The return of Sunn amps?

[Steve Fox]

Today I got an email from CME saying that Sunn has returned to production. Sunn’s website has a few bass amps and cabs including an old school looking 2x15, that at the very least looks cool.

I’ve owned a couple of their amps in the late 90’s that i got from a pawn shop for real cheap. I liked their stuff well enough, but $1100 for a 200w head from a brand that hasn’t made anything in decades does seem a tad out of pocket.

 

[agedhorse]

Today I got an email from CME saying that Sunn has returned to production. Sunn’s website has a few bass amps and cabs including an old school looking 2x15, that at the very least looks cool.

I’ve owned a couple of their amps in the late 90’s that i got from a pawn shop for real cheap. I liked their stuff well enough, but $1100 for a 200w head from a brand that hasn’t made anything in decades does seem a tad out of pocket.

I believe this was announced almost 3 years ago, are they still introducing these amps?

 

[Steve Fox]

Huh, imagine that. Maybe we’re working off different information.

 

[ardgedee]

I believe this was announced almost 3 years ago, are they still introducing these amps?

I think previously they were selling direct and now they're distributing to retailers.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

At that price, you might be paying a little extra for the retro vibe.

 

[Balog]

Weird they only have 1/4” speaker outs, I get it’s retro and only 200w but still. At least do the combo speakons.

I think the Peavey Super Festival is a better example of how to release a modern take on retro amps.

 

[RandomKaren]

I'll be impressed if they sell many of the CMOS guitar amps, that is a lot of money for something with neither tubes nor modelling.

 

[wjcstp]

I just sold an 80s Sunn Beta Lead that’s been sitting in my basement for probably 20 years, got a decent price for it. They’re amazing amps for what they are: atom bombs of power and grit. I realized I will never need that tone or amount of volume again.

Actually, I thought I’d seen that mosfet parts have generally been discontinued, so I wonder if that’s not the case or if they just found a stash in the back room somewhere.

 

[R Baer]

$3200 for a 65w tube head?

 

[Michedelic]

Different eras(including ownership)and configurations/models of Sunn amps have entirely separate appeal. The tube amps of the original Sundholm operated company have little to do with any of the transistor “red knob” stuff of the later 70’s, just like the earlier silver face Coliseum/Concert solid state amps that were under development when a conglomerate took over. The Model T of the mid-70’s, the last token tube head, had a faint amount of relationship to the previous 2000s/350B, and there were two versions of that. Fender, at the end of the 20th Century, recreated the cosmetics to a certain extent, but utilized different power tubes…an entirely different sound. So, know what kind of Sunn you’re seeking. It’s not all the same. There’s a long way from Mountain to the Melvins other than in musical style.

 

[agedhorse]

Huh, imagine that. Maybe we’re working off different information.

Actually, not so different information. My information was correct as of only a few weeks ago.

This is in fact new news, they are now shipping, CME is their newest (and only) dealer and they are stocking the amps/cabs.

 

[Iristone]

When will they do the Coliseum?

 

[Norm Nelson]

I didn't notice this before, but the "new" Sunn headquarters address is ... in Petaluma? Wait. That's familiar ...

That's an ... interesting coincidence.

 

[Mr Joshua]

$3200 for a 65w tube head?

I've been looking at one in my area for awhile that hasn't moved at $500. $3200 is bananas.

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[agedhorse]

I didn't notice this before, but the "new" Sunn headquarters address is ... in Petaluma? Wait. That's familiar ...

That's an ... interesting coincidence.

So we understand... but we have nothing to do with them nor do we know them.

 

[Balog]

I've been looking at one in my area for awhile that hasn't moved at $500. $3200 is bananas.

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Huh, one of my nieces is at college in Ohio. I wonder how close that is to her, and if she’d be willing to lug it onto a plane when she comes home for summer break…

 

[tom-g]

I just sold an 80s Sunn Beta Lead that’s been sitting in my basement for probably 20 years, got a decent price for it. They’re amazing amps for what they are: atom bombs of power and grit. I realized I will never need that tone or amount of volume again.

Actually, I thought I’d seen that mosfet parts have generally been discontinued, so I wonder if that’s not the case or if they just found a stash in the back room somewhere.

What do you mean power? They only had 100 W. I used to have a Beta combo. I was never able to hear myself against a 30 W solid state guitar amp and drummer.

 

[wjcstp]

I don’t know about the combo but In the early 90s I played in a band where the guitarist used a Sunn Beta Lead with a 212 cab and it would saturate a room. I had a decent Yamaha bass amp at the time but I couldn’t have matched him if we really went for it. Maybe the bass version wasn’t so loud but as a guitar amp there was volume to spare.

 

[tom-g]

I don’t know about the combo but In the early 90s I played in a band where the guitarist used a Sunn Beta Lead with a 212 cab and it would saturate a room. I had a decent Yamaha bass amp at the time but I couldn’t have matched him if we really went for it. Maybe the bass version wasn’t so loud but as a guitar amp there was volume to spare.

The bass and guitar version of the amp were basically the same. You do know this is a bass forum and bass takes a lot more power than a guitar?

 

[Altitude]

I had one of the solid state Coliseum 300 heads in the late 80s; the ones that came in wood cabinets. In retrospect I think that product may have been designed after Sunn’s sun had begun to set. It was notable only for how heavy it was.

These amps look interesting.