A Hit or A Miss ? 200S

[Greg_M]

A couple days ago I was contacted about an ad I had in the local Craigslist for a 200S cabinet. Yesterday I went and bought it and a EV B215-M cabinet for $200. The 200S cabinet has no speakers and the EV had a midrange and a crossover.

Anyway the more I look at it, I am wondering if this is truly a 200S or a clever imitation. I haven't seen one taken apart and the ones I have seen have been on a stage.

Here's some pictures of what I got. It seriously needs some fixing, but it has "good bones"

What do you think?





 

[D.M.N.]

Well, I'm not really sure about the cabinet itself, but it has the original style grill cloth, and that would pretty hard to source for a fake, unless they took it directly from an old cabinet........The handles are obvious replacements....but as far as the cab itself, it looks pretty right. Although, something just doesn't seem to sit right with me......but who knows, I don't have enough experience with this cab to be able to make a definitive say.

[Greg_M]

Yah the handles came off something or other and the wheels came off the EV.

The thing that spooked me the most was that when I measured the cabinet it measures 42" tall instead of the 40" that I have heard it's supposed to be.

I also expected the port opening in the front to extend from side to side but I have nothing to base that on.

There also is no way to mount the Sunn badge by all four corners on the grill, but looking at some pictures it kind of looks like it is only mounted by two screws on the left side

[D.M.N.]

Yeah, the port was one thing. I know my 2000s has it all the way across, and I thought the 200s did too, but I could be wrong. I also thought there was a brace across the front grill frame.


Edit: Huh. Here's a picture I found from Mr. JohnK's collection over on TalkBass. It has the port all the way.


However, yours could be one of the other 2x15 designs. Maybe someone else will chime in

[loudthud]

The screw pattern on the back doesn't look right. The metal corners on the back aren't right. There is no vertical 3/4 x 1-1/4 brace on the inside of the back. The jack isn't right. Most Sunn cabinets were spray painted black and there should be overspray visible on the slanted boards when the speakers are removed. The edge of the speaker holes should be painted. The faux front should be 1-1/4 wide, this cab looks like it's 1-1/2 inches.

[Greg_M]

The screw pattern on the back doesn't look right. The metal corners on the back aren't right. There is no vertical 3/4 x 1-1/4 brace on the inside of the back. The jack isn't right. Most Sunn cabinets were spray painted black and there should be overspray visible on the slanted boards when the speakers are removed. The edge of the speaker holes should be painted. The faux front should be 1-1/4 wide, this cab looks like it's 1-1/2 inches.

I thought the lip on the front looked a little big too. You're right they are 1-1/2"
I noticed the jack being different too as it was not inset
How are the corners not right? (They need to be replaced anyway)
The guy I got this from said it had D130s in it, if that makes a difference.

[loudthud]

The 3 screw corners on the front look correct. The back should have 2 screw corners like the ones you see in this thread on the amp. The 3 screw corners available from Parts Express look correct but they are not the exact size as the ones used by Sunn in the 60s and early 70s. I don't know if Conrad has the correct vintage ones or not. The new ones are just a little smaller so the holes don't line up if you have a vintage cab and try to replace the corners.

[HRobert]

Yah the handles came off something or other and the wheels came off the EV.

The thing that spooked me the most was that when I measured the cabinet it measures 42" tall instead of the 40" that I have heard it's supposed to be.

I also expected the port opening in the front to extend from side to side but I have nothing to base that on.

There also is no way to mount the Sunn badge by all four corners on the grill, but looking at some pictures it kind of looks like it is only mounted by two screws on the left side

The specs in the 1967 sunn catalog say that the 200s cab is 42" high, but all th especs for all the speaker cabs included the casters...which were 2".  The actual cab is 40" high x 24" wide x 15" deep.  ALso, the port in the front doesn't look right to me.  I believe that the front port was the entire width of the inside of the cab...not shorter and rounded off at the corners.

[Greg_M]

Most all of the differences can be fixed except the overall height.
I looked at the port and it can be modified to be full width. Probably it was cut with a router which would not cut all the way to the edge.
There's nothing back there to get in the way so a flat saw would easily cut it away.
One way or the other I can trim the front to be 1-1/4 instead of 1-1/2. Either by removing it or routing by 1/4"

Not that I am trying to pass this off as the genuine deal, but I don't think I want to throw it away.

I just won't put a Sunn tag on it.

Or maybe I can put a Sunn tag on it and then in small letters below write "Work Alike"   


The little tag on the front you can see says BandStand Music Tacoma. So I wrote to them as they are still in business. (The tag is very old according to the phone number) I got an answer back from the son of the original owner. He said he didn't know but would ask his dad about it. It might be interesting

[CLD]

Here is a photo of the front of my 1970 200S cab, if that helps.

[Greg_M]

Thanks for that
I'll save it

[Greg_M]

Here is a photo of the front of my 1970 200S cab, if that helps.

While you have the grill off measure the height of the port will you?
I can add that dimension to the 200s drawing.

[CLD]

Okay, will do when I measure the other items you mentioned. Probably tonight or tomorrow morning before I can get to it, though.

[CLD]

Height of the port on my cab is 4 1/4 inches.