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SUNN

The Sunn Amplifier company was founded by Norm Sundholm and his brother Conrad. Norm played bass in the band the Kingsmen. He played through a Fender Bandmaster, but needed more power out of it. He changed speakers with improvement, but later changed the actual amp to a Hi-Fi amplifier, leaving only the cabinet the original part of the Bandmaster. So he figured he could build the box and get the components for much chepaer than what a Fender cost. Norm bought the parts to build the box and would buy the power amp from Dynakits. His first amplifiers were named BAMCO, which stood for Burke Aarons Music Company. Enter Norm´s brother Conrad, who knew a little about woodworking. Conrad (Con for short) built some amps after school for Norm, as he was on the road with the Kingsmen. They started putting Sunn on the amplifiers for the first time and Sunn Musical Equipment Company was born. They chose Sunn rather than Sun because of Sun Tachometers in all the cars that could be a problem. This idea came from Barry Curtis.
In 1965, Con hired the first full time employee, and in late 1965 they decided they needed a factory to build amps. They moved to Tualtain, Oregon, which was right outside Portland. Their building was actually an old public swimming pool that had gone out of business. They filled in the hole with dirt, cemented it over and it became the factory. Employees included Jim Peterson and Gene Matheny, and later Bob Teneyck as an engineer.
In 1969, the brothers of the company began to disagree, and Con bought out Norm´s part of the company. However, in three years Con sold Sunn to Hartzell. When Hartzell took over they moved the factory to Williamstown, Kentucky so they would be closer to Cinncinnati and the east coast. Amps were heavy and speaker cabinets were only coming from Kentucky (the amplifiers were still produced in Oregon). They ended up moving back to Oregon in the late 1970s where they manufactured amps until the company was sold to a rebuilding Fender organization in 1987. Fender took Sunn and put them in mothballs until Fender became reorganized in their own name. Either Fender took a long time to reorganize or they forgot about Sunn amps, never producing them until 1998. Sunn amplifiers were mainly for the bass players like they had been in the seventies. By 2002, the Sunn name did not appear on amplifiers as Fender put their own name on Sunn amps. Fender bass amps are now Sunn in disguise (courtesy Ritchie Fliegler: Amps!).
Amplifiers previously produced in Portland, Oregon and in Kentucky. Sunn is now owned by Fender Musical Instrument Corporation of Scottsdale, Arizona, but they currently do not produce any models under the name Sunn.

SUNN Guitar Amplifiers Models

SUNN 100S (FIRST VERSION) Image

SUNN 100S (FIRST VERSION)

- 60W head-unit, came with speaker cabinet loaded with 1-15 in. JBL speaker and a high frequency horn, all-tube chassis, preamp:1 X 7025, 1 X 12AU7, 1 X 6AN8, power: 2 X 6550 (or KT-88, 6CA7), rectifier: GZ34, single channel, front silver c...

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SUNN SL 160 Image

SUNN SL 160

- 60W, 1-12 in. speaker combo, solid-state chassis, two channels, reverb, front control panel, two inputs, nine black knobs (level A, drive, level B, b, m, m-freq, t, r, MV), power switch, extension speaker jack, headphone jack, effects loo...

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SUNN 300T (NO. 021-3302-000) Image

SUNN 300T (NO. 021-3302-000)

- 300W, bass amplifier, head-unit only, tube chassis, preamp: 3 X 12AX7WA, 12AT7, power: 6 X 6550C, two channels, front black control panel, single input, 11 black knobs, 10-band graphic EQ, effects loop, compression, three-button footswitc...

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SUNN SL 260 Image

SUNN SL 260

- 60W, 2-12 in. speaker combo, solid-state chassis, two channels, reverb, front control panel, two inputs, nine black knobs (level A, drive, level B, b, m, m-freq, t, r, MV), power switch, extension speaker jack, headphone jack, effects loo...

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SUNN 1200S (NO. 021-3300-000) Image

SUNN 1200S (NO. 021-3300-000)

- 1200W, two-space rack-mount head, hybrid chassis (tube preamp, solid-state power), two channels, front black control panel, 11 black knobs, 10-band graphic EQ, several white buttons, effects loop, compression, three button footswitch...

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SUNN 100S (SECOND VERSION) Image

SUNN 100S (SECOND VERSION)

- 60W, 1-15 in. JBL speaker with a high freq. horn, guitar piggy-back configuration, all-tube chassis, preamp: 1 X 12AX7, 1 X 12AU7, 1 X 6AN8, power: 2 X 6550, rectifier: GZ34, single channel, reverb, tremolo, front silver control panel, fo...

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SUNN 200S Image

SUNN 200S

- 60W, 2-15 in. JBL speakers, bass piggy-back configuration, all-tube chassis, preamp: 1 X 12AX7, 1 X 6AN8 (or 7199, 6CA7), power: 2 X 6550 (or KT-88), rectifier: GZ34, single channel, front silver control panel, two inputs (hi and lo), thr...

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SUNN SOLOS II Image

SUNN SOLOS II

- 120W, 2-12 in. Sunn, 2-12 in. Vega, or 1-15 in. JBL speakers, guitar combo, solid-state chassis, two channels, reverb, vibrato, chrome control panel, four inputs (two per channel, one normal, one brite), 11 knobs (Ch. 1: v, t, m, b, Ch. 2...

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SUNN 1000S Image

SUNN 1000S

- 120W, 2-15 in. JBL speakers and one JBL LE100S high-freq. driver and horn, guitar piggyback configuration, nine tube chassis, preamp: 1 X 7025, 1 X 12AU7, 1 X 6AN8, power: 4 X KT88/6550, rectifier: 2 X GZ34, single channel, reverb, vibrat...

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SUNN MODEL T (NO. 021-3303-000) Image

SUNN MODEL T (NO. 021-3303-000)

- 100W (switchable to 25W), head-unit only, tube chassis, two channels, front silver control panel, single input, 10 black knobs (Ch. 1: v, t, b, m, Ch. 2: g, t, b, m, v, p), effects loop, footswitch, black Tolex covering, black metal grill...

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SUNN 1200S Image

SUNN 1200S

- 120W, 6-12 in. speakers, guitar piggyback configuration, eight tube chassis, preamp: 1 X 7025, 1 X 6AN8, power: 4 X KT88/6550, rectifier: 2 X GZ34, single channel, reverb, vibrato, front silver control panel, two inputs (two bright, two n...

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SUNN 2000S Image

SUNN 2000S

- 120W, 2-15 in. JBL speakers, bass piggy-back configuration, all-tube chassis, preamp: 1 X 12AX7, 1 X 6AN8 (or 7199, 6CA7), power: 2 X 6550/KT-88, rectifier: 2 XGZ34, single channel, front silver control panel, four inputs (two bright, two...

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SUNN MODEL T Image

SUNN MODEL T

- 100W head-unit only, all-tube chassis, preamp: 3 X 12AX7, power: 4 X 6550, dual channels (normal and bright), front silver control panel, five inputs (normal and bright), seven black knobs (norm v, bright v, b, m, t, p, MV), black coverin...

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SUNN T50C (NO. 021-3304-000) Image

SUNN T50C (NO. 021-3304-000)

- 50W (switchable to 12.5W), 1-12 in. Celestion G12T-75 speaker, tube chassis, preamp: 7 X 12AX7, 12AT7, power: 2 X 6L6GC, two channels, front silver control panel, single input, 11 black knobs (Ch. 1: v, t, b, m, Ch. 2: g, t, b, m, v, p, r...

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SUNN SOLARUS Image

SUNN SOLARUS

- 40W, 2-12 in. speakers, guitar piggyback configuration, six tube chassis, preamp: 1 X 12AX7, 1 X 12AU7, 1 X 7199, power: 2 X EL34, rectifier: GZ34, single channel, reverb, vibrato, front silver control panel, four inputs (two normal, two...

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SUNN SONARO Image

SUNN SONARO

- 40W, 1-15 in. speaker, bass piggyback configuration, six tube chassis, preamp: 1 X 12AX7, 1 X 7199, power: 2 X EL34, rectifier: GZ34, single channel, front silver control panel, two inputs, three knobs (v, t, b), standby switch, polarity...

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SUNN SONIC I Image

SUNN SONIC I

- 30W, 1-15 in. JBL D130F speaker, bass piggyback configuration, five tube chassis, preamp: 1 X 12AX7, 1 X 7199, power: 2 X EL34, rectifier: GZ34, single channel, front silver control panel, two inputs, three knobs (v, t, b), standby switch...

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SUNN SONIC II Image

SUNN SONIC II

- 30W, 2-15 in. JBL D130F speakers, bass piggyback configuration, five tube chassis, preamp: 1 X 12AX7, 1 X 6AN8, power: 2 X KT88, rectifier: GZ34, single channel, front silver control panel, two inputs, three knobs (v, t, b), standby switc...

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SUNN SPECTRUM I Image

SUNN SPECTRUM I

- 30W, 1-15 in. JBL D130F speaker, piggy-back unit, all-tube chassis, preamp: 1 X 12AX7, 1 X 7199, power: 2 X EL34, rectifier: GZ34, single channel, front silver control panel, two inputs, four black knobs (v, t, b, c), standby switch, pola...

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SUNN SPECTRUM II Image

SUNN SPECTRUM II

- 60W, 2-15 in. JBL D130F speakers, piggy-back unit, all-tube chassis, preamp: 1 X 12AX7, 1 X 6AN8, power: 2 X KT88, rectifier: GZ34, single channel, front silver control panel, two inputs, four black knobs (v, t, b, c), standby switch, pol...

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