Yesterday, Fender announced the long-awaited return of cult classic guitar amp brand, Sunn Amplifiers – and now the reestablished brand’s first wave of solid state amps, tube amps and speaker cabs have been officially unveiled.
In total, three guitar amps and three bass amps, as well as a range of speakers and monitors, have been issued as part of Sunn’s first wave, which – as expected – leafs through the history books to revisit some of its most famous historic models.
Although the Model-T (arguably Sunn’s most sought-after amp) is nowhere to be seen, the drop does give attention to its Beta Lead, which was famously used by Kurt Cobain during Nirvana’s Bleach era, as well as Tool’s Adam Jones on Lateralus.
The 100W, dual-channel solid state head is, unsurprisingly, a spitting image of the historic model that inspired its rebirth, with the amp arriving with two sets of controls for Drive, Bass, Mid, Treble, Reverb and Level for each channel, as well as a Master volume knob.
Notably, the Beta Lead boasts Sunn’s CMOS-based drive circuitry, which went a long way to curating the gritty distorted tones that was adopted by the stoner and doom metal scenes in the company's heyday.
The Beta Lead is joined by a dedicated preamp variation, which offers the same controls, as well as two dedicated bass versions.
At first glance, the 100W Beta Bass and Beta Bass Pre are remarkably similar to the guitar models, retaining the CMOS technology and dual-channel design, though dropping the onboard reverb for a more streamlined operation.
Price-wise, both the Beta Lead and Beta Bass will be available “soon” for $799, while their preamp counterparts will weigh in at $699.
The Betas are joined by two 65W ultra-linear guitar and bass amp heads, the 100S and 200S. Both feature a KT-88 power stage, GZ34 rectifier tubes, 12AX7 preamp tubes and Dynaco transformers, with two inputs and three switches for Standby, Power and Polarity.
Control-wise, the guitar variant is again ever-so-slightly more comprehensive with Volume, Treble, Bass and Contour knobs, while the 200S opts for Volume, Treble and Bass.
As for the history of the 100S, the head – along with corresponding Sunn cabs (more on those below) – was once used onstage by Jimi Hendrix, who signed an exclusive endorsement deal with the amp brand back in the '60s.
However, it’s worth commenting on the fact that the 100S and 200S are considerably more expensive than the Betas (understandable given their components), and have price tags of just over the $3k mark.
While those prices for a 65-watt head could prove to be a hurdle, they're not entirely out of keeping with other vintage-inspired offerings. Marshall's recently reissued 20-watt JTM45 amp head, for example, features a $2,350 price tag.
In addition to its amp range, Sunn has also brought out two cabinets – a 2x12" and 2x15" – as well as 1x12" and 2x12" full range monitors. Prices for those are still under wraps.
It's a statement of intent from the resurrected amp brand. We were told in the initial announcement that prices for amps won't exceed the $3,299 mark, so the 100S and 200S units really mark the pinnacle of the company's new range.
Not only that, it's clear that Sunn is prioritising the amps that made it a household name in the late 20th century, meaning the Model-T won't be far behind...
For more information, head over to Sunn.
