Got my attenuator, disappointed with the Sceptre.

[Jonathyn]

So I bought a Power Cube attenuator off ebay and it arrived today. I hook it up with my Sceptre and speaker cab, at the right impedences of course, I plug in and start to crank it and....
Bummer.
The Sceptre sounds like a transistor fuzz when cranked!  
Only it's tube fuzz of course, and it's low gain. I am very disappointed. I thought this amp would have more kick to it. I was expecting a really nice, smooth low to mid-gain overdrive by 8 out of 10. And also, when you crank it to 8, there is no more drive after that, 9 and 10 do nothing to the drive or tone. This is even with humbuckers. There was more drive on my unbranded 1x12 solid state British combo than this, a big disappointment.
I did read on this forum prior to getting this attenuator something like "those who want hi-gain Mesa Boogie like tones are advised to look elsewhere", but I didn't think a 1969 Sunn amp would sound this crappy when cranked. Has anyone else been disappointed with Sunn amps when really testing them?
I'm still waiting for my PB-10 to arrive, which I shall run through the Sceptre, using the Sceptre as a clean power amp, of course, so it's possible I'll have the sound that I want once I've got the preamp running.
Don't get me wrong, the clean tone is fantastic on the Sceptre, just I'm more of a distortion guy, and I'm losing interest in pedal FX, I just want a good distortion straight from an amp. Hopefully the PB-10 will impress.  
Oh and of course, I want a Model T like the rest of us, now that amp has gotta have that Leslie West tone when cranked. Which was pretty much what I was looking for, ah well.

[Jonathyn]

Oh shi-
The Sceptre was just smoking!!! I think it was the input transformer! I mean, I had it up to 8 out of 10, attenuated. Wtf is going on!? Is it just overheating, and it's showing its age? Oh dear. This is bad. I'm too scared to turn it back on now without the attenuator just to see if it still works, since my PB-10 will be coming soon and I may not have anything to power it with. Help?

  


Btw.... 8 ohm speaker cab, 8 ohm speaker socket in the Sceptre and I THINK, 8 ohm setting on the attenuator, maybe X. It's really difficult to tell with this attenuator whether there's two positions for the impedence, or four, cos the slider switch has been created very un-professionally. Next to the slider is a sticker, it has 4 (ohms), 6, 8 and X. It's really difficult to convey how confusing this switch is. The 8 and X positions, you can't really tell if there's a difference in them or not by the feel of the switch since it moves like only a millimetre from 8 to X positions and there's a small plastic sounding click when you slide it.
 My friend says there might be a clash somewhere, that the components in the attenuator are made for American voltages, and I'm using a step-down transformer. Any thoughts on this?

[loudthud]

Your amp needs a visit to a local Tech. When was the last time it was in for a checkup? Never? Could be why it doesn't sound good. This kind of thing is what happends to amps that haven't been serviced in 20 years and then abused with an attenuator. Maybe the company that built the attenuator will pay for the service...Ha Ha.

[Jonathyn]

The amp had a service and restoration when I bought it. I didn't intend on plugging it in until I'd had it checked out. It cost me a lot of money.
 Anyway, it had just overheated, that's all. It still works. I've tried it again. It's likely an attenuator problem. Glad it still works. But, I'm totally not happy with how it sounds cranked. And I'm not selling it because I just had a problem with it, I had listed it months ago on ebay when I went off it. I was pretty disappointed when I got it when I realised it was just a clean sounding amp and I couldn't get any drive out of it at lower volumes. I'm gonna get a replacement British tube amp with 6L6 tubes in it, and a gain stage and a hi-gain input, and so I don't have to use a step-down transformer. I think after all this Sunn fanaticism, that I may be a Mesa Boogie man! But I can't afford a Boogie, haha!


 :\

[Jonathyn]

I'm thinking about getting an audiophile solid state amp actually... To go with my PB-10.

[Jonathyn]

Might get an Orange Dual Terror. If it's usable with my Sunn PB-10 that is. See the other thread in Other Musical Equipment.

[Soundmasterg]

Your Sunn Sceptre was made when people were trying to get loud and clean, so that is what it does really well. Personally I don't like Sunn tube amps for guitar, but they sound great for bass.

Greg

[Jonathyn]

Yep, I agree. I've played a bass through my Sceptre and it really is fantastic tone. 

[Jonathyn]

I've been to see my tech today, and turns out the audiophile solid state mini amp is £900! Ah well. And his only words on the attenuator when I showed it to him were "might aswell throw it in the bin!" He thought it was that badly made, amazing huh. He also said there is a risk running any attenuator with any amp of your transformers overheating, it's not unusual.
 Now I have to try and decide between at least 4 amps. The Orange Dual Terror, a brand new Sound City 50 watt head or one of my tech's hand made 50 watt 6L6 heads, customised, or his solid state 150 watt head, also custom made to specifications. If I go with one of my tech's amps (Ameson), I have a choice of how it's going to look. I think I'm going to have the whole thing covered in purple tolex, with the front panel black, since that can't be changed and the handle clamps silver instead of gold. My tech has invited me to go and try his amps out with my own cab in one of his rehearsal studios before I decide to buy one or not. His favourite tube is the KT88, but I can't afford the KT88 model, so if I buy, I'm gonna go for the cheaper 6L6.
 The PB-10 should arrive very soon, if I am impressed with it, then I will definitely buy an Ameson tube amp, since I would like the power stage of my setup to be tube, not solid state. I also asked him about compatibility between the PB-10 through a step-down transformer and a British voltage power amplifier, he said there would be no problems.


 

[Jonathyn]

My Sunn PB-10 is in the country and I'm expecting a letter off Parcelforce tomorrow or the day after to arrange delivery. And unfortunately, I will have to pay an import duty fee, like I did with my Sceptre.

[Isaac]

Your Sunn Sceptre was made when people were trying to get loud and clean, so that is what it does really well. Personally I don't like Sunn tube amps for guitar, but they sound great for bass.

Greg

I personally like my Sentura II for guitar. However, I don't much care for it's distorted tones unless the midboost switch is on.

[Jonathyn]

Haha! The PB-10 arrived straight to my door! It's that light, I wasn't charged any import fees, awesome or what! I'm impressed with it. At the moment, I have to run it through a 10 watt practice amp and my 4x12 cab, since I don't have 2 step-down transformers, therefore I can't run it through the Sceptre. The practice amp can only power the 4x12 up to a practice volume, the master on the PB-10 just makes it saturate more if I turn it up. It gets pretty loud thru the pratice amp speaker though, since it has the power to fuel its own 5 inch speaker, just a guess that it's 5 inch.
 The PB-10 has enough drive for me, and the depth of the sound is excellent, especially when both channels are blended.
 I'm going to ask if my tech will make me just a tube power amp, instead of a standard guitar amp and see what he says. But do I really need to do that? Wont it sound just fine through a 50 watt tube head. I know someone else in my other "Orange Dual Terror" thread said I wouldn't get as much out of my components if I did this.

[Jonathyn]

There's something I forgot to mention about when I attenuated my Sceptre a few times...
 There are four settings on this cheap attenuator, 4 ohms, 6, 8 and "X", I'm sure I had it set on X when I tried it cos I thought it was on 8, since there is little noticable difference in movement between the X and 8 settings. Anyway, when I played the amp, I could hear an undertone, underneath the crappy transistor sounding fuzz. It was like a quiet doubling effect, and it was of a really good overdrive, even distortion. Now I have a feeling that this undertone is what the amp is supposed to sound like at 8 out of 10, just something went wrong somewhere. Either I had the attenuator on the wrong setting, or the Sceptre just can't distort properly when the power is supressed so severly by an attenuator. Does anyone have any thoughts of this post? Have you ever owned a Sceptre and cranked it? What did it sound like for YOU? Thanks.

[HRobert]

I find some of this discussion to be rather puzzling A lot of people make the statement that Sunn amps are too clean   Sunn amps were made to be clean   Conrad was into HIFI when he built the first amps, and he strived to get the cleanest sound at the highest volumes.  I've also heard people make the comment that the older Sunn amps don't have a master volume control, so they can't get overdrive.  It would seem to me that since most guitar players have a whole footboard full of of effects pedals..including distortion and ovedrive, that they would want a clean amp to run it through