2000s Suggestions/Help?

[jordanb]

Hey everyone. I'm new here so bare with me. I don't know a whole lot about older amps since im a high school student...but my high school was throwing out an old sunn 2000s head cuz it was "too big and powerful"... so I talked with some people and they gave it to me with the matching cab for free. YAY. It will put to shame my coliseum-300 amp and cab! Anyway... I just wanted to know if there is anything I should know about this. I know little about this era of equipment. I've been reading other posts and this DOES have the bass boost switch. The back also says it pulls 280 watts. Anyone know the year? I also saw that the speaker jack says its 16 ohm, and i don't know alot about this stuff, so does that mean i can still test this amp out on my 4 ohm sunn cab (the one that goes to the coliseum)  One last quesiton, i've heard alot of talk about recitifiers? Is that worth adding? And where would I find out more info? Anway, thanx u guys!

Jordan

[jordanb]

[Anonymous]

It sounds like your amp is a '69 or '70 or somewhere around there. The bass boost switch came out on the '69 models, although mine was made in February of '69 and doesn't have it. That cabinet you have is hard to come by. The JBL speakers in it are no longer made and are hard to find. I wish I had your cabinet!
I think the amp is meant to use an 8 ohm cabinet usually, or if you use two 8 ohm cabinets, then the total load is 4 ohms. I would suggest to stick with an 8 ohm cabinet, or 16ohm in a pinch, but don't go down to 4 ohms on a single cabinet or the amp ends up working much harder than it should.
Greg

[RichBriere]

Dear Jordan,

As you can see, you're completely surrounded by OLD guys who are all salivating over your amp. You're probably not aware of this but there are laws in some states, perhaps yours, that clearly state that you must be at least 45 years old in order to have a SUNN 2000S rig. Therefore, in order to keep you out of jail and keep your "record" clean, I'll pay you TWICE what YOU paid for the amplifier.  

Why would I be so kind to you without actually knowing you? Because I'm such a nice guy. Let me know when it would be convenient for me to stop by.  

Bass-ically Yours,
RB

[jordanb]

i just went a picked up the cab today. i havent tested it out yet but i cracked it open and it appears to have the original jbls in it rated at 16 ohm. If these speakers need replacing where would i go to find  em? I don't think I've ever seen 16 ohm speakers before  Anway, im really interested about this solid state recitifier dealio thats always talked about. Where do i foind more info on that?

on a side note, its kind of funny that i noticed today the cab with the head on top is not much shorter than i

[Soundmasterg]

Jordan, those are two 16 ohm speakers wired in parallel for a total load of 8 ohms for the whole cabinet. I would play it and see how it sounds. If the speakers are blown, you will be able to hear it. If you need them repaired, I would suggest to send them to Ted Weber of Webervst. He is the recognized expert on speakers for the most part and a great guy. Want to sell your cabinet??? I'm interested!! Or if the speakers are blown, I'm also interested in them too!

The solid state rectifier deal is just wiring up solid state rectifiers instead of the tube ones. It gives you a little more voltage and a tighter bottom end. Good for bass...probably bad for guitar. It isn't too hard to wire up a couple diodes or a bridge rectifier or two, but it isn't safe if you know nothing about working on high voltage tube amps. Check out the Webervst bbs and also the ampage bbs for more info on the solid state rectifiers. I put the links below.


Hey Rich, I'm 30...so i guess I don't fit your age requirements either to have my 2000S head. But then I used to own a PERFECT 200S head and cabinet that I sold to get an SVT. Does the fact that I used to own a classic Sunn give me an exception and now own one again give me an exception to your rule??
Greg

http://www.firebottle.com/ampage/
http://www.webervst.com/vstbbs/bbs.html
http://www.webervst.com/

[made by hand]

well,  the sunn amp god smiled down on you..owning a 2000s with cab is like owning the holy grail of amps..i've owned a 2000s with,,ok guys..you can smack your lips...with the two cabs for almost 30 years..ya..this amp does blow the balls off the wallpaper..it i ..the t-rex of bass amps..and you own one...the other guy that left a post missed the age mark..you have to be in your early 50's to have such a prized amp from our early bass playing days....when i die ,the amp comes with me..as far as any mods you have to do to your amp, make sure the tech you bring it to isn't a hacker....hte rec mods will make your amp work great...if your speakers are buzzing you can have a speaker tech put in the jbl kits to bring them back to life,,,hey there son...you have your self a keeper..it's and amp you can admire through your whole life, even ifyou don't play that much anymore,,,,BOB HAND WILMINGTON, MASS.

[jordanb]

i tried it out and the speakers sound great, but after about 15 minutes it (the head) started to smell a little "smokey". So i shut it off and i'm gonna open it up to make sure im not frying anything, but I wanted to know if dust on the tubes would make smoke and what else might cause it. I've smelled burning wires before and it doesn't smell like that, but then again i don't know what the insulation on these wires are made of and if its cloth insulation then i have no idea what that would smell like.

[made by hand]

well, take the amp out of the cabinet..plug in and run it and see if you see anything smoking...if you do...just bring it to an amp tech...hey! that's what he does...if you were scooping icecream for a living....i would go to you for a cone...yummy...if my amp was cooking....i take it to a tech...how simple is that....don't goof with anything that will you haven't stuck your face into....you have a nice amp there,,,let the amp wizz take care of it ...you won't be sorry but you will if you start to dink around in there.....please......be nice to your amp......BOB.....

[Soundmasterg]

Hey Jordan, if a tube amp hasn't been used for awhile, it can smell a little bit. If the tubes are dusty it can do that too. If you get one of those compressed air sprays, you can spray all the dust out of the chassis, although be careful if you are doing that inside the area where all the electronic parts are.
Also, if you are going to take the head out of the frame and take a look inside where the electronics are, be VERY careful. There are voltages in there that can kill you if you accidentally touch the wrong place. Best idea would be spray the area around the tubes with the air to clean it up, and if it still stinks a bit too much for you, then take it to a tech and have the tech check the amp out for you. Until you learn how to work on tube amps with the high voltage hey always have, you should be extremely careful or you could end up on the wrong side of 500-600 volts and be dead.

My best guess is that the amp has just been sitting awhile and needs to be played.

greg

[jordanb]

thanks for all the help guys. I got the names of a couple local guys that siad they would help me out with the amp. I'll let you know how it turns out. Also, i went back up to the school and found a (69?) Fender Bandmaster head with matching cabs (cab + extension cab). It has the silver faceplate. If i get it working is anyone interested in it (even though this is the sunn board?). I also have a (63?) Fender Bassman head and matching cab a guy gave to me. It needs some work but if anyones interested...

[etnieboy]

I'd probably be interested in either of the Fenders if the price is right.

[Dutchman]

What the hell kind of high school is this???  If you're from Oregon, I'm pretty sure that makes this is amplifier equivalent of the movie "Goonies".

-Ryan

[made by hand]

HAS THIS KID MADE AN AMP TOUCHDOWN OR WHAT ?