Author Topic: Orion series and the Allman Brothers  (Read 4453 times)

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Offline loudthud

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Orion series and the Allman Brothers
« on: December 26, 2007, 11:36:57 am »
I thought I'd start a new thread rather than clutter up the famous player thread. From what I've been able to find on the net, the guitar players in the Allman's always used Marshalls. Before their first album was released, they had a Sunn Coliseum PA. One thing I found said that Bassist Berry Oakley used a combination of Sunn and Kasino cabinets. Being that Orion's were so rare, they could have been mistaken for Kasino cabinets. There is info on the Sunn Shack II site about the Orion series from an interview with Conrad.

The picture of Duane shows what could be a Coliseum PA or a 60 watt guitar amp. The cabinet sure looks like an Orion cab because of the extra thickness of the front surround, the chrome corner with a screw on the front and the changing width of the stripes in the grill cloth.

http://www.richbriere.com/Sunn_Shack_2.htm

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=222796

The picture below is from the 1969 Sunn catalog. The Orion was the Bass preamp, the Aquarius was the Guitar preamp. Cabinets were called Power Modules or Speaker Modules depending if they had a power amp (175W) in the back. There were three speaker options. 2x JBL D15S, 2x JBL D140, or 4x 12 inch Sunn Guitar Transducers. Dimensions of the cabinet were 44" high (with castors), 26 1/2 wide, 13 1/2 deep.

Offline jerryjg

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Re: Orion series and the Allman Brothers
« Reply #1 on: December 27, 2007, 05:09:46 pm »
Then that pic i posted from my famous player thread of Duanne Allman , may very well have been Oakleys rig of a Sunn 60watt or Pa head with a Kustom Kasino bottom.
« Last Edit: December 28, 2007, 01:55:09 pm by jerryjg »

Offline meltdown

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Re: Orion series and the Allman Brothers
« Reply #2 on: January 03, 2008, 10:56:54 am »
Through the haze of time, I can somehow remember seeing the Allmans about 3 times.  I know I remember Berry Oakley with an arc of what had to be Orion cabs (vertical vane looking stripes on speaker grill) on stage for two sets at the Atlanta Pop Festival in July of 1970. Does that work for that timeline?  Both times that summer, Duane and Dickie played through Marshall stacks. 
At one Florida festival called Winters End, I believe, Dickie Betts handed his guitar to Johnnie Winter, mid song, and he and Duane Allman tore it up on slide.  It was absolutely large!  I just remember Oakley with lots and lots of Sunn and Marshall for the leads.  I may have seen the Kustom stuff, but know I remember the Sunn/Marshall connection from 1970.  Southern rock never had it so good.....
Sunn 2000S bass head with (2) 2x15 cabs with JBL speakers.  Fender Jazz bass Special is primary bass with a 61 Hofner Cavern Bass as backup.  Also have an Ampeg B-15n flip top amp as well.