FACTOIDS & TRIVIA

Norm Sundholm was the bassist in the band The Kingsmen (of “Louie Louie” fame) and he was constantly blowing up and/or modifying is Fender Bassman and Bandmaster amps.  These Fenders were never very good bass amps to begin with, so Norm and his brother, Conrad began building their own bass guitar and PA amplifiers in their garage in Portland, Oregon.  Their amp designs were bullet proof and their speaker cabinet designs were acoustically very efficient.  As word spread, the fledging company took off and moved out of the garage to a larger building.  At this point, demand outweighed production, so between 1966 and 1969 Sunn had the power amp sections of the circuit and transformers supplied by Dynaco, makers of high quality, high end stereo tube amplifiers.  Sunn produced some of the first available high powered bass rigs in the late 1960s and were considered industry standards along with the Ampeg SVT.  Unfortunately, the company went through some hard times in the mid-1970s.  Sunn was not able to compete effectively once other companies, such as Ampeg, Fender and Acoustic, had introduced powerful and reliable bass amps.  The company was bought by Fender in the early 1980s which relocated all of its amp production to the Sunn facility in Oregon.  Sunn tube amplifiers are no longer made, but Fender’s solid state PA equipment bears the Sunn name.  The 200S shown was the most popular of the Sunn bass amps and was based on the Sorado model which preceded it.  Due to the limited production of such a small company, Sunn amps are relatively hard to find today.
 

Power Amp:  Tube; 2 x 6550, 60 watts RMS @ 16 ohms

Preamp:  Tube; 1 x 12AX7, 1 x 6AN8

Rectifier:  Tube; 1 x 5AR4

Speakers:  2 x 15" CTS

Channels:  1; 2 inputs

Effects:  None

Controls:  Bass, treble, volume; low boost, hi boost

Head Dimensions:  n/a

Cab Dimensions:  40 H x 24 W x 15 D inches

Weight:  n/a
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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