Author Topic: 1967 Prototype Sunn 100S, Hendrix, West/Papalardi/Who----Woodstock Sunn Amps  (Read 182 times)

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Offline ampking300

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I just bought this Prototype 1967 Sunn 100S, Small Box, 4 Power Tubes, Massive Dynaco A-451 OT-----3 PT Mounts snapped, What To Do?---History and Photos To Come, If This Forum Let's Me? For some reason this site is not letting me post photos.  All my photos are JPEG which I understand is the same as JPG, Anyone here know what's up? Thanks, Ray.---

OK, I will await some good Sunn persons reply regarding posting photos, in the mean time let me tell you a little about myself and this specific amp. I have been collecting/playing/repairing vintage amps/speakers/cabs for 57 years. I have owned over 4,000 pieces in that time, most that I ever had at one time was about 800 pieces. I started selling my huge collection about 25 years ago. I specialized in early serial #'ed/prototype models of just about every amp company, but mostly, Fender, Ampeg, Sunn, Acoustic and Kustom amps. Most of the Ampeg amps in the Hopkins/Moore Ampeg book are mine. I knew a lot of the older Ampeg techs, Jess Oliver, Denis Kager, Ken Fischer and Gene Andre, all RIP. I also knew John Teagle and John Sprung who wrote the Fender book. Teagle, RIP, used many of my amps for his column in many of the older VG Mag title including one in Feb. 1999 about Sunn amps.

OK, enough about me, let me tell you about this 100S and the other 5 that are similar. I had a phone conversation with Conrad about 35 years ago regarding his very first 6 amps that he built and 6 of these small box, 4 power tube amps. The very first 6 models were all top mounted, smiley faced logo models, BUT, have the very distinctive white grill cloth, which was the exact same grill cloth that Jess Oliver used on his early PowerFlex Model 500 amps and the same grill was used on the 1968 Coral speaker cabinets made by Danelectro. I saw one of these models at a Philly show about 23 years ago. It looked like the vertical cab models that Norm and Mitchell used in the Kingsmen. The more common bluish grill cloth was used after these 6 early models and used right up until very late '69/early1970. I heard that it eventually sold for 3K about a year after this show.

Going back to the phone conversation with Conrad he told me that he made these 6 small box 120 watt heads because JH and a few others needed more power at the time , in order to play larger venues. He said that Buck Munger was in charge of these 6 amps which were 2 Coliseum PA model, one 200S, one 100S, One Spectrum I and one Spectrum II. I have seen one of the Spectrums on Ebay about 15 years ago, it needed a lot of electrical work as owner was getting shocked. I owned one Coliseum, which I sold to Al Romano, a guitar student of Leslie West and a collector of gear used by famous players. I also sold Al about 15 of my Sunn Rigs. Conrad stated that these 6 amps were being used by the JHE, Mountain and The Who, probably some lesser known bands also. JH did not like these Sunn amps and switched to Marshalls,BUT, JH gave/sold these amps to LW/FP of Mountain and both Leslie and Felix really liked them. I believe that these are the actual amps that they used at Woodstock. The Who may have used these amps also. Anyway, has anyone seen the small box 200S, with the 4 power tubes, dual rectifiers and Dynaco A-451 OT?

Any ideas on fixing the PT mounts on my 100S?---hopefully some one here on this forum will guide in getting some photos posted, thanks for reading, listening and any ideas, Ray and all have Great Holidays AND, as my good Sunn friend, Bob Hand says,"May The Sunn Shine On You "

Edited by Loudthud to improve readability.
« Last Edit: December 23, 2024, 04:20:53 pm by loudthud »

Offline loudthud

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First of all, please organize your text into paragraphs separated by a couple of carriage returns to break it up and make it easier to read. I have done so above as an example.

Reply:

As for fixing the transformers, here's what I would do. Try to find a new pair of end bells. These are the parts that are broken. This will require you to remove the four Screws or bolts that hold the end bells to the laminations. But first, you need to carefully measure the distance between the screw centers so that new end bells can be found. The easiest thing to do would be to contact a transformer manufacturer to see if they will sell you a new pair of bells. Those four screws are very tight and hard to remove. A nut driver or socket wrench are suggested.

There may be a restriction on posting attachments for new members. I have looked through the settings and didn't see anything, but there is quite a mountain of stuff to look through. The spammers don't seem to have any restrictions and post pictures in their posts that I delete. Try to keep your attachments small, less than 1 megabyte.
« Last Edit: December 23, 2024, 04:23:07 pm by loudthud »

Offline ampking300

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Loudthud, thank you for arranging my post in a more easy to read manner, I do appreciate it and your advise on the PT bell covers. I will contact Mercury Magnetics or Hammond to see if they have any that will fit this beast. I will be testing the PT after the Holidays as at least one of the primary leads has been severed, all secondary leads look good, but I won't really be able to tell until I remove the chassis which is a real PITA. This is the 2nd time that I am typing this as I tried to post 6 photos and I was cancelled out. I will just send this without photos as I had to with my first post, which I had to retype 4x's. Hopefully in the near future I will be able to post photos, thanks, Ray.

Offline loudthud

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Mercury or Hammond will probably try to sell you a new transformer :) Heyboer is a manufacturer that is quite popular with amp builders. Many of their offerings are custom so they may be willing to work with you to find a solution.

Link: https://www.heyboertransformers.com/

Here's a link to a page on the Hoffman site that has tips to reduce file size of photos. You may have to join the forum if this link doesn't work for you.

Link: https://el34world.com/Forum/index.php?topic=464.0

This forum is kind of old and doesn't handle large pictures very well. Sometimes I have to download pictures and use Windows picture viewer because pictures can be twice the size of my screen.
« Last Edit: December 23, 2024, 05:10:04 pm by loudthud »

Offline ampking300

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Loudthud, than you for all this info.. I have tried downsizing my photos, which are basically all the same size and in my Photos section on my computer. It still states that they cannot accept these types of files??. I am a bit of a dinosaur, so I will ask one of my buddies , who is much more computer savvy than I am, how to downsize these photos so that perhaps they can finally be posted, thanks and stay tuned, All Have Great Holidays, Ray. 

Offline loudthud

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What type of computer are you running ?

The forum only allows certain file types as attachments to protect itself. If your file doesn't have an extension type of  txt, doc, pdf, jpg, gif, mpg, png, mp3, aac , it won't be allowed. There is no "basically the same as" files allowed. Try changing the files extension.

Offline ampking300

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I have an Apple computer and all my photos are JPEG and sized from 3.5 to 5.2 something?? They are all in my Photos sections on my computer and not in any separate files as I don't know how to do that. As stated in my last post, I will ask one of my local buddies, who is much more computer savvy than I am, to see if he can either do this for me or at least guide me thru it. My back went out pretty good this morning so it might have to wait a week or so, a lot of rest is needed for this Old Amp Guy, Thanks again, Ray.

Offline Isaac

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If your goal is to return the transformer to like-new condition, then what I'm going to say will have no value, but I'm going to say it anyway!

Back in the mists of time, I was a poor rock'n'roller. I played through a Sunn Sceptre head whose transformer had deteriorated to the point that it flopped around if I wasn't careful when moving it. It was held in place by only one screw.

Not being able to afford a new amp or a new transformer, I got creative. I got some perforated metal hanger tape, wrapped that around the xfmr and bolted it to the chassis. That held it in place for the rest of the time I had the amp. It wasn't pretty, but it wasn't visible from the front.

Isaac

Offline ampking300

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Isaac, thank you for your reply and idea about wrapping and bolting the transformer, I will give that some consideration as I want to keep the PT original, IF, it is still operational. I will test the PT after the Holidays. Once I test and find all readings OK, I will try to either get new bell cover ends, or, if that fails, try, to weld/install new L brackets as I did to the Coliseum PA model that I had about 30 years ago. The only thing that I remember when I did that repair is that I did use new L brackets and bolted them to the PT bottom mounts and chassis. I don't remember if I drilled the bottom of the bell covers, just too long ago. I will let all know how I made out after the New Year. Thanks for your ideas and All Have A Great Christmas, Ray.