Vintage Sunn Cab Value Rising?!

[REV]

Why would you want this when you could get a couple of Bag End 15's ?

 

[LHbassist]

I owned a Coliseum 880, and a Sunn 200S cabinet with JBL K140's. It was my N.Y. City gigging rig in the 70's, after I sold my SVT and 8x10 cab. I loved it, as did other 'famous' bassists that heard, or played through it. I cannot remember selling it, but I know I did. I now own a Sunn 215SH folded horn, with 2-450 watt Eminence LF something or others in it.. I can't recall which ones- maybe Deltas. It kicks butt.. but I haven't used it in 20 years. Unless you're playing outdoors, you'll never need a big cab anymore. Most venues have some backline provided anyway. If not, you just get bass in the foldbacks, or side fills- sounds better anyway, most of the time.
I've tried to sell my cab for a long time. A local guy has an SVT 8x10 cab on CL, and is asking a grand for it. He's on crack. Nobody wants them anymore.

 

[JacklegBass]

That particular cab had Sunn Magnas, not bad, but not exceptional, in case you thought those were old JBL’s.

Not to derail, just a point of possible interest... A couple of years ago I posted here looking for help identifying a purple basket Eminence speaker that I got from somewhere. I'm guessing it was a Sunn Magna prototype but was a bit of an oddity in that it had an Acoustic Control house part number (130040A) and aged white dust cap. Didn't most Magnas have aluminum dust caps like the previous JBLs?

Old thread: Anyone recognize this purple 15" Speaker? SUNN/ACOUSTIC?

 

[Jeff Scott]

Why would you want this when you could get a couple of Bag End 15's ?

I had a pair of mid '90s BE S-15D cabs and also a Sept. '69 Sunn Sorado cabinet. Yeah, the individual BE cabs were lighter (I put Eminence Delta As in the Sunn as the stock Marslands weren't up to the task for my needs), but the Sunn cabinets blew away the pair of BEs, IME.

 

[ashtray]

Back in the 90’s I needed a gig sized bass rig, but as a broke college student I couldn't afford much. I picked up a 70’s Sunn 2x15 cab (and then a late 60’s Traynor 2x15 to go with it). My tone wasn’t good, but I had volume. I don’t think I would buy one today - so many other choices. The Sunn was good bc it was cheap and loud.

This was also back when I thought bass cabs should sound like subwoofers, and I blew one of the 15’s. (I didn’t notice for a while, bc the other three speakers were still kicking, and loudly. My ears still ring to this day… literally.)

 

[GregT]

There is a vintage 70s Sunn 2-15 cab WITH a Peavey guitar head for $450 on CL in Nixa, Missouri these days. It's not mine, and I am just putting it here to help answer the original question. I recently purchased a 100% original 1978 Fender Musicmaster bass locally on CL for $600 with an almost perfect time correct case.

 

[conttador]

It's boomer money chasing the stuff that was their dreams from their youth.

I seriously doubt it's young people who want some old stuff because it's "vintage", that's not the driving market, it's boomers.

It's the same thing that has made 1969 Camaros (which I refer to as Cameros) go for stupid money, to the point where people have bought old basic 1969 Cameros and turned them into 1969 Z28 clones and selling them for near six figures.

There now exist probably 10 times the actual number of 1969 Z28 Cameros built because of this.

Boomers have hit retirement, kids out of college (or if they did not pay for kid's college they have even more money), now they want to buy this old cool stuff they wanted when they were teenagers.

Basically any market for a good that appeals to boomers is on fire, look at the sales of RV's for example.

The exception to this is Harley but that is because boomers have been buying Harleys for 20+ years and there are so many lightly used examples out there it impacts the new market.

So yeah, boomer money and I am not saying this in an "angry" way because hell I am a boomer LOL

Analogeezer

I think you nailed it. I’ll add Gen-Xers (that’s where I fall). I’ve been chasing the 80s, 90s and early 2000s gear. Like Pre-Gib Tobias, 90s Smiths, Modulus Aguilar DB 728 & 680. Late 70s Jazz and Ampeg Bxx amps! All the stuff I couldn’t afford when I was a teenager I want now. I’m more of a hobbyist, I don’t gig but pre pandemic would do the ocasional jam session.

 

[Michedelic]

Why would you want this when you could get a couple of Bag End 15's ?

Who would want a couple of Bag Ends either, with all the other hi-fi stuff out there if that was what you were persuing?

 

[Michedelic]

I had a pair of mid '90s BE S-15D cabs and also a Sept. '69 Sunn Sorado cabinet. Yeah, the individual BE cabs were lighter (I put Eminence Delta As in the Sunn as the stock Marslands weren't up to the task for my needs), but the Sunn cabinets blew away the pair of BEs, IME.

FYI, any stock/OEM drivers found in older Sunn cabs that were not JBL’s were manufactured by Eminence or CTS, which of course did the job but weren’t exactly spectacular. Assuming that the cab you had was used when you aquired it, if there were Marslands in it, somebody previously pulled a switcheroo with an older Traynor cab, as those drivers were so bad that even CTS would have been an upgrade.

 

[Analogeezer]

It doesn’t seem like you read my initial post; ‘boomers’ have already had their Rosebud moment with buying up the toys of their youth, and are now cutting loose. However, in the past six months, I personally have sold, on five separate occasions, pre-‘73 Sunn equipment to people younger than 40(in a couple of cases, much younger). Of course the doom/sludge scene has renewed interest in the brand, like Boris, and, uh, SunnO))), but there have been other genre outfits(Black Keys, Greta Van Fleet, for example).

At this point, if advertising is any indication, the primary marketers to boomers is big pharma, Consumer Cellular, hearing aids, suplimental Medicare and Depends(oh yeah, and reverse mortgages).
In addition to all that, my friends(older)who ride are telling me that the younger demographic that would be coming up the ranks and replacing them just aren’t there; either they’re just not interested(in the lifestyle)anymore, or they’re riding Japanese bikes and just not committed to the Harley state of mind. So, if that’s the reality, that’s the reason that there will be a glut of those.

You are merging the two main cohorts of boomers, the youngest ones are now 57, the peak year of the baby boom they are now 64. There were two "waves" of boomers and the older ones are the crowd you are referring to.

I'm not gonna dispute your personal experience but reality is the number of bands and the desire to be in a "band" is just not what it was back in the day.

Compared to the young years of the boomer (everybody wanted to play in a band then, for the glory and the girls) the number of young bands is a microcosm of what existed back in the day.

I went to a wedding the other night of a fairly young couple (late 20's) and there was a DJ of course, no band.

FWIW a friend of mine had a very lucrative business with a wedding band for 25+ years but shut down the band because the gigs dried up. They used to make $3000 to $6000 a night.

Anyway at the wedding I went to, the DJ played a variety of music but the only stuff he played that was "band music" was "Love Shack" and that Bruno Mars song that is very popular.

All the rest of the stuff was hip-hop and electronic based R&B stuff. No guitars, no bass in that music to speak of.

If you go on say BandMix looking for a band, only 10% of the people looking there are young people. Sure there are other sites that might have more but the reality is there are far fewer bands by a lot than there were in the glory days of Sunn and Acoustic.

Analogeezer

 

[Jeff Scott]

FYI, any stock/OEM drivers found in older Sunn cabs that were not JBL’s were manufactured by Eminence or CTS

Thanks for the correction; I was thinking my '60s Traynor cabinets. The Sunn did have CTS drivers in it when I bought it in the early '00s.

 

[Michedelic]

Thanks for the correction; I was thinking my '60s Traynor cabinets. The Sunn did have CTS drivers in it when I bought it in the early '00s.

I thought that perhaps you had been hoodoo’d. Yeah, scavenging speaker cabs for driver upgrades/switches is not a new thing. Since you’re a Ric person, did you ever hear of the urban myth that Jimmy Page, after weaseling those Transonics out of them for the first US Zep tour, eventually pulled the stock Altecs out, and replaced them with some Fender/Utahs before selling off all that stuff?
Then there was an instance where a guitarist friend of mine picked up on an older Marshall 4x12, with checkerboard grillcloth. He wasn’t quite happy with the sound, eventually got inside the box, and discovered, to his dismay, that the Greenbacks had been pilfered and replaced with newer, cheaper MG series drivers. The seller was long gone, not available, but if he was ever caught up with, I’d bet he’d dodge the question by stating, “hey, they’re still Celestions”.

 

[Jim C]

There is a huge shop near me (Atomic Music) that sells used MI equipment. Like probably 10,000 sq/ft of space. They no longer accept power amps, PA boards, most outboard gear, and large bass cabinets (unless they are Neo loaded).
Why you ask, because the gear rots there because no one wants heavy bass cabinets that don't sound all that great or handle much power. Same with traditional PA boards, power amps, etc.
I've had a Sunn 2000S and a 2x15 with JBL's on long term loan back in the day and while they sounded great, I have no interest in those speaker cabinets now.
BTW, my drummer has 2ea. 32 input Soundcraft PA boards with plenty of fold backs and busses plus spare power supplies and road cases. (They work perfectly and he used to own a big PA company). He's offered me one for $300 and I passed... The thing is something like 6' long and it takes 2 strong guys to pick up.

 

[dbase]

The Sunn 215's are popular in the doom metal world. I can't imagine they're selling for upwards of $1000 though.

I would love to have this amp back again. I bought it new in the late 1960's for about $350.
Just cant lug it around anymore.

 

[daveman50]

Just cant lug it around anymore.

Yeah, whoever decided to put the one strap handle on the side must have been a gorilla.

 

[daveman50]

I only haul out this rig a few times a year, at most... if I'm playing a rock gig where I know there will be some boomers/ geezers/ rockers who like the old-school look and will "appreciate" it. I always do get comments in that type of setting, such as, Love the rig, man; or, I used to have one of those. I do still like the sound, but it's a lot of effort compared to my Barefaced Super Compact, which can handle way more power, or various other single-driver cabinets I have. It's a niche thing and a nostalgia thing at this point.

 

[mike buzzetti]

The Vintage heads 1960's are going for good $ now and selling , I have a Sunn Sentura II head 60 watt and a 1 x15 cab with JBL D140F ( reconed ) sounds great ! been lugging it around for 40 yrs lol