FACTOIDS & TRIVIA
Norm Sundholm was the
bassist in the band The
Kingsmen (of “Louie Louie” fame) and he was constantly blowing up
and/or modifying is Fender Bassman and Bandmaster amps. These
Fenders were never
very good bass amps to begin with, so Norm and his brother, Conrad
began
building their own bass guitar and PA amplifiers in their garage in
Portland,
Oregon. Their amp designs were bullet proof and their speaker cabinet
designs were acoustically very efficient. As word spread, the
fledging
company took off and moved out of the garage to a larger building.
At this point, demand outweighed production, so between 1966 and 1969
Sunn
had the power amp sections of the circuit and transformers supplied by
Dynaco, makers of high quality, high end stereo tube
amplifiers. Sunn produced some of the first available high
powered
bass rigs in the
late 1960s and were considered industry standards along with the Ampeg
SVT. Unfortunately, the company went through some hard times
in
the
mid-1970s. Sunn was not able to compete effectively once other
companies,
such as Ampeg, Fender and Acoustic, had introduced powerful and
reliable
bass amps. The company was bought by Fender in the early 1980s which
relocated all of its amp production to the Sunn facility in Oregon.
Sunn tube amplifiers are no longer made. The 200S shown was
the
most popular of the Sunn
bass amps and was based on the Sorado model which preceded
it. Due
to the limited production of such a small company, Sunn amps are
relatively
hard to find today.
Power Amp: Tube; 2 x 6550, 60 watts RMS @ 16 ohms
Preamp: Tube; 1 x 12AX7, 1 x 6AN8
Rectifier: Tube; 1 x 5AR4
Speakers: 2 x 15" CTS
Channels: 1; 2 inputs
Effects: None
Controls: Bass, treble, volume; low boost, hi boost
Head Dimensions: n/a
Cab Dimensions: 40 H x 24 W x 15 D inches
Weight:
n/a
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