Sunn Solarus with Master Vol. Mod OR similar Sunn more power

[crabgrass]

I've previously owned a concert lead, beta lead, and 2ND gen model t. I now have a sovtek MIG 100u and recently traded a musicman 212 65watt combo for a sunn solarus. I don't have the solarus anymore but with the volume at 3 i loved the tone, warmth and clarity much more than the sovtek. The only problem was turning the amp up made it break up and i need clean tones at high volumes. I thought about getting it modded for a master volume, but thought there are more Sunn amps to try. What Sunn amps should I check out to give a similar sound at higher volumes? or should i find that Solarus and modify it?

[Isaac]

If you want clean tones at high volumes, you probably need more power. A master volume allows you to get distorted tones at low volumes, but it won't give you clean tones at higher volumes than the same amp without it.

For really loud clean tones from a Sunn amp, I'd suggest a Coliseum Lead. If you insist on a tube amp, try a Model T.

[BassHog]

Hey man, this is your amp tech Scott, we briefly talked about this last night when you dropped off the Mig, but I really feel that maybe you should try out a Sceptre or one of the other 2xKT88 variants of a Sunn head. Since your Solarus was a 40 watt version.
Especially with solid state rectification. They put out a good 80 watts and you will absolutely get more volume.

So, look for 2xKT88 heads. These come in a large variety of names. Sceptre, Solarus, 190B, 190L, 200s, 100s, Sentura 2, Sentura 1, Sonic 2, Sonic I-40, Sorado, Spectrum 2.
They are all basically the same amp, just some have reverb and tremolo, some are tube rectified, some are SS rectified.
The tube rectified versions can put out more power if you put a plug in SS rectifier in them, this will increase the voltage by 20% or so. You will of course have to rebias the amp for this higher voltage and make sure the caps can handle it.

Isaac is correct that putting a master volume would only be useful for getting more distortion at a lower volume.

[crabgrass]

Thx guys. I appreciate it. i'm gonna look into these others

[crabgrass]

Anyone in So Cal have a Model T? or higher power KT88 Sunn head? I'd like to try out my new songs/pedals/guitar set up with it. Trying to figure out which one I'd be interested in getting later. Also if you're interested in what my Sovtek MIG 100U sounds like we can do an A/B. 

[Isaac]

Remember, though, that 80 watts as opposed to 40 watts is only a 3dB increase. Yes, it's more, but it's not all that much more. It takes 10dB, ten times as much power, to be twice as loud.