Sunn Concert Bass w/Matching 2x15 Cab

[NKUSigEp]

What can it do? What's it sound like? I know they are loud, but how loud - what are they comparable to for those who have personally played one?

I'm debating buying this rig and the 2x15 looks like it has JBL K140's in it. I'll have to check but that's what they look like.

[craig.p]

I'm not a fan of the Concert Bass but some other folks here like 'em. There was a recent thread on the subject, fyi. Might want to chase it down.

As for the cab, if those drivers are really 140s and not 130s, and if they're still in good shape, then that bit of efficiency gain (over the stock junk) can make all the difference with that head.

Tone-wise I always considered those Concerts and Coliseums very sterile and flat-sounding, no matter the tone settings. With the K drivers, this would be even "worse." But that's what effects are for.

Sunn made several 2x15 cabs. Some are better than others. And they all weigh a ton. Built like tanks. My favorite was the 215BH -- even though its design would probably make Bill F want to defenestrate himself. A popular New England funk band's bass player used to use an earlier and (comparatively) smaller-ported Sunn 215 cab with what looked like Altec 421s. He drove it with a Concert, as I recall. Sounded good, though dry as hell. Not very loud but it was very clean.

Hope this helps.

[NKUSigEp]

Originally Posted by craig.p

I'm not a fan of the Concert Bass but some other folks here like 'em. There was a recent thread on the subject, fyi. Might want to chase it down.

As for the cab, if those drivers are really 140s and not 130s, and if they're still in good shape, then that bit of efficiency gain (over the stock junk) can make all the difference with that head.

Tone-wise I always considered those Concerts and Coliseums very sterile and flat-sounding, no matter the tone settings. With the K drivers, this would be even "worse." But that's what effects are for.

Sunn made several 2x15 cabs. Some are better than others. And they all weigh a ton. Built like tanks. My favorite was the 215BH -- even though its design would probably make Bill F want to defenestrate himself. A popular New England funk band's bass player used to use an earlier and (comparatively) smaller-ported Sunn 215 cab with what looked like Altec 421s. He drove it with a Concert, as I recall. Sounded good, though dry as hell. Not very loud but it was very clean.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the input! I've searched a few threads on here and found similar info (I admittedly should have done that first LOL). Seems like the Concert head is a little short on volume compared to most - it would be up against a wall of Marshalls (and in which case the look is every bit as important as the sound). It would be driven by a Bluebeard fuzz and a P-bass (Rick's are too expensive for me right now).

[Bill Whitehurst]

If the look is realy important, and you want big sound, get a pair of 2-15 cabs.
Assuming it can handle a 2 ohm load.
Those old JBLs do get a lot of sound out of relativey few watts.

[lbwdog]

Depending on the year of the cab, it could be D140s (or 130s).
There was also a JBL model S-15 made exclusively for Sunn. I have one (the cone is torn out), and my speaker guy told me it was essentially a D140 with a different surround.

I had one of the early Concert heads (1972) and IIRC, they were rated at 150 watts. Mine pushed a Sunn 1x18 folded horn.

[NKUSigEp]

Originally Posted by lbwdog

Depending on the year of the cab, it could be D140s (or 130s).
There was also a JBL model S-15 made exclusively for Sunn. I have one (the cone is torn out), and my speaker guy told me it was essentially a D140 with a different surround.

I had one of the early Concert heads (1972) and IIRC, they were rated at 150 watts. Mine pushed a Sunn 1x18 folded horn.

What's the difference? The speakers on this cab have what looks like aluminum dust caps.

[craig.p]

Aluminum dust caps can mean anything. Be careful.

A 130, in my opinion, is totally unsuited to bass work. It has a stiff cone and a very low-Xmax suspension. Back when they were around, we used to use them for lead guitar and especially for pedal steel because they were bright and brash and used to break up early. When a pedal steel had to take a lead in a country song, those 130s would bark right out at you, head and shoulders above the mix.

140s are what you want.

[edbass]

I'm not nearly as familiar with the transistor Sunns as I am with the tube Sunns, but there are plenty of helpful transistor Sunn gurus at the Unofficial Sunn Musical Equipment Web Site who can give you the rundown on the Concert series.

Originally Posted by NKUSigEp

What's the difference? The speakers on this cab have what looks like aluminum dust caps.

The difference between the D130's and D140's are that the 130 were originally designed to be a full range, "do all" speaker and was used in many JBL cabinet designs as a full range driver, sometimes with a compression driver, sometimes as a standalone with no tweeter. Fender, and guitar players (Dick Dale comes to mind), were having success with using them with (mostly) Fender amps, but they were having durability issues in MI amp applications, so Harvey Gerst (who sometimes posts here I believe) beefed it up a little and gave it the "F" designation, as in D130F.
The D140F has a stiffer, ribbed cone, a little different suspension, and was designed as a bass driver from the beginning. The D130 will work for bass guitar, but the less stiff smooth cone is a little "floppy", and they will fart out much quicker than the 140's.

All of the drivers available in the Sunn 215 cabs had aluminum dust covers. If you can post a picture of the cab, I can probably narrow down the era and tell you what drivers were available from the factory.
But... who knows what's actually in there? You're going to have to open it up to find out for sure.

[NKUSigEp]

[edbass]

Oh my goodness.
Well, I know what it was anyway...
The ID plate gives it away, it was originally a 3X12 Cerwin Vega Cab, probably mfg. between 1970 and 1972.
Now it's something completely different altogether.
The bad news as far as value is that someone has butchered it, the good news is that if it's cheap enough, and you have at least basic woodworking skills it will probably be salvagable as a decent vented 215 cab, the basic box structure is the same construction on the 312 as the 215 of that era.
It might even sound fine or even great as it is, certainly worth a listen anyway.

[craig.p]

A cab with two unknown fifteens that appears not to be ported and is wearing a 312V label? Man, I'd be running away from this as fast as I could. Now, I admit I'm no Sunn expert -- I just used a lot of their stuff in the seventies and found out what works and what doesn't -- but that cab's raising all kinds of red flags over here. I really don't know if Sunn built infinite-baffle boxes for bass back then; someone else here will. But there still remain the tasks of identifying the drivers from the magnet side, and resolving the 312V-label conflict.

[bobostein]

Im running the same head with a 4ohm 410 and a rat pedal and its plenty loud, I can be heard half a city block with vol. on 3. I think the coffee shop is getting pissed