200s cabinet speakers

[fatlizzard]

I have what appears to be a 200s bass cabinet however the speakers say
JBL D15s are these versions of D 140 or D 130 that were made by JBL
specifically for Sunn?

[Isaac]

I think so. That fits with my recollection.

[loudthud]

According to the 1969 Sunn catalog, your cabinet is from a Sentura II, a 60 watt guitar amp with reverb and tremolo. Bass amps that year came with D140F's. There was a D130F plus a horn in the 100S and sound systems came with JBL 130AS (no D). The 1000S came with two D15S in a larger cabinet. In the Inovations section at the beginning of the catalog it says, "The major attributes of the D15S are its power handling capabilities and superb efficiency. Power loads of 200 watts RMS are handled with ease by a pair of D15S speakers." That's all the info I have. By 1972 the only mention of JBL is as an option (1x15) in the Solos II. Try to find one of those !!! I wish this site had a more comprehensive catalog section.

[fatlizzard]

Thanks for the info!!!!! do you know if this cab. is the same as a 200x except for the speakers? I am also looking at a sunn 3-12" cab. do you know what these originally came with and how it would sound for bass,
I ues a concert bass head with the 200s cab and am thinking of using my concert slave with the 3-12 cab.if i get it for larger gigs.
Thanks again for any info!!!!!

[Isaac]

The 312S came with 3 12" Sunn Transducers. Nothing particularly special about those drivers, as I recall. They weren't designed for bass, as such, but some people used them that way. They should be able to handle the power output of a Concert Slave, even at bass frequencies. You're not going to get a huge amount of low end out of that cabinet, though, I think.

[loudthud]

A 200S cabinet is 42" high (including wheels) 24" wide and 15" deep. The insides look like:

http://www.dangpow.com/~sunn/schematics/foldinghornr.gif

In 1972 Sunn was supporting a Mix & Match philosophy where you picked a head and speaker to suit your needs. The 312S could be used with any head, one or two could be used with a Concert Bass Amp for bass or guitar. Probably not much bottom end but strong midrange. With the optional Vega speakers, the cabinet becomes a 312V. Either way it was rated at 180 watts RMS @ 6 ohms. Enjoy ...

[Anonymous]

Yep! Its a 200s just loaded with the D15s speakers instead of the D140 speakers. Thanks for the clairification on the dimensions, I've seen brochures showing the 200s as being 42" tall but nothing that said including castors, I thought I had a freak cabinet. I think I'll jump on the
3-12 cab. being as I can pick it up cheap!!!!!!!!!! Maybe I'll throw some JBL
12's in it,my prefered bass is an old Gibson EB1 which is quite muddy through the 200s perhaps the 12's will add a little definition!
one other question,do you know if the 3-12 cab should be the same height as the 200s?
Thanks!!!!!

[Isaac]

Yes, almost all of the Sunn cabinets of that period had the same dimensions, the 412S being one of the few exceptions. There was also a 410S that was 24"x24".

[loudthud]

The exception that I was thinking of was the 67 or 68 Spectrum II cabinets that were 38x24x11.5 with offset D130F's. No reverb or tremolo on that model. What impedance are the D15S's ? I think Sunn was using 16 ohm speakers for a while in some cabinets. Some of the old tube heads were wired for 16 or 8 ohms and some were wired for 8 or 4 ohms. When you plugged into the "Extention" jack a mechanism on the jack switched to the lower impedance tap on the output transformer. This might become an issue if you try to run both cabinets off of one Concert head. Using a Concert Slave to run the second cabinet would be good because you could control the balance between the two. Also be aware that the 312S used 16 ohm speakers. With 8 ohm JBL's your cabinet impedance would be 2.66 ohms, too low for most vintage amps. As I recall, Concert series heads did not have any current limiting on the output transistors. You would have to step up the a Coliseum head which has current limiting and can run a 2 ohm load.

[fatlizzard]

Yes the D15s speakers are 16 ohm so the cab. is 8 wired in paralell, I dont know how the 312s cab. is wired but the plate on the back shows its a 6 ohm cabinet, (2 in paralell 1 in series or 2 in series and 1 paralell ?)
I may just leave the sunns in it and see how it sounds or thy to find JBL's with matching impediance

[loudthud]

The 312S is actually 5.333 ohms, that's 16/3, or three 16 ohm speakers all in parallel. Any other way would cause one speaker to get twice as much power as the others. I don't know why they called it 6 ohms. You'll want to at least try it with the Sunn speakers and go from there. 16 ohm speakers aren't impossible to find, just harder than 8 ohm. Good luck !

[Anonymous]

Picked up the 3-12 cab today,It seems to sound pretty good for bass
I pulled one of the speakers out to see what they are,all they say is sunn
transducer,no other identification on the speaker,I think I'll leave them in
and see how they sound live, I'll be using my 200s cab with the concert bass and the 3-12 cab. with the concert slave,they should sound good together!

[fatlizzard]

Just a note, I saw Mountain yesterday and met Leslie West after the show,
I was wearing a Sunn shirt and one of the first things he said is that he used to use Sunn amps.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Isaac]

Damn straight he did. I saw him many years ago, and I think he still was then. 76, 77, 78, something like that.

Damn, can that boy play.