Does anyone know about 1000s prototypes?

[Ivad the terrible]

Greetings,

I have what I believe is a Sunn 1000s prototype, it is marked 100s and it has 4 6550's that were originally KT88's (I believe) a socket where my guess is that a rectifier tube went that has been filled with epoxy. I only saw one other back in the 70's and I have been scouting for one ever since, one more thing it only has 2 preamp tubes. Any ex sunn people out there tht have heard of this arraingement? it is marked 8/11/67 on the chassis. so it dates back to the tube colliseum pa era, I talked w/ Buck Munger about it and he said a special run was made for the Kingsmen and a couple other groups, so after closely examining the wiring and solder connections, I believe it is a factory made amp and not a "frankenstein" amp hack creation.
The bottom line is that it does not work, my question is this would the 1000s amp work w/ 1 tube rectifier? any way I can find some documentation on this amp? any one besides Buck M know about it???

One more thing Bud Garrison who was the sales rep said that these were the models that were loaned to Hendrix.
I saw him play with Sunn amps a few times in the 60's. but then I saw him play through Fender Showman amps (at Newport Pop 69) a  friend said that in 71 he saw him play through MOntana amps (a solid state boutique amp in the early 70's in Hollywood)
He still sounded like Hendrix no matter what he played through.

Ivad.

[Anonymous]

I've seen one of these. Actually, I was at a guy's house recently and he had what was marked as a 100s but it had the tube setup that you described. Wow, what a sound! I wish I could buy it off him.

[Bud Garrison]

Yup...What you say is correct, but I don't remember these amps being made for the Kingsmen...possible, but I don't remember it.  

DEFINITELY...these amps were made around the time that Sunn was promoting Hendrix (1968 or so).  I don't know how many were made...certainly not a lot...perhaps something on the order of 10-1000S and 10-2000S...probably less than that amount.  These were the predecessors of the "WIDE chassis" 1000S and 2000S introduced sometime later. (maybe 1969?)

You should be able to look on top of the chassis...chassis removed from the tolex covered box...control knobs AWAY from you...to your right will be a transformer and BETWEEN the transformer and the front panel will be a pair of 12AX7s.  BETWEEN the 12AX7s and the transformer in blue felt tip pin should be the date the amp cleared final assembly.  You'll probably have my initials...BG and a date...something like BG --/--/67 or BG --/--/68.  It's been a LONG time...but you can contact me at:  

hcgarr@aol.com

Good luck.  

Bud Garrison

[Soundmasterg]

I had a Sonic 1 that I changed into a 200S when restoring it. All the screening was rubbed off, and the amp was the same as the 200S anyway, so why not. Anyway, I saw the tag you were talking about Bud, although I don't recall whose initials were on it. It was made in 1970. I modded the circuit a little to get a little better bass response and made a custom cabinet that is similar to an old Sunn 1x15. If you'd like to see/hear it in action, and you're still in the Portland area, you should come down to the Duff's Garage blues jam on wednesday nights at 9:30pm. Let me know ahead of time and I'll bring it. Duff's is on 7th and market on the east side a couple blocks south of hawthorne, and Suburban Slim, one of the best guitar players in portland, hosts the jam. Its a lot of fun! The last time I brought it down there, Conrad saw it and liked it.

Greg

[Isaac]

What are the chances of actually getting to play? Last time I went to a jam in Portland (decades ago!), if you weren't a friend of the guy running it, you didn't get on stage.

[Soundmasterg]

You'll get a chance to play for sure. Best advice is to show up before they start, and introduce yourself to Suburban Slim, and you'll probably get up first or second set. he usually does that for newcomers, and when I first went down there with my brother, he shoved us up together and we of course weren't prepared at all!..haha. If you were coming, you could let me know beforehand and I can introduce you to Slim. Its a really fun jam...lots of good players...I go every week myself.

The amps used down there are a couple Deluxe Reverbs, and a solid state Ampeg B15R. I've brought my Sunn down with the 1x15 cabinet and it sounds great, but the 2x15 would sound even better! With the 1x15, the 200S is around 4-6 and distorting a little bit. The stage isn't huge so a 2x15 cabinet would just barely fit with all the other amps and drums.

greg

[Isaac]

Same footprint as the 115S, IIRC. Better we should use your 200S, though. Mine needs new tubes, at the least. Maybe other problems as well.

[Soundmasterg]

Actually the 2x15 cabinet would be a little smaller footprint than my 1x15, since I made mine big enough to fit the 200S one way, and fit the 2000S on its side, and its a little deeper front to back than the old Sunn cabinets. That said, if you got there early enough to get it up on the stage before they start...at least 30 minutes early, then I'm sure it would be fine. They start at 9:30pm, and I usually get there around 9pm or sometimes earlier. Using my 200S would be fine, and I'm not going to complain, as I always like hearing it! You'd also be able to see if you like the mods I did and do them to yours too when you retube it. When were you thinking of coming up? If you'e able to make it earlier in the day, and give me sufficient notice, then I can set up the surprise for you I mentioned, and  test the frequency response of the cabinet.

Also, what is the impedance of your cabinet? My 200S has a 4 ohm and 8 ohm jack.

Greg

[Isaac]

It's a 4 ohm cabinet.

[Chester87]

Holy crap... I figured these things were rare, but I didnt know they were that special. I bought a 1000s from a store in my town and used it for my last gig. It works very well, and I just gave it to a friend to check it out and we were looking for schematics online and couldnt find anything about it, which is what led me here. I can post pictures sometime once I go home again and get it back from my friend but man, it is a wonderful amp. I never knew it was that rare, but there is a price list on this website somewhere that has a 1000s for 1430 something. It is godlike, powerful as hell. I was playing through it and I could touch our bass player and I would shock him. Im taking this amp to my grave...

[Chester87]

I figure nobody knows where to get any schematics or anything cause I cant find anything anywhere else, and from the sound of it I doubt I will. One thing I found odd about it that someone might be able to help me with is how and why and what this thing is on the back of it. It has a regular power cable, and where it goes into the amp it says 280 watts but right next to that it has some sort of other jack for some kind of cable that says 400 watts next to it. I can describe it more if needed, and answer any questions I can about it, but overall it looks similar to a 2000s I think, but it has a spring reverb unit in it and some other pluses like a mid boost, polarity switch among some others. Its got 4 RCA 6550 tubes in it and i have 4 electro harmonix replacements. It  has either one or two preamp tubes, i cant remember but Im pretty sure they are 12AX7's. Man the thing has tone. I put a ProCo rat through it but a THD hotplate might be high on the list along with an avatar cabinet.

once again I can try to answer any ?'s the best I can.

[Chester87]

oh yeah, and why in the world would it have 4 inputs? 2 bright/high and 2 low/dark

sorry im posting one after the other. I feel like an idiot.

[Isaac]

Because Sunn used the same chassis for all its amps of the same size. They needed 4 inputs for the PA heads, so they went ahead and put 4 inputs on the guitar amps as well. Cheaper and easier.

[spectrumII]

I have some photos of the prototype 1200s I own and  I couldn't pass up the oppurtunity to put them on display. Here it goes:
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<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/jamesalvinbarron/sunn.jpg">
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<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/jamesalvinbarron/sunn1.jpg">
<p>
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/jamesalvinbarron/sunn2.jpg">
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It sat for months at my local shop, sparking my curiousity each time before I plugged it in to play it. It sounded so handsome & was so cheap that I just had to have it. I didn't know that it was a prototype at the time, but after asking around on here & eventually getting ahold of Conrad himself, I figured everything out. It still had the original Sunn stamped KT-88's in it when I got it, but I had them replaced quickly thereafter.