Anyone know what year this is?

[Johnny71]

  I just got a Sunn Coliseum - 300 head. My first Sunn. It sounds and looks great. The guy I got it from said it was somewhere between 1979 and 1982. Is there a way to find out from the serial number?

[bigobassman]

Hey Johnny - welcome to the forum.  I have the same head and asked basically the same question probably a year or so ago.  Based upon the answers that I got.  Serial number is pretty much useless in dating.  A lot of guess work with input by several on here and the idea was probably between '77-'82 give or take.  While some didn't particularly care for it, I really like mine.  It's one of the top 4 of my favorite heads and I've used it a bunch over the years.  If you want to read the whole thread, you can go to my profile and go to probably page 4 of the thread count for me and look around.  Part of the discussion was around what cabs were used with it too.  Enjoy.   

[jaybird]

I have a similar Coliseum 300, except it has the red Sunn logo, which I think came later, like '85 or so, different tolex, and the strap handle is on the left-hand side...  I've also seen them with a totally different typeface for "Sunn". But yeah, I like mine quite a bit - I play it through a Fender/Sunn 215 and it sounds killer.

[Johnny71]

Thanks Bassman and Jaybird. So I'm looking to get some cabs made for this head. Is the head safe at 2 ohms? I'm thinking of getting a 15 with an 8 - 500 watts or so @ 4 ohms and then 2-10s for larger shows @ 4 ohms - black tolex. My speaker guy is a bit concerned about the 2 ohms - he doesn't want the head to fry. Any thoughts? 

[Isaac]

I'm not familiar with that particular head, but the Coliseum series in general is stable into 2 ohm loads.

[bigobassman]

Yes Johnny71 - the 300 Coliseum is a 2 ohm head.   Enjoy.