Sunn.......AND????

[RichBriere]

Just a friendly reminder. As of last count, this thread had 226 views but only 13 responses. If the OTHER 213 of you "lurkers" could post any little thing sometime this evening, it would make for a nice start to the NEW Year.  

Bass-ically Yours,
Rich

www.richbriere.com

PS: Sample question:  Your ULTIMATE SUNN dream acquisition........if you could find the Sunn of your dreams, what would it be??

[Bill K.]

Hi Rich, Glad to see you back, and Happy New Year! Still have the twin 2000s rig (thanks to you) as well as an SVT. Still playing my '66 P bass. Also a '68 EB3, a '74 Ripper and a '80's Steinie. Oh yeah I have a Sorado rig that my pal Rob thinks he's gonna buy! I love the sound of those two 2000s beasts hooked together! Had the JBLs reconed. Regrilled heads and cabs, retubed, recapped re re re! Yeah baby! They look and sound brand new! We are still looking for a guitar player, then I'll unleash some smooth low frequencies on the unsuspecting. Bill K.

[Babs]

I'll add my $0.02 here....

I bought my one and only Sunn amp, a 1973 Concert Bass, in the early 80's. I used a custom 1x15 cabinet loaded with a JBL D140F. My father and I built the cabinet which was loosly based on a Music Man design. It is a ported design with the port running the length of the cab at the bottom. It worked very nice! I played a mid-70's P-Base through this rig.

I was in a country rock band at the time (Skinard, Allman Bros., Molly Hatchet, etc). We played parties, beer tents and dances for about 3 years. Having found this group makes me want to do some jammin! Its been a long time... too long.

I posted a thread not too long ago about my adventures in resurrecting the head. I plugged it in recently only to find it had serious noise problems. Cutting to the chase, I used advise from this group and refurbished the head. Now it sounds great!

I am very interested in finding a Sunn tube head for Bass. From what I have read it seems almost any Sunn head will do, depending on power needs. I am surprised to see nothing compiled in one place that discusses the recommended uses for each type of head and their pros, cons, tone, etc. Some information is available across the web, but not in one convenient place and it's limited! Maybe I can start a new project with everyone's help!

That's my story.

[RichBriere]

Babs......good luck on your project......and I'm sure that you'll find what you're looking for.

I'll be adding some more stuff to the "Sunn Shack" in the near future as I'm now finding that I have a "bit more free time".

Feel free to stop by anytime and see if there's anything that you can use.

PS: I'd recommend a Sunn 200S with your cab. It should sing like a bird.

Bass-ically Yours,
Rich Briere
www.richbriere.com

[RichBriere]

Bill K........good to hear from you, my friend. Hey, do me a favor?? Before you crank up those 2000S stacks, please make sure that you call ahead to the Earthquake Information Center. We wouldn't want them thinking that there was a fault of some kind opening up in your state.  Glad that you're enjoying them sir!  

Bass-ically Yours,
RB

www.richbriere.com

[mastercaster]

Hi Rich & company,

I'm a bass player and tube amp wannabe.  I use a '77 PBass with a Fralin jazz pickup in the bridge with the orginal fender p pickups and a blend pot.  I also use a stock '73 Ric, 4001 mapleglow.  My gig rig is a Sunn 1500S (68) with Tung Sol 6550's into an EV B410 cab, and a '74 Sunn Model T with Svetlana KT88's (priced matched quads of Tung Sols lately?) into a single 15 TL cab EV loaded.  I use a Sansamp bass DI for one feed into the board and I mic the 410 with a Shure beta 57.  I use an early Sunn 200S into a single 12 TL cab at home... what else.... oh, dbx compressors and EV eliminator floor monitor.  Killer stuff indeed.

[skippy]

i started like everybody with crap that had no brand name.  in 78 i bought a hagstrom swede bass, (big, heavy les paul looking) followed in 79 by a sunn beta bass combo with an offset 215 cab.  i joined the air force in 85 and sold the amp to a freind(he still hass and uses it for local gigs on a regular basis), i should'a kept it though.  after a few years of not playing, i got an old concert bass head and a 215b cab.  sorry to say the head had problems and after a few repairs finally fried beyound repair.  i am currently using a 140watt hartke head with the 215b.  i had the chance to pick up a decent beta head for 150.00, unfortunately not the 150.00.  oh well, i WILL find another.  i bought my first sunn because i was, and still am a big chris squire (yes) fan.  i've played everything from country to hard rock to classic rock to gospel and always sounded good.  let the SUNN always shine in your house.

[FranF]

Hey Rich! And hello to everyone else. Just joined a few days ago, and already got some help from the resident pros. In a nutshell, I'm just down the road in the Scranton PA area. Own the aforementioned '74 Concert, along with my bought-new '78 Concert rig. Still love em! Ampwise, I also have a '66 Ampeg B-15N, '67 Kustom 200B with two JBL D-140s in Aqua Sparkle, '71 Acoustic 150b, '73 Acoustic 140, '68 Vox Kensington, '00 Vox T-25, '94 Peavey T-Max, '98 Genz Benz 210T-CC.  Basses: '60 Precision, '74 Precision, '82 Vint. '57P, '91 Vint. '51P, '83 Vint. '62 Jazz, '00 Hofner 500/1V62, '94 Hofner Cavern, '91 Rick 4001 Chris Squire, '98 Danelectro Longhorn 58, Upright of unknown origin, '73 Ovation Balladeer guitar.
   I play every weekend in a classic rock cover band, and get together with a separate bunch to record originals. We get occasional airplay down in NEPA. By day I'm an electrician/project coordinator for one of the local hospitals. Still listen to "The Whale" at times, and shop and dine (Olive Garden!) in Vestal frequently. Spent LOTS of time playing in the Southern Tier clubs in the 70s-80s. Popeye's comes to mind, plus many others. Worked with Music Star Agency in Binghamton for quite awhile too. Tom's an old friend. I think I played in every town off I-81 and I-90 during those days!  This is a cool place ya got! I hope everyone can help me get my sick '74 Concert working again. I really miss it!

[RichBriere]

Well Fran....you're just down the road a piece....we're neighbors! Welcome, and thanks for your post. You'll probably hear from a few other guys who are from the great State of PA. .......... there are some good ones.

Anyone here from Massachusetts, by chance?

I agree, we owe a lot to our Moderator/Founder for keeping such a nifty place for us to hang out.  

Sounds like you've got some pretty nifty gear...............and also sounds like you enjoy it.........life is good!  

Bass-ically Yours,
RB

www.richbriere.com

[Fred Cook]

OK Rich, I’ll play.

Back in 1967, when I was in high school, I bought a SUNN because I didn’t want a Fender. It was a beautiful Solarus, the faux piggy back, all-in-one amp. The beast sounded amazing with my Gibson Trini Lopez Standard. Possibly because it has less of a midrange dip, chords simply sounded orchestral. At the end of high school, I loaned the amp to a friend to keep for the summer. Somehow, it never came back.

Last year, I got a lead on a SUNN Sceptre through this forum and bought the beast. After a long series of adventures, I finally got all of the pieces to Venezuela. Since then I have been cleaning and polishing it, playing with the tube set, and simply enjoying the rather unique sound. It is a pain to lug to gigs and it is almost embarrassing to show up with a 4x12 today, but nobody ever complains about the sound and I don’t have to lift weights at the gym!

My daughter went to Cornell, so for a few years, I used to drive right past your shack! Stay warm!

Foto of Sunn with security system: http://www.pbase.com/image/6106645

[RichBriere]

Holy Mackeral Fred........that baby is gorgeous!!  You've, obviously, spent a few hours cleaning that gem!

How much of it has been replaced?  The grill cloth looks like you could eat off of it...........although I'd pass on trying to do that if the dog happened to be in the same room.

Welcome to the Playhouse.........and thanks for participating.  

Cornell is a wonderful place..........the Lady of my Life is a Rocket Scientist over there.

Bass-ically Yours,
RB

[RichBriere]

Hey Mastercaster..........Sounds like you're enjoying the world of Sunn as well. It's great having you guys responding to my plea for social-ism.

Fred........great site.......I really enjoyed it.......and my best to Denise please. :^>)

Question to all: Do Sunn owners tend to have a thing for Rickenbackers too? I'm noticing that the Ric name appears quite a bit here.

Bass-ically Yours,
RB

[Fred Cook]

Rich,

The saga of the cleaning of the Sceptre is in the forum in the post "Comin' Clean."

The task was made easier by the fact that the previous owner went to great lengths to take care of the beast. (Thank you!)

All is original except for the rubber feet on the speaker cab, one was broken so I replaced them all.

Gotta get one of those paint pens as I took a little too much paint off of one of the knobs.

[acoustic360]

Well, okay Rich, since you asked: I run a Fender Pbass with an Acoustic 360, both bought new in 1970. Nowadays, though, as with many of you, the big old beast just is too much to cart around, as well as being overkill for most jobs. ( I don't play in cavernous places anymore!) I am in the process of fixing up a "gimme" Peavey TNT130 for practices and small venues, but can already tell that it has its limitations, and will need augumentation from time to time. Am negotiating a purchase of two JBL E140's, which I intend to power with a Crown DC300A, and would like to build twin cabs on the 1x15 Sunn 200S design. I have posted a request for anyone that can supply diagrams for these just this evening, and am hoping someone out there can help me out! Remember, you will be helping to remove an Acoustic from use, and adding (sort of) a Sunn design in it's place!