1000s Questions

[Ooop]

Hi tere:

I put 10% down on a 1000s that's still on a 30 day hold at a GC.  Price of the head is $800.  I may also get a 2x15 sunn cabinet that does not match the head and is not as wide as the 1000s (and no JBLs either).


The amp is I'm reasonably good shape as far as I can tell, though some fool installed a master volume.

So, a few questions:

Are these reasonable prices?  The 1000s seems a bit rarer than other Sunn amps. 

Are these tube Sunn amps that much better than the later solid state ones? 

How hard would it be to find a matching Sunn cabinet that is the right size?


Thanks very much in advance.  I just joined the forum.  I hope to become a Sunn amp enthusiast!

[EdBass]

Hi tere:

I put 10% down on a 1000s that's still on a 30 day hold at a GC.  Price of the head is $800.  I may also get a 2x15 sunn cabinet that does not match the head and is not as wide as the 1000s (and no JBLs either).


The amp is I'm reasonably good shape as far as I can tell, though some fool installed a master volume.

So, a few questions:

Are these reasonable prices?  The 1000s seems a bit rarer than other Sunn amps. 

Are these tube Sunn amps that much better than the later solid state ones?

Although there were many different badges on the early Sunn amps, there are really only two basic configurations; the 60/80 watt two KT88/6550 output tube and the 120/150 watt four KT88/6550 output tube models.
The 1000S was one of the four output tube models, the other ones were the 1200S, 1500S and the 2000S. The 2000S was meant for bass guitar and has a "bass boost" switch ('69+), the 1000S, 1200S, and 1500S were meant as guitar amps and were available with reverb and tremolo.
Essentially the amps are the same, the output sections are identical and any of them could be substituted for the other for practically any application.

The reason that the 1000S and the other "guitar" amps seem rare is because the original Sunns seemed to catch on with bass players more so than guitarists so the iconic vintage Sunns seem to be the bass amps.
The 2000S is likely the most desirable from a collector/value standpoint because of its more universal name recognition, but as I said all of the 1000 series Sunns are very similar when it comes to performance.
Price wise I'd say that $800 is a decent "deal" for a nice one, although the master volume mod IMO hurts its ultimate value. The four tube amps have been around a grand - $1500 retail for a few years now, with the 2000S's usually a couple of hundred more than the others.

Here are some recent eBay sales;
Sunn 1200S $1025 on 1/16/13
Sunn 1200S did NOT sell @ $1500 1/14/13
Sunn 2000S $1200 on 1/2/13
Sunn 2000S $1100 on 12/10/12

How hard would it be to find a matching Sunn cabinet that is the right size?

Now that could be a problem. The "big cabs" (48"x30"x15") that fit under the four tube amps are far more rare than the smaller ones.
And when you do find one, they cost a bunch of money to ship.

The funny thing is; you couldn't get a 1000S, 1200S, 1500S, 2000S or for that matter ANY Sunn amps in that era without at least one cab, so they are out there somewhere!
Actually the only difference between the 1000S-1200S-1500S is the cab it was paired with; check the catalog thread stickied at the top of the "Q&A" section

Thanks very much in advance.  I just joined the forum.  I hope to become a Sunn amp enthusiast!

Welcome aboard, and don't forget to use the handy search function. You can pretty much find out anything you wanted to know about vintage Sunns there.

[loudthud]

The Guitar heads had 7 knobs, the 2000S only had 4 knobs. There were some Guitar heads made in 68 that didn't have Reverb and Tremolo. These only had 4 knobs. Some Guitar heads had a Mid Boost switch. Some people like this, some don't. The Guitar heads had slightly different tone control break points than the 2000S.

[Ooop]

The "Master Volume" abomination on this amp is so comical.  It DOES NOTHING in terms of break up.  It just looks stupid.

[EdBass]

Does the amp have reverb and tremolo?

[Ooop]

Tremolo is operational.  Reverb does not appear to work, or needs a footswitch to engage.  I personally don't really care whether the reverb works.

[EdBass]

I would think that for $800 you can't really go wrong, even with the master volume mod you should be able to get out of it clean if it isn't working out for you. As long as the transformers are strong old Sunns are pretty easy and cheap to fix/maintain, and the market for them has been consistent for several years.

It does need a footswitch to switch the reverb and trem on and off.

[Ooop]

Since I posted this, a Model T has popped up for $1575.  Apparently condition is good, but is it really worth twice as much as this 1000s?  Seems like the only difference is that the Model T allows you to blend the bright and regular channels.

[Isaac]

It does not need a foot switch to turn the reverb and tremolo on and off. Both are on with no foot switch. The foot switch is used to turn them off. that way, you can set the knobs where you want them, then switch them in or out as desired, like a preset.

As for whether the Model T is worth twice as much, I'd have to say yes, because people are willing to pay twice as much for them. In the absence of the hype and name recognition, is it twice the amp? IMO, no, not at all. It does have separate volume controls for the bright and normal inputs. That gives the T a little more flexibility in applications where it can be used, but that's about it. The T also has solid state rectification, which gives it a little more power, but not a significant amount. The 1000S has tube rectification, which will give it some power supply sag, which many guitarists like.

Finding a matching cabinet will be difficult. I don't know where they all went, but they were big and bulky, so I wonder if a lot of them were cut down or just thrown away. But the 1000S/1200S/1500S heads fit nicely on top of a typical 4x12" cabinet, too.

[Ooop]

Well, I've finally got my 1000s head back from being fully worked up, re-capped, and brought back to vintage spec (removed master volume) though I added a three prong cord.

I need a cabinet.  I tried it through my 2x12 Avatar with celestions, which sounds great with my Traynor YSR-1, but not so good with the Sunn.  I'm inclined to go ahead and get a 4x12 Avatar for it.  Any suggestions on what sort of speakers would sound good in it?  I've given up on finding a matching cab.  I was thinking maybe Swamp Thangs, but I'm not sure.  I know I need an 8 ohm cab, but not sure how much power rating I need for my cab.  120 watts?  200?  300?  I play a range of stuff from ambient to glitched out noise rock to sludge.

[cosmic erosion]

When I had my '74 Model T, it loved the swamp thangs out of all the speakers I tried. Emi man o wars, Governors, Vintage 30s(2nd Fave), 75 watt celestions in marshall cabs, vht p50s, etc. With my Coliseum Pa, it sounds better with a mix of warehouse et65s and vet30s in my tall sunn 4x12. Better than my scumback h75s, 65 watts. I'd love to load the sunn cab with fanes, but I don't wanna increase the volume of that coliseum anymore. lol.

[Ooop]

Cool.  So you think 4 swamp thangs over 2 swamp thangs 2 wizards is preferable?

[cosmic erosion]

I'd go all swamp thang personally. The wizards i played through never grabbed me, but it was through a marshall not a sunn. They might not have been broken in tho.