WT-800 for me, and I don't feel like I lost any headroom.

I've used it with a single 8 ohm 4x10 before as well and it definitely hits a wall volume-wise - but it's only rated for 120 watts with an 8 ohm load, so you can't expect too much from it. So my suggestion would be: go for it, get two 810's, run at 2 ohms, and be happy and nearly deaf!

Interesting side note, I bought mine used and in need of repair at a pawn shop for $60. When I picked it up after the repair, my tech told me it was actually bench testing around 260 watts at 4 ohms! So I think they're probably somewhat underrated from a wattage standpoint.

MikeD1687 · #13 01-04-2011, 04:39 PM

When it's running at 2 ohms, it's definitely one of the loudest/roundes sounding solid state amps I've ever played...Very happy to have one, but it'd be nice to not have to lug around 2 or more cabinets all the time for its full potential.

Anyone know how to use the crossover? It's only for the effects loop, right? I've never figured out how to work that section of the amp.

RobJ · #14 01-04-2011, 05:29 PM

The cross over sends signal from 100Hz to 1kHz to the high or low Sends on the back, it's for use primarily for biamping. If you want to PM me I can send you this funky little manual I have, it's actually a little photo app that lets you view the manual's pages as pictures. I also have the "real" manual stored away somewhere.

KramerBassFan · #15 01-04-2011, 07:40 PM

http://sunn.ampage.org/site/svcmans/...oliseum300.exe

User manual..

Quite a helpful read, and the crossover is very cool. The Coliseum 300 is the ONLY head i could find at the time that did it....

protoz · #16 01-04-2011, 07:58 PM

Mine is awesome for studio solid state clean tone but pushing it causes clipping with my cabs so it stays at home while my Sunn 300T and Orange Terror Bass do the heavy lifting live.

MikeD1687 · #17 01-07-2011, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by protoz

Mine is awesome for studio solid state clean tone but pushing it causes clipping with my cabs so it stays at home while my Sunn 300T and Orange Terror Bass do the heavy lifting live.

does your Tiny Terror have better headroom at 4 ohms than the Coliseum at 2 ohms? I can't decide if my Coliseum is the best choice for what I'm going for...

blastjv · #18 01-08-2011, 09:22 AM

This was my first real amp in the early 90's. Had it with a matching 80's era Sunn 215. It sounded amazing and I absolutely loved it, but in those days I understood little about impedance and ended up selling the whole rig because it wasn't quite loud enough to keep up with my loud band. If I had just added another 4ohm cab, I probably would have saved myself a lot of trouble. I really miss it, too, and always drool when I see them for sale...maybe I'lll grab one someday...

-JV

Pilgrim · #19 01-08-2011, 09:39 AM

Here's a link to the Sunn Manual - I took it off the Sunn.ampage site, ran the .exe (which scares some people - it was a very odd way to post that file) and posted the resulting pages in my Photobucket account. I just sold a Coliseum-300 to a very happy TB member. It became unnecessary when I bought lightweight Genz-Benz gear. GREAT amp, and the range of EQ adjustment is very unusual.

http://s83.photobucket.com/albums/j3...-300%20Manual/

hotsnake · #20 01-11-2011, 09:26 PM

I am currently using the Coliseum 300 with an 8ohm, 200 watt Ampeg fridge-style 4x12. I use this setup for the distortion/effects part of my setup A/B'd with an Ampeg 8x10 + GK head for clean tones. 8x10 takes care of my low end boom and the 4x12 gets all the mid-range and highs for distortion. Currently using a RAT and modded TS9 for the distortion side and the combination of the two into the 300 is really great.

The best thing about the 300 is that the EQ also acts as a db boost/cut so when i turn down the lows and crank the mids and highs with the two distortion pedals I get a really amazing crunch and sustain. I can crank both the master and gain to 10 and as long as the input level on the bass is set at about 5-8 it doesn't clip too badly. My only complaint (and this is my own fault) is that with an 8ohm cab i'm not fully utilizing the power of the 300. That said, for mid-highs with distortion, wah, and delay it is a great setup (as long as you have another setup A/B'd to take care of the missing low end).