Here are a couple of Sunn (and other) rigs I brought to a talkbass.com get together this past weekend. The first time in a loooong time that I schlepped a full 2000S rig out. I kind of forgot how absolutely
amazing it sounds; the cabs are loaded with 16 ohm K140's.
I usually gig with the "little guy" on the left, (actually
that’s the 400 watt Reeves and I generally use a C225) for small venues with that Reeves 115 cab but usually with a EVM15L loaded Sunn 215S cab.
It won't touch the sheer awesomeness of a full 2000S rig, but it's a hell of a lot easier to move.
I brought these
mostly for nostalgia:
By default I use the B15N for recording, but side by side with that Sunn C40/Sonic I40 rig the Ampeg didn’t sound nearly as good, and most of the attendees thought the old Sunn rig blew the Portaflex out of the water tonally. However, it was a different story when the Ampeg was hooked up to the K140 loaded I40 cab. The B15 was magnificent through the Sunn cab, so I think I’ll pull the OEM CTS driver in the Portaflex cab and replace it with a JBL.
The Blue Tuck ‘n Roll 1967 Kustom was pretty much for the old timers, although it didn’t sound too bad a low volumes through its D140F loaded cab. That was the amp that fueled my desire to be a rock star, when I saw those beautiful, sparkly Kustoms up on stage at Jr. High dances I thought they were the coolest looking things I ever saw. I bought that one about 10 years ago, but just had it gone through and brought up to spec for the first time last week. I didn’t buy it for gigging; in fact the only time I actually
gigged it was with a 70’s Motown Revue band I was in for a few years, and then I ran a jumper from an input to an output in the Kustom head to an off stage 2000S head and then back to the Kustom cab, which is also why I loaded the cab up with D140’s. It did look cool and period correct, I also used a coiled cord, but the reasons I bought it were partly because of a soft spot in my heart developed at age 13; and
mostly because it was loaded with a pair of Altec 421A’s that I wanted…
Shocked the crap out of me that it actually
sounded pretty good, who woulda thunk it?
