Author Topic: Conrad Amps -  (Read 22963 times)

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Offline Soundmasterg

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Re: Conrad Amps -
« Reply #14 on: October 16, 2007, 06:58:08 pm »
Quote
Gred claims that Conrad clones are better than other clones. And in the previous thread claims that he is the primary guiding force behind this amp that Conrad would not have been able to build without his help.

Where did I say that I was the primary guiding force behind this amp and that Conrad wouldn't have been able to build it without my help? I played a small part in the genesis of the amp but thats about it. I get to see several of these amps in use at a weekly jam by some really good players and there has been nothing but praise so far from them. Conrad spent a lot of time and effort to make this amp and other amps of his what they are and it isn't fair of you to demean that effort and attack him or his products when you really know nothing about them. It also isn't fair of you to attack others who post about them such as the person who started this post. He has more experience with this amp than you do and is a more reliable authority on it than you are since he has one. He was also just trying to share his impressions of the amp from what I could gather....what is wrong with that? I also didn't say that Conrad's clones are better than other clones. I said that if Conrad was making clones, what is wrong with that, but that he isn't making clones. This Blues Jammer amp has some similarities to another amp I mentioned earlier in one area of the amp and the rest came out of Conrad's head. Btw, how are these amps Fender clones?

I don't really understand what your issue is Joe. I think maybe some others here may wonder also? You appear to have an ax to grind for some reason. You'll notice that Conrad hasn't put up one of the typical spam messages hawking his products here so it isn't fair to accuse him of anything of the sort. Someone asked a question about Conrad's amps several months ago. I answered about them because I had some knowledge. You attacked me for it and questioned my motivations. I referred people to Conrad directly because he is the best source and it seemed it would head off more attacks from you. The same person who initially asked the questions about Conrad's amp bought one and posted that he likes it, and you go into attack mode again. I don't get it but it isn't very nice of you.....

I'm going to see if Tboy with start a section up for other subjects besides Sunn so posts like this can go there and not interfere with the Sunn subjects. It may head off some future problems. I suggest that anyone who wants to comment on Conrad's current products should wait until we have that other section, or email Conrad directly as any such comment here seems to set off the attacks and it isn't fair for anyone to have to deal with it.

Greg
« Last Edit: October 16, 2007, 07:38:23 pm by Soundmasterg »

Offline EdBass

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Re: Conrad Amps -
« Reply #15 on: October 16, 2007, 08:35:20 pm »
Come on kids, let's all play nice...
I think I understand what Joe means, and for what my opinion is worth, I agree that this is a Sunn website and other gear discussion should be occasional at best.
On the other hand, I think in reference to the Sunn era, discussion of comparable period equipment is unavoidable.
And that being said, I can't think of a more appropriate forum for information about Conrad SUN(N)dholm's latest creations.
I would personally like to hear more about his C4 bass pre-amp.
Also, as far as clones go...who cares? As I alluded to in my last post, there really isn't anything that hasn't been done with tube amps, as far as I'm concerned the "magic" is in the execution.

And one more thing, how come everybody but me seems to have this in depth technical knowledge about the amps Mr. Sundholm is building? 

Offline n!k

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Re: Conrad Amps -
« Reply #16 on: October 16, 2007, 08:39:01 pm »
Let's face it, "Sunn" is a dead brand. It's owned by a company who hasn't put any money into it, and even the recent offerings were more like re-branded Fender items. We're like fans of the Brooklyn Dodgers in this forum. Some of us can choose to never watch baseball again because the dodgers are gone and talk about the good 'ol days exclusively, or some of us can celebrate what the Dodgers became (Like Conrad's awesome amps, IMO). Let's not get so angry or hostile about it.
My Sunn Amp:
1971 "Coliseum" Model T (Prototype, Made in Portland)

Offline mratcliffe

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Re: Conrad Amps -
« Reply #17 on: October 17, 2007, 10:18:01 am »
Ok Joe, That was enough for me. I'm tired of hearing your sarcasm and mean tones. Everybody has their opinions.

I'm outa here..............

Offline xsolarusx

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Re: Conrad Amps -
« Reply #18 on: October 17, 2007, 12:35:02 pm »
Let's face it, "Sunn" is a dead brand. It's owned by a company who hasn't put any money into it, and even the recent offerings were more like re-branded Fender items. We're like fans of the Brooklyn Dodgers in this forum. Some of us can choose to never watch baseball again because the dodgers are gone and talk about the good 'ol days exclusively, or some of us can celebrate what the Dodgers became (Like Conrad's awesome amps, IMO). Let's not get so angry or hostile about it.

Wait, the Brooklyn Dodgers aren't a team anymore?!
(2) 73 1st Gen Model T
Late 70's Marshall JCM 800 1960B cab

Offline JoeArthur

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Re: Conrad Amps -
« Reply #19 on: October 17, 2007, 03:11:00 pm »

All of us on this forum love Sunn amps.

All of us acknowledge that Conrad started Sunn amps. He owned it for a while, then he sold it - I'll let him tell you about his profits from the sale.

Some of us love the Sunn amps produced long after Conrad was gone.

What if I were to start a topic about a Fender amp designer whose amps sound as good or better than the classic Sunn amps? Would you be interested?

Dust off your Lita Ford and play it - is she using Sunn amps? No, and it's definitely not Fender that she is using, nor is it Marshall. Some of you may know the maker and know that he is associated with Fender and Rickenbacker as well as his own brand of amps.

I don't mention it because it isn't Sunn.

But Conrad started Sunn you cry - and I answer "Yes he did". But Fender, the current owner, has owned Sunn name longer than Conrad did.

So between Conrad and Fender... Which is really more "Sunn"?

If Conrad wants to produce Fender Tweed clones these days, then I say more power to him. But they are not Sunn, and yes, it bothers me to see them marketed on this site using Conrad's association with Sunn to do so.

So you tell me - while Greg is off seeking permission from tboy...

Is it ok to talk about non-Sunn amps made by Conrad? If so then it should be equally appropriate to talk about amps made by ex-Fender and ex-Rickenbacker employees that emphasize the Sunn sound over the Fender clone sound of an ex-Sunn owner.

Any objection?

Offline JoeArthur

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Re: Conrad Amps -
« Reply #20 on: October 17, 2007, 04:04:11 pm »

Pssst... Conrad....

How did you solve front mounting the speakers for the Orion series - you remember, the solid state amp that was to compete against Acoustic? Acoustic never had any problems with power amps inside speaker cabs blowing/burning up nor any of speaker cones hitting the grille cloth at "maximum excursion" due to front mounted speakers.

A personal question: There is a quote of yours, related to the Orion series - that Acoustics were loud but didn't have the bass response. Have you ever tried a 360?

I love my Orion preamp head... but I have to ask, were there any models of the Aquarius released for general sale? The three control tremolo intrigues me.

Did you ever improve upon the Orion Buzz foot-switching with the Aquarius? Running signal wires to a permanently connected remote  footswitch is rather barbaric even considering 1968 capabilities.

Offline loudthud

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Re: Conrad Amps -
« Reply #21 on: October 17, 2007, 05:28:05 pm »
I think it's really cool that Conrad participates in this site. But let's try to confine the discussion here to Sunn amps. Sooner or later he'll probably have a discussion forum on his site. Until then, let's just politely refer people to him directly or to his MySpace page.

The only thing I think his amps have in common with anything is the tweed era chassis. If I was making combo amps, I'd probably use them too. They are a great time saver not having to mess with mechanical details and you can't beat the price when quantities are small. Some day I hope to open up one of Conrad's amps to see what's inside.

Offline Soundmasterg

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Re: Conrad Amps -
« Reply #22 on: October 17, 2007, 05:31:02 pm »
I think a lot of people here respect Conrad because of what he did with Sunn when he owned it and the products that he created and the sounds that they make. Sure they’re largely Dynaco derived, but that’s ok. He was in the right place at the right time and had some great ideas and here we are. The speaker cabinets were the important and influential component to the sound anyway in my mind, and that was all Conrad there. They’re best suited for bass playing instead of guitar, but that’s just me. The later Sunn products after Conrad sold the company are equally valid too. Sunn made a lot of good products over the years…..basically until Fender got a hold of them anyway. I’ve got a Sunn mixer from the mid 70’s that is great, and Conrad didn’t have anything to do with that. I think it’s pretty cool that someone like Conrad who started a company years ago chooses to spend some of his time talking to people who are interested in those products from years ago. You don’t get that personal interaction with most companies or former company owners.

Personally I’m not at all bothered if topics stray from Sunn to other things. It happens on just about every forum on the net. Sometimes they have separate sections devoted to those type of things and other times not. I think having a separate section here would be beneficial to the community, but we’ll have to wait to see what Tboy says. I’m also not bothered if people talk about his current products because Conrad was a member to this forum years ago before he was even doing his current line of amps, and he shouldn’t have to suddenly stop posting because he now makes a product that doesn’t have anything to do with Sunn. As I said before….you’ll notice that Conrad hasn’t come on here and made a big post and talked about his amps as if he is trying to get everyone to buy them. He’s answered questions about them, and referred people to email or his website when they want to know more. I’ve answered questions from one poster when he had them about the amps because I had something to contribute. You’ve attacked him and I because you are apparently opposed to this site having any subjects not having to do with Sunn on them I guess. Well where does it say that this site will only have posts related to Sunn amps? If it is a problem, then why hasn’t someone come along who is responsible for this site such as tboy and said no-no boys? I think it’s only you that have a problem with other subjects here Joe, and I say get over it. Bring up these other subjects you were talking about too….I’m sure lots of people here would be interested. We are after all mostly musicians and I’ve never met a musician who wasn’t curious about gear of all types.

I still don’t get the reference to tweed fender clones or clones of anything really aside from the look and chassis construction design? Just like any other designer, you take what is known, and you build on it, and add your own twist or tweak, and this is what Conrad has done. This Blues Jammer amp is completely different than the Rocket Vessel amp that he also makes and neither one is a tweed fender clone. I don’t think when people who aren’t associated with Conrad at all ask a question about his products and people answer those questions that you can consider it marketing either. If Conrad come on here and made a blatant sales pitch post and glorified his products and told everyone to go check them out….well I’d have a problem with that and would consider that marketing.

It is probably best if we can get some other section to talk about things like this so we can keep this area strictly to Sunn and head off arguments like we’ve had in the past. Then we can all be happy and move along. You can say that there are other sites devoted to other things such as the regular Ampage area, or AX84, but not all of our community is there. I’m going to wait to see what Tboy says/does about it, but in the meantime, it doesn’t bother me at all to have other subjects on here. Bring up whatever subjects you like Joe.

Greg

Offline Kid Klash

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Re: Conrad Amps -
« Reply #23 on: October 18, 2007, 05:50:34 pm »
So between Conrad and Fender... Which is really more "Sunn"?

Conrad for sure.

I've worked for SUNN on two levels; during the late 60's at the factory in Tualatin with Dick McLeod and Jerry Duffy in the engineering section as a part time draftsman, then in the early 70's when my band was touring and was beta-testing their then new Concert and Coliseum series prototype amps and cabs.  I wound up with some pretty cool gear too, including a beat up amp head that went on tour with Jimi Hendrix and a 2x15 Orion bottom that The Who used when they recorded their "Magic Bus" LP.  If Conrad hadn't helped create  SUNN, none of this would have happened.

Have you ever met Conrad?  Or Leo Fender?  Or Jim Marshall?  Well I have, and they are (or were) all great men in my book, and they all had a huge influence on how popular music was (and still is) created.

And who are you?  What company did you start and what lives (both famous and not so famous) did you touch, guide, or help? 

After reading your posts, you come off like an insecure dickweed.  Shame on you.

Offline mratcliffe

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Re: Conrad Amps -
« Reply #24 on: October 22, 2007, 06:40:28 am »
Ah Yes, and with that said, I can now comment freely on his little blues jammer.

 First thing is the style, I loved the look and the workmanship that went into the cabinet. The top controls and text were facing the the front of the amp, I don't have to crook my head to see what I'm doing. It's the little things that add up. Very easy to use, turn it on and go! No pre-amp outs, no footswitches to mess with. No channel switching patches. Just an amp to make you concentrate on your playing and your tone. Tone is every thing, not gimmiks that mask.

Now for the sound. I am still experimenting but I have all the tone (treble, mid and bass) controls on 6, maybe a touch more bass. The volume and master volume on 7 or 8. I can get any note to sustain with a wonderful, warm sense of distortion. With a little bit of vibrato from ones finger action it will go on forever. Sweet tone all the way. The sound is huge and commanding  and very responsive comming out of one 12 emminence speaker. When you want you can turn the volume down on the guitar (I used a Les Paul Custom) and you get the warmest tone ever. Almost creamy. Perfect for a Jazz flavor if you like.

I then switched to my 71 tele and a little rockabilly, fun stuff. It responds to your playing like no other amp I had without going overboard.

Very, very clear! I was amazed! I now think my blues deville sounds muddy in comparison.

The reverb is set on 1 and has a wonderful room effect, I'm not into the big echo sounds. I use the 4 ohm speaker jack as opposed to the 8 ohm one based on Conrads suggestion. I like the loseness of this a little more. Over all a perfect 10.

The only thing I think I will do is have him build me a matching 1X12 cabinet if he's willing. Thanks Conrad for a great amp!

Mark


Offline Soundmasterg

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Re: Conrad Amps -
« Reply #25 on: October 22, 2007, 03:53:24 pm »
The prototype that Suburban Slim purchased and uses at the jam has a Weber Blue Dog in it if I recall correctly, and I like that combination the best so far out of the others that I've heard. Slim runs the bass around 7, the mids around 5 and the treble around 4, and he's been using an Epiphone LP lately. I like other guitars better than that one as the pickups are a little bit harsh, but the amp really flatters every guitar I've heard or played through it, including my Rickenbackers! The master is around 6 and the volume is around 4 at that jam.

I'm sure Conrad will build you anything you like if you decide to get a speaker cabinet to match.

Greg

Offline sundhy

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Re: Conrad Amps -
« Reply #26 on: October 23, 2007, 11:36:09 pm »
Thank you Mark, for your kind words and appreciation of your new Blues Jammer Amp.

Conrad Sundholm
Great tone my passion.