Sunn 100S Head

Thanks it did work awesome!!! And its cheaper than the triode alternative

The Sunn Sceptre is the same as the older Sunn 100s. So the Hammond 374BX power transformer that worked well for the Sunn 100s amp. will also work well in the Sunn Sceptre. Robert at Precision Stereo Repair

Someone asked me if the Hammond 374BX power transformer worked well for the Sunn 100 amp. Yes, perfectly. My customer just called me last week and said the amp is still working fine 4 years after I replaced the power transformer with a Hammond 374BX. Robert at
Precision Stereo Repair

I swapped a dead ARP 2600 synth a buddy gave me for this baby. The guy who had it had replaced the front grille cloth and it looks almost-new. Made in 1969, it has the basics from that era: Bright and Normal inputs, Volume, Bass, Treble,CONTOUR,plus reverb and Tremolo. The Control is like an upper-mids control. The dual 6500 power tubes generate a hefty 60 watts RMS, and are more "hi-fi-like" in their tone compared to EL34s. Very clean, very "broad" tone.

Like I said, the tone is very "clean and broad". Great with pedals,
I have driven it with a Mesa Boogie V-Twin pedal to reach nirvana!
The tremolo still works (decent), the reverb is alright, but not as deep as my vintage Bandmaster Reverb or Kustom 100.
I like to drive this baby through a gutted (amp-less)Leslie 147 cabinet. Its cleaner sound also works well with vintage keyboards,
like a Fender Rhodes, a modded Hammond M3, a clavinet, and a Chroma Polaris. I also have a Sunn cabinet with a JBL K140/HF horn that will peel the paint off the walls! I did have an input modded to accept the hotter output of a Mackie 1202VLZ mixer for the keys.

Built like a tank! Svetlana 6500s are long-lasting in this.I mainly use this in my studio for all sorts of torture, like re-amping,keys,
guitar-thru-Leslie, etc.It hav NEVER let me down!

The REAL Sunn company folded many years ago. Bought out by Fender, who whored out the name. Very easily serviceable by a trained tube amp tech.

I have been playing guitar and keys for 40 years. I have ALL sorts of amps and recording gear, including a Neve board. All my guitars,
including vintage Gibsons/Fenders/Ricks/Supros, PRS, Hamers, etc. can
sound great through this amp. And it's built like a brick outhouse!

Correction to my last email comment on power transformer replacement. Only one transformer is needed,not two for tremelo circuts. Found correct replacement with 50vac tap for tremilo and negative bias circuts, Hamond # 374BX is perfect electricaly and phisicaly. It's only $83+$15 shipping from stf-electronics.com

I repair vintage amps in my repair shop. Very reliable except power transformers. Repeated failure item due to heat & high power draw from amplifier section. Found excelent substitute xformers on internet. Best distributer for Hamond trans.is: STF-ELECTRONICS.COM Must use two trans. one large for amp & one small for tremelo circut

A good basic vintage amp-1 channel with 4 inputs, no master volume (volume/bass/treble/contour/rate/depth/reverb) controls. The tremelo is Fender like, the reverb gets surf deep, no overwhelming and not too sproingy (full length pan). The contour is a mid-shaper, sort of manipulates the high mids to increase drive/distortion. All the tools for a great vintage tube sound. 3 12AX7s, 2 6550s, 5U4 rectifier.

Extremely flexible. A lot of people use these for bass, and if you keep the contour down it'll give you a very loud and gutsy clean tone-all the rumble you could ask for (the tone controls are additive, apparently, not cut controls like Fender). If you push up the contour you can get a tough, Hiwatt mild drive. If you crank the treble and contour, you can nail Stevie Ray Vaughn's Vibroverb tone (especially if you have the 215 cab with JBLs). I have the 610 and 412 cabs, the 610 is bit more focused and present, but they all have aluminum dust caps and have the treble bite associated with JBLs. Hendrix used these heads for his early stuff, too. I used strat style guitars (Duncan Vintage rails) and LP (Seth Lovers) and the pickup/guitar type really shines thru with this amp.

I have no experience with them. The net discussions sugges that they're pretty much bullet proof. Any decent tech can fix them.

Long gone, get help from the net community.

I have a lot of 50 watt heads (Fender, Selmer, Silvertone, Wizard, Roccaforte, Bruno, Marshall, Fuchs) and I've played a lot more. I'd have to say this is in the top echelon for clean/mild overdrive tone. If you want Stevie for less than the 2 grand a 63 Vibroverb will cost, you could do a lot worse than one of these, bang for the buckwise.

My amp was made 6/68 as it was written on the chassis. This is a one channel amp with volumne, treble,bass,contour,vibrato rate, speed and reverb. It has four inputs, 2 bright and 2 normal, off/on, ground and standby switches. It came with either 6550 oe EL34's,12AX7,12AU7, 6AN8 phase inverter and 5AR4 rectifier. Some sources say 40 watts, others say 60. This is built using a Dynaco chassis and transformers which are very high quality components. This amp is very powerful, what ever the rating is. It has the basic features of a 60's amp.

This amp came to me in a pickup full of equipment from the son of a San Francisco 60's hippie band his father played in. When he died his sons wife told him to get it out of the house. In the truck was a Sunn 100s a Sunn 200s and both speaker cabinets along with several tape recorders a Vox Continental organ and some crappy PA cabs. Bought the works for $50.00. 200S had a blown power tanny but the 100S only needed main filters. I use this amp with a celestion vintage 30 and teles, Les Pauls, Strats, Es330 and others. The amp sounds strong and tone is very sweet. Not a dirty sound anywhere but is great with pedals. Lots of power. I use EL34,s and the amp is very clear sounding with undistorted sustain, and a strong bottom.

This amp is built like a tank and I would take it on a world tour without a backup. Also it has an adjustable bias not unlike a Fender.

Sunn has long been out of business. Fender bought the name but the new amps are nowhere near the quality of this old tank. However they are simple to work on. When I first took it to my tech for the filters he commented on the quality and superior construction of this amp

I loaned this to a music store for a month and when I went to bring it home the owner said he sold a ton of guitars off this amp. If I lost it I would hunt high and low for another. Funny thing is no one is aware of the quality and tone these amps have even with all the vintage madness going on now this amp is as good as it gets yet they can be had for $250 to $350 when you find one. Even if it needs some work(as long as it's not transformers) they are simple to repair and make one great amp. Try one if you can and you will want it!!

circa 1970/71 This amp has all of the character of a true legend with 50 watts of power from 2 KT88s or 6550s. Add the Sunn contour control and dial in the killer sound that I have never heard out of anything else.

I use this amp with a '64 Gibson ES-330-TD with P-90s and get that "butt f#@king Rhino at night" feedback that Ted Nuggent made famous. Plug in a Strat and go where Jimmi goes. The sound is sweet and full with a lot of reserve. I play it through a custom cab with a vintage 12" Sunn speaker and a 15" D-130 JBL. I would like to find a Sunn N1200 Speaker Cab that originally came the 100s head. If Sunn ever reissued this amd to original specs I would sell my house and buy Sunn stock. If you think that pedals and processors are the way of the future then this amp isn't for you. Give me a guitar and a cord with no tricks in between. With this Sunn 100s, that's all I need.

This amp is about 30 years old and as reliable today as my blue tic hound. Plug it in and crank it up. Guaranteed to insult taste in music.

Down load the schematic off of the net. Nothing fancy. Anyone can fix it. (if it ever breaks)

I have been jamming since for 35 years and have played through just about everything, Mesa, Fender, Marshall, Tryanor, Vox and others. From vintage Gibson P-90s to Fender single coils, this head can deliver the intonation. LOUD and CLEAR. If you ever have a chance to check this head out, take it outside to a field, turn it up to 10 and have fun. (no pedals or processors required)