I played thru one of those cabs & an SVT head which sounded great, but was a pain to move!
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Ran across this in an Antique store
- Thread starter dbase
- Start date
The head will work fine for Bass. AFAIK the bass specific model was the 2000S. The main difference is the 2000S only had tone controls (no reverb or trem/vibrato nonsense). Also the 2000S had a bass boost switch rather than the mid toggle. The impression I get is the bass boost is practically useless because the natural voicing of the amp already has a lot of low end. The center frequency for the mid control may be slightly different as well, but it should work fine as original.
Early amps should have a pair of tube recitifiers. They were rated at 120W but that is a super clean and they can be pushed harder. Later they converted over to solid state rectifiers and the rated power is claimed to be in the ball park of 150W. Definitely not 200W though as the working voltage in the amp is simply too low.
If the cab has stock drivers (which it appears to have), I would not risk it with bass, except at very low volume. I believe @D.M.N. was planning on updating the drivers in his 610 for bass...I don't know if he ever did, but maybe he will drop by and give you some advice.
If the head is in good operating condition, $1,400 is a pretty good price for just the head. What I have seen is people typically list them for a much higher price, but they usually don't sell until the price is dropped somewhere between $1,400 and $1,500.
If you can, take it for a test drive and see if you like it.
Good luck.
Early amps should have a pair of tube recitifiers. They were rated at 120W but that is a super clean and they can be pushed harder. Later they converted over to solid state rectifiers and the rated power is claimed to be in the ball park of 150W. Definitely not 200W though as the working voltage in the amp is simply too low.
If the cab has stock drivers (which it appears to have), I would not risk it with bass, except at very low volume. I believe @D.M.N. was planning on updating the drivers in his 610 for bass...I don't know if he ever did, but maybe he will drop by and give you some advice.
If the head is in good operating condition, $1,400 is a pretty good price for just the head. What I have seen is people typically list them for a much higher price, but they usually don't sell until the price is dropped somewhere between $1,400 and $1,500.
If you can, take it for a test drive and see if you like it.
Good luck.
I think Chris Squire used a cabinet like this with a Marshall amp
He's got Marshall's and Silvertone's in the back room. Worth the visit.
I never can finish anything in a timely manner, but I am in the process of restoring my Sunn 6x12, like the one in the OP. The original cabs would have had Sunn transducers in them, guitar speakers. They were used back in the day for bass, Chris Squire famously using one for quite sometime in Yes, though I am not familiar with the specifics of the speakers in his cab. Could have been stock or upgraded. For my cabinet I'm actually going with some 90s Carvin British series speakers, 1) because of decent power handling, and 2) because 6 is a lot of speakers and these were affordable. I know most on this forum won't go for it, but I have used guitar cabs for years with bass and have never had an issue (knock on wood). Granted, I don't run my sound with excessive bass, but I have Vox 412s with Celestion Neos and used to have Crates loaded with Celestion V30s, and never once had a problem. These days my preference is to run one head through a guitar cab for my highs and effects, paired with a bass rig for my low end. The 6x12 will go right next to the Sunn 2x15 it matches, likely with a Hiwatt DR103 running through it.
If this cab has the OG speakers, as always I would recommend bringing it up volume-wise slowly while listening for any speaker issues. $1400 isn't a bad price for the head, and that one does appear in very good condition. However, that said, I have found rigs with the head and cab in similar condition for $1400 total. If they'll sell it for $1400 for the head and the cab, I'd jump on it, but I am a Sunn collector.
The 1000s series all had the same power amp, and despite people saying there is different EQ points in the preamp, I haven't seen any definitive evidence of this. I used a 1200s with reverb and trem for a number of years for bass, sounded exactly like my other 2000s. Sold that and now have a 1000s with trem and reverb that, you guessed it, sound exactly like my 2000s'. Besides the additional effects circuitry and either bass or mid boost, there is almost no difference across the line. The 1000s and 1200s were the exact same amp, but originally came with different cabinets. They are robust, strong, and excellent bass amps. Still gig my 2000s' regularly with their matching cabs.
The head will probably sound great!
As for the cabinet, I'd take the Chris Squire thing with a grain of salt. He was using a Marshall Super Bass, which was only 100 watts, and he was sending only the treble pickup on his Rickenbacker to it, which doesn't have (or need - he was bi-amping anyway) a lot of low end. Either way he was putting a lot less strain into his cabinet than you might do with your 200-watt, full-frequency head.
As for the cabinet, I'd take the Chris Squire thing with a grain of salt. He was using a Marshall Super Bass, which was only 100 watts, and he was sending only the treble pickup on his Rickenbacker to it, which doesn't have (or need - he was bi-amping anyway) a lot of low end. Either way he was putting a lot less strain into his cabinet than you might do with your 200-watt, full-frequency head.
Does the 610 cab have the speakers pointing in at each other? Not sure how to describe: Most speakers are flat relative to the screen, I used to have a Sunn 610 cab where the two speakers rows are tilted slightly toward each other. No idea why it's like that, ran it with a Hartke 3000s and it was pretty loud and good for rock.
That’s right — anything is only worth what someone is willing to pay. I was a huge fan of those amps back in the day and knew several guys that owned them and they always sounded good. But anything electronic and electromechanical that’s 50 years old is are destined for a repair shop sometime.
Cross fired drivers have the advantage of a wider mid coverage and likewise with whatever high frequency you manage to produce from those drivers.
Those are two of my amps. The 2000s I still have and was my #1 for many years, signed and serviced by Conrad Sundholm. As I mentioned above, the 1200s and 1000s are identical amps. In the 60s, Sunns could only be purchased a head/cabinet set, and the name on the head denoted what cabinet the head came with. So the 200s, Sonic I-40, and Sorado are all identical amplifiers, but the name difference indicated what cabinet each came with. When first introduced, the 1000s came with a 2x15 cab, and the 1200s had a 6x12 (during the first few months of production the 1200s did not have the reverb and trem, and was identical to the 2000s and 1500s). It can be a little tricky, as sometimes the name stayed the same but the head/cab configuration changed (i.e. the Sonaro goes from a 40w EL34 combo amp to a 40w piggyback amp, to 60w 6550 amp piggyback).
Which brings up a good point: The head posted in the OP may not be the original matched unit for the cabinet. As stated, the 1000s came from the factory with a 2x15 cab (loaded with JBL D15s speakers), while the 1200s came with the 6x12 cab. However, it is pretty well known that Sunn had a lot of peculiarities during this period, and while what I have said is generally the rule, sometimes it seems there are more exceptions than rules. Starting sometime in 1970, the 1000s designation was dropped and the 1200s was offered with either the 6x12, OR the 2x15 cab previously paired with the 1000s. It is entirely possible that during this period, as they were using up stock, they sent out this 1000s with a 6x12 cabinet per a customer order. I have a 2000s from 1972 and know of at least one other from '72 that have a test date sticker post-dating the switch to naming them 350Bs, of which I have seen some with manufacture dates before my 2000s. I've also spoken with Conrad Sundholm about the irregularities, who has said they were sending everything and anything out the door to keep up with demand. The 2000s that Conrad worked on in the above post apparently left the factory with tweaks they had been testing out to try to lower distortion in the pre-amp, though the changes were never implemented officially, and he believes only a few they were testing out had been built. But because they had orders to fill, out they went. So while the posted head and cabinet might not have ON PAPER been available, it's highly likely they have been paired together since the start.
Can you imagine having two of those monsters, one on each side of your 82in TV while watching a Rush YyZ video or Yes playing Round-a-bout?
