Sunn T50C 112 Combo

Nice tubes, great overdrive, great clean, and looks cool. Has an adjustable impedance control for external and internal speaker cabinets, effects loop (I don't use it), bias and balance controls, foot switch, and best of all the 15 watt low output mode to get nice sounds an tone at low volumes.

50 watts is more than enough. May be too low if playing a large hall or venue, but then all you would need would be more speakers. The one 12 just doesn't move enough air to fill up a big hall. The 50 watts can drive a speaker cabinet easily and provide enough volume for a large hall.

Sound quality is great! Really brings out the sound of whichever guitar is plugged into it. Strats sound great and spacy, with some bite on the over drive. Good for an indie type tone. I use a Dean Z series for my "les paul heavy riff" type tones. I can get some cool AC/DC type tones. Not as nice as a marshall and SG, but very usable. Just great all around for any type of rock genre a person wants to play; blues, indie, riffing, garage, country, and non drop d type hard rock/punk.

Not really good for neumetal or metal core type tones. Or really mega distorted oppressive tones. More for old thrash type tones, which use a more oldschool distortion like the one this amp has. I have yet to use the old boss heavy metal pedal with this amp, so I have not tryed all the metal possibilities with this amp.

But that is not the type of music I play regularly, if I did I would just get an 80's marshall head and cabinet.

This amp is solid tone, and also experimentation with some NOS tubes will just bring this baby to a whole new life.

The equilization controls do not cut the tone heavily, so if one likes to shape the majority of there tone with an EQ then an external eq would probably be necessary. Te EQ works great for my needs; to boost the treble or bass here and there. Moving the bass knob will not go from nothing to supper heavy bass. The majority of the tone comes from the guitar that is plugged in.

I have played in bands with people with fender devilles, and I would say that this amp has much more versatility in tones. The devilles sound great but they cannot get the amount of different tones this amp can get. The devilles would sound louder as well because they have 4 speakers where the t50c only has 1.

Takes pedals really well through the clean channel.

I got this amp in 2001-2002 or so. (Can't really remeber). I got it a year before they started to drop the prices on them to 500 bucks.

I have taken this on a boat, rolled it around on all types of terrain, bumped it and knocked it over,played it at 10 for long shows when I didn't have any extra speaker cabs and smoke from the tubes came up, and just have given it some good use.

This thing is still kickin.

Also have stored it for 2 years in a garage and house because I wasn't able to gig.

Still kickin.

Can't say

I give this a great rating. I bought this for 600 bucks and have never had any regrets. Other amps are better for providing specific tones, but all one would get for those expensive amps would be those specific tones, not much versatility. If I had more dough I would definitely get more amps, but this amp does a great job and sounds great live.

I only wish I got the extension cab when I had the chance. I guess it is time to check ebay.

All an amp needs to be, Ear splittingly loud, Gorgeous, back breakingly heavy (sign of quality), All valve, Valve driven Spring reverb and no digital effects!!!

Its just perfect. Fat with a compressor (Marshall Edward is a good choice with it) because it just pushes the clean valves over the edge into the holy grail of dirtiness, output power dirtiness!!!

You could not ask for more with this, especially at the price.
I dont know what they were new but i picked my one up for #500 and considering that those nasty Hot rod devilles are what , around the #800 pound mark, i think i win. This is my holy grail of tone.
An interesting experiment that just kicks the shit out of anything is sticking either a 1*15 cab or a 4*12 Green Back Celestion Marshall Cab under neath.

If your really adventurous, link your Sunn T50C up with a Marshall Plexi Head and 4*12 cab and a Sheldon Head and Cab.
Enjoy!!

Only one thing is wrong with it, and that is the jewel light on the front as it flickers now and again, but who really cares.

I work for the shop that i made the purchase from. Cant get better service than that.

Awesome. You cannot fault it.

Well I'll eat my words!

Please see and read my (the) previous review,
and then read on to the "CUSTOMER SERVICE" section on this review, below!

I do, I eat my words!

Well I'll eat my words!

Please see and read my (the) previous review,
and then read on to the "CUSTOMER SERVICE" section on this review, below!

I do, I eat my words!

Well I'll eat my words!

Please see and read my (the) previous review,
and then read on to the "CUSTOMER SERVICE" section on this review, below!

I do, I eat my words!

THIS IS WHERE I GET TO EAT MY OWN WORDS !!!!!!!
As it happens I had need on Friday 11th Feb 2004, to attempt to phone Fender Uk's service dept. So I half heartedly checked their web-site, found a phone number and, "WHAMMO"!!!!! At the push of a button, I was straight through to the service department's telephone which was picked up immediately by a wonderfully helpful "Mr Paul Mathews", who listened and gave good and detailed advice! He was also happy to speak to me on a further three occasions that day, with further patience and more sound (no punn intended) advice.
Well done Paul Mathews! And well done Fender Uk for employing such a helpful and nice fella!
I thouroughly recommend Fender UK's service dept' and praise their enthusiasm!

Well I'll eat my words!

Please see and read my (the) previous review,
and then read on to the "CUSTOMER SERVICE" section on this review, above!

I do, I eat my words!

I bought this amp new 2 years ago, it'd been hiding in the shop for ages and was discounted. I tried out just about everything else in the shop; Fenders, Marshalls, Messas the lot and walked away with this baby. Why? Cos it's a damn versatile small unit, loaded with worthwhile features, simple to use, pretty to look at, and to my ears crosses Marshall and Fender territory. I Love and regularly use the 1/4 power switch on the back to drop from 50 to 12.5 watts, and despite other peoples comments I love the reverb! It even came with a chunky set of push in castors, and boy do you need it: heavy little chap. Shame it's only a 1x12, but it handles perfectly well, and shame there was no cover with it too! But if you live near a sailing community like I do, some little enterprise'll knock you one up easy! I don't use the FX by pass, I put my pedals (Boss Tuner - Keeley Compressor - Vintage FX TS808) between my guitar'n amp in that order, but I know some like and use the by pass, so it's a good resale point!

I cannot understand why previous reviewers have bought this amp out of choice, then spend all their money, time and life trying to discover "The Holy Grail" of sounds by changing and using a complicated variety of different make valves, in different positions. GET ANOTHER AMP!
I use both Humbuckers and S/C's to play blues and rock. This amp'll do the lot in it's stock state. If you don't like it when you try it out, don't buy it!!! The clean channel don't come no cleaner and I rarely use it. The drive channel I use all the time and hardly dial in to it. I crank the channel vol up high and leave the drive on about 2 max. Instant SRV. Add more dirt and roll off the channel vol and u got Instant Gary Moore. Also, get used to rolling the guitar vols and tones on and off. Believe it or not, that's what they're there for! I leave my Keeley Compressor on always, occasionaly kick the valves with the 808, and use moderate amounts of reverb. Because it's got the 1/4 power switch, I can use this anywhere; from my small music room at home to a large gig. It's one of two main amps that I use, the other's a back-breakin', vein-swellin', ball-bustin', 100w Marshall 4140, 4x10 combo.

The Jewel light on the front broke. Oh dear!!
The original fuse was too light and blew a few times. Had to load that up a bit! But everyone knows about that fault with this amp, don't they?
Apart from that, it's solid, reliable and rugged; but I never go anywhere without a back up these days!

Well it's a Fender amp. I don't deal with 'em, even if I could get through to em in this country (UK)!
Find yourself a local Amp Tech! Befriend him! Bear gifts of moist cake and spicey wines to his doorstep!
Most Amp Techs love to play with, and talk about, amps, and they enjoy visitors! If your's don't, find another! There's loads of 'em about out there and a good one is worth more than any fine words and deeds you'll get from a major corporation in the UK, except Marshall's, of course! "All hail, Jim Marshall and the boys at Denbigh Road, Bletchley, UK" Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!

Been playing 40 years, own Marshalls, Dennis Cornell Customs, Gibson Goldtone GR15, Selmer T and B, and Lord knows what else I've forgotten about in various wardrobes and cupboards.
If it were stolen?
They don't make 'em anymore and you can't find a 2nd hand one for love nor money, so what does that tell ya? Think it'd give me an opportunity to go for a vintage Fender, say a Pro-Reverb or Super-Reverb.
What do I love about it?
It's cosmetics! Built like a brick out-house and reminds me of that character from the Wallace And Grommit movie, "Big Day Out" (the mobile cooker they find on the moon)! Keep expecting my amp to produce a telescope from a drawer in his tummy. Always chuckling to myself 'bout that one!
Anything I wish it had?
A cover? Definately!
Solid gold casters that I could melt down and spend?
A facility to make me play like, and not just sound like, Stevie Ray Vaughan!
Yeah in all honesty I'd like it to be hand wired to a high quality. Don't like PCB's! I sometimes just take my Dennis Cornell Hank Marvin custom 30w Class-A top apart, just to admire the chrome chassis, the glass and the hand wiring. I might not be a Gynaecologist, but I know what I like to look at! I gotta give it TEN for this, I bought it!

This sat in a music store forever and I got it below cost. Plenty of features, well thought out in terms of biasing and all. I wish it had an overall master volume rather than a volume for each channel. I have had this amp for over a year and the only thing I have changed is I put a Celestion Greenback in it.

I have a liking for humbuckers and so the majority of my guitars are Gibson. I like dirty cheap rock and roll, blues and the like. I have been playing threw a Fender Prosonic which a fantastic and brutal amp and comming back to the Sunn it sounded a bit odd, to clean, artifical, republican like. So I put a THD Hot Plate on it and opened it up, better but still not as brutal as the Prosonic/

Not a bit of trouble, I guess PCB's and quality guts helps.

Don't know.

Been playing for awhile, since highschool with a twenty year break and been hard at it for the last seven years. Were it stolen I would take the insurance cash and buy a repropuction 57' twin or Bassman or something with a tube rectifer and point to point wiring.
It's all about tone and I am sure, though this amp is good there is better tone out there.

The Sunn T50C is a great tube amp, EQ for each channel, a presence and a reverb knob for the 2 channel. The Effect Loop contain a return and a send knob for each channel. I Think it's great.

It sound really good but too bright a think, i have to turn down de middle and treble knob to 2 or 3 to tamn it ! The Overdrive sound great !!! Overdrive to a metal distortion ... Both channel are great i think.

i have this amp for only 2 month ...

The Sunn Amp are Discontinued so ...

i Give a 9 for the Sunn t50c because it's a very versatil amp and it sound really great !!! a fender clean to a marshall/MEsa Boogie Distoriton !!!

You can use the effects loop as a volume boost if you don't want to put effects in it, which is nice.

Stratw/LaceSensors>Amp
I'd say its too damn bright on the clean channel. I need to roll the treble down to 3 to tame it. Also, with the stock tubes the clean channel breaks up very early, which is bad if you want a sparkly clean with a loud band, but good if you like dime it for a nice bluesy sound (the wattage switch makes this a viable option). Other than those two problems, the clean channel is fairly nice. The reverb is somewhat shallow and short even when set on 10, but its a decent surfy spring sound. The amp has a good OD, lots of gain, the description "cross between British and American" is about right. I'd say the OD is a little loose for thrash metal, but that's not really my specialty.

Customer support would be done by Fender I suppose, as they purchased and eventually abolished Sunn, incorporating a few of the Sunn amps into the Fender line, I believe.

Everyone knows when this amp was made, and that its not made anymore....and what it has on it....blah blah. I want to comment on the awsome tone you can get from the amp. I play a little but of everything, but more heavy stuff. I was looking for a high gain amp, and even after I bought this one about a year ago, I was still looking. This was however before I cranked the thing up and realized what kind of tone monster it is.

I've got several guitars I'm using right now, an s series ibanez loaded with EMGs, a guild bluesbird loaded with humbuckers, a stock fender american strat, and an american deluxe strat that is loaded with a blue lace sensor in the neck position, the stock noiseless in the middle, and a pearly gates in the bridge. The amp is so much more versatile than I originally thought. I hope that I never have to part with this amp. It has an incredible tone that can't be faked, and enough gain to make anybody wanting bone crushing distortion, however not sounding like metallic sludge. Plenty of chunk, all the while being very defined and clear.
The amp is no noisier than any other tube amp, and the single coils aren't that bad through it, nothing more than 60 cycle hum.
The clean channel is enough to cut my head off when cranked up, and will get pretty dirty, giving you that awsome distortion from the power section of the amp.
This amp sounds the best when played wide open!

The amp has never broken down, and it has a rough ride where ever it goes, due to riding in my old jeep. Very dependable, however I have started to wonder how repairing it will go since it is no longer made.

I actually work for a music store that is a Fender dealer and I deal with the company daily. I can't think of a better company as far as service and ethics go.

I've been playing for about 5 years now, and I've got a fender deville, and several other smaller amps, but anytime I have the opportunity to crank one up, the Sunn is my weapon of choice.
At first I religously used pedals with it, and tried all kinds of effects, however I never found the sound I was looking for, that is untill I decided to plug straight in to it, and crank it up, now I can't find anything else to settle right on my ears. The amp just meshes really nice with my playing style and tone I'm looking for. Also, if you can find the matching extension cab(i did, and love it), get it, it just makes it that much bigger, and the tone is so tight.

It's all been said...wouldn't mind tremelo like the new Pro Reverb/Concert Reverb

I wrote a rview of this amp when I first got it...don't think it's still posted for some reason. This is a great-sounding amp but when I bought it I found the speaker was very harsh. I replaced it with a Rverend Alltone 1250 and it made a big improvement. I also noted that the gain is way over the top for what I like..Roots-type stuff and Rockabilly, Rock'nRoll,etc so I have experimented a little with changing the preamp tubes...This has helped as others have noted though I don't think I've found the perfect combination yet!!The clean channel has a wiry tough tone somewhere in a good place between Vox and Fender. The gain channel is actually pretty good, I just want to dial in the crunch more gradually...by 2 it's already alot!! The Reverb is weird...nice and lush but not really integrated with the tone as someone else has said...it sort of floats out there somewher away from your notes...strange! I like the extra controls on the back and the two settings on each channel for the footswitch.I play a Tele and a Starcaster and it likes both. Really a cool amp for those who want something different. It's big and beefy for a 1X12 Combo, and it sounds like it too! I have the extension cabinet too and I have yet to use it at a gig.

so far so good

I think I've about said it...nice amp, great tone..They need to ramp in the gain more gradually. I wouldn't mind trying the new Fender Concert 4X10 version of this amp!!!They were too expensive originally but a real value at the blow-out prices when discontinued.

This is another follow up on my 3/31/03. I've had these amps about two years. I'm submitting this to share my experiences with different tube and speakers. As for features, I think this amp's are great. You have all the EQ you need to get the tone you want without also needing an engineering degree to figure everything out.

PRE-AMP TUBES REVISITED:

Here is where I want to focus.

Myself and other reviewers have commented on toning down the gain structure in the pre-amp by using pre-amp tubes with less than in lieu of 12AX7s. In other words, don't front load the pre-amp section with 12AX7s. Like other reviewers, I experimented with 12AU7s, 12AY7s, 12AT7s, 5751s and various 12AX7s. You'll get a better clean if you use the lesser gain pre-amo tubes, but I also found that too many lower gain pre-amp tubes adversely affected the overdriven tone. Even 12AT7s cut too much. I used good ones: JAN Philips and Mullard 4024s. I tried them in V1 and V2 or in V1 alone. They did a nice job for the clean channel, but I definitely noticed some clarity and definition missing when I cranked the on-board overdrive. Upping the gain structure just a little with 5751s made a subtle but noticeable difference.

I also suspect the output (not gain) from an 12AT7 might have something to do with this. A 5751 has similar output to a 12AX7. The amp was designed around 12AX7s in V1-V4 and V6-V8, so the laymen in me thinks the comparable output may have something to do with why I found the amp to sound better with 5751s in the critical positions than with a 12AT7.

I had also noticed from prior experiments that the V3 tube has a pretty significant impact on the tone and gain structure - much more than I expected. The bottom line is that to tone down the harshness of the stock setup, but retain a nice, usable clean channel I wound up with a JAN Philips 5751 in V1; a Shuguang 12AX7 in V2 and a GE 5751 in V3. I left the stock pre-amp tubes in the remaining positions. In my second Sunn T50C, I did the same thing except that I used a Sylvania 5751 in V1. The GE 5751s are excellent but tend to be a little bit darker in tone, so the Philips and Sylvania 5751s were more to my liking for the all important V1 slot.

OPTION 2: But I also want to point out that my brother has the 120 Model T head. He had similar complaints about an overly sharp and grainy overdriven tone. He simply replaced the 12AX7 in V1 with a 12AT7. He left V2 and V3 with the stock SOVTEK 12AX7s. He thought the V1 change did the trick.

I've come to conclude that this guitar is better with humbucker guitars than with single coils. This is an amp that is meant to be played hard. It is meant to rock, and anything less doesn't let it shine. The clean channel is usable. It has a nice clarity - more Vox than Fender - but it will only come out if you have good quality tubes in there. Otherwise, all you'll get is a trebly, ill-defined tone. I think I've finally found a pre-amp tube array that gets me a good clean and a good onboard overdrive.

SPEAKERS:
My main speaker set up is a 16 ohm Fender Tonemaster 4 X 12. It came stock with Celestion Vintage 30s, but I took them out. It now has 2 Celestion Blue Alnicos and 2 Eminence Legend Alnico 122s in an "X" pattern. The tone of four Alnico speakers is tough to beat. But Eminence Legend V12s and GB12s also sound excellent with this amp. The Celestion Greenbacks also sound great. The stock Celestion G12T-75 sounds pretty good in this amp, but it is definitely worth it to use external speaker cabs and move some air.

Two years and no problems.

Haven't needed it.

Nothing to add here. Just wanted to talk about speakers and tubes. These are great amps!

I won't go into all the specifications on this amp since there are already good descriptions below. But I will say that the bias adjustment and power tube failure features are great! Also, if you plan on using the 2nd channel overdrive, it's got a pretty heavy gain structure, you would be best to play around with some lower gain tubes to knock it down a bit (at least for my musical tone tastes). I don't feel to bad about having to do this since I only paid $600 new for the amp, however if I had paid the $1000+ that it originally went for, I would expect not to have to do this. And yes,it looks great on stage!

I have to agree with the fact that the preamp gain structure is way too heavy. I have put a 5751 in V1 & V2 with a 12AT7 in V3. This has made the amp much cleaner sounding. Before doing this, it was impossible to get any kind of clean sound from the amp. It definitly has a mixture of British and Fender sounds, it really stands out with the preamp tube changes. I tried changing the speakers to Vintage 30's(I use it with the matching extension cabinet $250, OW! But just try to find one now), but found it to be too midrangy. After reinstalling the original G12T-75 Celestions, I started to like them quite a bit. I don't use the overdrive section of the amp, I depend on my pedals for that. The reverb on this amp is pretty strange, it's O.K. but it really seems to sit in the background of your sound, not like a Fenders usual lush reverb. This is a loud beast, especially with the extension cabinet. My goal was to have an amp with enough power to play outdoor gigs, and something different sounding then my Fender amps, this amp has accomplished that goal. I use a THD hotplate when playing the small clubs (I play classic rock).
I rate the amp a 6-7 before the tube changes, an "8" after.

I have had this amp for 2 years now, I have gigged with it 4 or 5 times. It seems rock solid, I have had no problems whatsoever.

Haven't had to get support. The Sunn has set....

For the price it was a very good deal, a real "sleeper" bargin. I like to try as many different amps as possible. I am glad that I got this one. I have enjoyed the amp very much. But, I wouldn't hesitate to sell or trade it for something new since I really have no use for the overdrive channel (contact me if your interested in buying it). Would I buy it again, yes if I had never tried it, no if it were stolen or lost/damaged.

This is a follow up of my 3/31/03. Features haven't changed since then.

Here is where I wanted to comment. I have continued to play with different tube arrays. The problem with the stock recommended battalion of 12AX7s is that they just push too much gain. In one of my T50Cs, I decided to put an NOS GE 5751 in V1, a JJ ECC83S in V2, and JJ ECC 81s(12AT7 equivalents) in V3 and V4. If you follow, this set up is pushing less gain through the circuit but more output. Since you are driving multiple gain stages, I thought this might be a good idea. I love how this amp sounds with this set up.

A second thought was to do what I mentioned in the earlier review - to stick a 12AU7 in V3. I've tried this with Mullard and with JAN Philips tubes and was very happy with it.

My third effort was to use a good 12AT7 in V1. A JJ ECC81 did not quite do it. Something sounded a bit dull. On the other hand, some JAN Philips 12AT7s and some Mullard types sounded fantastic.

The bottom line with the pre-amp stage is that I think you get a bit of warmer, fuller tone if you tame the gain structure just a bit.

As for power tubes, I have tried: Svetlana 6L6GC, Sovtek 5881, JAN Philips 6L6WGB, JJ 6L6GC, Shuguang 6L6GC, Groove Tube 6L6GE and a few others. The JJs worked real well with the stock set up of 12AX7s in the pre-amp positions. The Shuguangs were cheap and sounded surprisingly good. The JAN Philips 6L6WGB gave the best sounds - clean or overdriven. The stock Svetlanas were #2.

No problems yet with either of my two.

Not needed to date.

I love these amps. They sound fantastic.

This amp has everything a tube amp lover wants, plus a few more extras. Two channels and 50 watts worth of all-tube tone into a single Celestion 12 inch speaker. This amp absolutely gives 'er! It features a 1/4 power wattage switch that allows you to use only 12.5 watts, and even then, it's pretty darn loud. This feature is great for in the studio or in the practice room, when you want all that delicious tube tone, but not quite all the ear-splitting volume. Flip the switch to 50 watts, and you're roaring like a lion. This baby can hold it's own in small to medium sized venues, UNMIKED!!! I play a lot of all-ages and indie shows. Quite often you show up and there's just barely enough of a P.A. system to handle the vocals. With this amp, I no longer fear that situation, as it can totally compete. Other features include extension speaker outputs, switchable 4, 8 and 16 ohm load, not one but TWO footswitchable effects loops that can be set up without anything plugged in to give you alternate volume settings for each channel. The included footswitch also allows the standard remote A/B channel switching and reverb ON/OFF switching. All this comes in an attractive combo in black with silver mesh grillcloth. They even threw in removable swivel castors, which makes it a breeze for loading or unloading at shows, as well as moving it around within a room to find that "sweet spot" when recording. I really wish it came with a cover, because I just don't want to mark it up. They could have also put a headphone jack in there too, but it's hard to be picky about this beauty. Overall, you get all the features you could possibly need, plus a few more, for a pretty decent price.

The T-50 works equally well with single coils as it does humbuckers. I use a '62 Jazzmaster that sounds great on the clean channel, and nice and growly on the dirty channel. With the clean channel, you can hear echoes of that classic Fender clean sound, while the dirty channel can give you anywhere from a dryish Marshall type overdrive, to a sweet Vox vibe. It is a great combination of classic American and British tones, a nice blend of the two. I also use a '75 SG and have found that with the right settings on the EQs, I can switch back and forth between guitars without having to change amp settings. It truly is a balanced sounding piece of work. I have also plugged my Fender Rhodes into it, and have been able to get some pretty fat sounds. Basically, you can't get a bad sound out of this amp. But with some tweaking, you'll find that it has many tonal colors to explore.

I can't really rate this category, since I just recently purchased this amp, and have not yet had a problem with it. It seems to be a very solid performer, and I don't anticipate that I will have any performance issues in the near future. The construction of the cabinet is very sturdy, and can withstand the punishment of extended road use. Very solid unit, for sure. The only thing that worries me is that the tubes sit on a circuit board, rather than point to point wiring. It leaves me to wonder how long it will take for heat from all those tubes(and there's a lot of 'em - 2 6L6's, 7 12AX7's and one 12AT7 for a grand total of ten very hot pieces of glass) to cause warpage of the board and be an issue? Hopefully it won't be an issue for quite a while, or maybe even not at all (but I kinda doubt it). Such is the nature of electronics - they gotta break sometime. The amp comes with a 5 year warranty, so at least you're covered for a little while.

I've never had to use the warranty, as I've not yet had any problems. However, as Fender is handling all warranty claims (Fender now owns Sunn)I'm not too worried. Fender service centres are practically everywhere, and they have a reputation to uphold. I had a Fender Blues Junior before this amp that needed a warranty repair, and I had it fixed within 10 days, so I have good faith in Fender.

I've been playing for 15 years now, and this is my favorite amp I've owned to date. I would probably replace it with another T-50 if this one got lost or stolen, as I have grown quite used to the sound of it.
I love the no-compromise, no-bull, just straight-up tone of tube amps, and this amp is no exception. It delivers classic tube tone at a great price, is solidly built and looks good to boot. I compared it to a 40 watt Rivera Chubster Combo, and found that for my tastes, the Sunn T-50 had way more tonal options, and was priced way better. The Rivera is a hand built amp though, and as such, can't be compared in price anyhow. I had the money for either, and I chose the T-50 based on straight tone. I also was won over by the 1/4 power switch and the dual effects loops/volume controls. I would like to hear it through a 4x10" cabinet someday, or perhaps a 2x15". Also, I am anxious to try out some different brands of tubes, to taste the subtleties that custom valve combinations can offer. This amp will be my faithful servant for many years to come.

The amp itself has two channels and a boost ability. Each channel has its on seperate EQ but the EQ's to me don't seem to have a lot of tweaking capability. The tones are pretty straight forward. Seeing as Fender owns this company its clean tone is pretty gosh darn close to them thar fenders. Its clean channel either shimmers or gets a smooth not dirty low end tone. The clean channel isn't why I bought the amp though. My main line amp up to this point has been a Sovtek Mig-100, That amp has a high gain jcm-800 tone to it, and this sunn amp has that really heavy korn type distortion to it. The perfect combination. The distortion can be set to get that high gain distortion too but i love the heavy tone it has. Its boost more or less is actually controlled by volume on the back of the amp.. you can adjust how loud you want it to be when you boost it... very cool indeed. As for a 1-12" combo.. 50 watts definately kills this thing. It pushes air like you wouldnt believe. Its definately a killer amp. Oh by the way.. Tube amps rock and this thing has tubes up the wazoo... 2 power tubes.. 6L6's and i believe 6 or 7 12ax7 pre-amp tubes.

I play a Fender fat strat. Its very thick and has a ton of crunch while muffling.. not that thumpy beating mashed potatoes sound. I play emo/punk styled music with some hardcore and this amp would be a great main line amp. Like i said earlier, its an addition to my half stack to get more tonal diversity... but even still if i had to just use this amp.. it would get the job done amazingly. It gets that fender rock tone all the way to a mesa tone.. not exactly rectifier but pretty close. I haven't cranked the clean tone.. nor will i probably ever.. simply because i dont use clean tone.. im not a clean player.

It hasn't broken yet.. I've noticed a few shorts in the nobs in the back.. but i have everything set so i dont need to bump those nobs anymore... i just control volume on the front of the amp now. But everything else checks out perfectly.

I dont know if fender will help with that at all.. i've never had any problems with any of the fender gear i own so i dont know to tell the truth.

Overall.. in my 7 years playing experience.. soon to be 8, I'd say this is one of the better sounding amps i've played. My friends call me the tone God.. i know good tone, and this amp definately has to be good, otherwise i wouldn't buy it. I've played just about every brand of amp.. fender, marshall, peavey, mesa, trace elliot, ampeg, the list goes on.. i have to say i hate crate.. never buy a crate please if you dont get anything else out of this. I wish they made in a 2-12 combo... i think 50 watts is a bit much for 1-12 to handle.

I have two of these. I play mostly power pop, classic rock, some punk and some Brit pop. No country music. Features are adequately covered in the other reviews, so no need for me to repeat. I do not want an amp that requires an engineering degree to use - especially on stage. Give me decent features that allow me to shape the tone to where I want it. This amp does that wonderfully. The attenuator is a big plus. The balance pot along with the bias pot is also another great plus. Excellent features without that overkill today's digital fiends have fallen victim to.

I have about 20 different guitars accumulated over about 25 years of playing. Flexibility is important, but my #1 goal with any amp is to find settings where it will give its best tone.

SPEAKERS: Because of the damage done to tubes from the vibration generated by an internal speaker, I like to avoid using internal speakers on tube combo amps. The stock Celestion G12T-75 speaker is a great match for this amp. I also found that Eminence Legend V12s sound great. This amps tends to be a bit bright, and both of these speakers tend to tame that with a bit of bottom end. I actually took out the G12T-75 that came in my amps and used them for a 2 X 12 cabinet. I them run a second 2 X 12 cabinet, usually one with Celestion Blue Alnicos. The amp drives the 4 speakers beautifully.

TUBE SUGGESTIONS: This amp's clean is very usable. It is definitely not a chimey, Fender clean. It sounds more like VOX clean. It has a tendency to be bright, but I toned that down a little by using a Mullard 12AU7 equivalent in the V3 slot. In the second amp, I achieved a similar tonal effect by using an NOS GE 6072/12AY7 in the V2 slot. Both had a similar impact on the clean channel - more warmth. Both pre-amp tube offerings did a great job of toning down the extreme highs this amp was putting out and in adding some warmth. The drive channel is the best onboard drive I have ever heard out of any amp. No effect pedals for me. Its guitar - cable - amp.

POWER TUBES: These come stock with Svetlana 6L6GCs. They sound good, but can be a little bit bright and shrill. JJ 6L6GCs helped give the sound a fuller tone. They definitely give more bottom end than any other 6L6GC experimented with. Groove Tube 6L6GEs were fine - better than SOVTEKs - but they did not provide a distinct advantage over the tone given by the JJs or the Svetlanas.

No problems yet with either. It is a PC board amp, not a point to point. The concern here is that the heat will eventually warp or damage the board. I can't assume that the problem will come, so I am going to give high marks based on performance to date.

The sun has set on SUNN, but they most recently were really just a branch of Fender. Hope Fender backs them up. I give no opinion here because I have had no experience with either Fender or SUNN regarding these amps.

Playing about 25 years. Other amps include Fender Hot Rod Deluxes, Crate VC 50 Head, various solid state amps. This amp is built like a tank. It weighs about 75 pounds. I had long been wanting a tube amp that would allow me to sound great overdriven without the need to use pedals. That search brought me to these, which I had admired for a while before they went on sale. I also looked at Crate Blue Voodoo series amps, Mesa, Marshal TSL line, Rivera, and just about everything else out there. The SUNN had as good an onboard overdrive as any other amp I heard. I really did not think I could justify spending $1700 for one. But at $499.99, I picked up two. They are no longer made, so replacing them might not be possible.

This is my second product review of this amp, i've been using it on stage and in the studio for six months and the story only gets better. I no longer miss the fact that it dosn't have a recording out because in the low power setting it records BIG at low volumes.

I agree with Tom (last entry) that it has a bit 'O British tone, but it's kind of an Americanized British tone. That Bassman meets Vox in a crowded room full of Marshalls tone that this amp NAILS with any guitar you plug in.

Still solid as a rock.

No problems yet. Not lookin' like it's gonna give me any. I've been using it non-stop since I bought it.

I am just logging in to say that, like others that bought this amp, It sounds so good, I think it's a sleeping CLASSIC.

I'm a rock and pop guitarist. I've been playing since the early Sixties. I've owned a lot of amps. Recently, I began searching for an amp for my studio, a Pro Tools room where I daily work on many different styles of music. As a composer and music producer, I never know what I'm going to be called on to do next, and though a lot of work I do involves composing music for TV spots that might have no guitar at all in them, many other projects I do uses many tracks of guitars, in everything from clean to heavily distorted tones.

Growing up with The Beatles, and Beach Boys, then later all the hard rock groups, I always found great things to like about the Fender sound, and wonderful but different things to like about the Vox, and Marshalls.

I recently read some reviews (up here, in fact) on the Sunn T50C, now no longer made (Thanks Fender!) and decided to go check out one at my local Sam Ash. I played a number of amps there, a Blues Junior, a Super Reverb, a Marshall DSL 401, and even an "out of my price range" Fender Vibro Verb.

My requirements were simple. I wanted as close to everything in a small, all tube package that I could get. The Sunn did just that. While the Fenders had various things about them I liked, this amp was the only one that really gave me the best of both worlds....a Fender-like clean channel, and a overdrive channel that had gain for ages. All in one in amp. And what was really cool about the clean channel is that it wasn't a 100 per cent Fender clean channel...because of the Celestion, I suppose, the amp has a bit of British, dry character to it....it's not all "bubbly" like the Fenders. I know that's a odd description...but what I'm saying is...it's a little British, and a little US. You could play country, pop...anything clean and be very pleased. The overdrive channel sounds great when you back off the volume a bit and play "half-clean."

This amp's greatest strength is it's versatility. You can get a lot of different sounds out of this. And it's hard to get a bad one. It's a heavy amp, but since I only keep it in my studio, that's not a factor for me. It's also a very classy looking amp.

It has effects loops, a standby switch, and a pretty decent reverb as well. I don't use reverb on a guitar amp much unless I'm doing a surf thing. I use the studio reverb.
This amp was 1200.00 street price a year ago. I bought it for 399.00. It's the steal of the century at twice that. If you can find one, don't even think about it...it's a wonderful amp.

This is a GREAT amp for recording. I play a PRS standard...which I normally find a little dark when playing clean tones, and the clarity of the SUNN balances things out perfectly for me. I have a feeling a Tele or STRAT will sound a bit on the bright side through this amp...but that's nothing a great set of tubes wouldn't solve. I'm still using stock everything, because I've only had the amp a week.


As I said above, this amp is the perfect amp for those who want to cover pop of US AND British origin. It isn't a Marshall....but it's some kind of odd cross between a VOX and FENDER.

Looks like it is built to last a long time. Very solid.

Never dealt with them.

I would buy this amp again. In fact, the only amp I really would love to have is that Vibro King, for its truly thoroughbred Fender vintage tone and tremelo. But I'd still keep the SUNN for the overdrive, and the brilliant clean sounds as well. Fender made a huge mistake in pricing this amp too high I guess. They should have done great at a lower price...maybe about 799.00. But it's build quality and versaitility make it worth much more, so I can understand why it was introduced at such a high price point. If you are looking for a studio amp, this is a great bargain, if you can still find one around. I have a feeling ten years from now this amp is going to be worth a bunch.

This is an update to my original review on 04/01/02...

I've had the amp for about 5 or 6 months now and thought I'd post my feelings about the amp with more mileage under my belt.

I don't gig, yet, but plan to in the coming few months. I play in a rock/blues band with 5 other players, including another guitarist who uses a Johnson JM-120, a bassist who uses a PV 210W 15" amp, singers/harp player mic'd through a 1200 watt head, and a dummer.

In a few words, the Sunn T50C is a gig-rig. The sound cuts through everything with or without a pedal. The power of 50WRMS is plenty to overwhelm everybody else. Add the ext cab on and you might as well have a full stack!

I had toyed with selling the amp due to it's weight, but for gigging - which is what we plan to do soon, the Sunn T50C is here to stay. I had used my Fender Princeton Chorus in practice, but it had a hard time keeping up, even when plugged into the PA. I don't even have to plug the T50C into the PA to be heard.

When I listen to the naked, low volume tone of the T50C in my practice room, I wonder if it is the right amp for me, but when I hit practice and crank her a bit, everybody remarks on the great tone of the amp.

I wouldn't suggest the T50C for low volume practice as it is not a practice amp. The T50C is meant for gigging with tone and volume that cuts through easily.

50 watt 2 channel all tube amp, with power selection from 50 watts to 12. I play blues and rock music and i couldnt have found a better amp. The effects loop can be used as alternate channel volumes which is good for rhythm and lead work when playing live.

i use a Gibson BluesHawk with P90s and a Fender Cyclone with both a single coil and humbucker. The reverb isnt as strong as the Fenders i am used to but i am satisfied with it. Drive channel sounds incredible and very well balnced for low crunchy blues to high gain Slash type solos. The clean channel I found to be VERY bright but keeping all the EQ settings below 5 solves the problem. Fortunately the 2 channels have sepeate EQs. Usually when I get an amp I find one good setting and use it extensively through out home use, band practice and on stage, then simply adjust the gain when necessary for different songs. With the Sunn though I love how many great settings I can find because it always sounds good.

Ok Ive only a it a few months so far and already there is a complaint. Someties the reverb will suddenly short out on me and make quite a bit of buzzing noises, my father suggested I bang gently on the the top and side of the amp thinkng it might have somethign to d wih the tube. Surprisingly whenever the reverb cuts out and creates fuzz i only requires a few taps and it works. I am going to get this serviced while it is under warranty but havent been able to get ahold of the technician yet. Its not a serious problem thankfully so I continue to use it with my band and on stage.

lol I've dealt with Fender before but never Sunn... however I believe Sunn folded or downsized or however they want to word it and I think if something were needed I would have to deal with Fender. Ill soon find out thoufh when I go to get the reverb fixed. I may talk to SamAsh to see if they will do anything to cover this problem because I really dislike working with Fender

All in all I love this amp, I was in the market for a tube combo around 50 watts and under $1,000 to use with my band. I compared this too the Peavey Classic 50, the Marshall DSL401, the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, and the Rivera Chubster. I chose this one for the following reasons: the Fender didn't have enough drve, the Marshall not enough clean, the Peavey simply... not enough, and the Rivera was too hard to find to compare adequetly. I tried the T50C several times in stores but was never impressed enough to consider it with a $1,000 price tag. When I saw SamAsh had them on clearance for $500 I ordered it as soon as I could. It was a real find so I'm very pleased with my purchase. If Sunn sold this amp at around $600- 700 reguarly they probably would still be in competition and blown Marshall and Mesa out of the water.

This amp has so many options and features it would be hard to address them all, but the coolest are the following:
two channels-classic clean and drive/dirty
tube driven reverb and effects loops (LOOPS!)
full or 1/4 power switch
three way speaker empedence switch (4,8,16 ohms)
The only thing I wish it had is a recording line out! (I would sacrifice one of the effects loops for this!)
The amp has plenty of power in both power modes, the 1/4 power mode is perfect for rehearsals, for gigs just go to full power.
This amp is 100% all tube, which is amazing for the price I paid!

I use Teles and Strats most of the time and I find the best settings on ALL tube amps including this one is with the EQ knobs low (5 or below) and volumes high. This is because the single coil pickups are very bright. The two channels offer a lot of different tones, it was hard to find a bad setting. The clean channel does distort at higher volume, but does so like an old Deluxe. In fact, I think a good way to describe the tone of this amp is like a Blackface Deluxe on steroids.

No problems yet, I've only had it six months!

Over the years I've dealt with Fender support many, many times and never had a bad experience. The only problem I might forsee with this amp though is the higher the parts count, the higher the odds that somethings going to go wrong, and this thing has A LOT of parts!

I've been playing professionaly for 20 plus years and I own alot of old Fender amps that are just too clean and collectable to be shlepping them around in Bars. I bought this Sunn amp because one, it was a closeout sale and an incredible deal for the money and two, it has all the sounds of most of my old amps in an almost indestructable package. It is built like a TANK!

Just an update form my previous post (the long one with the endless list of bulleted features)...

I mentioned in that post that I did not use the OD channel and, at that time, I didn't. Now, I use it exclusively instead of the OD on the pedal.

I now run my Zoom GFX-4 multi-FX pedal thorugh the tuube-buffered effects loop and use only the OD on the amp if I need OD.

To use the OD on the pedal, you need to run the pedal through the front paneland even then it won't sound as good as the amp.

Through the effects loop, the chrous/delay/reverb off the pedal complements the tube's OD well.

Even so, at the last band practice I forgot the pedal and had to use just the amp - slight reverb and OD and clean. We recorded our pplaying. You know what? The Sunn's naked amp tone sounded superb without any processing (as I forgot to turn on even the reverb on the amp). Absolutely superb for rock and blues.

I then cleaned up for Brown-eyed girl and once again got excellent tone.

To the guy below who states that he gets distortion even on the clean channel, either something is terribly wrong with your amp or you have it set to the 12.5W power mode and have it cranked.

My T50C plays very clean - squeaky clean, in fact. Granted you'll get some natural compression when cranked to 2 and above and some tube warmth, but distortion/OD, nah. There's not a raspy tone to be had on the clean channel. I like that. I throw in a little chorus/delay and I'm in hog heaven for jazz or clean rock.

I leave the pedal on that chorus/delay setting and hit the channel switch and I become - ta-da - distortion man! Excellent tone.

At low volumes, the amp does not sound great completely naked when on the clean channel. This is an amp that needs to be cranked. Then again, I don't use the low power switch much anymore as I did before and it sounded wonderful clean at low volumes with my jazz archtop.

As such, the T50C is not what I'd call a practice amp like Fender's Princeton Chorus or Blues Junior.

This review is for a new Sunn T50C. It has 2 channels and a foot swich which is enough features for me. However it does have effect loops, reverb and presence which doesnt seem to do much. (But I dont think that is unique to this amp, the preasence never does much at least in my experience) It has more features than I need. All I wanted was an all tube amp with a chunky clean and a dirty channel. I got exactly what I wanted. Dont waste your time if you are looking for metal amps. This amp is loud! I use it for gigs. I guess you could get away with using it in an apt. if you are good enough and it sounds pleasent to your nieghbors. If you are a beginner you nieghbors 10 houses down will hear you playing mary had a little lamb. That is the one complaint I have. It goes from off to LOUD even though it has a 12.5 watt swich that cuts the wattage. An all tube monster. 10 of them.

I have a 61 Gibson SG and a Mexican Fender 72 Tele RI. Both sound great. It makes the Tele sould like a better guitar. I play rock, some jazz ( great jazz amp! )and Radiohead/Mogwei/Portishead type stuff. Again, this isnt a metal amp. But the distortion is good enough to make it dirty. Nice and bluesy if you work the gain channel appropriately.

I dont see this breaking unless it was dropped from a plane, in the air, of course. No problems but I havent had it that long.

Just got the amp, and these are my first impressions... lots of features! Two channel amp with switching; dual effects loops - and this is the coolest thing - effects loops can be used to set secondary volume levels(as when taking a solo) which can be switched on and off with the footswitch. A very cool and useful feature! Do-it-yourself tube biasing circuitry; faulty-tube indicator light; full-power/half-power switch; individual tone controls for each channel, with global reverb and presence controls; standby switch on front panel; pop-out casters; these are some of the best and most useful features I've ever seen on an amp!

Clean channel: with my humbucker-equipped Les Paul-style guitar, the clean channel is very warm and musical-sounding - not harsh or piercing. This is with bass and treble set on 6 and middle on 4. Wouldn't mind a little more sparkle on the extreme top end(bright switch?), the presence control doesn't seem to do much, in my opinion. Not much clean headroom at all - hitting the strings hard produces distortion, even at low volume settings. Fortunately, it is a pleasing sound - just a little grit added to the tone, but I would prefer a clean channel that stays clean(unless I adjust it to do otherwise).
Overdrive channel: this is a good channel with a decent range of overdrive tones. Setting the gain from 1 to around 4 adds a nice, mildly distorted texture which doesn't obscure the individual notes in chords. The sound is a bit thin, however. Cranking the gain higher than 5 or 6 really fattens up the low end; it suddenly becomes very full and thick. But the distortion is more of a preamp tube induced variety, which tends to sound fuzzy at extreme settings. The amp does not venture into pummeling, nu-metal or thrash tones, but runs the gamut from blues to hard rock pretty well. Reverb is a very generic-sounding spring type.

Just bought the amp, so no input on reliability yet. The thing is built like a brick outhouse, and very meticulously laid-out, so I don't anticipate any problems. Besides, it's made by Fender, and although this is my first Sunn, I have owned many Fenders and never had any problems with any of them.

Not sure what the warranty is, but purchase any gear from a reputable dealer and you can pretty much be assured of good service in the event of a problem. Fender has a good warranty on their amps, I see no reason why these should be any different.

I've been playing over 25 years and have tried a lot of gear. This amp is beautiful and extremely well-made, but the sound doesn't knock my socks off. I'll probably use it for a while, and then move on to something else. If it got stolen, I would take the insurance money and buy a Matchless. But it does have some great features, and the tone doesn't suck, I just can't give it a 10, so I will rate it a 6.5 overall.

Brand New amp, 2001. Features include:

* 5-year Fender transferrable warranty
* 2x6L6 power tubes for 50WRMS
* 7x12AX7 preamp tubes and phase inverter (I assume)
* 1x12AT7 reverb tube
* vintage style, long reverb tank in naugehyde-like bag
* SS rectifier
* 3 button footswitch to toggle channels, reveb, and the effects loop
* footswitchable dual channels (clean and overdrive) with seperate EQ and volume controls for each
* 1/4 power switch (50 down to 12.5 WRMS)
* single 1/4" guitar input
* footswitchable mono effects loop with 2 send and 2 return volume controls - one per channel. Without effects plugged in, the effects loop send/return controls acts as an additional volume control per channel. If you ruun a cable form the SEND to another device without looping it back into the RETURN, the amp's speaker system is muted, but you get the full volume through the SEND.
* Stand-by switch on front-panel modeled after vintage Sunn amps
* on/off switch on back
* 4-8-16 ohm selectable switch for different speaker configurations
* 12", 16ohm G12 75watt Celestion Silver series speaker
* slave amp in and out jacks
* internal speaker 1/4" jack
* external speaker 1/4" jack
* plywood cabinet
* over-sized transformers
* removable heavy-duty casters
* 75lbs
* PCB construction
* Front panel has switch for channel selection
* Bass/Mid/Treble controls per channel
* Master reverb control
* very pro looking amp, nothing cheap about it's appearance - nice silver, heavy duty grill cloth
* semi-closed back (about 3/4 of the way)
* external bias testand set poijnts as well as power tube balancing means you can do all the adjusting needed when swapping out power tubes. Just make sure the tubes are matched.

This amp does not have: tremelo or headphone jack (though the effects SEND jack can act as one as it cuts off the speaker).

This amp has more than enough power to not only hold its own, but drown out another guitar (Fender Princeton 65), small (1200 watt and 2 nice-sized 15" monitors) vocal PA, unmic'd drums, and a bassist with a 15" cab and a GK head.

I own the matching 1-12 extension cabinet, but it would have been way too much with the band complement I mentioned above, so it gets left at home during band practice.

For features, I give it an "9", but for versatility (rock, blues, jazz) it gets a "11" with an average of "10" :)

This amp lists for $1,700 and sells today for about $1,200 though a few places had cut prices some on clearance. It's not a cheap amp, but then again it looks expensive and sounds wonderful.

I use the amp primarily with a recent Gibson ES-135 semi-hollow archtop equipped with two covered '57 Classic humbuckers. I have also run my piezo-powered flattop through it, but only in personal practice.

I front-end the clean channel on the amp with a Zoom GFX-4 multi-effects pedal for chorus, reverb, OD, and the like.

The native tube-driven reverb on the amp is OK, but nothing like the ultra-deep 'verb you find on a Fender DRRI or a SFPR. So, if you need surf reverb on the amp, this one is not the one for you. This amp's reverb is on par with Fender's newer $1,000 Vibrolux Reverb (which also does not have that deep reverb).

This amp leads Fender's foray into higher gain amps - ala Boogie, but retains that Fender shime on the clean channel.

Now that the Sunn has set (Fender has made the line dormant), Fender has used the same guts in this amp (except for tube-driven tremelo) in their new Pro Reverb amp. Same wattage and features, though the PR is a bit cheaper than the Sunn (Sunn has a Celection, PR has an Italian-made Jensen).

OK, let's talk about sounds...

First, there is a difference between playing iin personal practice when it's just you and low volume suffices and playing in a band situation when you've got to cut through everyone else without overpowering everyone else. This amp does nicely in both categories. We don't gig out, yet, but have very loud practices and this amp is mroe than sufficient!

Clean, the amp is excellent and sounds wonderful with my Epi jazz archtop for good, round warm jazz tone without additional effects. My band does not do jazz, so this is a personal thing.

The clean channel is also superb for rock and blues with my Zoom GFX-4 pedal, which is the setup I use with the band. It makes my overly mid-happy ES-135 sound like a wonderful blues/rock axe with round, clear tones, giving me a very distinctive tone when compared to the other guitarist who usually sports a Tele or Strat.

The clean channel stays clean up loud, but cranked will OD the 6L6's, but I never get that loud.

I don't use the OD channel with band practice as I just don't want another pedal on the ground to switch back and forth between the two channels. At home, the OD on the amp is excellent, going from just slightly overdriven blues to full-tilt Molly Hatchet.

This amp likes pedals. I've not yet tried the pedal through the effects loop, but plan to do so. I've just been happy the other way around and have not gotten around to trying it.

Is it noisy? Not by itself, it's not. Put a pedal on the front-end and if the pedal is noisy, say in the compressor or phaser, the amp will amplify that.

I was som impressed by the amp's performance during my past band practice and it's utter untapped power, she get a "9" easy.

Haven't had it long enough. It's a tube amp, so keep spare 12AX7/12AT7/6L6 tubes around. Got it brand new, but it had a problem with a pot on the back and now the 12AT7 reverb is microphonic. The pot was a fluke and the 12ATY7 tube is par for the course for a tube amp.

Excellent! I had to take the map in to a local Fender warranty shop the first week or two due to a fauly pot on the back. It's not something I'd ever use much, but I wanted my new amp to be perfect. They had it repaired under warranty and back in my hands by the end of the week.

It was hard to find a Fender authorized shop willing to help. One shop had too many amps backed up and didn't want to take anymore in due to insurance concerns. Another shop just lieks to service Fender gear that they sell due to having mass music retailers CG and MARS jsut up the street. These shops sell the amps cheap and then send them to this other shop for warranty repair, overwhelming the other shop.

The last of the 3 auth Fender shops in my area (Audio Light and Musical) were very nice and did not give me a hassle at all. They had the amp back in my hands before the end of the week. Guess who I'll think of first on my next big buy?

I've had other instances with Fender. They are very bit as helpful as Gibson.

I've been playing about 7-8 years. I've been thoruhg a boat load of amps, lookig for a gig worthy rig for our band. I've owned a Reverend Hellhound, Peavey Prowler, Peavey Delta Blues and many others. None of the comes close to equalling the the tonal palette, volume, features and looks that the T50C offers.

If this amp as lost, I'd buy it again with the insurance money.

One thing... this amp should come with a cover for the price they charge, but bsides that I wouldn't change anything.

I give it a "10" for value as a combination of features, price, sound, versatility, power, and looks. On price alone, it may not get a "10", but price is only part of the equation.

Better snag one of these amps before they are all gone. I've got a feeling that they'll be worth more in 5 years than they sell for now.

Already listed below. The back panel has more controls/jacks than the front of most two-channel amps. Celestion 75 watt speaker. Switchable from 50 watts to 12.5 watts on back. Standby switch on front (nice).
Tube function indicator on back. Switchable 4-8-16 ohms.

I use a heavily modified strat and a Les Paul. Sounds good with both.
I like the LP better with this amp for the blues and rock especially on the gain channel. Sustain is endless with gain cranked, rich harmonics. Start sounds a little glassy clean. LP sounds deep and bluesy. I can't tuen the volume past 3 cuz it will shatter my windows,
and that's on 12.5 watts!! Reverb is OK but not great.

It's a Fender in a Sunn skin.

I've had fender products for over 25 years and haven't had a problem yet.

Been playing since the days of Ed Sullivan (who?) yeah, the Who used these amps back then. Incredible power and clear sound. Gain sounds better than Marshall amp. Best of both worlds, clean Fender tube amp,
Scorching feedback (if you want it) of a high-gain tube amp. More bells and whistles than any amp I've seen yet in this class. A little pricey ($1200) and weighs a ton (80 pounds?) but built like a tank.

This is a real, heavy duty good ol' American tube amp with plenty of volume for most club gigs unmiked. Two channels, each with independent tone and volume controls - though the presence and reverb controls are shared. Tube driven effects loop with independent volume pots. With no effects plugged in, the effects loop can function like a Mesa lead boost (i.e., second "alternate" volume for each channel). Switchable 16/8/4 ohm gives you plenty of versatility for plugging in various speakers/extension cabs. This is a loud 50 watt amp that can be switched to 12.5 watts (which is still plenty loud for most situations, believe it or not) to give you great overdrive tone at more tolerable volume levels. There are master/slave inputs, to enable you to stack or chain these combos for added volume when need be. External bias adjustment points. No XLR or line out is the only drawback I can see featurewise.

I play a Rickenbacker 330 and a Fender American Tele pretty much straight in as a rhythm player in a classic pop/rock band. The stock tubes gave this amp a midrange heavy Fendery clean sound - great right out of the box for Beach Boys, etc.. The overdrive channel had loads of gain and distortion, but was somewhat flat sounding - both the deep and bright tones sounded thin. However, when I installed a couple of NOS preamp tubes (Mullard CV4004's) this amp truly came to life with gorgeous tone across the spectrum.

No problems with reliability - plus, the amp has a built in power tube trouble light that turns red when one of the 6L6 tubes goes bad.

Have not needed factory support, but it was built by Fender so I expect decent customer service should the need arise. Plus, Fender has more "factory authorized service centers" than anybody.

Overall, a great sounding and great looking heavy duty (and loud) all tube combo with plenty of features. You don't see one of these everyday, so it gives a great classy vibe in addition to volume and tone. A very nice alternative to Marshall (I traded a DSL401 and could not be happier).

This amp is very versatile and has every feature I could hope for. 2 Channels, reverb, effects loop (with separate send and return levels for each channel - this is great for boosting lost tone via pedals). The panel controls are: Clean - Volume, Bass, Middle, Treble ; Dirty - Gain, Volume, Bass, Middle, Treble, Presence ; Shared Reverb. Amp also has the ability to switch between 50 and 12.5 Watts. This thing is loud!

I switched out the 6L6 tubes for some KT66's and got the extension 1x12 for extra bass response and overall volume. The amp roars! The clean channel is very Fendery, I would put the tone of Channel 1 just below a vintage Super Reverb (which I've played side by side with this thing). A Super Reverb has just a little more of the sweet stuff than this amp. Don't get me wrong here though, the clean sound is fantastic. Channel 2 can be very subtle or very rude. I ride the gain around 3 with the volume at 6 or 7 and it produces a great overdriven tone without being too distorted. I use a Les Paul, old SG, and a strat with this amp and they all sound spectacular. I put a few tube screamers on the floor to add some flexibility and all sounds are amazing. My friend with the Super Reverb is a little jealous of the wide array of sounds I can achieve with the two channels and a few pedals. My signal is as follows: guitar -> Thomas Organ wah -> MXR Micro Amp (to match strat volume with Gibson volume) -> Tube Screamer 1 (vol 10, gain 0) -> Tube Screamer 2 (vol 10, gain 10) -> Amp, with a Boss DD5 delay in the effects loop. I love everything I can do with this setup. I think it's close to impossible to dial in a bad sound on this amp.

So far the amp has been very reliable, I have gigged with it without a backup most of the time. I know, not the smartest thing to do, but it has always performed for me and it's rock solid (and rock heavy!)

Never had to deal with them.

I've been playing guitar for 12 years and have owned a Marshall JCM 900 Dual Reverb, Music Man HD-130 (130 Watt Super Reverb clone), Marshall JCM 600 4x10 head and cab and this amp. I sold both Marshalls and the Music Man once I got this amp. It does everything I need and does it well. I miss the JCM 900 a little because it had a magical overdrive, but this amp's clean channel absolutely destroys a Marshall and the drive channel is well voiced and I'm finding more tones every day. If this amp was stolen I'd cry and then replace it immediately. It is the perfect marriage of vintage tone and modern features.

Two ch. single 12, all tube, foot switchable effects loop, everything you could ask for!

Tone was too bright from the factory... this thing would tear your head off! I changed the 6l6s out for 5881 greens. Now it has a very fender like warm clean, and a jcm800 type crunch. Very good! It has a little noise on the high gain side, however nothing any differant any other high gain tube amp.

No problems

I think this is a great amp! However, it is 75lbs heavy... I also bought the 112 ext. cab. that adds to the bass responce. You must change the output tubes to get a warm tone.

Just plug in and go. Two channels. Clean is very "Fendery" and the drive channel has a very useful range from bluesy to molten metal. Finding a useful setting is quick and easy. The separate effects send levels on the back are at first a bit confusing, but become very handy with various effects and also for boost/cut per channel. There is a power cut switch on the back that allows 50 watt or 25 watt operation, and gives a nice "Deluxe" effect when slamming some blues through the clean channel.

For avearge club dates and recording, this amp rules. Any bigger venue will require sound reinforcement and it does mic very well. The back is almost closed and gives a deep tone. The drive channel exhibits excellent cleanup with guitar volume back-off. One could even play a whole set that way. It appears there are several gain stages through 12AX7's. Apparently Mr. Fliegler of Fender, the co-designer, has employed classic Fender circuit layouts, and stacked many lower gain stages to achieve a gorgeous, focused drive tone. At lower gain levels, it sounds like Stevie Ray's 'In Step' recordings and there are no sharp jagged edges to the breakup-just sweet compressed and musical tone. I play blues, rock and fusion, and find that most of these genres are accessable with one setting on the amp and varying my guitar volume, tone and pickup choices.

The clean channel works well, and the deep tone is very satisfying. Keep in mind that this is a 50 watt, two 6L6 driven amp. The speaker is a Celestion T-75. Outdoor gigs begin to show the limitations of this amp, but it still is a killer source of tone. There are lots of options for sends so stacking is possible.

Brand new in 2000. So far so good. I am a warranty repair center for Fender and Sunn and I havn't seen one come through yet. I have been running it for about 6 hours a week for better than a year (this is a prototype) and no problems. Having a backup set of tubes is always a good idea. A peek inside shows high quality components and well thought out design.

Hey, it's Fender folks. What-me worry?

Hard to imagine a world without it at this point. It has the most musical tone of the tons of gear I have gone through in 35 years of proffessional playing. It does weigh in excess of 50 pounds, so I have to be careful of my back.

new, hot off the press in early 2000. I play mostly rock, hard rock style and this suits those fine the thing is so loaded with features that they couldn't fit them all on the front of the amp. there is a huge array of knobs buttons switched light and dials on the back. the amp has switchable power from 12w to 50w. independent effect loops for each channel (it has 2) with return and send levels that can be used as volume control with the footswitch. pre-amp out, a power amp in, a power tube failure indicator, external bias adjustment point , multi ohm output switch (4,8,16), extension cab out and main speaker out. spring reverb also controlled with the footswitch. it has a 12" celestion G12T75 75w speaker and is rated a 50w on high power mode. the cabinet is semi sealed and tuned, it's alitttle bassier than other openback combos I've played. The only thing that's missing is a second 12" speaker. the amps seems to have way too much power for one little 12". that said I play in a band with another guitarist who has a jcm800 run through a 4x12 and I have no problem matching volume with him. I ran this through his cab once and OH MY! this amp would power a 2x12 or 4x12 with no problem, in fact the instruction manual has a bunch of example setups for the ohm switch that include a 4x12 extension cab.

I used a mid 70's tele and a kawaii(a from the 60's with 4 pickups, kind of sounds like a sg but 3 times as fat) the amp has a good hard rock sound. I looked at some fenders and ampegs when I was shopping for this amp and it kicks the crap out of any fender amp around (clean or overdriven), is capable of a much more hard rock than an ampeg but is not as 'metal' or (i think) generic sounding as a marshall. my only complaint is I'm having trouble dialing in different sounds I want at high volumes. this may be due to the amps advertised ablility to channel the sound of your guitar as opposed to other amps that really bend the tone of the instrument and give a bit more versitility(all settings with the tele sounds a little bit too tele). also at high volumes I feel like i'm going to blow up the speaker so adding a extension cab may help. My old dean markley combo acted similarly at high volumes, but wiht a 2x12 the beast was tamed. I've only had this amp about a month and so I have to say I have not fully explored all settings.

sunn has a good rep for reliability, but time will tell on this one

can't remeber any info in the manual about warranty, doubt I'll ever need it

I have been a solid state guy up until this amp owning a couple of dean markly combos. this is my first tube amp and I'm pretty happy with it. If it was lost or stolen I'd probably get it's big brother the sunn model t 100 w and sunn4x12 cab. This is mainly because this thing sounds great but desperatly needs more speakers. costwise, after buying a 2x12 or 4x12 to go with this you might as well get the head and 4x12 it migh cost you a little LESS. that brings me to my other main beef with this amp is it is a bit overpriced. $1700.00 list for a 1x12 combo, COME ON! This is a top of the line all tube amp but that's just too much. sam ash and musicians friend have it for $1200.00 which is still too steep considering the almost necessity of adding an extension cab(I special ordered mine at http://www.8thstreet.com/ ,who I reccomend). I guess you just have to think of it at buying a 50w head crammed into a 1x12 combo. And frankly anohter 1x12 in this cabinet would make it weigh a TON. I think it already weighs about 75 lbs. The amp sounds great though. I've been looking for something like this for a while. more hard rock than most of the vintage reissues out there (fenders and such) but doesn't make you sound like vai/malsteem or every other metal band when you turn up the distortion. A great alternative to a Marshall for the hard rock set