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The SUNN Story

#121
My quest for a Sunn 200S has been fulfilled! I had one in 1968-69, that I gigged with for many years. Foolishly traded it, for something "better".
Now that tube tone is back again!
bassman-sunn.jpg
 
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#123
Ric Vice said:
My Fender Jazz looked identical to Noel's it was a 1966 with lollypop tuners, the neck was pencil thin, and incredibly fast my bass as I remember it did have the white binding strips though.
Click to expand...
Great pic of Redding & bass & rig. On this very, very, very, sad day after Sir Beckola's passing, Noel has a great story about how Jeff used to pop over to Noel's house and they would talk and eat bacon sandwiches - impossible at Beck's house because his wife is a strict vegetarian and he'd be in the doghouse if caught.
 
#130
rdunant said:
Thanks. Played a Gibson EB-3L through it. Great bass response for the EB-3's huge humbucker. Rig is too heavy for me now, switched to Fender Rumbles.
Click to expand...
I hear you on the weight, plus things have moved along technically. I just lost thirty pounds moving from a Bag End D10-C to a Barefaced Bass Super Compact and the boxes are the same dimensions. I think my speaker cable weighs more than the amp it's plugged into!
 
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#134
Mosthigh said:
I posted this 1st gen 1968 2000S head elsewhere a while back. I added the engraved Sunn logo plate, taken from a 70s SPL 8028 cab. Man, it is HEAVY and LOUD!
What's the closest to stock grill cloth I can get for it?

View attachment 4989827
Click to expand...

MarshallAC50Stack said:
Try a general search for Sunn grill cloth, maybe check with Fender for availability.
Click to expand...


If that's a '68, the original grill cloth was a woven, angled pattern style, currently and forever unobtainium. Around 1970 they switched to a Fender-ish rectangular pattern, although on Sunn gear the rectangle would run up and down, as opposed to Fender's across orientation, similar to that cab you have, whatever make it is. Here's a comparison…
74D46216-0F18-4A22-B224-C2FA72267ABA.jpeg

Newer on the left, original on the right.

What is on your head looks like the later cloth, but painted black, possibly swapped out. You have one of the early models, it doesn't have the bass boost switch, and I assume big block transformers. 16/8 ohm outs or 8/4 ohm in back?
 
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#135
Michedelic said:
If that's a '68, the original grill cloth was a woven, angled pattern style, currently and forever unobtainium. Around 1970 they switched to a Fender-ish rectangular pattern, although on Sunn gear the rectangle would run up and down, as opposed to Fender's across orientation, similar to that cab you have, whatever make it is. Here's a comparison…
View attachment 4990800
Newer on the left, original on the right.

What is on your head looks like the later cloth, but painted black, possibly swapped out. You have one of the early models, it doesn't have the bass boost switch, and I assume big block transformers. 16/8 ohm outs or 8/4 ohm in back?
Click to expand...

Yes it's an early model, allegedly owned by The Spencer Davis Group at one point. The output is 8/4 ohms and the transformer is massive. It has been modded with solid state rectifier diodes, which gives it more power and prolongs the life of the transformer. No kidding. I don't need to turn this thing up past 2 or 3 with a full band.

There's a company called Weavetech that makes custom cloth reproductions of vintage gear. I emailed them to see what they could do. Still waiting on a reply.
Even the Traynor cloth, which is similar to the 60s design, is impossible to find now.
 
#136
Mosthigh said:
Yes it's an early model, allegedly owned by The Spencer Davis Group at one point. The output is 8/4 ohms and the transformer is massive. It has been modded with solid state rectifier diodes, which gives it more power and prolongs the life of the transformer. No kidding. I don't need to turn this thing up past 2 or 3 with a full band.

There's a company called Weavetech that makes custom cloth reproductions of vintage gear. I emailed them to see what they could do. Still waiting on a reply.
Even the Traynor cloth, which is similar to the 60s design, is impossible to find now.
Click to expand...
The OG cloth is an endless topic of discussion here:
The sunn Forum - Index
 
#137
CosmicRay said:
My quest for a Sunn 200S has been fulfilled! I had one in 1968-69, that I gigged with for many years. Foolishly traded it, for something "better".
Now that tube tone is back again!
View attachment 4932574
Click to expand...

Nice, pairing it with a fender cab?
After I got my 200S out of storage and repaired I didn't have a bass cabinet for it but did have a Rumble 100 v3. Installed a switchable jack to use it as an extension speaker and boy does it sound good even with the 12in speaker. I always ran it with a 1x15 years ago. I've had the SUNN since 82-83? I actually had 2 but can't remember what happened to the 2nd one, lost a lot of brain cells in the 80s.
BCR_Sunn.jpg


Nevermind the HB cab, it's a guitar cabinet I use for other small studio guitar amps.
 
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#138
Mosthigh said:
Yes it's an early model, allegedly owned by The Spencer Davis Group at one point. The output is 8/4 ohms and the transformer is massive. It has been modded with solid state rectifier diodes, which gives it more power and prolongs the life of the transformer. No kidding. I don't need to turn this thing up past 2 or 3 with a full band.

There's a company called Weavetech that makes custom cloth reproductions of vintage gear. I emailed them to see what they could do. Still waiting on a reply.
Even the Traynor cloth, which is similar to the 60s design, is impossible to find now.
Click to expand...

Weavetech said no but the Mellotone DF7005 cloth is still available.

sunn cloth.jpg
 
#139
BC Blackmur said:
Nice, pairing it with a fender cab?
After I got my 200S out of storage and repaired I didn't have a bass cabinet for it but did have a Rumble 100 v3. Installed a switchable jack to use it as an extension speaker and boy does it sound good even with the 12in speaker. I always ran it with a 1x15 years ago. I've had the SUNN since 82-83? I actually had 2 but can't remember what happened to the 2nd one, lost a lot of brain cells in the 80s.
View attachment 4991509

Nevermind the HB cab, it's a guitar cabinet I use for other small studio guitar amps.
Click to expand...
I had sold my original '68 200S, around the mid '80's. With the 2x15 JBL D140F's cab. I still regret it.
I have to blame my loss of brain cells for that decision!
But after missing that tube tone for all this time, I found one fairly local, and in pretty good shape.
It usually stays in my rehearsal space, but since I recently put KT88's in it, I took it to a small bar gig. With the Bergie NV115. It cranked.
IMG-4194 (3).JPG


Otherwise, it's at my rehearsal space with the Fender Bassman Neo 15
SunnFender3.jpg
 
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