Sunn Concert Lead

[jehu]

Hey guys, noob here on the forums. This might be a pretty basic Sunn question, but I've looked everywhere and I can't seem to find a clear answer anywhere. I'm in the market for a new bass rig and I'd really like to give some Sunn gear a try. I have a tight budget, so while I'd like to get a Sunn bass head and cab eventually, I'm starting by focusing on the head. I found this listing on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160566541733&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

But...is the Concert Lead a guitar head or a bass head? Or does it matter when it comes to Sunn stuff? I've seen a few places online talking as if their heads are interchangeable.

Again, sorry if this is a dimwitted question, but I want to make sure I'm stretching my budget as far as I can right now. Thanks!

[Isaac]

It's a guitar head. Hence the name, Concert Lead, as opposed to the Concert Bass.

That said, who cares? The Fender Bassman was a bass amp, which has been revered for decades as a guitar amp. The Concert Lead has reverb and a distortion circuit, one in each of its two channels. The Concert Bass has neither in its one channel. The tone circuitry may be different, I'm not sure. The questions that remain are, will it function as a bass amp? Yes, it will. Will you like the tone(s) it produces? Only you can answer that one, and only after you try it out.

[pickinatit]

I have two Sunn tube heads (Solarus and 2000S) and two Sunn Solid state heads (well the 1200S is the modern age hybrid w/ tube pre-amp and solid state power section; the second is the Red Knob Concert bass amp)  I've played both bass and guitar through all of them and I have to tell you that  IMO they are all pretty darn good for both bass or guitar.

[kingnimrod]

Does anyone have soundclips of the Concert Lead's built-in distortion? I'm messing with one right now, and I know I need to clean the pots, but the distortion is not super-crunchy. It sounds more like the overdrive you get off of a tweed Fender.

I have a couple of Beta amps with thick distortion, so that's what I'm comparing the Concert Lead to. By comparison, the Concert Lead's distortion is pretty tame.

[John Matrix]

The concert lead distortion is very tame compared to the beta. It's not very good on it own in my opinion. Gotta use a pedal to add some hair to it, then it sounds rad.