Help identify my Sunn amp make model

[dniels]

Hello from a new poster.

I'm a bass player.  I bought a Sunn amp used while I was in college in 1967.  I think it was pretty new, the guy I bought it from still had payments remaining on it.  I've used it for decades, literally.  Stopped using it about 15 years ago as newer technology (read, "lighter" and less bulky) gave me the same output.  I have had it in the closet for a long time with a bunch of my old stuff that I can't seem to part with (an original '63 Jazz Bass I bought new, a '69 EBO bought new, an early 60's Ampeg B15, two blond Bassman heads, a blackface Bassman head bought new the first year of production, etc.).  I need to get rid of some of that stuff.  I know the make/models etc. of my other stuff; I need to know the made/model of my Sunn amp.

i think it's a 200S, but the head doesn't look like the 200S's pictured on the sites (their controls are on the front).  My controls are on top, near the back; there are two unmarked input jacks on the back of the head, two for speaker cabs and two for inputs.  The cab looks like those in the pictures, with 2 JBL D-140F's, still original and still killer!  I keep all of my stuff covered in climate-controlled areas.  The serial number inside the back of the head is #1339.  I think it's a 1965 or earlier.

Does anyone know what I have and where I can find a general value of the amp and cab?  I don't want to give it away.

Thanks.

Doug N.

[stanner]

thats a pretty BIG closet

[loudthud]

Does it look the the amp in this thread with pictures starting on page 2?

http://sunn.ampage.org/sdp/index.php/topic,3818.0.html

Those are pretty rare and the cabinets are ultra rare with the paisley tolex and smiley badge.   The actual model was just something like 240-B-60 or something like that. Check to see if the speakers have consecutive serial numbers.

[Isaac]

Wasn't that simply called the Sunn Amp?

[loudthud]

Wasn't that simply called the Sunn Amp?

The 1966 brochure had model numbers associated with the different amps. I've never seen the numbers on any of the amps or cabs. I only found one page and the cover in the Brochures section of this site. Here's a link:

http://sunn.ampage.org/site/brochures/230-b-60.gif

I think some of the other pages can be found on one of the Sunn Shack sites.

[dniels]

Does it look the the amp in this thread with pictures starting on page 2?

http://sunn.ampage.org/sdp/index.php/topic,3818.0.html

Those are pretty rare and the cabinets are ultra rare with the paisley tolex and smiley badge.   The actual model was just something like 240-B-60 or something like that. Check to see if the speakers have consecutive serial numbers.

[dniels]

Thanks for the responses.

Haven't had time to remove the cabinet back and see if the speaker SN's are sequential.  Will do that soon.

This amp and cab does have that paisley tolex and the smiley badge.  I'll try to get my daughter to take some pictures to post - we 60-year olds never cared much for all of that fancy electronic stuff, except guitars and amps!  We just plug and play! Anyway, that's why I raised her and sent her through college!

It does look like the 230-B-60 brochure picture that was attached, but I saw another brochure (real small, couldn't read it very well) that listed a 230C-58 or 60 (my glasses are too thin to read that!).  It mentions substituting JBL D140F's, which my cab has, where the 230-B brochure does not.  I think that might be the one.

By the way, my amp did not come with casters as did those pictured in the brochures.  That made it a LOT of fun to transport.  It came with an extruded plastic handle on one side of the cabinet, which promptly broke in two!  After years of carrying it like a casket, I put some Peavey handles on each side to help carry it!

I would still like to verify the model number as much as I can, determine the year it was made, if at all possible, get a WAG price range.

Thanks for your help.

Blessings,
Doug N.

[EdBass]

I don't think it's got as much general market value as your other gear (that Jazz should bring a king's ransom even in this repressed economy), but that smiley Sunn a prime piece to a Sunnophile, sequential serial numbers or not. I'm not a believer in price opinions, though I'm a player if you come up with a number I think to be realistic. If you email me some good jpegs and it's geographical location, I might be able to make you an "off the forum" cash offer.
It's better to do some research and give me a price though. I'm a firm believer in buying low and selling high!

[dniels]

I'll try to get some pictures up soon.  And I'll keep trying to get a feel for fair market value.  Going to James Burton's International Guitar Show/Festival in Shreveport, LA this weekend.  Maybe someone there can give me a heads up.

Ya'll keep giving me some help here, please.  Can you tell I'm from the South - I live in Arkansas, and am proud of it!

Doug N.

[dniels]

I checked out the JBL D140F speaker Serial Numbers in my cabinet.  (Do you know how long it takes to remove the 24 screws in the back cover by hand?  Ouch!) 

The SN's are not sequential, they are #11186 and #11639. 

What is the significance of their not being sequential?  Were these cabs customarily manufactured with sequential SN's?

These are the original speakers that were in the cabinet when I got it.

By the way, the tolex isn't really paisley like I remember (faintly) from the 60's.  It is more of a random raised circuitous pattern.  I'll try to include a close-up of it when I get pictures.

Blessings,
Doug N.

[loudthud]

I was just curious about the serial numbers. Those cabs don't come up very often on ebay. It's been a couple of years since I've seen one there and I got the last one. It has D130F's with consecutive numbers. Both speakers in my cab have voice coil rubs. It's pretty beat up and has been painted but it does have the simley face badge. The cab in the brochure picture of the 230-b-60 is the shallower guitar cabinet. Mine is the 15 inch deep "folded horn" cabinet.

[dniels]

My cab is the bass folded horn,too.  It is in pretty good shape.  There are a few battle scars along the edges, but it is pretty well intact.  It has not been painted.  The grill cloth was changed, the original just finally gave out.  But the amp head still has the original cloth.

I installed recessed Peavey handles in each side of the cabinet and mounted casters on a piece of 3/4 inch plywood which I then screwed into the bottom of the cabinet.  I used that cabinet all the time and HAD to make it easier to transport and move.  The original cover is long gone.  I had another made of some padded nylon material.  I still have the original cover for the amp.

The amp had the same type of plastic handle as the cabinet and it, too, broke in half.  I replaced it with a non-factory handle.

One speaker voice coil cover has a slight ding, compliments of my daughter when she was young and I was working on the cabinet.  It's pretty small.

You know, messing with the old Sunn again brings back a LOT of great memories.  Gotta quit thinking about that, or I'll never get rid of it!

Working on getting pictures up.  I'll try to make several of all the stuff from various angles, inside the amp and speaker cab, etc.  Maybe by next week...

Blessings,
Doug N.

[HRobert]

It sounds to me like you have one of the original Sunn C40-B60 amps.  Can you post pictures of it?

Those old Sunns were some of the first built by Conrad Sundholm and his brother Norman - who was one of the bass players for the Kingsmen.  I believe that amp was built during the time that Conrad was using Dynaco power amps and Dynaco pre-amps which were separate chassis.  Later he incorporated everything on one chassis like Fender and other companies.

If it's in good condition and still works, it should be worth a nice amount of $$$$$ - probably a lot more than you paid for it. If it has the Smiley face Sun and the paisley grill cloth, it should be worth even more.

[dniels]

My Sunn amp has the smiley face emblem on both the cabinet and the amp, the split chassis amp, and the "paisley" cover vinyl or tolex (which is still in good shape, just a few dings).  It originally had the silverish grill cloth, which has long since deteriorated and been replaced on the cabinet.  That grill cloth is still on the amp, though.  I still have the original cover for the amp, but the cabinet's original cover got wasted decades ago.

It all still works and is LOUD!!!  I used it for about 25 years until our instruments started to be carried through big PA's.  I never had to do anything to it (except mount some handles and casters on the cabinet to move it).  It still has the original fuse!

Thanks for the comments.

DN