sunn

Discussion in 'Amps and Cabs [BG]' started by nedrussin, Dec 2, 2007.

  1. nedrussin

    nedrussin Guest

    Dec 2, 2007
    i'm looking into a sunn head. its a sunn 200s/sorado. i was wondering if anybody had a sunn or knows anything about it. is it a good pickup? and also, what is the ohm output on it? i have a ampeg 410he and a hartke 210 transporter both at 8 ohms. i've been looking into other older tube heads and they were all 4 or 2 ohms.
     
  2. I have a 200S and it is set up for 8 or 4 ohms. On the back it has a 8 ohm and a 4 ohm jack. I doubt it would give you any trouble running it at 2 ohms out of the 4 ohm jack. I used it for about 20 yrs with the same tubes and at times the speaker cable would short out in the middle of a gig. It still didn't blow anything. One time it fell out of the back of the truck and broke the power transformer loose from its' mount. I noticed it was banging around when I was carrying it one night. I did a hillbilly repair with a piece of scrap metal that is still in place today. In short, this is the most rugged dependable piece of equipment I have ever owned. I don't use it anymore as I've developed a taste for tube pre-amps with big SS power-amps. But if I ever need it I'm sure it will be up to it.
     
  3. lbwdog

    lbwdog Guest

    Jun 2, 2005
    Mississippi Coast
    I may be mistaken, but I believe a 200S and a Sorado are two different amps
    Huh?...What do you mean?
    There is no such thing as "ohm output"

    There are quite a few Sunn users on this forum and the search function could help, but have you also tried GOOGLE?
    Here's an example:http://www.richbriere.com/The_Sunn_Shack.htm
     
  4. A 200s and a Sorado had different cabinets but the heads were pretty much the same. The 200s cab was a center vent with JBL's and the Sorado has 2 tube vents and came with Sunn transducers. Somehow I ended up with a 200s head and a Sorado cab???? I replaced the transducers with EVL's. They matched up well.
     
  5. lbwdog

    lbwdog Guest

    Jun 2, 2005
    Mississippi Coast
    Yep, that rings a bell. In the early '70s I played quite a bit on a friend's 200S after my rig was stolen. It had two JBL 15s.

    Here's another link to a Sunn discussion forum.

    http://sunn.ampage.org/sdp/
     
  6. edbass

    edbass

    Nov 8, 2004
    +1
    The Sorado and the 200S are the same head. In the olden days, Sunns heads were only available with a cabinet which is why they have different names. The 200S was about $300 more than the Sorado because it came with D140F's.
    I agree the EVM 15L's are a good choice for the Sunn cabs, they sound great and will handle much more power than the AlNiCo JBL's.
    Also, you are fortunate to have the Sonaro 2X15 cab because most ceramic magnet 15's (including the EV's) won't fit in a 200S cab because of the port ducting.
    All of the old Sunn tube amps have 4, 8, and 16 ohm taps from the OT. The output jacks are factory wired in parallel to either the 4 and 8, or the 8 and 16 ohm taps, straight to the respective tap when used individually and defaulting to the lower of the two when both jacks are used.
    They are pretty much bullet proof, and in this age of megawatt SS amps, it's amazing how much grunt those little 60 watters have!
     
  7. The 200S, Sorado, and Sonaro (came with cheapie single 15" Sunn cab) are all the same head. I owned a new Sonaro, which was my second bass amp. Wish I still had the head!

    By the way (quiz time), what was the name of the same amp with the better (meaning JBL loaded) single 15" cab? Edbass?
     
  8. edbass

    edbass

    Nov 8, 2004
    The amp with the D140 loaded 1 X 15 is the Sonic I-40. It came with the 2 X 6550/KT88 60 watt head.
    Since mine just happens to be handy, here's an image of one that I just took for this post.
    Much to my wife's dismay, it's in my living room trying to hide next to the fireplace instead of hanging out in my shop with the rest of it's friends.
    I'm using it with the new Reeves Custom 225 prototype which the kind folks at Reeves Amplification are allowing me to thrash on for them. I'm using a variety of active/passive/mono/stereo basses on the pre amp stage so it's easy for me to just plug something in and wail away when the mood grabs me instead of walking the 100 ft outside to the shop where I'm supposed to do such things...

    Anyway, the other 1 X 15 cab was indeed the Sonaro, but the Sonaro differed from the 200S, Sorado, Sonic I-40, etc. by using a pair of EL34's instead of the 6550's/KT88's its big brothers used. It was based on the Dynaco Mk IV (the 60 watters were based on the Dynaco MkIII) and Sunn rated it at 40 watts.
     

    Attached Files:

  9. GlennW

    GlennW Inactive

    Sep 6, 2006
    Ed, that's one of these, isn't it?
     
  10. edbass

    edbass

    Nov 8, 2004
    Looks the same to me! Excellent tone, but not very real loud. Those old AlNICo JBL's break up pretty quick by modern driver standards.
     
  11. nysbob

    nysbob

    Sep 14, 2003
    Cincinnati OH
    That looks like half of a 200S cab, correcto Ed ?
     
  12. edbass

    edbass

    Nov 8, 2004
    Almost exactly half. The 200S is 42" X 24" X 15" and the I-40 is 24" X 24" X 15". I haven't measured the port for an exact comparison, but it looks like the I-40 port is about the same size as the 200S port, which is why it's slightly taller than half.
     
  13. The 0x

    The 0x Guest

    Aug 24, 2003
    Timonium, MD
    I like my 200s, but I like my Sceptre better. :bassist:
     
  14. Spinal Tapper

    Spinal Tapper

    Nov 15, 2007
    Chicago
    I'm not sure if this post got answered...I came across a similar situation...

    I just came across a Sunn 200S - I have a 2x10 (350W) and (450W) 1x15 cabs - both 8 ohm. Can I run these at the same time with this head???

    How many watts is this thing? I can't seem to find any basic info on the 200s
     
  15. Deluge Of Sound

    Deluge Of Sound Inactive

    Nov 8, 2007
    Maine/Vermont
    The 200S is 60 Watts, IIRC.
     
  16. The 0x

    The 0x Guest

    Aug 24, 2003
    Timonium, MD
    You can. The head is 60ish watts.
     
  17. Spinal Tapper

    Spinal Tapper

    Nov 15, 2007
    Chicago
    60 Watts??? So does it push a lot of sound??? I thought everyone here was saying these things have plenty of headroom, but 60 tube watts doesn't seem like very much...
     
  18. anderbass

    anderbass

    Dec 20, 2005
    Phoenix. Az.
    Hey there edbass, I recently added this near mint Sonic I-40 to my collection. If you dont have the head and should ever decide to sell that cab, gimmy-a-shout.

    (any of you guys gotta spare Sunn vol./tone knob ya wanna sell?)

    CIMG4081.jpg
     
  19. I may have missed this but, what's the differnce between the Sonic I-40 and the 200s Heads?
     
  20. anderbass

    anderbass

    Dec 20, 2005
    Phoenix. Az.

    The same basic amp was sold labeled as a Sonic I-40 model (that came with a cab equipped with a single JBL D-140 speaker), or as a 200s (that came with a larger cab equipped with a pair of JBL D140F's speakers).

    There were other Sunn model variants too. The two links posted above have lots more info on these very cool amps.