Sunn Concert Lead

THIS AMP WAS MADE AROUND 1976. AMP IS A VERY VERSATILE AMP.
I'V PLAYED BIG BAND, BLUES,COUNTRY WESTERN.JAZZ,LATIN ,ETC WITH THIS AMP AND IT IS VERY RESPONSIVE..I USED THIS AMP SINCE 1977 WHEN I BOUGHT IT ALONG WITH THE 6-10 INCH SPEAKER CABINET THAT CAME WITH IT..
IT IS A SOLID STATE,,VERY RELIABLE

I HAVE USED A 1972 GIBSON ES335 GUITAR WITH MY AMP..WHICH I BOTH
STILL HAVE..I PLAYED BIG BAND,,BLUES,JAZZ,COUNTRY WESTERN ETC
WITH THIS COMBO AND I CAN MAKE IT SOUND CLEAR AND CRISP OR
DISTORTED SOUNDS OF CARLOS SANTANA...THIS DISTORTION IS HEAVY
AND CLEAR...HIGH NOTES REALLY SOUND GOOD..AND THE 6 TEN INCH SUNN SPEAKERS...REALLY ADD TO THE HIGH SOUNDS...REALLY LOUD.

I'VE HAD THIS SUNN CONCERT LEAD DROPPED BY STAGE HANDS...I'V DROPPED
IT...I'VE SPILLED EVERY KIND OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE ON IT..
IT GOT SOAKED AFTER AN OUTDOOR WEDDING RAIN...STILL PLAYED NEXT GIG..
IT HAS TRAVELVED ON AIRPLANES,,BUSES,,TRAILERS,,TRUCKS,,CAR TRUNKS
AND EVEN TOOK IT TO A GIG IN ALCAPOLCO MEXICO,,MEXICAN AIRLINE
AND THE DAMM AMP STILL WORKED.
THE ONLY PART ON THIS AMP THAT HAS BEEN REPLACED ONCE..WAS THE
VOLUME CONTROL..FOR FREE UNDER WARRANTY..THIS AMP STILL HAS
A LIFETIME WARRANTY ON ALL ..EXCEPT THE ON/OFF SWITCH..
A STORE IN AUSTIN, TEXAS "GUITAR RESUURECTION" STILL REPAIRS
UNDER WARRANTY

THIS AMP AND SUNN SPEAKERS HAVE A LIFETIME WARRANTY..
"GUITAR RESUURECTION" IN AUSTIN TEXAS WILL REPAIR FREE OF CHARGE
PARTS AND LABOR...EXCEPT FOR ON/OFF SWITCH..WARRANTY WILL NOT COVER
THIS PART...ALL PARTS ARE OFF THE SHELF..NOTHING EXOTIC...
THE SCHEMATICS ARE SIMPLE AND WIRING IS SIMPLE..WITH A HUGH
POWER TRANSFORMER AND HUGH HEAT SINKS...ALL PARTS HAVE GOOD
QUALITY NEAR VALUE PARTS...

I HAVE BEEN PLAYING GUITAR SINCE I WAS 13..I AM 58 YEARS OLD NOW.
I CAN NOT REPLACE THIS AMP..THERE IS NOTHING OUT THERE LIKE IT..
I HAVE OTHER AMPS...GOOD ONES,FENDER 4 10,,PEAVY STEREO CHORUS AND A PRATICE CRATE..BUT THEY DON'T SOUND THE SAME...SORRY I LOVE THE RELIABLITY,,,THE CLEAR CRISP SOUND...THE RESPOND I GET FROM IT...I'VE HAD LOTS OF COMPLIMENTS FROM MUSICAINS AND NON MUSICIANS..
I HATE THE WEIGHT...IT WEIGHS A TON...AND THE CABINET TOO. BUT I
NEVER HAD TO CARRY IT AROUND MYSELF MUCH..
I ENJOYED THIS AMP..THE COMBINATION OF MY GIBSON ES335 (ITS
HUMBUCKERS) AND THIS AMP IS THE BEST COMBO..FOR ME..
I WISH IT WEIGHED LESS..NOW THAT I'M OLDER..AND I DON'T
HAVE STAGE HANDS TO CARRY IT AROUND AND SETTING IT UP..
I TAKE IT TO A FEW GIGS...I DON'T THINK I WOULD CHANGE
ANY OF THE ELECTRONICS.OR FEATURES..ALL ARE FINE WITH ME..
I USED THIS AMP SINCE 1976-77 AND IT STILL KICKS BUTT...
I EVEN HAVE THE SUNN COVERS FOR AMP AND CABINET..
A LITTLE USED BUT STILL ORIGINAL..

this is an early 70's model with the grey pannel, #44425, if you are reading this you know the faetures. i have been playing 43 years and had almost every amp out there, including 2000.oo heads. i play blues and i know i may go to hell for playing blues thru a solid state head, but i think this amp is as good for my style as any i have had or tried, it has more power than i will ever need.

i use a 62 strat with a new srv neck, i play blues. it does not make any annoying noises at any level. it has a clean sound, but for a little dirt i use a dano overdrive, works great! i don't have the oddball rca footswitch so i can't say about the distortion on channel one, but the reverb is nice on channel two, so that is the one i use.

sunn amps are famous for being built like tanks, i baby all my gear so it has never been abused by me, it is extra clean to the point of looking like a re-issue. cockroaches and sunn amps are the only two things that will survive a necular holocaust.

if it ever goes down i will fix it myself.

playing for 43 years, had them all. i have one other amp i use, i 1971 two-tone blue 1011 univox head that is above reproach for a tube head. i use them both thru a homemade jenkins highway 61 2-12 cab made of birch with the 2 12" CTS speakers i got with the sunn head. yes the amp and the 2-12,s for 60 bucks! the only way anybody will get my gear is to murder me, i never let any of it out of my sight. sunn amps are often overlooked by the so called guru's, i believe them to be the last real bargin vintage amp to be had these days.

i don't know what year mine is but i'm thinking it's the older grey and black one because there is no red on it like the later models. i play a wide range from funk and soul to reggae to rock, psychadelia, punk, bluegrass and whatever else i'm feeling and yes this amp can hang. it's my main setup through a 1965 marshall 4x10 lead cabinet. the only problem i have with it is tha fact that i need a footswitch to go through the two channels i bought mine used for $100 and i figured i was just lucky it works. now that i can't find a footswitch for it i'm a little bitter. othe than that the amp is loud and versitile with plenty of house shaking power.

it sounds great. i play it with a vintage (early 70's) epiphone sheraton 2 and i love the tones i get. the best is when you can literally feel air pressure pushing out of the f-holes in my guitar. unbelievable. but it certainly suits me well. i saw it at a music shop in upstate new yoirk and i swear it called to me. honestly for sound this amp deserves a score of 10+++++infinityxinfinity to the 3rd power

so far so good. not a single problem. never had it5 serviced and never needed to.

i wish there was coustomer service available. maybe i'd be able to get a damn footswitch for it.

overall i think this is the one that got away. i kinda like the fact that it's overlooked though. if this amp died beyond repair or was stole (because i'll never sell it) i would be devistated. this is the sound i've heard in my head my whole life and have been searching for since i was 14. like i said the only thing that sucks is the missing ffotswitch but if anyone could help me with that i would be in debt to you for life. THANK YOU SUNN FOR MAKING MY FAVORITE AMP EVER.

my concert lead amp was made in the 70's
It is solid state
i don't need a whole lot a bell and whistles in my amplifier
so this amp is fine by me the way it is
Any sound coloring i would just buy effect pedals or a rack or if i was rich enough iraq (sorry i couldn't help my self)
but if i had to add features i would take out the sunn reverb tank
and jam a holy grail and fender twin tremolo into it both with stero output (but the i would be able to aford this amp)
it has two switching channels a brite channel and a normal
reverb and distortion

I'am using a old 50 something u1 danelectro with a lipstick pickup,
epiphone genesis with p90's pickups (i guess)and univox ripper
with three lace emg's
this amp makes great clean sound
i never had this amp in a place where i could turn it up above
but 3 was extremly loud and clean
the built-in distortion and reverb are nice and subtle
but when i added a marshall distortion pedal did a screamer
good lord what a sound
it sound so much like a tube amp with or without my d-pedal
i read the concert lead was built differnt than standard solid state amp and that i why it sound so tube like
only problem is from time to time the amp weird noise
until you pimp slap it to make it shut (sorry i had a flashback to my former career) what i was trying to say is you have to hit this amp
to silence this unwanted noise.
if it weren't for the occasional unwanted noise i would rate higher

Unwound used the concert lead for year so who am I to contradict
it's been running strong for almost thirty year
that says it all
again if it weren't for the occasional unwanted noise i would rate it higher

Sunn is owned by Fender (forgive my hateration)
and i wouldn't want to disturb fender right now
they need their time to pratice making good guitar again. What they are putting now is either GARBAGE or OVERPRICED sometimes both(same goes for Gibson)

I have been playing long enough to learn a c chord
if it were stolen or lost and i could talk another guy down from 269 dollar to 100 dollar i would try to run out the store without paying
and if that didn't work i would hand over the 100 buck without regret

p.s please forgive the spelling on my first review i got dyslexia
like a mofo

oh yeah vote bush out of office next election

This amp was made in the early 70's, and isn't the most versatile thing I've ever had, but I only need it to do what it does best; have a beautiful clean sound (I use stomp boxes to change the flavour). It has everything you need as far as inputs go, but the only thing it dosen't have is a direct line out (I wish it had one for recording)! The distort and reverb are nothing to brag about, but everything else is cool. I use the two channels for two guitars. In the first I use a Gibson (1955) lap steel, and in the second, I use my strat (1980), or sg standard (1970).

The tone that I get out of this thing is incredible. It becomes very versitile once I plug all my other toys into it. For effects I use stomp boxes in a BCB-6 - (right to left) POWER SUPPLY (BOSS), COMPRESSION/SUSTAINER (BOSS), RAT (R), RAT (LEAD), CHOURS (BOSS), DD/PICH SHIFTER (BOSS). And for a cab I use a mint condition JCM-800 Stereo cab (top half).

Well to be honest with you, I have only had it for two days (today is Sept, 6 2002), and yesterday (day 1) my cab fell on it, still work just the same (infact when it got hit, I think the clock started to work again lol)

no need! dosen't exist anymore.

Manufactured in '74, according to markings inside the chassis. This head is simple to use. I plug into the "normal" jack. 200 watts=loud. Has a distortion channel but you're nuts if you use it.

I use a variety of guitars--seems like single coils and P-90's really get beefed up by this amp. Right now I'm using a strat as my main guitar, through a Fulldrive 2, a Rat (for boost) and a Small Stone. I used to A/B this head with a Fender Twin (using the Twin for clean sounds) but it's too much of a hassle to transport all that gear. Besides, this amp has a distinctive clean sound of its own (and lots of headroom). It's surprisingly transparent for a tranny, and responds well to different cabs. I've played it through my vintage Sunn 2X15 cab for a smooth vintage mid-rangy sound, but lately I've been running it through a modern Hughes and Kettner cab loaded with 75-watt Celestions. A strange match but I experimented with about ten different set-ups in the studio (including various Fender Combo's, a Bassman, an old Marshall JMP, and even a JCM-800) and I kept coming back to the this tranny artifact. Either my hearing is shot to hell, or this is truly a diamond in the rough. After gigs there are usually a couple of classic-rock-type gearheads who ask me about my stuff. When they find I'm running a $150 pawn shop tranny head, it's always a priceless reaction.

At one point I had TWO of these (both the red/black era models) just in case, but I sold the other one when I realized you can can drop/detonate/dismantle this thing until armageddon, and it's STILL going to work. I have several other Sunn tube heads (2000-S, a '67 Sentura with original 2X15 folded horn speakers), and they've never given me problems. Fender bought Sunn in the late 70's and then the company went under. They resurfaced it a couple of years ago with a re-issued Model T head, but I haven't heard these.

I always come back to the Concert Lead. It's like an ugly-ass chair that you refuse to toss out, because you know you'll never find a more comfy one.

i have the late 70's model (w/ the red/black faceplate)
two channel ("normal", and "brite")
solid state, blah, blah, blah....etc...

you know what this amp is about if yr reading this.
these amps wail, as does anything with the sunn name and logo.

i play a 74' sg deluxe, an early 90's sg-x, and a dipinto galaxie...
i generally use stompboxes, for my drive, but never with this amp...it's unecessary, it's like eating soup with a fork...although i do use an mxr blue box in front of every rig i use, in case i want to hit the "brown note" if the audience pisses me off...
i run this, and another head (kustomIII, ampeg v4, sunn concert bass depending on my mood) both through 4x12 cabs, and split with an a/b/y...i turn bass, mid, and volume on ten, and leave treble on about 6 or 7, always keep the brite off, and the boost off, and i have no need for reverb, as it is broken in this amp anyway...when yr on ten, reverb really doesn't matter...
HEAVY....JUST HEAVY...
i tune to C and drop to Bflat sometimes, and nothing produces the tone i crave like this amp does....
GUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
although, i must say....i've heard much louder amps than this, i can't understand why all you reviewers praise the volume...it's only 100 solid state watts...that's like 80 tube watts...my other amp 120w tube...and much louder...either way, i don't like my eardrums very much, so to ten it goes.

i bought it already beat to hell...and i've beat on it, and i plan to beat on it forever...

usually if it says "sunn" you can use it as a weapon in barfight, and then plug it back in and play...

mine does need a squirt of electronics cleaning spray though...

dinosaurs are extinct now...go see a tech.

i went into the music store and tried out four different amps in one sitting...a marshall 25/50 head, a plexi reissue, a peavey tripleX, and the sunn concert lead.
i walked to the salesman, and said..."i need and amp, the best way i can describe the tone i want is...picture a bear, tied to the back of a mid 70's 442 w/ glasspacks, getting dragged through a pile of broken glass..." he gave me a look, and then showed me those four amps respectively...
the 25/50 sounded like mosquitos "gettin' busy" in the cab.
the plexi was howling uncontrolably at all volumes.
the tripleX was.....i'm not even gonna start with peavey...
and you know the story of the sunn...
when i told him my choice, he muttered, humorously..."i show him $1500 valve amps, and he picks the $200 solid state crap..."
it was funny, but he was an acoustic guitarist, so he doesn't know what's going on...lol
if could give an 11 for a rating i would...

I have two of these monsters, 1-early '70's grey face two channel and 2-the red and black face late '70's model. Both cover the full spectrum of the guitar repetiore. I love 'em dirty and loud. I hated solid state amps until I met them.

The Lead can hang with any Marshall or Boogie (I also own a few of each)....and is twice is loud. I play big venues with a Lead and a Sunn model T (seperate cabs) dialed in together. Best guitar sound I've ever heard.

Tanks, I've beat the shit out of them.....solid.

What customer support, know a good amp guy...get a schematic.

The CONCERT LEAD will strike terror in the heart of those lucky enough
to experence the end of its blast.
This amp i've throne with anger on the floor, I've smash it with a hammer.... and I'm still playing on it! I couldn't think of getting some other amp.

This amp has a soul, it can undertand your mind an amp for GURUS!

..as I said..

The amp is from 1971, I found it at a friends music store and before that I didn't even know it existed but ther was something with its look that i just had to buy it.
After a short while it went broken, I try to get it repaired, I payed like 1000 crowns ( i live in sweden) and a week later it went broken again it was then I smashed it on the floor. But hej, I repaired it my self I did a new cage and a new blue vinyl became my own blue sunn concert lead

I've been playing in my band called Sgt.Sunshine for about 6 years now. One thing i love about the concert lead is: everything!
I hate that I don't have the folded horn with two JBL that came with it. I'd like to buy one, anyone?'Under the time it was totally smashed I bouhgt a mesa boogie mark iii, but.. I sold it because then I realized what a monster of sound I had just destroyed.
You see there was this guy at a music store who claimed that no one was better then him when it came to repair amps and he was completely
shure that my amp would never start functioning again ever, because it was in very bad condition, I mean, very bad condition! But somehow
and with lots of love I managed to repair it myself, I changed the foot switch contact to a four-pin mic contact and I made a foot switch out of an alarm box. The sound of this amp depends very much on what enlosure your're useing it with.

Great solid state amp dated 1971 on the warranty sticker on back. You can go from a nice '70's distortion to a very twany country tone. Amp has a "Bright" setting and a distortion channel with a boost switch. There is also a seperate input for bright or normal. This is a super loud amp. I have it paired with a Sonic 4x12 and it shakes walls in my basement when turned past 5.

I play mostly 70's rock so the amp works great. It would also work well if I learn rockabilly. I use a LP Jr. with a single coil pickup and it works o.k. lots of feedback at high volume, it's the pickup not the amp.

I have only had it for 2 weeks so I can't say. Hope it lasts. It still has the intact warranty sticker from 1971 so maybe it never broke down.

Warranty sticker says lifetime, but it was made when Hartzell owned Sunn and now that Fender does I doubt it still is a good warranty.

Overall, I thinks it's a very versatile amp with great distortion and a good clean tone. If I was around when it came out I would have bought one. I would like to get a footswitch for it thought. VERY LOUD amp!