Sunn Concert Lead

Red/silver/black one. I don't have a footswitch.

Using this with a Les Paul copy and a few pedals. Does cleans really well, and the distortion is good by itself. It's not pristine, but sounds pretty good. I use a couple of pedals to get really ugly tone and lots of horrendous feedback. The amp takes really well to pedals, and I would definitely recommend buying a good one if you want yr sound to be pristine and sharp. I bought this amp because I wanted something that could crank out lots of feedback and ugly tone, and I didn't want to pay for tubes and getting my amp serviced all the time. As far as "quality tone" goes, you're better off with a Marshall, but this thing cranks and does it's own thing.

Full disclosure: I prefer Beta Leads. I think they sound better, but with the vintage market blowing up the value of formerly cheap and awesome gear, beggars can't be choosers, right?

I've heard that the oil based transistors in this amp dry up, causing lots of problems. I've also heard rumors that these things are pretty much worthless once they're broken, but I haven't experienced that yet. Both of mine are broken in some way, but they still sound good. The distortion on one doesn't work at all and the other one isn't nearly as loud, but I suspect the boost is engaged on one and not the other. I guess we'll see.

I've got two of these. Bought them both because they're cheap and loud. I don't give a **** about the tone, really. If I wanted a great sounding amp, I would've gotten something tube...yet these hold their own in their own way. Solid state amps definitely don't come like they used to. Not as great of a value as they once were, but still pretty good as a backup amp if you're picky about yr sound, or great as a primary amp if the music you're playing is nasty and loud.

Correction to my recent review: The Sunn Cabinet Model # is 412LH (for Loaded Horn). Sorry about that gang.

1975 Single Channel Sunn Concert Lead. I ordered/bought this new in 1975 with the behemoth 412L cabinet (bass ported/loaded horn). This is !!LOUD!! It's rated around 100 Watts into a 4 ohm load, 200 Watts into a 2 ohm load (insane). It sounds more like 150 Watts into a 4 ohm load. This is my main big amp. It's solid state with FET's in the preamp section (FET's are resistant to Nuclear Radiation, if that means anything to you). Before I bought this I tried everything on the market back then, Marshall,Fender,Orange,Traynor,Acoustic and so on. This is the only amp that when you turned the tone knobs you got a very definite tone change throughout the assigned spectrum(i.e. bass, mid, treble & bite me bright switch). The distortion has this "razor edge" sound to it that I love. Close to Iommi's sound on Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath, yet, distinctively different. A confirmed Marshall believer friend of mine borrowed it when his Marshall fried. He cried when I took it back, "It has so much harmonic color"! OK? Enough said. Style: Old School Heavy Metal, Jazz/Fusion, R&B, Rock. Very versitile. I use it with my Guild S300D. Controls: Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, Bright switch, Distortion switch, Distortion level control, Boost switch, Reverb Depth, Reverb Tone. The footswitch has an Amphenol 7 pin conector on it. It can easily be broken, so I've cut out the cover to an old plastic 35mm film can to pass the cable through and store it in that. There's three(3)levels of volume to this amp. Level 1: Distortion & Boost off. Level 2: Either Distortion or Boost on. Level 3: Distortion & Boost on (ludicrous speed). I played an outdoor concert in New Hampshire back in the 70's, the amp was on "4" (vol) and the Distortion was on at "7". The cops came to shut us down. They said, "We can hear you 7 miles off". I tried to blame my brother the bassist as he almost always had his Sunn Concert Bass rig w/215B on full blast. I'll never forget this; the cop turned on me and yelled in my face, "NO, IT WAS YOOOUUU"! (Ha,Ha,Ha! I still laugh about it). So, that should give you a good idea as to how loud this S.O.B. is. The secret to get a really good rock/metal sound with this unit is to use a controllable boost pedal between the guitar and amp (not a Fuzz). I use a 70's Morley Power Wah Volume Boost unit. There's an effects loop on the rear panel, be careful though, as there is no level control for this, the only down side to this amp. The reverb is a very fine U-Line brand, quite Fenderish. I played this setup (guitar/wah/amp for years. It has served me well.

This amp can be brilliantly clean all the way up (very suitable for country style). Incredible bottom end definition, especially with the Sunn 412L bass ported/loaded horn cab. A warning about this cab, though, it'll overproject the sound in a small club. All you'll hear is your pick strokes thumping and everyone will swear you're dropping bombs in the restrooms. That's how it was described to me. Distortion: You're in Black Sabbath terrain here.

Always dependable. No backup needed. The only trouble I've had over the years was a loose reverb mounting standoff once, and a broken footswich jack from being stepped on.

Never dealt with Sunn when they were in business before or after being acquired by Fender. The loose reverb stud was fixed by the dealer way back then. Fender shutdown the Sunn operation some time ago. It had a lifetime warranty, however when the company changed hands that killed that, leagally.

I've been playing since the early 1970's. I have many Sunn & Supro amps, and Guild guitars. I would replace the Sunn Concert Lead if anything terminal happened to it. However, it's built to withstand a Nuclear Holocaust, so, what else could you ask for?

update to an earlier review of the Sunn Concert lead - earlier 70s grey faced model. after some tinkering with the amp & footswitch I finally got the distortion to work after 2+ years owning this thing. and - its a GREAT distortion! of course this means I also got the boost function to work as well. "boost" is not quite the word here, how about "volume doubler"? a serious 'boost' anyways. so, what was once a great but one-dimensional head for me is now seriously kicking ass in every department. every dept. i need it to kick ass in anyways. this is what's great about older equipment. it has its downsides sure, but you can open it up and play around. no worrying about blowing yourself up or invalidating a warranty. so, now i'm boosting the 'features' mark up by one. it would be the best if the distortion and reverb could be used at the same time, but that's the only complaint I can think of.

so now, sound quality of the distortion and the boost.

i expected it to sound kind of tinny, fuzzy, and like, old-rock sounding. i was very happilly surprised, its a mean distortion. at higher settings, the with volume at about 2.5 - watch out. it rips. kick in the boost - ouch. wailing! immediate complaints from the neighbors, sorry y'all! i can now very hapilly switch from perfect clean to loud and blistering. i usually have at least 3 overdrive/distortion pedals at work as well, i may adjust my overall setup a bit though. when i just had the one channel, i needed more of a selection. i used a zoom hyper lead in combination with the distortion and it became so high gain and thick, not quite enough 'guh' for metal, but it had a sabbath-like, tube-like sound. you won't get nu-metal with this but there are plenty of amps out there getting that sound. this is a classic, superior hard-rock / noise rock head.

can't mess with it

none

still the best, now ever better!

Early 70's rig with grey cover and a sparkly grey/silver grill cloth on the cab. Few features that I ever used, since I don't have the foot switch to change from the clean to distorted channel and never tried another to see if it cold be done...it had built in distortion (I imagine it had a very Mountain-esque sound to it), reverb, and bass, mid and treble controls for both channels. The reverb is pretty decent, and overall the amp is louder and cleaner than anything I've ever played through...I used to bill it as the loudest half stack in South Jersey, and not too many people argued with me! lol! It's rated at 100 watts RMS, and I bought it with a matching Sunn flat front 4x12 cabinet that is totally bullet proof!

Excellent clean tone, sounds good with my minimal effects setup too. I loved it with my Epiphone Genesis run through an Ibanez Tube Screamer Sound Tank, and sometimes an old phaser (forget what it was, it only had one knob on the top and it was bright yellow). I've had it up to max volume and still feel the sound is very clean considering, no background noise whatsoever! Oh, and it's loud enough to play Madison Square Garden without miking!

This was my main amp for many, many years. It was great, all the way until I played a backyard gig in the middle of a lightning storm...the head started to fry little by little after that, first the clean channel and then the other, until it finally died...RIP old girl! I still use the cab, loaded with three of the original speakers and one EV bass driver, it sound huge to this day! I'll give it a 10, since I am the one who killed it....

doesn't exist

This amp made it with me through the mid 80's and my metal years, all the way through the late 90's until I foolishly killed it by exposing it to some really bad conditions. I miss it more than anything, it had my signature tone! I wish I had another, but a.) I just don't have the cash to buy another one right now and b.) I can't haul the cabinet around anymore since I wrecked my back in a collision with a tractor trailer in 2004 (which explains why I don't have the cash to buy another...can't get gear when you can't work). I still have the whole deal, the amp is living in my garage on top of the cab, waiting for a miracle in the form of me becoming healthy enough to join a working band again and get back out in the clubs! I've thought about bringing it to someone to see if it can be restored, but once again, funds are tight....

has decent features, all you could really need from a head.

Quality, yes, that's what this amp has going for it, sound quality. Its always audible, its consistant, amazing clean sound, and I use pedals for other sounds. I will never get rid of this thing, in fact I'll probably buy another one or two when I can. If something happened to this I would just want another.

As good as musical equipment gets in the reliability dept.

Oh, there is no customer support, and don't believe anyone who tries to convince you otherwise! The 'lifetime warranty' is in fact, no longer in effect. Take heart though, it just doesn't matter!

follow up review, now that i've had the chance to a/b this head against another couple of amps in live situations - bottom line, this thing rules! i had a fancy tube combo which I thought would be my main gigging amp (carvin mts 212), and it is a great amp in its own right, but live...it just didn't cut it. either at 50 or 100 watts, the dirty channel just died out in the mix. couldn't hear it myself on stage, and listening to the recording, even though the gain and volume were way up, just...nothing. barely audible against the drums. the sunn concert lead, however, never a problem. this thing is up in the mix no matter what. i just played a show in a fairly large room, and the sound man wouldn't let me turn this thing up above 3 and a half! THAT is how LOUD it can get. and I wasn't even using the boost! OR the brite input! If you're playing by yourself in your bedroom, its trebly-ness may be bothersome...but that's what makes it a perfect live head for a lead guitarist especially. it takes a back seat to nothing, it demands to be heard!

I own two black and red models from 76 and 77 I think. 200 w solid state beauts. I don't have the foot switch for either, so I can not comment on its reliability or usefullness. I bought one around 87 and one in the early 90's. I bought the matching 610L cab (original speakers) with the head in 87 and I bought a silver grilled 610L (from an earlier year)empty. I blew the original speakers and no one would re cone them so I filled both cabinets with Eminence Mojo Tones and Celestion Legend 10's mixed equally. The reverb is standard with a tone knob, it has a nice dark verb with the treble dow
. The boost is a large midrange/mid high decibel boost, I personally never use it as the amp has plenty of volume. High and low imputs. Distortion switch with knob, I set mine on 10, it's not distortion like a ProCo Rat, it's more like overdrive/presence/tone filler outer. It has an effects loop, I tried using it but it added huge amounts of noise and reduced volume levels?! It's better to run effects in front. I've used these puppies on stage and practice.

I play a p-90 loaded guitar and haven't recently played a humbucker or strat type. I play loud obnoxious rock. I have been using a nice yamaha dg-stomp multi effect floor unit(very nice indeed)for distortion and other effects. But recently I feel the need to fork the distortion and let the amp breathe, let the amp get up into it's higher volume range and shove the speakers into overdrive land. Here the tone of the amp isn't too clean and sounds great for everything but leads. High notes are shrill and have the effect of a dentist drill on my ears. I think with a warm soft pick up maybe I could live with the high notes. The black and red 610 cab with the in-slant config has a port on the bottom of the cab and has a wonderful tone with lots of headroom-the silver covered older cab is lacking the port and has less headroom and a pronounced mid range tone.

Dependable? Nothing more dependable ever built. I have had both heads serviced and it cost nothing because anything that was in need of repair was basic/easily/inexpensively fixed. The original speakers in the cab had a nice long life before "my amp goes to eleven" treatment.

Sunn no longer exists. boo hoo. I have been able to find competent repair companies. I do not hold this against Sunn. The amps have lasted a long time. That I hold agaist Sunn, support? build'm right the first time! Thank You.

The only thing that ain't great about these amps is the high note tone. My next amps will prolly be 50w tube heads with 4x12 cabs. Great volume, clean tones, rhythm tones, spring verb. Cabs are retro-wacky-cool.

1976 OLDER SILVER AND BLACK VERSION. 210 WATTS RMS. 2 CHANNELS. BASS TREBBLE VOLUME DISTORTION ON #1 REVERB ON #2. BOTH HAVE BRIGHT SWITCHES AND NORMAL HIGH INPUTS. Got this from a friend of mine who bought it new. Had to change the filter caps cause they were leaking, and causing a static noise especially in chanel one. The connectors for the footswitches are RCA. There is one for reverb and an A/B for distortion. A simple adaptor from RCA to 1/4 inch or homemade spst switch will work here just fine to turn them on and off.

Fantastic sound quality. I think this is due to the fact this unit uses field effect transistors FET's And something Ive never seen before A Choke transformer which has multiple taps in line with the Power transistors. Believe this is the trick that gives the sound some compression to emulate the tube sound. Amp is very quiet since I changed the caps. It was a littel hard to find the right values though. If you havent done yours yet it is a wise thing to do before you cant find the right types. I used 1100uf in the preamp power supply. Decided to go for bigger vs smaller physical size. The smaller even though the right value still let some AC through. The really amazing thing was the guy who repaired it before me put the caps in backwards and it was working. Took me awhile to figure out why the new caps wouldnt work. Thank god for circuit diagrams.

Hopefully I wont have to service it again for awhile. But it was very simple design. Luckily it was only the caps. The FET's might be real hard to find. Like I said A guy who doesnt change caps every 5 - 10 yrs at a Buck a piece is looking for trouble.

Out of business. Fender bought the name and are remanufacturing some of the stuff but doubt they will honor the older warrenty

Amp is great for anything Keys Guitar Bass You name it. Been playing 33 Yrs and have Tons of equipment. Like this sound over my Marshall and Fenders. because of the great range on the tone controls. Might put in a channel switcher which would really fix it up. Other than that it all comes down to your ability to handel a fat cat like this.

Kinda lacking, no line out, limited by weird footswitch. Whatever!

I use 3 different guitars; fender strat, gibson blueshawk, epiphone les paul jr. w/evans el-2 pickup. Amp has gorgeous clean sound. I use pedals for the distortion, and always keep it plugged in to 2nd input for reverb. So loud, a bit of buzz at low volumes, but able to crank out seriously high quality, high volume sound. Well made amp!

so solid. However, I bought the correct footswitch for it, and it worked, a little, for a week or so and then ceased to make any difference. that sucked. would give higher rating otherwise

???

I use it with an Ear Candy Buzz-Bomb. Between the Sunn's beautiful treble, and the Buzzbomb's growling bass and added sustain, I feel as though I've got just about as good a sound as I could get, no matter how much I were to sound. Great sound, straight up.

My amp is a late model, "Red-Face" single channel version of the Concert Lead. It has some very progressive features, even for an amp of today, which is saying something since mine was manufactured in the late 70's. It has 200W of olde tyme tranistor power, the basics (distorion, volume, bass, mid, and treble knobs), an on/off switch for the distortion, a boost switch for the distortion, 2 inputs (brite/normal), an effects loop, 2 knobs for Reverb (tone and depth) and a brite switch. It's very light, weighing in only at 35 lbs., making it very easy to transport. I also read in an interview with the amp's designer that this series had completely active tone controls, which means you have complete control over bass, treble, and mid frequencies, which I think is very cool. I currently use this amp through a tiny Hartke amp (I don't have a cabinet large enough to handle it's power section) just jamming around and writing song demos. Cosmetically, the amp looks great, giving off that "70's vintage synthesiser/computer" vibe, as well as having very very attractive and minimalist red, white, and black coloring. No trashy gold faceplates, wire-mesh grilles, enormous logos, or diamond plating to be found here.

Currently, I'm using this head with an Epiphone SG (made out of Korina, so the wood is at least nice), with a crappy sounding Seymour Duncan Distortion pickup installed in the neck position. No effects whatsoever. (I didn't install it, someone else did before this guitar was under my possesion.) I have been playing music for a total of three years, starting on bass and moving on to guitar. It sounds great with either instrument, the bass sounding alot like Flipper or Weedeater (Dixie Dave uses Sunn, what a coincidence!) I play a variety of stuff, although my staple is mid-tempo to blidningly fast, heavily distorted hardcore (think Rudimentary Peni, A.C., Buzzov-en, Doom, and you'll be on the right track.) although I thoroughly enjoy doing various clean guitar sonics, Pink Floyd-esque psychedelia, slow droning songs, mock folk and world music, and general noise. (Just about anything far out or extreme) And I would gladly sandwich any of these elements together. The cleans on this amp are wonderful, especially with the brite switch on, sounding somewhere between a Fender Twin and a Roland Jazz Chorus. (Plenty of tonal headroom, lots of sparkle, you get the picture.) The reverb is pretty good, but just tends to sound like you're playing the guitar in a bathroom. (Like all Reverbs do essentially.) The distortion is definitely something you either like or don't like. Whereas most distortions have almost a "beautiful" quality, like a violin or a pane of glass, this amp sounds like grinding metal on metal, or some other horrible atonal noise. (Think Greg Ginn's tone with Black Flag but alot more detailed, and you're on the right track) The versatility of the distorted tones I can achieve are incredible. I can get a low rumble, which sounds very lo-fi, and incredibly noisy, with plenty of sustain, or I can hit the brite and boost switches and get a fast, distorted attack with a messy breakup that definitely makes the Dual Rectifier crowd look like the retards they are. Also, the distortion responds quite well to picking dynamics, so it isn't full on "attack" no matter how soft I hit the strings, which is a very appreciable quality in any situation. However, this is not some "magic switching amp" and I can't conjure up "scooped-mids at the push of a button" or "BROOTAL ZAKK WYLDE LEDAS!!11!!@1!22!" out of thin air. It takes a bit of time to figure out good settings (although in my opinion they're all good! ;-) I wouldn't have it any other way.

This amp is older than I am, and it will probably outlive me. There are no real technical problems to speak of, and I'm confident it could be throughly used and abused for many years without any need of service. I don't know if I bought this from the original owner or not, but they said had purchased this as a backup amp for another Concert Lead, but since the other one was so reliable, there was no particular need to have a spare, that seems to match up quite well with all the stories of this amp and Sunn's reliability in general. That fills me with confidence.

The original Hartzell owned Sunn company is long dead. The Fender owned Sunn company is also long dead. I doubt Fender would know what the hell to do with my amp even if they would service it. Not that I care, since this thing will probably never break down.

Nothing really makes me more proud than having a cool as hell amp that I got for incredibly cheap, which puts all the boutique retards' overpriced crap to shame. I can't think of anything else I wish it had, and wouldn't alter it in any way. I love everything about it, and I don't have any fear of theft, since vintage transistor Sunn doesn't fetch a pretty penny on the used market anyway. If it were somehow lost or stolen (that's inconcievable at the moment) I wouldn't "track down and murder the person who took it" or torture them or whatever. Going to jail for a long time certainly isn't worth a $200 amp. I don't think I would buy the same thing, but maybe another vintage Sunn product, like a Beta Lead or an Enforcer if I could find one anywhere.

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!

I bought this amp used because it was cheap. Everyone said it was loud and they were right. For a solid state amp at 200watts (100/ch)this amp ROCKS! I didn't like it at first but after tweaking the knobs a bit, I got the closest tube sound ever from a solid state. Its rich, warm, fat, and freaking LOUD. It has 2 ch, a Volume, low/mid/hi tone levels, brite sw, distortion level, on/off & Boost sw, Reverb and tone. There are two spkr outputs in the back and I'm assuming they're 8ohms each. There is a wierd plug for a foot switch (which I don't have but would like to) and a preamp out and power amp in. No effects loop.

I have a hand-made Mason Bernard w/emg pickups and a washburn with stock pickups. Both sound rich and full with a bluesy to metal sound. It puts me in the mind of Black Sabbath distortion. Clean channels are loud and clear. I also have a Dean 5-string Bass that I play through the same head and it works great. I have a 2-15 cab on the way for that very purpose. The 4-12 sounds good though.

I have heard these amps are tougher than rawhide. Mine is built very well. It is strong enough to sit on and all of the components are intact. The face even looks new despite the heavy layer of dust embedded into the black covering. It has never let me down.

N/A- Used used used. Will repair locally if needed.

Very versatile for guitar or bass, clean or distorted, louder than most, dependability of solid state with a close sound of a pair of 6L6's. I run this through a 4-12 Peavy roadcase with Scorpion spkrs and it really rocks. I couldn't have done any better with a new Marshall stack! If you have one, it's a keeper. If you don't agree, please send me your foot switch...

Two channels.Channel one has distortion and channel two has reverb. Not shure on the year. I heard it was made in the late 60s.
At 200 watts its loud enough for any one. It came with a 2x15 cab with alnico speakers. All original and vintage solid state.

I use an epiphone and a tele and its sounds great clean for both. Reverb is very vintage fender like. Channel one is much brighter but each channel has its own bright and normal inputs. Cant use the distortion becuase its only activated via foot swich. Reverb can be used with uot switch but can be switched. Hums somketimes but some times very quit. Has a treble boost swich for each channel and is harsh. I need another cabinet to run with the other becuase of the power and gets rattle around 7.5 because of speakers. great for bass to.

Very reliable. When I first got it it broke down so I beat it and now it hasent skipped a beat.

dont know

Its freakin loud. thats all i have to say.

1-Model Year, 1977, I'm the original owner
2-This is an AMP Head, played through custom made cabinets
3-Very good amp in larger venues
4-Very, Very reliable, no work ever done on the amp in 23 years
5-Two channels, 200w.
6-Foot switch control for Distortion and Boost.
7-Front Panel, main, Left to Right: a) Two input jacks, Normal & Brite; b) Volume control (knob); c) Bass control; d) Mid control; e) Treble control; f) Brite on/off switch
8-Front Panel, distortion, Left to Right: a) Distort control; b) Distortion On/Off switch (also controlable from foot switch); c) Boost on/off switch (foot switch as well)
9-Front Panel, Reverb, left to right: a) Level control; b) Tone control.
10 all controls (knobs) are 0-10 incremented.
11-Back Panel: a) 1 sympathetic 115 volt power outlet (used many many times over the years); b) has two speaker outputs; c) Foot switch control connection (not a normal jack), I never recieved mine and would like to get one after all these years); d) Preamp jack; e) Power amp jack; f) Lifetime waranty sticker.

12-I bougth this amp when I was 18. It was too large for where I was playing at the time (but you couldn't tell me that).

13-This is a solid state amp. At the time tube amps were actually going out of style (they were not very reliable then). This amp, however, came the closest to sounding like a shredding tube setup.

1-Gibson Rocking Rocket, Les Paul, Fender Strats and Teles.
2-It is a little noisy at lower volume settings.
3-I have played it through many different cabinets over the years and am currently using a modified Kustom with 2/12" black widows that are ok. The amp was originally paired with a 4/10" sunn cab, but when I bought it, I already had peavy 4/10 and 2/12 cabs. The peavy 2/12 worked the best.
4-I've always been amazed at how well this amp sounded, especially distorted. It was at the time the only Marshall equivelant on the market and it is solid state.
5-For an idea of types of sounds I was/have been going think of Dickey Betts, Joe Perry, Robin Trower, Allen Collins, Neil Young.
6-I have over the years owned pickup truck loads of pedals and affects. Most of these were I've run through this and other amps. However I've always kind of come back to the sounds this amp produces unaffected as my baseline and built on top of it.

I've had it for 23 years, It has played in the rain, an Arizona sand storm, multiple gallons of beer spilled on and in it. Surived many many bar wars. THIS THING IS A TANK!

I've never dealt with the company. I would like to get some documentation if possible. It has a Lifetime warranty, that I've never had to use.

I've been playing 30 years.
I have Les Pauls, Strats, Teles, etc. etc.
I also have a pignose and a fender princeton 2/10 (for a total different sound). Through the years i've gone through an amazing amount of gear and have alway kept my hands on this.
I would like to buy another, If I could find one, just to have. They need to make a reissue.
I wish the foot switch connection had been different, because I never got one the OEM switch and couldn't come up with an alternative.
Finally, this amp head, while small in deminsions, weighs a ton!

This amp was made in the early 70s. Its a good clean amp, and the reverb works great, but i've had problems with the distortion. This is a two channel amp with treble, bass, mid, distortion, and reverb knowbs. If the distortion worked this would be a great amp, but its in the repair shop getting that worked on now. I use this amp in my basement and sometimes at little clubs. THIS THING IS LOUD!

This amp has great clean sounds. It also works as a great bass amp. But i'm working on getting the distortion, and once that gets working this will be an awesome amp. The reverb is outstanding!

This is a very reliable amp, and it has only broken down once(that was because it was in storage for 15 years!). The filter capacitors were dirty so i had to take it into a local repair shop. I got this amp used, and the guy i got it from got it used, and that guy also got it used, so this amp has been around!

Sunn is out of buisness, unless the started up again lately. I think fender has something to do with them. visit www.sunnamps.com

I've had this amp for half a year, and it's done very well. If it got stolen i would get another one if i could find one, but that would be tough! This is one of the loudest amps ive ever played on and it's got a great clean sound. If you want a LOUD amp, get this one!

The SUNN CONCERT LEAD came out in the early '70's...I think? I thought I'd pick one up because it was a cheap, solid-state guitar head. That and it has indie cred for being a durable and unique sounding amp...i.e. "UNWOUND".
The CONCERT LEAD has two independant channels each with a normal or brite input, plus a brite switch(if you dig serious treble this amp can give it to you!) and volume, treb.,mid., and bass knobs. Channel 1 has a distortion knob while channel 2 has reverb. There are inputs in the rear for footswitch activation of the reverb and distortion,(I have yet to get either to work...the reverb is on and the dist. off. It's gonna take some fiddling around inside to work out.)a pre-amp out, power amp in, and two speaker jack out.
I use this head through an extra large Fender 2x12 cab to get a full jangly sound...But,what really blew my mind was that when I ran it through my bass cab I could crank bass guitar through it with great low end tone and plenty of power. Very versatile amp!

Like I said earlier this amp covers the widest frequency range of any guitar amp I've encountered. You want highs, you got 'em and then some. Same for low end(I'm serious about playing bass through it). I feel I need to comment on what great spring reverb this amp has, so full it "gurgles" in a good way...surf city, bro!

Alright, I've only had this amp a short while...I just got it used, and looking inside I saw it had a few burn outs, yikes! But all the goodies got replaced and it seems okay. I know of bands going on rough tours with the same model and it made it through, so...?

I know they(Fender I guess?)are re-issuing some SUNN tube amps, but good luck on getting any service. I don't even bother trying...I fix it myself or find a local service guy.

I really like this amp. I've played through tube amps for a long time, and don't get me wrong they're great, I just think solid state has it's own style. Think of it this way, you could drive your nice shiny '57 Chevy(tube amp) around town, or you could cruise a '78 Cutlas with snow tires(solid state), which, I think is much cooler, scarier, and more interesting.