Is there any available replacement for the origina

[mike]

I was wondering if its possible to get replacement grille cloth of the woven angled pattern type used on Sunn amps through the end of '68?  I contacted Smart Parts, and they gave me a non-answer to the extent that they only supply materials for the new Fender reissues.  OK, whatever, the Fender-esque rectangular pattern can be found anyway at most speaker-builder specialty shops. Who was the manufacturer of the old stuff, did they go out of business, or did they just stop making that pattern? Or did Sunn want a "new look for a new decade" sort of thing? The reason I'm a bit hyper about it is if I'm trying to fix up/restore a cabinet, I'd like to at least keep it time-period correct. If you had a 200s head with the angled pattern, and wanted to replace the matching cabinet cloth, it would look kinda funny with the later stuff, doncha think? Is there any NOS material out there? Also, is there any correlation with the change in look and change in electronics, such as the switching from tube to solid state rectifiers? Sorry if I'm tweeking on this...just wanted to know!  

[Conrad Sundholm]

: I was wondering if its possible to get replacement grille cloth of the woven angled pattern type used on Sunn amps through the end of '68?  I contacted Smart Parts, and they gave me a non-answer to the extent that they only supply materials for the new Fender reissues.  OK, whatever, the Fender-esque rectangular pattern can be found anyway at most speaker-builder specialty shops. Who was the manufacturer of the old stuff, did they go out of business, or did they just stop making that pattern? Or did Sunn want a "new look for a new decade" sort of thing? The reason I'm a bit hyper about it is if I'm trying to fix up/restore a cabinet, I'd like to at least keep it time-period correct. If you had a 200s head with the angled pattern, and wanted to replace the matching cabinet cloth, it would look kinda funny with the later stuff, doncha think? Is there any NOS material out there? Also, is there any correlation with the change in look and change in electronics, such as the switching from tube to solid state rectifiers? Sorry if I'm tweeking on this...just wanted to know!

Mike:
The grille cloth used on the early Sunn Amps was manufactured by Mellotone.  I don't know if they are still in business.  Most guitar players looking for the "bluesy" sound prefer the GL34 tube rectifiers.

Conrad Sundholm

[Conrad Sundholm]

: I was wondering if its possible to get replacement grille cloth of the woven angled pattern type used on Sunn amps through the end of '68?  I contacted Smart Parts, and they gave me a non-answer to the extent that they only supply materials for the new Fender reissues.  OK, whatever, the Fender-esque rectangular pattern can be found anyway at most speaker-builder specialty shops. Who was the manufacturer of the old stuff, did they go out of business, or did they just stop making that pattern? Or did Sunn want a "new look for a new decade" sort of thing? The reason I'm a bit hyper about it is if I'm trying to fix up/restore a cabinet, I'd like to at least keep it time-period correct. If you had a 200s head with the angled pattern, and wanted to replace the matching cabinet cloth, it would look kinda funny with the later stuff, doncha think? Is there any NOS material out there? Also, is there any correlation with the change in look and change in electronics, such as the switching from tube to solid state rectifiers? Sorry if I'm tweeking on this...just wanted to know!

Mike:
The grille cloth used on the early Sunn Amps was manufactured by Mellotone.  I don't know if they are still in business.  Most guitar players looking for the "bluesy" sound prefer the GL34 tube rectifiers.

Conrad Sundholm

[Tom Loizeaux]

Explain more about "woven angled cloth".
As far as I know Sunn used a darker gray with silver grille cloth in the early years and changed to a black/white with silver cloth in the late '60s. Which one do you need? This later cloth is similar to Fender's "blackface" cloth and is mounted with the rectangles in the vertical position. I can maybe help you find this.
The GZ34 rectifier tube uased in early Sunns provided a slight compression and a gradual tube warm-up. They switched to silicon diode rectifiers which provided a little more power, especially under spike demands. They listed, for example, the 200S with the GZ34 as 60 watts and the same head with the solid state rectifier as the 190B with 90 watts.

Tom