Sunn Beta Lead - Is it loud enough?

[De93]

Hello, I'm a guitarist, but doing some research for my band's bassist since I'm more of a tone and gear nerd. There's a Sunn Beta Lead available in the area for around 300, which I'm considering for a doomy gutair setup, but I'm fairly certain these were made to work with bass too. Does anybody have any experience with the Sunn Beta Lead used as a bass amplifier? It's only 100 watts, but Sunns are notoriously deceitful when judged by wattage. Would this amp get loud enough to compete with a high-gain guitar stereo guitar setup with both a solid state and tube head? I've done some searching through the board, but couldn't find information specific to it's volume.

[GtenderG]

Probably won't be as loud as you need it.

I 've used the Beta Lead to get a nice distorted tone to my bass but it was mic'ed and sent thru the pa.

[ZombiCrow]

My Beta Bass is DEFINITELY loud enough, through pretty much any cab you'd gig with a band, and my friend's Beta Lead is as loud, but with bass not as clean. Could be something to do with the different EQ frequencies, or those particular amps, but I say go for it, great amps with great distortion character when you crank the gain!

[Din Of Win]

I've used a Sunn Beta Lead a few times in super crusty noisy loud band settings.

It's definetly loud 'enough'... however... Sunn is so chic these days, IMHO, $300 is a bit too much for what you'd really be geting.

It would work fine, depending on your cab set up(which is crucial). But for $300, i'd look into Kustom(a Kustom200 replaced my Sunn Colliseum head), Peavey(mark III, IV, VI and VII i have had great success with) or GK(400rb, Backline600, 700rb, 800rb all can be found used in the $300 range) for more volume. I'd offer $200-$250 and see if the seller responds...

[lofreq64]

Not sure if this applies, but years ago I owned the Beta Bass head, also rated at 100W. In my opinion, after playing for 33 + yrs, it was easily the worst sounding POS I've ever played through hands down. Maybe the guitar head sounds OK, but I wouldn't think so. YMMV etc...

[KramerBassFan]

Save the $300, buy a Sunn Coliseum 300, and let a Kurt Kobain fan buy the Beta Lead.

[Din Of Win]

Originally Posted by KramerBassFan

Save the $300, buy a Sunn Coliseum 300, and let a Kurt Kobain fan buy the Beta Lead.

this

[De93]

I suddenly found a steal on a Mesa 4x12 loaded with Vintage 30s, so I'm going to let the Beta Lead slide. I would rather hold out for an Model T or V4 or something anyway. Thanks for the suggestions, I'm going write them down and pass the list onto our bassist so he can watch Craigslist and eBay for them.

[Rick Auricchio]

Loud enough for WHAT? Nobody here knows just how loud you need it.