Hi
I have a Sunn Solarus with El34s
Im trying to figure out what each of the tubes do. Anyone know?
12ax7 - pre amp?
12au7 - reverb
El 34 x2 ?
7199 ? Phase inversion ? Does it have any effect on the sound?
Gz34?
To elaborate a little more on what Ed said;
The EL34 are the output tubes. They work in conjunction with your output transformer to provide the power.
The GZ34 converts AC to DC inside the amp and because it has internal resistance, it introduces some sag and delay in it's ability to do this in comparison to a solid state diode. Unless you playing very loudly you won't notice this effect however.
7199 is the driver tube and the phase inverter tube all in one. The driver portion is the pentode half of the tube and this gives more voltage to drive the phase inverter section (a triode) and the power tubes to their full power.
12AX7 is your preamp sections
12AU7 is the reverb driver.
Most of the Sunn amps are quite simple and are largely based on Dynaco hi-fi amps of the era. They use large transformers and high voltage to get more power and better overall frequency response in comparison to many other amps of the era such as Fenders.
Greg
