Sundown A 36 112 Combo

well ive had an a36 combo for the past 15 years, i was using a mesa boogie calibre 50 before and this little beauty came along , ive put a vitage 30 in it about 10years ago and have used it ever since, its a great amp for blues , rock, im currenlty using it in a reggae band playing through an old gordon smith galaxy guitar, they sound so good together, i originaly used it with a vintage 62 strat, playing blues/rock, that was an awsome sound too, knocked the socks off the calibre 50 combo, louder too and the boogie was rated at 50 watts, iv not seen one since and when i first got it it had a chart with it showing you how to set it to sound like any of your classic tube amps like fenders and vox, and marshall, i would love to get a copy of the chart again if anyone has one...cheers

sound quality is a full deep gutsy valve tone,

never let me down yet, gigged regularly over the past 10 years

I havn't had this amp for long, but there is so little information on these amps that I thought I would add what I know. The guy who wrote the other rating got a bargain. I paid #225, but have been offered much more for it since. The amp was made in 1987. It was rated at 45watts approx. Denis Kager who made it, tells me that they only made 100 under the A36 name before changing the name to the A50, rated at 50watts, after which sales took off. The controls are the same for the A36, the A50 (same amp) and the 100 watt version.
The clean chanel just has a gain switch and bass and treble switches.
The dirty chanel has bass, mid, and treble + a mid boost switch .The Master switch controls the volume, gain adds volume and distortion, the govenor is supposed to cut everything back while retaining the tone etc, and does something called clipping? and also acts on the clean chanel with a pull action switch. The (novel and patented when it was new)RMS switch adjusts the amps wattage. Set on 10 and it is at it's full wattage, and at 0 it is probably around 10 watts,the manual doesn't say exactly because my manual is for a 100w amp,which cuts back to 10 watts, although being a valve amp, 10 watts is still pretty loud. On the back is a presence switch which makes the overall sound brighter or mellower.
The switch for the reverb unit, which also acts on both chanels is also on the back panel. there are also effects loop plugs on the back, and a plug for extention speakers. Although it has no modelling or effects built in, a variety of sounds can be found and I would say it is a versatile amp for blues, jazz, rock etc. Maybe some metal players would find it wanting as it stands, but they would probably use effects pedals anyway. The chanels are changed via a foot switch.
I have started to play blus harmonica, and although the amp sounds pretty good already, I am considering trying some different preamp tubes to get a mellower sound.

I have used this amp with a Palm Bay super strat type guitar, H/S/S and Floyd Rose bridge and a Patrick Eggle New York, which may be compared to a Rickenbacker/ tele sort of instrument with a bridge humbucker and a single neck PU. I'm a begginer with no set style, but I can get some great overdriven sounds that suit the Palm Bay, and some good rythm or bluesy sounds using the Eggle. Both guitars can be altered a quite lot with use of different pickup /tone settings and add the amps range and you have quite a variety of sounds to go at, and that's without using my Zoom 1010 effects unit.
Tried a Peavy Indianola electro accoustic though the amp and it seems to suit the acoustic sound on the clean channel.
The clean chanel is virtually noisless at max volume, and it can be made to distort, given enough gain, plus you have 2 inputs of different sensitivities to play with which I nearly forgot to mention. The Distortion channel(at the low volumes I have tried in my home) can go from a muddy sound to a brighter metal sound with judicious adjustment. If find front end overdrive easier to acheive, and a more pleasing sound than back end overdrive. The amp is quite noisy on the dirty channel with anything but minimum gain. At least I thought it was, until I took it to an amp technician who didn't think it was to bad. He comared it with a new amp he had just built adit was marginallt noisier, so I've left it with him to check over.
At almost 20 years old I guess it's time for a service.

This amp is almost 20 years old and all but one valve look like original. It's had little use by it's condition, so I'm unable to rate this section/

Sundown amps have been gone quite some time I should imagine, anyway it's long out of guarantee! The amp technician seemed very interested in it's design, and seemed keen to work on it because it's so different from the usual stuff he gets to see, so I can't see anyone having trouble getting one repaired, in fact he kept me talking about it for an hour! As has been stated, Denis Kager from New Jersey, who is a world renowned amp designer, is usualy helpful with any information on his old designs, and would be the best guy to go to for upgrades or modifications. I believe he was a consultant on the new pignose 40 amp. The 10 rating is for Mr Kager who sent me a copy of the manual, and for Michael Bailey my local amp man.

I've only been playing a couple of years, and previously played through a low end, solid state Bass practice amp, so this amp is in another league entirely. Playing harmonica and guitar through the same amp may lead to making a few compromises, but this amp seems to have enough range to cope with the different needs of the two instruments. In the short evaluation time that I've had it I would rate it very highly. I'm no amp expert but the repair guy played guitar through it and he thought it was very Marshall like in it's sound. If it was lost or stolen I don't think I would be lucky enough to get another as they are quite rare, but I would definately be on the lookout. My overall rating would be 9 if I knew it had good reliability.

i think this thing has been through many hands. i bought this amp used a few years back. i was a real puzzle until i got on here and found out some more about it. after talking to dennis kager it appears to be made in 1986. after desribing it to him he informed me that it had been retubed with the wrong tubes - it had 5881s in it and he suggests 6L6GCs. i suppose EL34s can be used as well to give it an over the edge sound. this amp has too many features that i am unsure aboot because i use it at home mainly. it has a governor, rms, effects loops, bright switches and tone controls for both channels. i didn't get the footswitch that came with it so i don't know anything aboot that capability. it is approx 40w and is loud thru the EVM speaker that came with it. the presence control i on the rear panel whichi find annoying. it does come with a ground switch.

i use a PRS, les paul and strat thru this. it is a somewhat more mellow little amp than my carvin but it seems to suit rock, r&b and blues nicely. the clean channel is really nice and warm and even breaks up a little which i find pleasant. you don't have to push this amp too hard but i suggest leaving the governor and rms switches alone. they are supposed to reduce the distortion and the power and they reduce the tone. the distortion is not brutal but then again this is not a metal-zone machine. it is more for the afore mentioned types of music. i think a pair of EL34s would light it up a bit.

i haven't had to rely on this for any gigs or sessions yet. it is a toy i use around the house.

the thing aboot this amp is you can give dennis kager a call at his place of business and he will chat your ear off. he is proud of his creations and rightly so. i explained to him that i had bought this used and he sent me a copy of the manual free of charge. he told me the year it was made by hearing the serial number. i think he would still repair this if necessary. that's service.

i have played close to 30 years and have used a wide range of amps. this little guy was at a jam and was for sale. i liked it and picked it up. i wouldn't break my back tracing down another because my little carvin kicks its ass. its just a nice little distraction to doodle around with.