Sunn Beta-Lead

I have the 2x12 combo in great shape. I also have the 3-button footswitch (Both Channels / Channel Select / Reverb on-off).

This amp was made in 1980.

I play it like crazy at school - it is my only gigging amp. I use it mainly for keyboards, actually, guitar comes second.

With keyboards, I play mainly with jam bands, and I play everything from SRV covers on a fat Hammond setting to screeching leads through a distortion and wah pedal to soft pads. The Beta Lead responds to each of these with a warmth that I don't find in any solid-state keyboard amp.

For guitar, I play mainly grunge, punk, and metal. I sold my Marshall MG100 combo for this amp, and I haven't been disappointed. It plays much more nicely with my pedal setup and has much more volume and balls than the Marshall did.

There are two channels, A and B, which have identical sets of controls (completely seperate). You can plug into one or the other, run the two seperately, or you can plug into the middle jack and use both. Each has a seperate effects loop as well. You can use the footswitch to select one channel or both.

The amp's only effect is spring reverb, which is fine with me - I would rather have the effects at my feet in pedals. I do wish it had some kind of accessory power jack on the back so I didn't have to use two outlets when I play.

This has a TON of power. It can drown out two (yes, two!) heavy hitting drummers and a bass player with a thing for his 4x10 cab when I play keyboards through it!

The amp doesn't really have a clean or dirty channel, it all depends on how you set the gain knob. Put it below three and you've got pretty pristine signal, very warm, especially for a solid state amp. Cranking the knob to about 5 you get some pretty good blues and grunge distortion, has some balls, crunchy but not seething. Twist the knob all the way to 10 and you've got a full on, rip-your-face-off crunch. I love it for some of the punk I play.

This amp also tolerates any kind of pedal REALLY well! I use a Line6 Uber Metal pedal to great effect, getting a little more gain from the amp extends pinch harmonics a bit better than with the pedal alone.

I own a Dean Dime Razorback, a Dean Les Paul-shape with a Dimebucker in the bridge, a 1986 Charvel Model 5, and a cheap Epi with a Duncan Detonator in the bridge. I play all sorts of styles, but mostly grunge, punk, and metal.

Keyboards, I own a Nord Lead 2X, a Roland Fantom x6, a Korg Kaoss pad, and some otheres.

It is noisy when you crank it up!!! The level of hiss is quite minimal even at large gain and volume. This thing just absolutely roars when you get the master volume past five or six.

Never had a single problem with it - which is great, the thing is almost 30 years old! It stands up to twice a week gigging and three times a week classes all over town.

The amp has never broken down or had any problems. I'm handy with a soldering iron, and I bet I could fix it if I had any problems with it. I gig without a backup all the time.

Built like a tank - only heavier! Casters are a lifesaver here.

The company doesn't exist, but there are some very knowledgeable people on the Unofficial Sunn forums at www.sunn.ampage.org. I asked all sorts of questions and they answered every one really well.

I love this amp! I've had it for about two years now. I used to own a Marshall MG100 2x12 combo, but I sold it to get this. I own a small Crate practice amp.

I would cry if this thing got stolen, because I got it for a great (read: low) price. I would replace it as soon as possible.

I love the versatility of the amp, I hate the weight.

I own 2 of the beta lead combos that have the 2 X 12" speakers at 45 degree angles. I bought the first one at Goodwill and the second on Ebay. I believe they come from the late 70's/early 80's. The most obvious feature is the ability to play through both channels (A and B) simultaneously. This allows you to dial in some amazing sounds. Switching between the two channels also is helpful sometimes (although most of these amps never come with the footswitch, which can be hard to find. It's a weird 4-pin configuration on the jack, so a 1/4" jack won't work). If you're patient you can find a footswitch on Ebay and likely pay $20-$50 for it. Another nice feature is the ability to run an extention speaker cabinet. Believe me, this amp can drive it! It's a beefy, solid, powerful (100 watts) amp for playing rock. It sounds good clean also, so I imagine it would work well for other styles. The reverb is decent. The drive knob adds a nice, thick gain. For a solid state amp, this thing sounds awesome. It sounds "multi-dimensional" and has soul. Most solid state amps have a rather sterile sound. This amp actually sounds warm and tubey, believe it or not. Also, it weighs a ton, so if you will be transporting it do yourself a favor and get some casters.

I play an Epi Les Paul Custom (with the 2 stock humbuckers) through it and that has a nice Sabbathy 70's rock sound. I heard King Buzzo of The Melvins used one (or two) as well as Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) occasionally, so maybe that gives you some idea. I play in an instrumental stoner rock/math rock trio and it's perfect for that. I also use a Big Muff (Sovtek green) and a HomeBrew UFO fuzz for different distortion sounds and they work well with the amp. An MXR micro amp also comes in handy for driving a lead. The amp doesn't create much unwanted noise. You can get just about any sound you want out of it. The E.Q. range is very sufficient. You get big bottom end, thick driving mids and sparkling highs. I love the speakers (SUNN) they sound awesome----huge square magnets!

Mine have been pretty darn dependable. I did blow the speaker leads one time, but since I had that repair ($18 cheap!) it's been smooth sailin'. Besides, that happened when I first got it and who knows how long it's been (if ever) since the amp had any attention. Remember, these things are 25+ years old. I would gig without a backup, although I have heard more that one person say that they break down.

I used to own one of the beta lead heads (no speakers attatched). Someone gave it to me and said it didn't work. I showed it to one repairman and he gave up on it and said I could use it for parts. I got a second opinion and this guy fixed the amp. I will say that I didn't like the sound of the beta lead head as much as my beta lead combo. It just didn't measure up somehow. My rating for this category is based on the following factors: 1) SUNN is no longer in business, so how could they possibly help? and 2) What's the likelyhood of getting it fixed by a good repairman if it breaks down?

I have been using this amp for a year. I like most SUNN amps that I've met. I also have a Model T and a Sceptre (SUNN tube amps). I liked the Beta Lead so much after I had used it for a few months that I started searching for another one. I found one on Ebay for the "buy-it-now" price of $299 w/free shipping. So not only would I buy it again but I did buy it again. I love everything about the amp except for the weight.

Bought new in April 1980 for $350! Channels are A, B, or both. This head sounds like anything you want it to sound like. I have even used it as a bass head! I have stereo out on my pedalboard, so I use channel A for direct and channel B for effects. I mix channel B lower than channel A for that perfect blend. One time I had to use channel B for my bass player. I ran a cord from the channel out to a power amp that we ran to his 18" cab. Channel A ran my cab as normal and channel B ran his cab. How many amps can do that!

I play a stock 1972 SG Custom with 2 humbuckers. The clean sound is incredible. A warm mix of bass, mid and treble. The Drive distortion can sound like Brian May or you can get that early Metallica sound. Tweaking the tone controls is key in getting a variety of sounds. I use an acoustic simulator pedal that sounds great with the clean sound. I also play heavy rock and I can see my Carvin 4x12 cab's speakers thumping! If you keep the channel levels lower than the Master Volume, the amp stays clean. If you crank the channel levels higher than the Master Volume you get big noise and enough distortion to renovate a house!

I have used the amp since April 1980 with no back up ever. I blew out an output transformer once because I ran a 4 ohm cab with it. I have had the pots replaced because the shafts break off easily. The Master Volume had to be replaced in 2000, because it got scratchy. I have used it in the studio for all Iron Man recordings and live shows!

Sunn is gone. I know Fender carries Sunn products now, but they haven't reissued the beta series yet. I go to Guitar Center for repair work.

I have been playing 41 years. I also own Rickenbacher 4001, Saga Precision kit bass, B.C. Rich Mockingbird and Yamaha Pacifica. 4 Carvin 1980 4x12 cabinets loaded with Eminence speakers. If something happened to this amp, I would buy another one right away! Univox made an amp model U130L that is close to the Sunn. They are gone too.

I have the head model, bought used, if you know what these are they probably have what you want, if your looking for one. However would have liked it if it would have had tremolo, but had reverb, better than my bassman on that note. Has out puts out the ass in the back as well, can't go wrong there either

playing with a 1969 fender telecaster thinline. Suits me fine for clean and distorted. The clean is AMAZING and you can stick pedals in front of it if you wanted to tweak the sound. Sounds great for post-rock/indie/garage/shoegaze/stoner... yeah I guess I play in a band that blends that many tones or whatever..... Sounds nice clean, better than my vox... has a little noise from the drive, but with some electronics spray cleaner should fix that,I hope, but you can't hear it when you play. The distortion is something that not all will want, not marshall, or mesa, or any of that shit... total tonal mush, which is still reasonate , but just I dunno SONIC DOOM, hence why I love it.

I am sure I could drag this behind my car and live, they don't have/had lifetime on the thing for no reason

what sunn....? Fender, bleh... sorry pal

Been playing for around 10 years. IF it were stolen and I didn't have to pay the inflated prices, yeah I would buy a new one. IF not I would go for the Sunn brand different head, just because I dunno , would want to try them out, and some of the others seem better. I mean EVERYONE who brings sonic doom/bliss plays these, growing, Sunn-0 , Earth, etc

This is an early 80's beta lead. The amp itself is not really that versatile, but the fact that it blends so well with distortion pedals makes up for that quickly. I play experimental. It's pretty loud, could be louder.

Gibson SG, Japanese Boss SD-1, Japanese Boss DF-2, Digitech WH-1 Whammy, Zvex Fuzz Factory. For what it does, I really love it. The tone is very rich, dark, and unique. The feedback is gorgeous. My first impression was Nirvana Bleach. It really has that feel, dark and grungy. The distortion is good. Still, this amp can't hold a candle to a Paul Rivera Fender Twin Reverb II, the last amp I owned. (fucking government stole my amp....long story). But hey, for the price, great amp. I run it through a Marshall 4x12

Not sure. Seems pretty solid.

no clue

Been playing 12 years. I would buy 10 of them for $235 if I had the cash. These things are increasing in value really quick, and are going on ebay for $500+. I lucked out on mine. I think they are going up in value because of the current Melt Banana tour (Agata plays one). I wish the distortion was more versatile.

Schematics for this amp are at http://www.dangpow.com/~sunn/svcmans/beta/.

My review is somewhere on this page.

Sunn Beta Lead, the head version, not the combo. Two channels. Three inputs so you can use one channel at a time, or both channels at once. I don't have a footswitch for this beast but I'll bet you could rig one up with a trip to Radio Shack. 4 ohm speaker outputs. Sort of limiting, but it won't hurt the amp if you use speakers of higher ohmage, and no matter what, this amp is always putting out its full power unless you somehow have a 2 ohm cabinet, which would damage the head anyway. Solid state head.

I play a Fender American Standard Strat with a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails pickup in the bridge. I play the head through a Line 6 cabinet with Celestions in it. This amp has an amazing clear and full clean sound, very tube like response. I've had this amp on 8 (which is DAMN loud) and the sound was still clean as could be. The reverb sound is awesome. I would highly recommend using this amp for this application! As for the distortion, well, you either love it or you hate it. There is a lot of distortion on this head, particularly if you use both channels. If you like the Melvins, Earth, Black Sabbath, etc., then this distortion will be right up your alley. If you're more into the super compressed, Mesa Boogie type gain, look somewhere else. Also, this is quite a loud head. I normally use a Crate Shockwave 350 watt and this amp competes with that head, even in the headroom department!

I just bought this head off of Ebay recently. When I first got it, the amp cut out a little bit, but then worked fine for the half hour or so I played with it. So, I really can't give a good opinion in this area now.

Well, Sunn is long out of business, and I'm probably like the 10th owner of this head so there is no warranty. I've been told Fender techs will work on Sunn stuff, but I wouldn't know.

I've been playing guitar for 11 years and this head has the best clean sound I've ever heard from any amp, period. I've played Fender heads before and they sound nice but lack severely in headroom, and other modern metal amps are designed for players who mostly use their gain channel, so the clean on those amps isn't as pristine. I love that this amp is loud and clear all the way through, and has a very unique, thick distortion tone. I'm a little wary that the amp is so old and that most of the parts are probably impossible to get anymore, but such is the way of vintage equipment: it sounds good because the parts inside are obsolete. I really wish I had a footswitch for this thing, but whatever. I still have my Crate head, which is a nice head, too. Still, nothing beats vintage!

Made in 70's, Bought 1978 I think? This one has two 12 inch speakers, replaced with celestions, The speakers are set angled towards eachother just over 45 degrees, so it has sorta wide dispersion. and creates great feedback when you get it right.
Lots of GRUNT, I read somewhere that Curt Cobain had one of these he used for bigger gigs, when his Marshall 1959 wasn't LOUD enough!!!
Believe IT! I can rarely get it over 2 else i get an unfriendly visit!Lottsa features, Has Footswith, changes channels A, B, A+B,
Reverb on/off.

Chainsaw Distortion, Any amount, I NEVER use it on 10, sounds crap, but less is more here, you have to get the drive/level/master just right, Then use FX.
It is real hissy when any amount of drive is used, you only hear it in the quiet bits, but annoying.
It puts out a solid usable variation of sound, if a bit noisy,
Handy one clean one dirty channel setup, or A+B for more mix options
each channel has send/return loop on back, also Master send/return.
2 speaker outputs.
I have run two Celestion Quads with this and I think I damaged my hearing? What?
This IS A ROCK AMP!!!
Would rate higher but 2 noisy, May need a service?

Very reliable, Has fallen with/from double stack and has just kept goin'
Plastic pots are a bitch, I have a few snapped off, can still adjust, but with difficulty
I use this all the time, have since 1978-9 great backup for Marshall.

Great Thumping Amp, More than enough power to get you heard!
Very versatile tonally, BUT a bit to very noisy depending on amount of drive used, You can get a sweet sound out of these if you work at it. NASTY is no problem, just spin those knobs to the right.
I love this amp, a shame about the plastic pot shafts (What were they thinking?), the drive pot shafts are the only metal ones. And the hiss is a bummer (Just Keep Playin')

The amp was made in the mid-seventies, 2x12 combo but could drive a cab very easily. I mostly use it for clean and distortion. It sounds decent at low volumes but sounds the best cranked but it is very loud. Sounds much like a tube amp its definately the fattest solid state amp I've ver encountered. I actually bought this amp over a Fender tube amp(which I regret now) but it is more practical, thos I have had to put in the shop twice now in the past year mostly because of my abuse.

I usually run A standard Telecaster or Ibanez bass through it and sounds great for both. Im surprised it can handle bass but it does it very well. This amp is very loud and does produce feedback, but if you know what your doing feedback can be used to your advantage. It takes effects very well but the feedback when using distortion and a wah is unbearable i dont recommend it. But that is also with a guitar with single coils so that accounts for much of my problems.

I used to trust it but it broke down a few days ago but i have a gig in a month so I would rather everything be repairing that it have had broke down during my show. I have gigged with it in the past with no backups and never had a problem. Sounds like a cranked Marshall mic'd. I played a friends 30 anniversary Les Paul through it and to be honest my Telecaster sounds better. Played an Ibanez GAX 30 and got very Tony Iommi tone out of it.

Its Fender now. If the amp breaks take it to a shop much less hassle. My warranty is void anyway.

I have been playing for two years I think. I play bass in an emo(think At the Drive-In) band and I use it at church occasionally if we go somewhere I dont require as much volume as this puts out for Wed. Servive in the Youth Room even though I'd love to crank it and scare them. I looked up how loud this amp will go and it will max out cranked at 128 decibels if I remeber right. Thats pretty loud and if its not you can always mic it.

70's solid state head version. Two channels with the option to drive both (which is what I normally do).
Dials for bass/middle/treble/reverb/drive/level & a master volume.
I think it has a footswitch option but I don't see the use for a footsitch here at all. There are two channel accessory options to add effects. I've never actually managed to use this feature successfully yet. It seems quite a powerful 100 watt amp though.

I use a guitar with a single humbucker & have used this amp for a few gigs and have not been too pleased with it's performance at high volumes. At lower volumes it has a nice woody reverbed tone but crank it in the live situation & things fall to pieces. Its transistor qualities become apparent via whistling feedback & undefined trebley mush. Adding a distortion only served to make things more uncontrollable. Because of this the amp has now taken a backseat as a slaved power amp, and for this purpose it works fine. It's not a particularly versatile head so until I find a way of getting a good live sound it shall remain this way. I think it would work as somekind of preamp but it plainly does not like to be driven (even through two 4x10"!).

I wouldn't feel comfortable using it without back up for gigs again. But it seems fairly robust & has served its purpose.

no

Well for the price I paid for it seems on the high side but they are hard to comeby in the UK & i was anxious to use the same amp (albeit transistor version) that King Buzzo (Melvins) uses. I would probably not buy this amp again but would look into a Model T or some such. I like this amps tone at low volumes but hate the fact that all goes out the window when cranked. That's all.

DON'T CARE WHEN IT WAS MADE.AMP SOUNDS LIKE SHIT FOR ALL STYLES.2 CHANNELS WITH ONE WORSE THAN THE OTHER.AS FAR AS FEATURES I WISH IT HAD WOULD BE A CHASIS FROM ANY OTHER AMP.THIS AMP SITS IN MY CLOSET ALONG WITH OTHER RELICS LIKE ATARI AND MATTELL VIDEO GAMES

I CAN'T STAND THIS AMP

BLEW AN OUTPUT 1 HR AFTER PLAYING IT FOR THE FIRST TIME

HAVE YOU EVER TRIED TO DEAL WITH FENDER THESE DAYS? THEY CAN'T EVEN HANDLE THAT OVERPRICED RE-ISSUE LINE OF THEIR OWN

I'VE BEEN PLAYING 34 YEARS AND THIS IS THE WORST AMP I'V EVER SEEN AND I'VE HAD OLD KENTS, KAY EVEN SOVTEK MIG 50 KICKS ITS ASS. IF THIS WERE STOLDENT HE THIEF WOULD BE DOING ME A BIG FAVOR LIKE THE CAR THIEF ON SEINFELD THAT STOLD THE CAR WITH THE BBO.

Bought it new in 1980 for about 750 bucks. Warm tubey sound, some band mates thought it was a tube amp. With pre-amp ins and outs you could send the signal from one channel output to the input in front and get more tone levels and gains. Makes for easy stereo with another amp (or two). Also has power amp input and output. Has drive, level for each channel and master volume controls. Has four 16 ohm speakers. Incredible. Tons of bass. Great midrange tone. Treble not harsh. Used it for 15 years, sold it to a friend and bought it back again five years later. I still use it every week. Had the transistors replaced in '93 and the sound was great again. If your's sucks, get it fixed. Channel switching/blending possibilities are awesome. Sounds good enough for a monitor amp (my experience), enough power for a bass amp with the right speakers, of course. Reverb unit died, but everyone has a stomp box for that, right?

Used it for rock and country with a 1986 Japanese Contemporary Strat (S-S-S) and a 1974 SG Custom (dual Humbuckers). Has always been quiet, no hum, used it a lot in the studio. The clean sound stays clean and this amp can be incredibly loud. My Yamaha acoustic sounds really nice using the amp with a good Eagle Works (Portland, Oregon) monitor cabinet with a 15 and a horn.

I always liked setting one channel clean and the other dirty and having both sounds at once for solos. It made for a nice solid sound.

Had it serviced once after 10 years of weekly gigging (150 dates a year--yeah we made some money). The sound quality had degraded. After serving, it sounded good as new. The transistors can vibrate their way out of their sockets so I used some tacky stuff to hold them in. The shafts on the pots are plastic, so they break off, but you can still twist them--a unique guitar player skill. One of the pots wore out (on channel B's level control) but I only need one channel. I have a replacement and schematic, just too lazy to replace it. This amp stays in my church without a backup. I use a Carvin MTS3212 for lounge and concert gigging (another awesome amplifier).

I had it repaired out of warranty (like I said after 10 years of hard gigging) by a Sunn authorized repair shop when I lived in Portland. The Sunn company headquarters were in a near-by town. I went to their headquarters once by accident for a job interview, and the guys were great even though I was there for the wrong job.

I've been playing since the Beatles hit it big. I've owned a Kustom blue tuck and roll 200 watt amp (louder than 1000 army tanks rolling into Hell on Armageddon Day), blonde '65 Fender Bandmaster and '65 Fender Bassman amps (why oh why did I sell those two?), Marshall JCM 900 head (sold for Christmas money for the kids, otherwise a beautiful amp), little practice amps, and my main darling, the Carvin MTS3212. Current main guitar is Carvin DC200T solid maple body.

I did buy the Sunn Beta Lead twice! Overall, I like its smooth sound and versatility. I wish Carvin would make an SX model with this amp's features. I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

70s solid state, head version. 50? watts, 2 channels, reverb, footswitchable. For the time a feature loaded amp, pretty good even by today's standards.

Ummm, this is without a doubt the nastiest sounding amp I've ever owned (although I've heard bad things about the PV Butcher). Not cool nasty, not grunge or punk nasty, just nasty. Reverb is OK, clean is usable, if you buy it cheap it'll be a better gig amp than using your old stereo...

Never had trouble. ONly owned it 6 months and never gigged.

Long gone.

Only get it if it's all you can afford.

-the Beta Lead 2x12 combo was made in the late seventies during the red logo era of Sunn. the date stamp on the power transistors is 1978. although some say its made closer to 1980.

-This amp has a pretty unique tone, whatever style of music you used it in, it would work, and add a really original tone quality. i play noise rock, and this amp is perfect, but i've also started using it for my solo clean electric stuff as well and it works well.

-2 channels, each with identical controls [drive, bass, mid, treble, reverb, level], channel switching with footswitch, as well as a BOTH CHANNELS setting, which, even though the amp isn't a bi-amp, sounds like the signals are split between speakers[which are mounted at a 90 degree angle, facing each other - very cool], its not of course, but it has a separated sound, very cool, especially if you get outside the clean channel/drive channel box and combine drive/drive or clean/clean, playing with different levels of bass/mid/treble/level you can get some crazy sounds, the way the amp takes a dump when its cranked and you've combined the channels as drive/drive, is really nice. effects loops exist for both channels seperately, and it has a master loop, all loops are series.

-it would be nice if the amp had better reverb, but its not a big deal, the reverb is ok by solid state, spring reverb standards of the late seventies, it has decent reverb and thats what matters.

-this amp has plenty of power, it 100w solid state, but its really really loud, as most sunn solid state amps are, the resistor in the r23 spot on the schematic has been taken disabled, that might have somthing to do with it being as loud as it is, but i would imagine its just as loud with in connected.

-use it with a strat mostly, sometimes a teisco del-rey, playing noisy dissonant melodic rock, it works beautifully, as playing crazy noise rock pushes an amp to its limits, this amp pushes right back.

-not too moisy, a little hum when you're using a lot of drive, but no more than any other amp really.

-this amp is capable of being used in almost any style of music i think, like i said, unique tone, and thats good.

-clean does distort at VERY high volumes, but this can be fixed by backing off the level knob.

-the distortion kind of reminds me of a cross between a fender deville and a boss ds-1, if you can imagine that, not mega syrupy, but very sustainy, it is a solid state amp, you're not gonna get tube distortion, but its darn good distortion for solid-state. clean channel is really nice, the highs dont break up really at all, its really midrangey and bassy, very sunstainey on cleans as well.

this amp is a tank, as most 70's solid state sunn amps are, when i got it it seemed like it had sat in a garage for 10 years being used as a saw horse, i had to replace the filter caps because i think it sat so long, but its 25 years old, i'm not complaining...

no need for a backup amp.

sunn was bought out by fender in the very early 80's and soon went under, they are back, and have reissued one amp, but i dont think warranty's from pre-fender sunns are valid.

find a vintage music store...

i own one other sunn amp - the concert lead head. and i play it through an open back sunn 2x12 cab with celestion 75s inside. until i bought these two amps, only weeks apart, i had never owned a sunn amp. i also HATED the idea of owning a solid state amp, but now i have two. go figure. sunn amps rock. if this amp is ever stolen, i probably wont ever find another one, but if i do, i will buy it within 20 seconds of seeing it.

I don't own this amp anymore, but it's not because of the sound. I'll admit i'm a little wierd in that I really do like some solid state amps, but this one I really liked. The distortion was nasty, the cleas were brash, and the combination of the two channels is a feature I wish most high end channel switching amps had. If you like solid state sound and a 2x12 combo that produces tons of sound, this is your amp.

This is the real reason I wrote this review. I like the amp, but it was SERIOUSLY FLAWED!!! All the vents were on the underside of the chassis. When the chassis was installed in the cabinet, all the vents got covered up. I had this amp for about 18 months and it would burn up transistors every week or so until I began taking the chassis out and propping it up a shoe or something to allow it to vent properly. I'm sure anyone with some ingenuity could have altered the cab, or intalled a fan or something, but I just didn't want to put up with an amp that kept burning up, so I sold it. These days I play and orange amp. It rules.

It's solid state, which for some people by definition sucks. I happen to like this particular amp more than most solid state amps because it doesn't seem to be designed for good tone. It's a "loud maker"... thats all. I would actually like to get another, but I caution against getting one unless you are prepared to play handy-man. I think that sunn generally rocks, but I have to believe that these amps are part of the reason they went out of business.

this amp has basic features nothing extravagant

i love the drive-distortion that is has and the bass i play semi-rock-grunge

ive had it for a couple o years its a reliable amp

ahh i had never heard of sunn but heard it was bought out bby fender?? but its awesome if love doing stuff urself

this is an awesome amp BUT NOT PERFECT! I was in the mood for a marxhall but didnt have enough money so i figured i would get a peavey or something like that. I went out looking for one, but i while i was looking at a peavey half-stack i saw this old dusty kinda big amp i played on it with a gibson les paul and i thought it sounded kinda crappy. the guy at the shop said he would clean and repair it for me for $20 extra,i said ok, the next day i took it home. i own a Fender fat strat and a Fender Mustang i played it for a while i was dissapointed but a couple o days later i set the switches right it was the best amp i have heard next to a marshall!

A rather large and boxy looking solid-state, 100 Watt, 4X10 combo. It has two channels and a third input that makes a combination of the two. Channel A on this particular amp seems to be either broken or just plain broken as it seems much too bright to be normal. Has full Bass, Treble, and Mid selectors and even Reverb and Drive. All controls are duplicated for both channels so it seems that this amp could be used almost as a guitar amp and PA. Also has a seperate effects loop for each of the two channels which I have not tried yet but will come in handy. Being that I use this amp as a practice unit, it has more than enough power for my whole apartment complex. I wish it had a headphone jack.

This amp sounds beautiful and bassy and I almost dare say 'tubey.' Low end on this amp is simply flawless. I play clean most of the time just to enjoy the bass response. I can sit there and pull off Stevie Ray Vaughan low-E open slap notes all day and be happy. Channel A is much too noisy and bright for my taste so I stay in B. Since controls are duplicated for both channels and are accessible from both channels nothing is missed by remaining in B all the time. The Reverb is not the best or the deepest or richest I've ever heard but it does enough to warrant its presence on the amp itself. A Master volume over the Level selector is just that and nothing special. the Distortion, called Drive gives out a good smooth bluesy overdrive that doesnt harm the original tone of my Strat single-coils in the least. The distortion at mid-levels manages to stay in control based on how hard you play.

I probably wouldnt rely on it at a gig, so it falls into the category of LARGE practice amp. To be fair it hasnt failed me yet although the drive knob needs replacement soon.

n/a

For $75 I'd buy two of them. The low-end response itself is worth twice that much and is worth every penny. One of the better sounding Solid-State amps I've heard. I'll settle for this until a nice Fender Twin becomes accessible.