Let's see your rig!

[Happy Face]

My nastiest meltdown was mid 70's on my only Sound City... the transformer went up in a shower of sparks, and that was that...

A bad experience.

I had a Sunn Coliseum slave in a mega-rig blow up back then ....  man that really stank.  Transformers don't burn up well.

[Granny Gremlin]

I was surprised. Until the explosion!

I would have thought that that came as a bit of a surprise too ;P

[Happy Face]

So, the amp tech called me today. Nothing wrong that he could find. All tubes tested fine.

The only way he could get the amp to fail was fooling around with the effects out jack. He cleaned it and told me just to run the amp for a while to confirm all is well. So good news all around.

But this is not the first time I've been told that an effects send jack may be problematic and that you should at least plug into it now and then to clean it?  He said something about them being a "cut off jack" or something.

What's the deal with that?

[Granny Gremlin]

He probably means a shorting jack aka switched jack or normalled jack - when nothing is plugged into it the leaf spring inside makes contact with an alt output tab (which is connected to a similar alt output on the return jack, also shorting, usually so that when nothing is plugged into the loop, signal bypasses the jacks to the next amp stage).

Glad the tech says it's OK.

a regular mono jack:



Shorting/switched/normalled:

[Happy Face]

Thanks!!!

[D.M.N.]

What the heck, here's some Sunn:



Currently in the process of stripping an re-tolexing the cab on the left, as well as prepping a DIY 2000s cab for tolex.

[Pilgrim]

Methinks I see many JBL silver cones in there.....

[Granny Gremlin]

Dammit you very well outfitted bastard.

I did just aquire this 1200s about 2 months ago and forgot to post about it here (probably because the pic sux; been meaning to get some better snaps but too lazy to move the rig out in the hall).



Old rig was that Garnet into the badgeless Musicman 115RH on the bottom - changed the original Eminence speaker out for an EV SP15a, which I loved. Got the Sunn and was worried that the EV could not take the power (on paper, less than half). Tried a vintage Altec 421 but it definitely couldn't take the power (maybe a newer one would; power handling increased over the years from about 75 to 150 watts) - it got a bit farty on me and the metal dome accentuated pick attack in an irritating way (more so than I recall with JBLs). Oddly enough, I loved the 421 with the Garnet (still with the pick noise, but not as bad; overall a better match) - tried it just to see. Ended up switching the Altec out for another EV - some random PA midbass similar to an EVM 15 (same frame/motor structure) - not as much top end as the SP15a, but can definitely take the power and it is a much better match for the Sunn tonally - pretty magical actually. Love this rig. Headroom for days - I haven't been able to turn it up past 3-4 on the preamp gain (no master).

The reverb is a bit radio-fi but strong (the springs on the tank lock for transport with a simple lever - something I have never seen before - no boing boing in the trunk when driving to the gig) and the trem is subtle but very usable (solid state optical module in an otherwise all tube amp.... the 2 rectifier tubes have been replaced with an octal plug in diode bridge module).

As I said to my bandmates - kinda annoyed that the head turned out to be about an inch wider than my cab, but tickled that the grille cloth matches (almost).

Ignore that smaller cab between the Sunn and the Musicman, that's just a mid-high fill cab I made (2 x 5" mids + 2 x horn tweeters) that I used to run parallel with the Musicman 15 off the Garnet to use it as fullrange PA (vocals and/or music playback). ... but yes that is a Sunn hi freq horn cab on top of the Traynor PA Column (4x12; dumped the original Marslands for an EV + Black Widow + 2 passive radiators I had a local recone guy make for me out of the Marsland frames; there's a bolt through the dustcap  so I can throw extra washers on for weight to tune the response).  Matching Column and Sunn horn on the other side of the room out of frame.  Used to be the PA for my indie venue; it kicked.

The new Sunn deserves better pics; will get to that eventually. Maybe by then I'll have my tall style 4x12 loaded up and ready.

[4stringer77]

Here's my Sunn 2000s. DMN makes me wish I had a few more!

Recently started playing with a metal band. Typical two guitarists playing through 100 watt Mesa or Marshall half stacks. Thought about bringing the Sunn to the rehearsal space but feel bad about subjecting the old girl to such a brutal workout. Any suggestions as to what would be a good modern amp to contend in such a situation? Maybe a GK 1001 RB?
There's also a stencil that someone attempted to wash off on the back of the cab.

Wonder if Andy Fraser or Tetsu Yamauchi used this amp.

[Pilgrim]

I'd suggest one of the higher-end (new) Genzler or (used) Genz-Benz amps like a ShuttleMax with an appropriate cab. There's a ShuttleMax 12.0 at TB for $650. Output can vary from 375W to 1200W peak, depending on the ohm load you use with it.

[Granny Gremlin]

OMG, nice Sunn rig!  Which reminds me - I totally forgot to post mine.  But before we get to that, I don't think anything can replace one of these beauts - nothing will compete with those MArshall rigfs without having to sacrifice bottom like the larger Sunns.  120 watts is a serious understatement (especially if ss vs tube rectified) - my 1200s (same amp + trem and verb) pushes 200 watt speakers to the limits of their comfort zone.  There was a 2000s on reverb for US999 that I was considering because the price was too damn good, but I hesitated cause that's a lot of cash for me to drop on what is essentially a spare,and someone else grabbed it.

Anyway:



Finished my guitar/bass dual use rig. That Riviera (Pepco stencil brand) 4x12 (actually rather well built for a budget cab of that vintage - not chipboard) has been loaded with 2 each JBL D120f and EV Force 12 and lined/stuffed with that insulation made from recycled jeans. I am thinking I need to swap out the JBLs, because the cab is now too heavy for me to lift (I put recessed corner castors on one side for tilt and roll, but stairs etc - why it's on the bottom in the pic.... in use I wouldn't stack them like this at all).

The other cab is me old badgeless Musicman 115RH (actually very similar to the Sunn 2x15s the 2000s came with, or more aptly the 1x15s the smaller bass heads of the same era did, which are also reflex horns) with an EV speaker in it.  I would love to replace it with a 1x15 Sunn but they didn't make very many in this width and we rarely get Sunn cabs up this way (there's one in Montreal I was going to get my little brother who lives there now to grab for me, but it looks like it's one of the skinnier ones for the 200s, 190b and 300b heads).

The cabs  mate really well, for either G or B and gives some tonal choice depending on which I decide to run.  For gigging (not 6 bangin in any group currently) I'll probably only use the 15, but the 4x12 really worked out nice for bass I just don't want to move it.  With guitar it covers anything from doom metal girth to shoegaze noise fx abusing sparkle.  The top end isn't icepicky at all (I was a bit concerned; have had JBLs before), but actually pretty sweet -  I suspect due to being well complemented by the EVs. For bass it gives the dynamics and cut you don't get from a 15 alone, and solo, a cool grungy 60s Brit bass tone; Scott would approve.

Currently in the jam space I have it set up stereo, one cab on either side of the drummer and that is gonna be really neat for some live-off-the-floor recording.

[4stringer77]

Thanks for the tip on the genz benz. I might still give the Sunn a shot GG, yet I still wonder what Psycho Bass Guy would do.

[the mojo hobo]

I'd suggest one of the higher-end (new) Genzler or (used) Genz-Benz amps like a ShuttleMax with an appropriate cab. There's a ShuttleMax 12.0 at TB for $650. Output can vary from 375W to 1200W peak, depending on the ohm load you use with it.

The ShuttleMax 12 is actually 2 600 watt amps. To get 1200 watts you have to use two 4 ohm cabs. I have a ShuttleMax 12.2 and I love it. Only ever used it with one cab though.

[BlacknWhite]

My main rig is My Traynor YBA200-2 tube head played through a Ampeg 810E. I also have a SWR Triad cab that I use with my Traynor and an old 69 Ampeg BT-25.

[Granny Gremlin]

I've gone stereo (at jams only - not lugging all that to gigs) since the studio got a little Sunnier.



So that's the same Sunn 1200s with MM 115RH on the left (the other, head-sized cab between them I don't use for bass) and a new to me Sunn Solaris (essentially the same as the 1200s but half the power) driving my slightly less new to me Riviera [sic] tall style 4x12 with a pair each of Weber Neomag 12s (best JBL D120 clone; I have compared them side by side; not like the earlier Weber Toneclones with stamped frames, these are proper cast jobbies; all the tone, half the weight) and Faital 12PR300s (highly recommended FYI - Sound better than the JBls or EVs for bass; a tad dark for guitar; Avatar has a great deal on these while supplies last - they bought out some old stock a while back). I changed them out from an actual pair of JBLs and a pair of EVs (as I had it a few posts up) because it was so heavy I couldn't lift it up the studio stairs.  Much better now.

The PA horns are also Sunn and I feel like a tit that I cut off the left one in this pic.