Sunn SL 160 - Recap & General Servicing Questions

[Northern Sunn]

Hi Sunn People!

I bought an SL160 off Kijiji last summer and love it. It's over 25 years old and I'm thinking about getting it serviced. There are small issues: The reverb sound terrible and the LED on the master switch takes it's sweet time before lighting up when I turn it on. I'm honestly not too clever with electronics, so I was going to take it into my local tech at Long & McQuade. How hard would it be to get a recap done? Did these amps use specific/rare parts? Or are they readily available? I'm wondering what parts are needed. The guy at the counter told me they might have trouble with parts, so I thought I'd ask here. (naturally)

All the info you can manage would be greatly appreciated. It's only a practice amp but it's the one I use the most.

-Northern Sunn

[Isaac]

I don't know about special parts with the SL160, but, in general caps are caps. As for the reverb sounding bad, I dunno. The reverb on my Sentura II sounds quite tinny, but that's just the way it sounds. It's working properly. Might be the same with your rig. If so, changing the sound would require modification.

[Northern Sunn]

I hear you on the 'Tinny' reverb. Someone told me to swap the tank out with the Fender Blues Jr. tank. Or better yet - an Accutronics one.

How much do you recon this recap would cost?

[Northern Sunn]

What kinds of modifications? Just install a new Reverb tank like an Accutronics? Or is there more to it than that?

[Isaac]

Have you asked your local tech how much the recap will cost?

[Northern Sunn]

Yes, he said around $60. If I add a reverb tank around $80 (not including the cost of the tank itself)

[Northern Sunn]

Anyone here have any idea what kind of Reverb Tank this Amp has? Or what kind of Accutronics Tank I'd swap it out with?