Vintage SS, SUNN SOLOS II, KILLER AMP!! Vid clip

[kevlar3000]

the upside-down will be corrected..... One of the coolest SS scores I have come across, Sunn does SS very well, as I own two different Sunn SS amps. This is their Twin Reverb in SS britches.. Amp is a 160 watts, I dimed the amp to get to the breakup, so the Weber Mass was needed. Using my California Man Tele... This amp has nuance up the wazzooo, great for funk, jazz, country, oh, and 70s rock. I think this amp will destroy any Jazz Chorus, and let you do some Nuge if inclined....... I play with an old 70s Phase 45 for a bit, might be my favorite Phase flavor right now, I also kick in a Behringer Phase 90 copy, that thing sounds great too..... Fun stuff in the bottom barrel of vintage gear.

[MetalManiac]

Re: Vintage SS, SUNN SOLOS II, KILLER AMP!! Vid clip

Great tone..you really get the most out of every nuance..and shot on film!
Yeah, Slashs' first amp was a Sunn I believe solid state , and he has good things to say about that from what I've heard.

[kevlar3000]

Re: Vintage SS, SUNN SOLOS II, KILLER AMP!! Vid clip

I didn't know that about Slash, do you know what amp it was? It is full of tone for sure!

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Vintage SS, SUNN SOLOS II, KILLER AMP!! Vid clip

Bookmark'd for later review.

Kev, have you ever considered an old Rickenbacker SS amp? Or or they too 'spensive?

[kevlar3000]

Re: Vintage SS, SUNN SOLOS II, KILLER AMP!! Vid clip

They fall in to the too 'spensive mode thanks to the legend of the Transonic and Zepp. For now, I simply sift through the dumpsters of peeps that never bothered to turn their amps to 10... There is magic at 10

[SteveAlysis]

Re: Vintage SS, SUNN SOLOS II, KILLER AMP!! Vid clip

Sounds killer man!

[sosomething]

Re: Vintage SS, SUNN SOLOS II, KILLER AMP!! Vid clip

Using an attenuator with a SS amp? Why?

[kevlar3000]

Re: Vintage SS, SUNN SOLOS II, KILLER AMP!! Vid clip

Won't break up til you push it, old SS works very much like old tube, this is not your modern SS. To get to the goods, you gotta get loud.

[kevlar3000]

Re: Vintage SS, SUNN SOLOS II, KILLER AMP!! Vid clip

Sounds killer man!

Thanks man!

[sosomething]

Re: Vintage SS, SUNN SOLOS II, KILLER AMP!! Vid clip

Won't break up til you push it, old SS works very much like old tube, this is not your modern SS. To get to the goods, you gotta get loud.

Oh, cool.

Nice video - sounded really good.

[kevlar3000]

Re: Vintage SS, SUNN SOLOS II, KILLER AMP!! Vid clip

Thanks much!

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Vintage SS, SUNN SOLOS II, KILLER AMP!! Vid clip

Wow, me like. Sounds like it would be a great amp to play in a Return To Forever cover band.

I can definitely see some 70s fusion shred happening with that amp!

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Vintage SS, SUNN SOLOS II, KILLER AMP!! Vid clip

Hehe now that is just one wicked thing!!

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Vintage SS, SUNN SOLOS II, KILLER AMP!! Vid clip

I have one of the SUNN Solos II 212 combos, that I bought new back in 1972. At that time I believe the amp listed for $749.00, which was more than a Fender Twin Reverb, I think. It was my gigging amp for many years, until the mid-1990s.

I had my guitars and my Fender Band Master head and cab stolen out of my car in October 1972. I originally bought a solid-state Gibson Medalist 410 combo amp to replace the Band Master. I had looked at the Solos II, but it was out of my price range. I had also been looking at a used Fender Twin, but there were none available at that time—when I needed one the most. I returned the Medalist back to the store within a few days, as I realized that transporting a combo that big would be a problem for me, even with my 1965 Ford Country Sedan Wagon. I got a really good deal on the SUNN; I think I paid a total of $425. I’m pretty sure the store didn’t make much money on that sale!

Back then I was mostly doing a single act, with a drum machine. I drifted in and out of several bands, but I preferred doing a single—the whole paycheck was mine! And doing the Pacific Northwest hotel circuit at the time paid some pretty decent money to guys like me who could sing well and entertain the audience. You needed to be a great rhythm player and throw in a few bass runs and quick lead fills every so often. You had to learn whatever was on the pop charts that week, and learn it quickly.

Compared to a Fender Twin, the Solos II is voiced a little shy in the bass. Indeed, the tone is much closer to the Marshall tube amps of the period, and easy to match. In fact, on more than one occasion, I played the same passage with a clean setting on both my Solos II, and then on a Marshall JCM 800 plugged into the same cabinet. My audience could not reliably determine which amp I was playing though. That’s about as a good a recommendation for the Solos II I could give—that is outstanding aural performance for a solid-state amp.

In doing a single act, I wanted a fairly broad, clean tone from my electric guitar—“Martin-ish”. I needed deep solid bass, so I used an old blue (well, back then they were new!) MXR 10-band EQ. Careful adjustment of the graphic EQ could put me in the ballpark tone of the Twin, especially at higher volumes. And HOORAY--the Solos II is lighter!!!

As I understand it, the Solos II uses MOSFETs in the design. My tech once told me that these transistors act more tube-like, and contribute greatly to the sound—but they were expensive. Indeed, in my opinion, the Solos II is one of the warmest, most tube-like SS amps ever produced. The Roland Jazz Chorus sounds harsh, edgy and buzzy in comparison. The circuit is much quieter than the Acoustic 150 amps that were so popular in the day. (Had one of those too!) I have also used the old Kustom tuck and roll amps from that period, and the VOX SS amps. The Thomas Organ VOX SS amps of the late 60’s are feature-laden but tinny and brittle sounding. They don’t have the best rep for reliability, either. The Kustom was a good amp, but to me they have kind of a flat tone without much dimension. To my ear, the Solos II sounds much more organic—especially at volume.

The rated power was 120 watts RMS. Mine typically bench tested at 140. Reliability wasn’t really an issue for me with the SUNN, though the amp did occasionally develop some problems. Sometimes there would be an annoying “pop” when the tremolo was switched on. A couple of times the amp overheated due to a high-frequency oscillation. The original speakers were replaced after about six years of use. Only on one occasion did the amp fail me during a gig. It lost power on a Saturday night while I was entertaining at a hotel in Eugene, Oregon. I got through the night with a spare amp I had, and on Monday morning I drove two hours to the SUNN factory in Tualatin, just a few minutes south of Portland. They rushed me right in and repaired the amp on the spot. I got a tour of the factory, too. Over the years, SUNN covered all of the work I had done on that amp by their Lifetime Warranty. They really gave me great customer service, and unfortunately, that went away when the company folded.

The amp had some great features. Two-channel, like a Fender Twin; unlike a Twin, the second inputs were labeled “Brite”, and were not lower gain inputs. The Tremolo had a wider range of speed than a Twin, and more depth. Both channels had a Treble Boost switch—about 10 times more powerful that a Twin’s “Bright” switch. Kick in the X20 switch and you are in for a really nasty in-your-face distortion. Unfortunately, there’s no way to control the amount of gain, other than your guitar’s volume knob. The Reverb and Tremolo can be switched by a really attractive and stable two-button footswitch made from extruded aluminum. A second footswitch could be used to activate the X20 circuit, and a Solo BOOST circuit. A handy innovation on this amp, far before its time—but it actually is a cut circuit. The back panel also has an external speaker jack and pre-amp out and power amp in jacks. It’s essentially an effects loop, and rare in an amp of this vintage.

I have played several of these amps over the years, and I have noticed some variation. Some, like mine, seem to have a more organic tone and feel really strong; while others I have played left me cold. My amp just feels like one of the special ones. I would also say that my amp is relatively finicky when it comes to distortion pedals but, my choices back then were really limited. I’d had the original version of Fender Blender fuzz, but it was stolen with the rest of my gear along with an original VOX wah. I found that the inexpensive DOD 250 worked well, and later the DOD FX Overdrive. I bought a Real Tube 901 back in the ‘90’s and that was an excellent match for that amp. I suspect in this era of pedal craziness, it would be pretty easy to find a great-sounding overdrive to use with this amp.

To me, the amp sounds best with single coil pickups. I used my 1960 Strat, my c. 1970 ES-330 long neck, and my 1975 Les Paul ’55 Special Re-issue with excellent results. Surprisingly, Gibson humbuckers always sounded harsh and grainy with this amp—but that might have been that particular guitar. After 1978, I began using a Music Man Sabre II, and this became my “match made in heaven”. I also began using a DOD FX10 Preamp about this time, and the slight boost does provide a warmer tone. That pedal is still on my pedal board to this day. But, as my playing style and situation changed, so did my equipment requirements. I joined a band in the early 1990’s and as I began to do more and more lead work, I moved through a series of vintage Fenders and Marshalls, before finding my voice with a Mesa Boogie Mark III. I was Boogie Bill long before I ever played a Boogie amp, but a Boogie is all I play these days.

People forget what great amps SUNN made. The 200S and 2000S were formidable tube bass amps that could pulverize your innards from 100 yards away. Their cabinetry was second to none, and JBL speakers were optional in most of the cabs. During their heyday, it was the norm to enter a club here in the Northwest and see at least one SUNN amp on stage. It might be a tube 100S, Sentura or Sceptre; a Concert Lead with a 610 or a Beta Lead 212 (the successor to the Solos II); or perhaps a 190L stack. If the band had one or more of the 300 watt Coliseums—the Coliseum Lead, the 880, or the Bass—your ears were going to bleed. There is one guy I know of here in Portland that still uses a 2000S bass amp and the JBL-loaded 215 cabinet he bought while in high school, more than 40 years ago. With four 6550s, it still puts out massive tone. The original Model T’s are still very desirable, if you crave the crushing power of a big amp

I haven’t used my Solos II much in the last 10 years, and I really should. Might be time to take it in and have it serviced, though it would probably cost me more than the amp is worth in today’s market. Still, for someone looking for clean power, a SUNN Solos II could be exactly what you need. I still think it’s one of the most beautiful amps ever made, and mine has served me well over the years.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Bill

[kevlar3000]

Re: Vintage SS, SUNN SOLOS II, KILLER AMP!! Vid clip

Great story and history! I would like to track down a footswitch, the reverb and trem all sound really nice, very warm. I wish the gain switch was just a bit less dramatic, because it does sound really nice, but was not engaged with this clip. My other SUNN SS is a PA head, thing screams beautifully and has more bottom, which I agree, the Solos II could use just a touch more. I will post a clip of that amp soon. For my cheap tone fix, SUNN SS and the early PV Standards are the top of the heap as far as SS goes. I have 2 PVs and 2 Sunns, they both could be my main gigging and recording amps if I so chose. Great stuff...