I was surprised to stumble on this since there seems to be little to no hype around it at all.
https://sunnamps.com/ (https://sunnamps.com/)
I wonder what this is going to mean for the band, and the Earthquaker life pedals, which have been plastering Sunn's registered trademark on their stuff? I wouldn't want to take on Fender's legal team...
Is the brand still owned by Fender? I like the look of the new Harmony amps that came out but haven't seen one or heard anything about them either.
I can't imagine them being anything like the original Sunn. Fender builds junk in general for the most part these days except some of the reissue amps can be made to not fail as fast.
Quote from: imjonwain on July 19, 2023, 01:19:13 AM
Is the brand still owned by Fender?
Yes, Fender still owns Sunn. I guess they figured it was time reboot yet another old thing, since pretty much everything these days is a reboot of something that came before.
Quote from: lars on July 19, 2023, 11:32:12 AM
Quote from: imjonwain on July 19, 2023, 01:19:13 AM
Is the brand still owned by Fender?
Yes, Fender still owns Sunn. I guess they figured it was time reboot yet another old thing, since pretty much everything these days is a reboot of something that came before.
Since Giibson has Mesa now, It's likey Fender staying on par
There's an opportunity for them to use the Sunn b r a n d to do some """""boutique"""" product engineering and production, where a consumer would expect to pay more and then they can have that freedom, and maybe not cut every corner. They could do this without a costly spinning up of fabrication by using what resources they have (shared parts as much as they can with Fender product line), using the same fabs, purposely keeping production unit numbers intentionally low, and only spend the R&D into places where it's required. And by R&D, I mean generating Sunn b r a n ded elements, grille markers, maybe even a custom tolex pattern if they want to splurge.
Like the Fender Custom Shop but just for amps, and banking on the name recognition, putting a modicum of effort, and knowing their patrons won't be a large number.
Not saying they will take it, but the opportunity exists.
Quote from: jessenator on July 19, 2023, 07:01:02 PM
There's an opportunity for them to use the Sunn b r a n d to do some """""boutique"""" product engineering and production, where a consumer would expect to pay more and then they can have that freedom, and maybe not cut every corner. They could do this without a costly spinning up of fabrication by using what resources they have, keeping production numbers intentionally low, and only spend the R&D into places where it's required. And by R&D, I mean generating Sunn b r a n ded elements, grille markers, maybe even a custom tolex pattern if they want to splurge.
Not saying they will take it, but the opportunity exists.
It's Fender... They are not going to do any of that. They will nickel and dime it to make the most money they can off of the brand and then shutter it once it's not making them money anymore.
Unless a very well l own artist started using it, I would surprised if a newer generation latched on to sunn.
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Is my concert bass amp going to be worth $1000 now? I bought it in the late 90s for ~$50. It needs some work, though. Luckily I didn't strip the knobs off it for a pedal (thought about it a couple of times ;D).
Quote from: jimilee on July 19, 2023, 08:05:32 PM
...I would surprised if a newer generation latched on to sunn.
I think there will actually be a lot of confusion with a newer generation. For the last 20+ years, the Sunn logo has only been used by the band and some distortion pedals.
"What, a metal band makes amps now?"
Quote from: lars on July 20, 2023, 01:44:15 AM
Quote from: jimilee on July 19, 2023, 08:05:32 PM
...I would surprised if a newer generation latched on to sunn.
I think there will actually be a lot of confusion with a newer generation. For the last 20+ years, the Sunn logo has only been used by the band and some distortion pedals.
"What, a metal band makes amps now?"
There will be some excited Melt Banana fans at least. And it seems Doom is making a bit of a comeback as well.
Yeah, to me Sunn is as well known as Orange at least for the doom folks.
Well, turns out it is very legit!
https://www.sunnamps.com/amplification (https://www.sunnamps.com/amplification)
I do see an issue with their pricing though. I've seen pristine original examples of Sunn amps selling for much less than what they're asking on the website. Do they really think people are going to want to pay that much for a reissue, when they can have a fully-functional original for less?
Im still skeptical until I see inside one. The 100S and 200S are going to have circuit changes due to the 6AN8 availability, also KT88 is an odd choice considering they had 6550s originally which are still available. The input jacks are visibly cheap pcb mount ones too, so I image the construction is the same as current production Fender amps. Definitely not paying $3200 for that level of construction.
Quote from: WonkoTheSane on August 01, 2023, 09:40:55 PM
Definitely not paying $3200 for that level of construction.
Hopefully those are MSRP prices, which are always pretty ridiculous. The only amp I can see generating a lot of interest in this reboot is the Beta Lead, since those do have a cult following and used ones typically can sell for more than this new asking price. The 100S and 200S are in the "are you joking?" price range.
Beta lead is now class D. >:(
So it's a pedal into a fender rumble...
I know the clipping and tone stack are 90% of the sound of that amp but flipping the amp topologies and tubes around just screams limited R&D rebadge.
"Ok, Greg will work Tuesdays and every other Thursday for the next 3 months to relaunch SUNN."
Quote from: jwin615 on August 02, 2023, 02:09:48 AM
Beta lead is now class D. >:(
So it's a pedal into a fender rumble...
I know the clipping and tone stack are 90% of the sound of that amp but flipping the amp topologies and tubes around just screams limited R&D rebadge.
"Ok, Greg will work Tuesdays and every other Thursday for the next 3 months to relaunch SUNN."
I don't know what the power section of the originals was like, but class D is probably an improvement. Should be more efficient and lighter weight. That said, it's probably more cost effective to build an AionFX PCB (or someone else's) and run it through your Fender rumble.
I'm not sure, but I believe the Sunn Beta amps were always Class D mosfet-based. In fact, I think they were the very first MOSFET guitar amps. One thing for sure, the Beta's were completely solid state. There were never any tubes in them.
The main thing that I still find surprising is there is no hype about this relaunch. If this were a boutique tubescreamer done by some obscure builder in an unknown country, Reverb would be all over it and there would already be 40 demo videos on YouTube with sold-out limited colorway editions. Sunn coming back so far has been as exciting as a new dentist's office opening downtown.
Looking at the FAQ, this isn't fender but instead someone who licensed the rights from fender.
And yes, while betas may have been class D(I'm not sure) technically, the huge power transistors used then vs the ice modules and the ilk of today are going to have a different sound.
Supposedly they're planning a limited run of Model Ts as well...
And maybe some digital offerings, be that plugins or modeling planned?
The bottom half of the FAQ is intriguing none the less.
All the class D stuff is those dumb modules that die and will cease production inside 4 years and then the amps will be landfill.
They were originally push/pull discreet designs. Those parts also are no longer available, but there are subs for them.
Correct that most of it is the pre-amp.
The Beta Bass is very popular with many doom bands too. It has legendary status in certain circles.
I'd rather have a Coliseum 880 for the transistor or the Model T or Solaris for the tube stuff. The 100S and 200S are not exactly classic sought after amps and basically just a single 12AX7 preamp and tone stack tacked onto a Dynaco phase inverter and power amp from their ST-70 hi fi amp. Even then they should have gone with the 2000S for the 60's stuff.
Are people in general not a fan of those ICE power amp + supply modules? I haven't heard much about them failing but I haven't dug too deep. They seem like a nice solution to me for a poweramp?
I can't believe I haven't heard/read about this - I wonder if I'm not the target audience or the PR campaign is not off the ground yet or something.
I live in Portland, OR and several generations of Sunn gear were made around here. It's always sort of been part of the scenery and local lore. Its hard for me to look at the prices on thi8s website because other than the handful of extremely sought after items that are universally expensive, Sunn gear shows up very inexpensively on Portland Craigslist, even moreso if you don't mind some dings and restoration. During the pandemic I put together a Sunn folded horn cab bass rig that I'm restoring, and also a Sunn PA system gotten for $125 (came in as a donation to the place where my kid works, and they outgrew it). Its honestly a bit frivolous in my studio to have a bass cabinet the size of a washer/dryer, so a little bit midlife crisis projects or just basking in the Oregon heavy rock energy of it or something.
I do think new generations might latch onto this stuff for the prevalence of Sunn gear in heavy and doom bands (including but not limited to Sunn0))) but price would be a barrier for
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