According to the Fall '94 issue of "Guitar Shop" which did a feature on surviving Hendrix gear, some of the Sunn equipment used by J. H. included a 200s(60 watt head), a Spectrum II head(rated at 120 watts with four 6550 power tubes, but contained in a 60 watt style(24" wide) head/chassis, two 4x12" cabs with a "staggered" speaker array(to fit the 24" width of the cabinet), and a 2x15" 200s cabinet. If you go to Rich Briere's website via the link at the bottom of the main page here, there are reprints of a series of articles featured in "Vintage Guitar" from a couple of years ago concerning the history of Sunn amps, including a further rundown of the Hendrix/Sunn connection. Hendrix also used an early tube Colisseum P.A. head, which, like the Spectrum, was a 120w amp in a 60w sized chassis(these must have generated some heat!), as well as 15" speaker/high frequency horn type cabs. If you look at past issues of "Experience Hendrix" magazine, as well as the booklets from the current CD titles, you can find photos of the JHE circa '68 with all sorts of Sunn gear in the backline. Sometimes that's all Jimi used on tour, as his Marshalls were not available, or couldn't be shipped to the gig in time. Unfortunately, Sunn amps did not work out too well for the sound Jimi needed; although bassist Noel Redding was extremely pleased with the 200s and later 2000s bass rigs, the properties of what makes a great bass amp did not translate to the guitar amps, and Jimi found that they were too "clean" sounding. Hendrix later "badmouthed" the Sunn amps he used, but I believe he didn't fully understand the technical nature of why they sounded the way they did(6550 tubes don't break up until they're really pushed, and then at that point, it's a raspy unmusical distortion...unlike the EL34 tubes found in Marshalls with break up early into a "creamy"--no pun intended--buzz). This is why 6550's are superior tubes for bass amps. Also, I have a feeling that Sunn's Artist Relations guy at the time might have been a bit over-zealous in enticing Hendrix to use Sunn, and got on Jimi's nerves! Suffice it to say, Noel Redding's early use of the 200s amps provided field testing that led to the higher wattage 2000s monsters, one of the ultimate tube bass amps ever!
