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Author Topic: sunn solos - Look what the cat dragged in.  (Read 8260 times)

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Offline Viking Sonne

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sunn solos - Look what the cat dragged in.
« on: April 26, 2010, 11:21:17 pm »
Ok fellas I'm not sure what I just bought, but it's very clean on the tolex and grill is lightly stained, the inside is spotless. sounds great for spankin' Fender tones and has Reverb and a cool sounding tremelo. This thing like my beta lead is loud.

Any info you sunn guys can share would be greatly appreciated.

Here is what I have found out so far from looking at the amp.

- Front panel says "sunn solos"
- Made In USA Portland Oregon
- Power & Standby switches
- 120 watts
- (1) 15" speaker
- (3) 12AX7A's (made by General Electric)
- (2) Mallory's (blue colored)
- Transformer by Western (stamped july 1970)
- Tested by sticker reads (11/11/70)
 






« Last Edit: April 28, 2010, 04:54:16 pm by Viking Sonne »
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Offline Wiseblood

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Re: sunn solos...Look what the cat dragged in.
« Reply #1 on: April 27, 2010, 07:05:37 am »
It's a hybrid. Tube preamp, solidstate power section. Are you sure it's a 15"? Looks more like a 12" in the picture.
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Offline mckinnon audio

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Re: sunn solos...Look what the cat dragged in.
« Reply #2 on: April 27, 2010, 07:32:30 am »
  Hi there,nice looking amp,it's in really good shape,hope you got a great deal on it !! The white switch on the back is a "ground / polarity " switch I believe.Good luck with the reverb prob.,shouldn't be too hard to fix.Mel.
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Offline Viking Sonne

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Re: sunn solos...Look what the cat dragged in.
« Reply #3 on: April 27, 2010, 07:49:00 am »
Reverb problem fixed. Unplugged and then plugged it back in and now it works great. I charged myself $45.  :wink:

The speaker seems to be a 15".
« Last Edit: April 27, 2010, 12:30:05 pm by Viking Sonne »
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Offline biltmore

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Re: sunn solos - Look what the cat dragged in.
« Reply #4 on: April 27, 2010, 06:15:05 pm »
Looks like a 15" to me. I haven't ever seen the Solos before, only the Solos II. Nice find tho, as that chassis looks really clean and it has the original transformer too!!! Tube preamp with a solid state power section sounds pretty sweet to me. I wonder how she sounds?
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Offline Viking Sonne

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Re: sunn solos - Look what the cat dragged in.
« Reply #5 on: April 27, 2010, 06:37:06 pm »
Quote from: biltmore on April 27, 2010, 06:15:05 pm
Looks like a 15" to me. I haven't ever seen the Solos before, only the Solos II. Nice find tho, as that chassis looks really clean and it has the original transformer too!!! Tube preamp with a solid state power section sounds pretty sweet to me. I wonder how she sounds?

Yeah it's a 15"... and it sounds really nice, mello sparkling clean sound on channel 1 and a bit fuzz/tube tone overdrive on Channel 2, but nothing like the gain of my beta lead. Also Channel 2 has Reverb and Tremelo, (2) knobs, Rate and Depth.

It's very LOUD and has tons of clean headroom. It would require a distortion pedal to really get nasty. I'm gonna put a pedal in front of it to see how well it responds.

« Last Edit: April 27, 2010, 06:45:03 pm by Viking Sonne »
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Offline Viking Sonne

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Re: sunn solos - Look what the cat dragged in.
« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2010, 10:04:55 pm »
Does anyone know if the solos 2 was also a hybrid tube/solid state ?
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Offline loudthud

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Re: sunn solos - Look what the cat dragged in.
« Reply #7 on: April 28, 2010, 10:02:28 am »
The Solos II is pretty much a combo version of the (all solid state) Concert Lead but had different circuit boards. Only minor differences in the circuit. The Solos (as seen here) was probably only available for a short time between 1969 and 1970. The Dymos was a solid state combo in the 69 catalog and the Solos II is in the 1970 catalog and last seen in the 1974 catalog. In the photo of the back you can see the scallops in the side braces to allow the 12 inch speakers to fit.
« Last Edit: April 28, 2010, 11:07:58 am by loudthud »
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Offline Viking Sonne

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Re: sunn solos - Look what the cat dragged in.
« Reply #8 on: April 28, 2010, 10:17:27 am »
loudthud...got any idea what years the solos were built and I wonder how many exist. Information on the solos is almost non existent. I have found a small amount of info on the solos 2, but I'm not sure from what I have read that the solos and the solos 2 were the same amps or if the solos 2 was an updated version of the solos.

From what I have read the owners of the solos 2 do not mention it having a tube pre amp. It might be only solid state. The solos may be a rare find...I'm really not sure. I have emailed Conrad but havn't heard back from him as of yet. So any info on the solos would be greatly appreciated.
« Last Edit: April 28, 2010, 10:50:37 am by Viking Sonne »
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Offline loudthud

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Re: sunn solos - Look what the cat dragged in.
« Reply #9 on: April 28, 2010, 11:21:08 am »
I edited my post to make it a little clearer. I think Conrad was gone by the time the Solos was made. I have no idea how many were made and the serial number log book was destroyed. I think there was another tube/transistor hybrid that was made about the same time. There was something on ebay a number of years ago but I don't remember what the model name was.
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Offline HRobert

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Re: sunn solos...Look what the cat dragged in.
« Reply #10 on: April 28, 2010, 01:33:06 pm »
Quote from: Wiseblood on April 27, 2010, 07:05:37 am
It's a hybrid. Tube preamp, solidstate power section. Are you sure it's a 15"? Looks more like a 12" in the picture.

the Solos and Solos II came in two configurations.  1 x 15 or 2 x 12.
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Offline HRobert

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Re: sunn solos - Look what the cat dragged in.
« Reply #11 on: April 28, 2010, 01:36:07 pm »
Quote from: Viking Sonne on April 27, 2010, 10:04:55 pm
Does anyone know if the solos 2 was also a hybrid tube/solid state ?

I bought a Solos II chassis for a project.  It's all solid state...no tubes.

Rob
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Offline Viking Sonne

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Re: sunn solos - Look what the cat dragged in.
« Reply #12 on: April 28, 2010, 04:49:51 pm »
Rob and loudthud, thanks fo the info. So the Solo and Solos 2 are different animals....interesting.

The reverb knob is different than the other knobs, maybe even the whole pot is different, I have no idea.

Honestly I believe this amp is all original right down the the tubes. They are General Electric (GE) 12AX7A's Made In the USA.

It's just amazingly clean to be that old, the pots aren't even scratchy sounding, everything works fine and looks like it came from a time capsule....very cool find.  :-D
« Last Edit: April 28, 2010, 05:03:52 pm by Viking Sonne »
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Offline HRobert

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Re: sunn solos - Look what the cat dragged in.
« Reply #13 on: April 28, 2010, 05:17:34 pm »
Quote from: Viking Sonne on April 28, 2010, 04:49:51 pm
Rob and loudthud, thanks fo the info. So the Solo and Solos 2 are different animals....interesting.

  Viking,

My Solos II chassis has a distortion switch on channel 2.  It's marked 2x and 10x.  Since the amp is not in working order yet I can't give any info as to how it sounds.
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