Sundown A 50

I just recently bought the Sundown A-50 for 200 ???. I didn't really know what exactly I was buying, but I'm very happy now, that I did. The Sundown is a 50 watts all tube amp and features two (foot)switchable channels (normal/overdrive). It also features two effects loops, that I don't use at all. The overall quality seems to excellent, the only thing I don't really like, is that blueish color. But considering, that the amp is about 25 years old, it's in excellent condition.

First: I don't use the Sundown for my "normal" electric guitars, I use it for my lapsteels. I was always looking for the "perfect" amp for that purpose, and I guess I finally found it. The first great thing about it is, it works dead quiet - really, I never had a more quiet amp! The clean sound is thick, punchy and shiny, this thing produces a lot of highs but they can be easily dialed to a nice degree - it sounds much alike 7ender, but has an character of its own. The overdrive channel reminds me lot of that older Mesa/Boogies from the late 70ies and 80ies! The gain structure (and this thing has LOTS of gain) is thick, sweet and juicy and the equalization provides lots of sonic possibilities. At some gain/eq-settings the structure of the harmonics sound a little disharmonic, but on the other hand these are the settings that provide an almost vocal-like quality, when you play single notes/solos - it's a bit strange, I never played something like that before. It sings and wails with a voice of it's own and it sounds fantastic with my lapsteels. Another great thing is that "governor"/"rms"-feature, some kind of power attentuator, that works really well. The Sundown sounds very good even at very moderate levels, which is rarely found with tube amps. The reverb is ok, but not really good and a little bit too subtle - well, you can't have it all. But the overall sound quality is amazing, at least for my purpose - I really like that cool amp.

Can't say much about that, because I have it now for about two weeks. But as I said before, it's about 25 years old and it works without a flaw - that' what I would call reliability...

The Company does not exist anymore.

I play the electric guitar for about 30 years now and I had and have a lot of gear, vintage and modern, you name it. The Sundown kind of stands out, to me it represents the era and the style of the early Mesa/Boogies, but it doesn't copy. The attentuator circuit works brilliantly, every tube amp should have one. I just love the sound I get with my lapsteels and the guys in the band agree - they never sounded better. This is a genuine, high quality amp from the leftfield and if you run into own, buy it! You really get a bargain of value for very little money. This amp will stick with me for the rest of life and I'm absolutly happy that I found one. It was and is a very pleasant surprise.

I bought the Sundown Amp as a Demo-Amp from a music store in Southern
Germany, where it might have been about 10 years. The features of the Amp are described in the former reviews - I found most remarkable the
governor feature, which makes the Amp really flexible. For my purposes
(R & B, Jazz, Country, Blues, Rock)the Amp has enough options; the two channels have each their own EQ ; that's important.
It's not a heavy weight combo, so I can use it for all sessions, practicing with other guys and for "little/medium size" gigs.

I use the amp with my G + L Tele and Strat, Gibson Les Paul,Framus
Jan Akkerman, Yamaha SA 2200 (SemiAc.) and AEX 1500 (Jazz Box).I have
no problems to get great, twangy Cleansounds and a useful Jazzsound
out of the clean channel. With the lead channel you have to experimentate a little bit (with the very helpful soundchart of course...)and I get the fat, creamy overdrive-sound out of, I'd always
looked for. You have also no limitation in getting some chainsaw-Marshall-Granggrang, if you need this one.
The Amp with it's 50 Watts is real loud - so you bless D.Kager for
the governor-feature. This one works really well.
The built in reverb is good, useful - but not top of the line.
What I don't like is the Sound of the onboard Celestion S 50-Speaker;
it's much to sharp, icy and has a Lack of good midrange frequencies.
With my 2 x 12 Boogie-box the Sundown sounds far out better.

The amp came to me after a longtimeperiod in a musicstore nearly as
brandnew. The only feature that doesn't work , was the Footswitch.
So I have no longtime-experiences with that machine.

The company doesn't exist anymore ......

I play guitar for over 30 years now and used and changed tons of equipment. I actually use also a KOCH Multitone-Combo and a Groove Tubes Trio-
an Dual 75 Setup (great Amps + much more expensive...)For quick-use-
purposes (when you have no nerves to put large amp-rigs around)with
a certain sound-niveau for you and your listeners, there might be few
better alternatives in this price range (I tried many...)I will change
the speaker next time and I think we'll be good friends for a longtime period!

50 watt, two channel head. Built in power attenuator (governor), Reverb, and effects loops, one for each channel. Three band eq on overdrive and two band on the clean. Presence and Reverb controls on the rear (kind of retarded).

I used my strat ultra with emg 81, s, s pickups in it. The first time I plugged into this amp I damn near fell out of my chair. The clean channel is one of the thickest sounds I have ever come accross in an amplifier. It's what I would imagine a TWO ROCK or BRUNO might sound like. I found the amp to be very responsive to touch (almost too much so). There is absolutely nothing to hide behing in this baby. If you can't really play, everyone's gonna know. The attack was incredible. The overdrive was strange. The tone controls on this amp don't work like they do on most amplifiers. There is usually small variances in tone to large movements of knobs. On the Sundown this is completely opposite. There are so many variables just in the mid range alone that produce different tones. The overdrive seemed to get more liquid in timbre as you turned up the gain while lower gains with the boost engaged seemed to give you more marshallesque tones. I would still run pedals in the front if you want to accomplish a heavy distortion. The governor might be the coolest thing about this amplifier. You have the ablilty to dial in your favorite overdrive tone, whether it be from the preamp or poweramp or combination there in, and then attenuate the sound to bedroom levels if need be. Every amp should have one of these. The reverb is a little disappointing. It seems to be too out front of everything else, it's way too subtle. I am used to the fender splash. The effects loops are weird too. I never understood the purpose of a loop for each channel. For this reason and the reverb it gets a 9, but the sounds straight out of this amp are a 10.

The amp I played belongs to a friend of mine who works on amplifiers locally, here in Northern Kentucky. He bought it new in the mid eighties and the thing still looks and sounds brand new.

Sundown is history and that is a sad thing. Dennis Kager, the designer of these amplifiers, is still around and apparently is still willing to do repairs and mods on these bad boys. The fellow who owns this amp said Dennis was a really nice guy and gladly sent him schematics and tone charts for his amplifier.

The Sundown is a great amplifier that can be had for a song these days. If you can find one buy it. They are most definitely worth it.

Versitile? That should be a given with the A-50. It's got a gain-boost, a mid-boost, RMS control (pretty much just limits the loudness), a Governor control (this is the coolest... let's you saturate the preamp OR power tubes at low levels to get the same distortion/sound you'd get at higher volume levels when the tubes naturally distort) And TONS more features/combinations... but no mid control on the clean channel... odd. Well.. I think the other reviews say pretty much the same thing here. By the way... this amp is NOT an original Sundown. It was put together by a SubContractor that the maker, Dennis Kager, paid to get rid of spare parts after Sundown went out of business. Pretty good for a scrap heap amp ;) Oh yeah! And it's covered in a REALLY nice blue tolex.

The clean is great with Mesa 12AX7's... and I'm going to change the power tubes... but as of now the Sovtek 5881's let out a massive growl. This amp has MAJOR low end... so I guess that's why. It's also got a G12T-75 Celestion in it... don't know if it's the best suited for this amp, but it sounds good enough... This amp is good for everything from clean/bluesy playing all the way to REALLY hardcore rock. Prolly even metal depending on the guitar...

it's a good amp, but nothing's perfect. And considering that it was put together with spare parts.......

I've called Dennis Kager a couple times and he is very helpful (but a little crabby... can you blame him? I wouldn't want to be called about an amp I made 10 years ago.. hehe) He told me everything I needed to know to make my Sundown just right.

Uhhh... do I need to say it? This amp kicks ass!

This amp ,1 x 12 50 watt with a celestion G 12 s -50. They were built between 1982 & 1987 and were endorsed by Jan hammer in his miami vice phase as well as allan holdsworth,although I don't know if he ever committed one to tape, and John scofield, who used a pair forever(and probably still does when at home in NY)I find this amp to be a fairly flexible design that has a lot of useful sounds...Not a super crunchy or gain monster thing, but it's capable of a very sweet bluesy/ fusiony tone as well as a good light-dirty rhy sound. What sets this amp apart IMHO is that it allows for a buffet approach in terms of where the distortion is coming from.For instance, the only other amp with an output limiting device built in to my knowledge, was the Jim Kelley...If you want to split hairs,then the the sunbdown is probably the only amp with a post inverter tube attenuator..called a governor on the amp face. also has a 50-25(approx) RMS control. Between those, the master vol, the gain boost, & the mid boost, this amp easily qualifies as a foreshadow to the boogie MK4 in terms of wacky amounts of choices...for the era,especially. Ultimately, I always want as much choice as a rack with memories...but i still believe there are things I haven't heard from the sundown, so 8

I use this amp with a hohner- steinberger clone (emg's)i bought in the same week..I've owned and played through a dozen different rigs and this one is at least as versatile and musical as any other, possibly much more.. I play everything from slide to trad jazz but my favorite thing is writing for the sounds I can get out of a guitar, trying a bit to be an allan holdsworth but usually sounding like a jeff beck meets metheny type...very quiet amp.sweet clean,not as juicy as a twin, but closer than most..reverb good but a little boingy,acceptable. It can create performer's shivers...clean will eventually break up with humbuckers if not with all else, hey a tube is a tube,dist can do full wet but not as detailed or rich as a dual recto,frinstance.

Bought it cheap, small problem 60 dollar fix,dried out cap.apparently a repairman's dream,easily accessed parts...Needs a mod to relocate distorted FX loop(it has one for each)further down the gain chain to improve the sound of (mostly)echo on solo sounds..apparently a very trustworthy amp .

Dennis Kager is helpful and still passionate about his concept.sent me a schematic with no hassle. Look for central jersey music on the net.One bummer? dennis is not connected.

I always wanted one, and after i played through a new one in seattle in '86 I finaly found a used one in '99... finally got it. it will help me get my sound across.it does the versatile combo thing well, but a rack is still cool, a Jc120 is also unique & still sounds cool, & can't forget the twin. This sundown could probably make me ignore most pre recto boogies...but it's not for everyone.Find one? buy it. even if only to sell it to me.