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A RARE 1968 Sunn Sonaro combo. Can be used for bass or guitar (sounds better for guitar). Original 15' JBL speaker. Recently re-tubed with JJ E34L power.
I had a 2000S head that I bought at a pawn shop in CA for $169.00. I used it for a while, then it quit. Found a broken ceramic resistor, replaced it, and ran it for a couple more years. Then it really blew fireworks out the back. I gave it to a friend to fix and keep.
Later, he asked if I wanted it back (still broken). I told him to throw it away. Now I see them on ebay for $800! Oh well, too late now.It ran bass really well, but the 6550s would not break up for guitar. It just kept getting louder and louder, and painfully louder. I've recently had an interest in the old 60s and 70s Sunn amps.
![Sunn sonaro combo Sunn sonaro combo](/uploads/1/2/5/6/125614985/173740653.jpg)
I've done the usual internet searches and read what I can find in amp books. In spite of all this, it's very tough to get a good sense of how these amps changed over the years. You read a lot about the popularity of the late 60s models, with all the big guitar guys using them, and then the info starts to get kinda spotty. So when one of these amps pops up for sale, it's tough to really get a sense of what you might be buying, or what kinds of problem these amps typically have, etc.Anybody here already been down this road? Eff ya mountain.
Reason i own mine. Had a '74 model t for a few yrs. It was cool, but i knew i was missing something. Tried a ton of tubes and such. That band broke up so i sold it. Bought a small guild head n cab.
Still have cab. Happened to pick up a studio pa head. Best head i've ever played. I've tried diezels, dr z's, budda, top hat, etc.
But this head is it for me. Picked up a coliseum pa head last yr. Little clearer, bc it's the big brother of the studio. Here's a link to us. Old songs are studio pa, bg h90 wound to sound like leslie west meets iommi in my '73 guild m75, and a vintage guild 2x15 i bought off dr. Tweedbucket here. New songs are coliseum pa and studio pa into vintage ampeg 4x12 with same guild guitar.
Love these amps. Thinkin bout pickin up another sunn with school grant after i pay for school. Thank the lord for the kingsmen getting big. Click to expand.I think Leslie West actually used the Sunn 'Coleseum PA' model. It was as the name implies built for PA use, same 4 X KT88/6550 output section as the 2000S, but had 4 preamp channels, each driving half of a 12AX7 instead of single channel single 12AX7 of the Sunn MI amps of that era.He jumped them to get that big (by Sunn standards anyway) gain.As has been posted, old Sunns were very clean amps normally, which is understandable since they were 'based on' (read; 'virtually identical to') the the Dynaco Hi-Fi circuit from the late 50's. I think Leslie West actually used the Sunn 'Coleseum PA' model. It was as the name implies built for PA use, same 4 X KT88/6550 output section as the 2000S, but had 4 preamp channels, each driving half of a 12AX7 instead of single channel single 12AX7 of the Sunn MI amps of that era.He jumped them to get that big (by Sunn standards anyway) gain.As has been posted, old Sunns were very clean amps normally, which is understandable since they were 'based on' (read; 'virtually identical to') the the Dynaco Hi-Fi circuit from the late 50's.
Click to expand. I have a Sunn Solarus.2 6550's ultra-linear style OT. Yep, hi-fi.Clean, full sound. Not for OD players. Sort of like a Twin with more lower mids.
The tone can be shaped with the controls or slight mods, or speakers.I have A/B'd it with my Yam g100-II using the same speakers and they are very similar.The Yam is a SS, 2-12 combo that I use for most gigs and sounds great, as I am into big, cleans as pedal platforms when I need OD. The Sunn is about as good as anything for that, too, just overly bulky. I own a 1966 100s and used it as my primary amp in a pretty loud 2-guitar band for a couple years. I eventually switched over to marshalls but I still have the Sunn and love it (though I may have to sell it soon for financial reasons).Its the dirt simple version of the 100s (first version?) with no reverb or trem.Its got 2 KT88s and the Dynaco transformers. Its pretty damn loud and breaks up quite a bit from '5 to 10' on the dial. When cranked it almost sounds like a fuzz.I've used it for bass too and with the proper cab it sounds killer, though at 60 watts its not loud enough and will be a little overdriven (sounds cool).This amp is damn bright, and very 'hi-fi' sounding while in the clean range of the dial.
It takes pedals pretty well and has quite a lot of headroom for a 60 watt amp.Overall, very cool amps that are starting to go up in price due to the doom metal movement. Too bad as they really excel for 60 / 70s garage / psych / classic rock to my ear.There's a snappiness / percussive quality that I really love about this head and also a beautiful 3D clean.
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Market research is strictly prohibited.7) NO BLANK POSTS: is officially disallowing posts without content in the body. Your post MUST contain information! Please add a detailed description to posts and titles.READ THIS! Walked into my local guitar shop, the owner recognizes me and goes 'Hey, you're the guy who plays Jacksons(at the time I had 3 which I would bring by there for setups). I got something awesome to show you!'
So he leads me to the office and inside he's got a Jackson SL2H(starburst) w/ 81/85 set and SL1(trans blue). Beautiful guitars!Tells me they were just dropped off on consignment by Pat Lachman(Halford's guitarist) and he was selling them getting ready to go out on Damageplan's first tour.Tells me Pat wants 800$ a piece for them!! I tell him I can only afford one, but I'll be back at store opening in the morning with cash and he'd better not sell the SL2H to anyone else.Sure enough next morning, I pickup a beautiful guitar with some historical significance for about 30% of the cost!I've been offered $2,500 for it, but I won't ever sell it! Do wish I'd been able to get both.TL;DR: Got 2.5-3k$ guitar owned by rockstar for 800$ by lucky timing and knowing local music shop owners!!.
My guitar teacher started building guitars when I was still his student. Starting with electrics and now making extremely beautiful acoustics. I bought the 13th electric he made (really it was the 14th, the 13th fell off the wrack and it's neck snapped, thus resulting in there being no guitar 13). He only charged me for parts, which was less than half the price people were paying for them! I hope to be able to save up enough money to buy an acoustic from him down the road. I'm at work but I'll post his website later if anyone is interested!.