Sunn Rocks

[killersoundz]

Just some pictures I've acquired, all clearly demonstrating why I think Sunn understood MI amplification and that a lot of the stuff they built in the 70's makes most of the mass produced band equipment today look like garbage.

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs890.ash1/179874_10150405267805331_871895330_17160665_430501 7_n.jpg

Yep, that's a ported 4x12 box! Two 4" holes in the baffle of a box that size with a standard guitar speaker should place the tuning anywhere from 55-70hz. beautiful!

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/179856_10150405269190331_871895330_17160679_124342 2_n.jpg

Horn loaded + bass reflex cabs, not sure if they are bass or guitar, but probably quite efficient.

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs776.ash1/166689_10150405269265331_871895330_17160680_834729 9_n.jpg

And my favorite, the toe in baffled. Much ahead of the time, and should be a standard, but it costs more to produce.

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/167605_10150405276820331_871895330_17160815_204525 _n.jpg

And this guy has it setup wrong, he shall be hung.

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs890.ash1/179852_10150405277325331_871895330_17160825_867038 _n.jpg

They even went 45 degrees, pretty extreme but courageous.


http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs080.snc6/169069_10150405278125331_871895330_17160842_310391 4_n.jpg

[jefffluker]

Can't see the pictures...

[AMC]

Some of those look suspiciously like Bill's guitar box. Hmmm.

In the 4-12 horn loaded cab, the horn appears to be asymmetrical, is that real or is it an artifact of the angle of the picture?

[killersoundz]

Some of those look suspiciously like Bill's guitar box. Hmmm.

In the 4-12 horn loaded cab, the horn appears to be asymmetrical, is that real or is it an artifact of the angle of the picture?

Yeah except these were made in the 70's :) Looks like an asymmetrical horn to me as well.

[50 watt head]

Some of those look suspiciously like Bill's guitar box. Hmmm.

That was my first thought, too.

[meep]

I recall another multi-driver bass bin they made that was a 1 or 2 bend folded multi-driver horn. about the same size as that 6x10 or 6x12 pictured. the one pictured had more punch, whereas the horn had less punch but hit deeper in the chest.

Had problems with their amps tho.... recall seeing a sunn amp with busted gain control. gain was fed thru a 2-channel op-amp. one channel for gain, the other drove the foot switch, without protection. FS shorted, blew the op-amp, and that failure cascaded. I swapped the op-amp for a buddy but then discovered the cascaded problems and it was beyond me by then. absent-minded design.

M

[billfitzmaurice]

Some of those look suspiciously like Bill's guitar box. Hmmm.
With good reason: It works. The problem with the Sunn design was that the drivers weren't tilted back as well as cross-firing, so they were no easier for players to hear than flat baffle speakers. They failed in the marketplace because they 'didn't look right', and every guitar player knows that what really matters is how your rig looks. :rolleyes:
The 412LH has numerous flaws but still was better than the average bin of that period. I believe they were PA.

[Mike C]

A friend of mine had the older version of the pictured Sunn 6x10 cabinet with a Coliseum head. The Fender Bassman 100 cabinet was a 4X12 with the speakers in a diamond type of patteren each on separte baffel section angled into the center at about 45 degrees. He got that cabinet and amp for a good deal because it would "distort" when turned up, they'll do that when half the speakers are wired reverse polarity from the other pair!!! That's been 30 years ago....I wonder where those amps are now.