Contributed by Morgan Ringwald:
SUNN Amps
SUNN Amplifiers. The amplifier that spawned the explosion of power line-ups throughout the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. The amplifier used by Jimi Hendrix and Noel Redding, by Pete Townsend and John Entwistle, by Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, by Geddy Lee, by Brian May, by...starting to get the picture?
With truly power mad guitarists such as these, the name SUNN had quickly established its musical foothold, becoming synonymous with the blood curdling, bone crunching, rock-and-roll that would infect an entire generation. And all of this can be attributed to the one band who’s music will forever be remembered in rock history: The Kingsmen.
The Kingsmen? That’s right! The band who brought you the party anthem “Louie Louie”, and quickly faded into anonymity, also brought the amplifier that paved the way for so many that would follow.
“SUNN’s legacy reads like the history of rock,” explains Richard McDonald, Marketing Manager of SUNN Amps. “To paint a little picture, just take a look at the inside cover of your Woodstock album, and you’ll get an idea of the magnitude that SUNN amplifiers had in revolutionizing early rock music.”
Jump back a couple of years. The concert scene of the late ‘50’s and early ‘60’s was dominated by groups touring together. It was very common to have four or five bands, sometimes more, sharing a bus and playing on the same bill. And remember, “arena rock” was not yet a term. Most venues at the time were either theaters or small clubs, and portable amplifiers seemed to do the trick. For a while at least.
Obviously, rock music enjoyed a growing popularity. With that, venues were getting bigger to accommodate the larger numbers of people that were going to concerts. Still though, bands would plug in the same amplifiers that they were using at the smaller venues. Why? Because that’s all there was at the time.
Enter the Kingsmen. Norm Sundholm, bass player for the band, frequently complained that his bass amp was getting lost in the noise from other the other members’ amps and from the audience. So he called up his brother Conrad, an electronics enthusiast, and asked if he could rig something up that might help him out.
“Things weren’t real scientific back then, not like today with computers,” explains Conrad. “So I built this cabinet I had, which became the 2-30/C60...that first one was a real beast.” That “beast” that Conrad had come up with was a bass amp that would set the music world on its ears.
Other musicians soon heard the Sundholm brother’s amplifiers, and were absolutely in awe with their power. Norm and Conrad started to receive orders from guitarists and bass players who had to have one just like it. So Conrad set up shop in his dad’s garage, started building what would become SUNN amplifiers, and turned a small project for his brother into rock-and-roll legend. The SUNN had risen!
Unfortunately for SUNN Amps, it was soon to set. Although the brothers Sundholm had enjoyed a great deal of success, receiving endorsements from the Rolling Stones, The Who and Jimi Hendrix, they had quite different views on running the business. At the end of the ‘60’s, Norm sold his interest in SUNN to Conrad, leaving the company to pursue a career in real estate. Then in 1971, Conrad sold the rest of SUNN to the Hartzell Corporation, a Minnesota based conglomerate.
Hartzell continued to make SUNN amps throughout the ‘70’s and into the early ‘80’s, until a tragic plane crash took the life of its President, Tom Hartzell. His surviving family did little with SUNN amplifiers, and decided to sell it a few years later.
Enter the next player in the saga, Fender Musical Instruments. Having recently purchased Fender from corporate giant CBS, Bill Schultz (Fender Chairman & CEO) had seen the opportunity to re-build SUNN into the powerful company it had once been. However, Fender still had to tackle the job of re-building itself in the wake of CBS, and put SUNN on the shelf until the timing was more suitable.
Now jump forward a few years. With Fender back and better than ever, the timing seemed right to bring in their world-class Research & Development team of engineers to resurrect SUNN from the ashes. And resurrect it they did!
The SUNN Model T was redesigned as an all-tube, tonal assault machine. For unrelenting tone and muscle, match it with the SUNN Model T 412 enclosure and get ready to rock. For bassists, the new SUNN 1200S delivers the power and presence to handle any situation. With a supporting line-up of bass and guitar heads and enclosures, SUNN amps are blazing an all new trail into rock-and-roll history.
SUNN’s weapons of mass distortion are once again the amp of choice for today’s power hungry bands. Almost mirroring its first appearance on to the rock scene, SUNN can be seen on stages where many of today’s bands are sharing a bill. While it’s not quite Woodstock, you need to look no further than the 1999 OzzFest to get an idea of what we’re talking about. Black Sabbath, Rob Zombie, The Deftones, Primus, Fear Factory! The SUNN has risen again, and this time around it’s bigger, badder and louder than ever.
