Sundown 1012

Hi all, trying to figure out exactly what I have here. Got an old tube style head made by Sundown Technologies, but no model number anywhere on the unit. Not much info can be found on the net when searching, but I did find out that Dennis Kager was the guy that made these heads back in the 70's-80's era. Its a four channel head with some really clean tone. Was blown away when I turned it on with the amount of air this old head can move. Serial number is 8801-23, if anyone can help me figure out what the value is of this I would appreciate it.

I am not shure..but I would guess some time in that late 60's or early 70's. The Amp is not versatile in sound..it make two great sounds and it has a foot control out put...the clean channel is one of the best clean tones my ears have ever heard...and the gain channel is not bad..although tweaking it is more involed than the clean channel...I like the gain with just a little distorion..at higher settings it can be buzzy..but it really isn't a bad kind of buzzy at all..play with it long enough and you should find a setting you like...it has effects loops but I haven't tried them ..and in most cases of amps with an effect loop...I never liked the way they sounded..so I just didnt bother it....one thing I can say for it is in it's clean channel it can become very verstile..it love stomp boxes...I have 10 pedals and this amp handles them all!

As said earlier...stomp boxes are a big plus with this amp...it sounds great on it's own..and great with stomp boxes...I have a bbd , 808, early 70's boss distorion, a new dunlop distorion, digitect factory distorion, Voodo lab mico vide, yamaha chours, boss tremolo, digitect delay, Dunlop fuzz Otave, and dunlop Q wa wa pedal all hook up and played out of this amp...and they all sound really good out of it...It has a E.V. speaker in it...it's a 100 watts but I don't turn it up all the way...no meed to it sounds good at 3 to 5..and I don't use the thing called a govonor on it...(although some day I may need it...
The distortion is not brutal in the gain channel...but put the right gain or distortion pedal ( or both ) and you will awake the gods of brutal distortion...and even with all this..the noise is low compared to most other amps...even if you did play it loud..it's noiseness is still acceptable...

well it's a tube amp..you must bring spare tubes of the same rating and have a stove mittin to change them in a hurry in a live show should one Blow...and don't forget the fuses too... also it doesn't hurt to bring a spare amp...prefur..the same amp...So far the amp has given me no problems...but I haven't had it long enough to speak of it's dependabilty...but boy is it put together well...I can't believe how well the soldering work is and how it was all put together...even were the tube for the reverb unit is...it's put in the chain were it would not disturb the overall sound of the amp.

A lot of care has went into the making of this amp..I think maybe it was reserviced at one point in it's life...I mean it is clean..and well thoughtout and put together concidering this amp has to be at least 20+ years old...this guy may have been ahead of his time..I am amazed that these things can be found in yard sales pawn shops...and sometimes even in a music store for cheap!

Well I just looked into this and found out the guy is still living in N.J. wow...Hid name is Dennis Kager..and I and definely gonna try and get in touch with him...

I been playing for 35 years...I open up for some major acts...James Brown ,James gang, E.L.O., Rick Dennger, J Giles band, Danny Gatton, Bobby Parker, Smokin Joe Kubeck, Little Charley and the nite cats, and and the nite hawks who I am friends with..I also played for Charley Sales...and opened for Kim Wilson and Duke Roubelar..hey I can't spell all these names rigtht so forgive me... I basicly play blues and classic rock really well....when I was young I had two sound city cabs with green back clestions and a 50 watt fender bassman head and a Marshall head..and play this all together with a real fuzz face and unie vibe..and thomas oragan wa wa...( boy where the hell did all this stuff go? ) That's when I was 18...and now I am gonna be 54 come August...( boy were the hell did time Go?)

Anyway age and family have changed my life..and Of couse I still play but now prefur smaller amps with power...I have a Kustom coupe 32, another good amp...and my old trusty Marshall J.T.M. 30..a great little amp for my age-ing body...Well I still play in a band and alot of young kid's into classic rock still seek me out..and lots of the eldely ( ha Ha ) still come out and hear me....

Well to my surprise I heard of Sundown...but never gave a listen..I am sorry I never did..because this is a truly great classic sounding amp..And I wished I had one as a kid....

and this is what I share with you young ones that really like old school rock and blues..and even you jazz players..if you really want a true old Fender or Messa or even vox sound hell with a Marshall distortion pedal..this amp can do it...it has that one univeral sound that every classic player wants to hear...and for way below the cost of some big fancy name super brand amp....Get these while you can..because I think once the cat is truly out of the bag...these amps will be headed out our price range

Great for rock, blues. 2 channels. 100 watts. Very heavy -- Mine has a JBL 120 in it. Effects loop is nasty, as is the direct out. The governor circuit is a great touch.

Amp is very quiet. I use a 73 SG, 75 Les Paul DeLuxe, and an 86 Am. Std. Strat (stock). They all sound great through it. THe amp excels at crunchy/dirty tones. The highly saturated sound is not to my taste -- too raunchy for me. It sounds great when you goose the front with a distortion pedal set to very low distortion -- the amp retains its character, but beefs up nicely.

This is a VERY loud amp. It has quite different characteristics when played through a 4#12, as well. Nice presence and bottom.

The gain channel leaves me cold. Too buzzy for me. But then, with the ability to saturate the clean channel, who needs the gain setting?

Had it tubed once due to a power supply blow-up. And it happened at a gig with no backup. That's my fault, and I've since learned. But now I don't trust ANY tube amp.

N/A

Mine's for sale, simply because I have too many amps and not enough space. All queries welcome.

I bought this amp at a Music-Go-Round in Duluth, MN. It has a geart overall sound. 2 channels: Clean and Lead (Foot switch in the rear of the amp).I use the amp in live situations. It would be too loud except for the built in power soak (Governer) It has a 1/4" line out reverb and presence in rear also. 2 inputs on the front of the amp

I am using a couple of Les Pauls: A double cutaway standard and a Gibiphone standard. The latter has 501 and 396R and is very hot the DC is beautiful and lush with 57's
The distortion is berzerk on high settings but I get a great rhythm crunch with the DC. I have a Varidrive Tube overdrive between the ax and amp. That ads another facet of tone

Played for 30 years. I have a ton of equipment. Mostly Mesa and Peavey
a boss GT-5, Formula (Mesa) Preamp, Lexicon effects (2)
I wish it had a buffered loop *Note* Does any one know if a buffered loop could be incorporated into this amp? I would rate this amp along with mesa or vintage Ampeg/Fender

This is a two channel, footswitchable, all tube, 100 watt combo with a 12 inch Celestion speaker. It runs 5 12AX7 preamp tubes through a set of 6550 power tubes.
The clean channel has volume, bass and treble controls and is very bright and open sounding. It is also very loud. However, the amp has a cool knob called the "Governor" which basically limits the amount of input from the preamp section into the power amp section. If you run the clean channel wide open, and back the governor down, you can get a real ballsy blues tone.
The lead channel has Gain, Master, Bass, Mid, Treble. The mid boost is a pull knob which basically de-activates the bass and mid knobs. By playing with the treble you can get a great range of tones. I particularly like the darker tone that occurs when the treble is on about 4. Unfortunately, there is not a whole lot of headroom on the lead channel.
Lastly, one of the front panel knobs takes the amp between 60 and 100 watts. I just leave it at 100.
Each channel has its own independant loop send and return. However, they are crap, and really mess up the tone. Can't use them.
The reverb is standard Accutronics and sounds great.
I primarily use this amp for studio work. It has a wonderful lead tone that I have not been able to get from any other amp, and sounds especially great through a 4x12.. For live work, however, it really isn't as versatile as I require for switching between many styles and tones.

I use this amp in the studio with Strat, Tele, 335, Les Paul. They each have their own character but all sound great through this amp. I run them straight, no effects, and add effects at the board. Sometimes I use a little front end compression for Country. It doen't do super saturated metal tones, but I usually can add a pedal for that.

I have had this amp for 12 years and it has never died. I have dropped it from 4 feet onto a hardwood floor and it still fired up fine. I don't think you can kill this amp.

Sundown is long gone. Too bad. One time I contacted them and they provided me with the entire schematic so that I could have Bruce Egnater (Egnater Amplification) do some minor tweaking.

This is really a great little amp. I love the lead tone, wish it had more headroom. I wish it had a single buffered effects loop so that I could do more live with it. It is really just a "set it and leave it" kind of amp.
If anyone happens to come across one in their travels, let me know. I'd like to have a couple more.