Going to look at a SUNN Beta Lead

Swampy

Swampy

New member
I've got the guy down to $160, he's got it on craiglist for $200.
If I get it, it'll probably take residence at a buddy's house that I frequently jam at.

Decent Solid States? I like the sounds Red Fang gets through them. I hear they are pretty frickin' loud.

Anyone own one? 4x10 or 2x12 combo? How do they like pedals? Specifically fuzz.

 
Re: Going to look at a SUNN Beta Lead

I had a 2x12 version back in the 80s. It was pant-crappingly loud.

I recall that it had built in saturation/gain that had kind of a unique sound, pretty metal and modern sounding. I think I traded it when I moved away and I really kind of wish I still had it.

Sunn's solid state stuff is really good in general. That's a great find!
 
Re: Going to look at a SUNN Beta Lead

I had a good friend who had the 4x10 version. Loud and punchy/quick. Very aggressive metal sound. If it's in good shape 160 ain't too bad.
 
Re: Going to look at a SUNN Beta Lead

I ended up buying it. The guy lived close to my shop, so I took it there to give it a real test run. GOOD GOD this thing is loud! And definitely punchy. I'm liking. Some of the pots were a bit scratchy, so I took the chassis out and brought it home to take apart and give them all a shot of contact cleaner. Also the two reverb pot shafts are broken close to the chassis. I'll have to see what can be done about those. I'm thinking a quick fix will be to grind a straight slot in whats left of the shaft, so I can at least turn them with a pick.















 
Re: Going to look at a SUNN Beta Lead

good score, has the CTS square magnet s speakers. Hey, Tommy Bolin played those. If you aint Tommy Bolin, then they are pretty average sounding speakers.Amp Build quality is marginal, but they do seem to hold up well. The sounds is definitely radical, and smokes ballz!
I had the 2x12. Pass.
 
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Re: Going to look at a SUNN Beta Lead

SONOFA*****. I am jealous as FCK. I love those amps. It was one of my favorite solid states ever.
 
Re: Going to look at a SUNN Beta Lead

Those are flat screaming amps and that was a killer deal!
CONGRATS!!
 
Re: Going to look at a SUNN Beta Lead

Opened it up tonight and sprayed the pots down and gave them many turns. No more scratchy. Tested it out on a 2x12 I have at the house. Man, this thing sounds pretty frickin' awesome for a SS.

Can anyone tell if this a date code on the transformer? I'm wondering what year it is.





 
Re: Going to look at a SUNN Beta Lead

Sweet!

Both channels the same?
Used to get some good mono-summed tones running stereo(chorus) into something similar...

'Grats again!!!
:headbang:
 
Re: Going to look at a SUNN Beta Lead

Swampy you need to build a head cab for that and cover it with some of that gator hide!!

Congrats, that's a killer deal.
 
Re: Going to look at a SUNN Beta Lead

Come to think of it, they could've been the same. I think I had the drive set differently. I need to play with it some more, just been too busy.
 
Re: Going to look at a SUNN Beta Lead

The Beta channels are identical. You can set either of them how you like. You can even run both with the center input.
 
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