Sunn 200S

Its a typical old Sunn head; big, decent quality...(I'm a tech, so this is for all my brothers out there!)...one GZ34 rectifier, one 7025 for preamp, one 6AC8 for buffer/phase inversion, and the icing on the cake is a A PAIR OF KT88's FOR OUTPUT DRIVERS!!! Two input jacks, a bass boost switch, a treble boost switch, knobs for volume, bass, & treble...power, standby, & polarity switches, and two speaker outputs; thats all she wrote. With about 50W output from this old lug, its was a nice piece for $125 cdn, complete with Genalex Gold Monarch KT88's!!! Seems to be made in the early 70's or late 60's because of the rectifier tube, but if anyone actually knows, let me know too please! The amp gets low marks for features, because it doesn't have any features!

Oh, well, um, it must have pretty lame B+ voltage on the output plates or something!!! The KT88's are capable of more plate current and voltage than 6550's, but this amp doesn't even get close to the limit of its KT88's. Too bad. And I'm not a big fan of power supply sag from rectifier tubes, so I don't give it high marks there either. And it doesn't have much clean headroom either, and gets grungy pretty quick, so once again low marks. I'm not trying to write it off though! Its not a Marshall, not a Fender, not a Traynor, its a Sunn model 200S, and thats what it sounds like. It isn't very loud either; my Garnet Enforcer 50W 1-12" combo will silence it, even with the Sunn through a Marshall 4-12" cabinet!!! Summary; its a bit grungy, lacks any real bottom end, not very loud (marginal for pro use), obscure, gets mushy when you turn up the bass. I like my Marshall way better; no other amp has as good a power supply as a Marshall, except a Laney, a HiWatt or some Peavey stuff, but thats a whole new subject...just remember, the power has to come from somewhere, and if the supply is weak, the amp will be weak too!

Well, to be honest, I'm an equipment hoarder/collector, and I don't use any of it professionally; I put equpiment out to pasture so to speak, but I'll still let any of my local musician friends borrow anything, so don't worry about it being wasted! I won't let it get to be thrashed, and anyhow, I just got it...give me about 5 years to form an opinion about it...

Well, years ago, back in the 80's, I was looking at a Sunn Model-T, and I phoned Sunn, who were VERY HELPFUL; they sent me a schematic, and information brochure for that amp, so Im hoping to be able to get the same for this amp too...15 years later usually changes things though!

I buy anything quirky when I see it, but I wouldn't recommend one if it is going to be your only amp. Go find a Marshall if you want bottom end, or get a Fender Twin of you want clean punch. There is a reason that some amps are always popular, and some, like the Sunn 200S, stay hidden in basements and closets. I still like it though, don't get me wrong; I just don't mark it very high.