1975 (2nd gen) SUNN MODEL T

this amp was recently used on our recordings at:
http://www.myspace.com/doombegotten

intro note: sorry for the sloppy playing, I didn't really make this video with a certain game plan, just wanted to show how sludgy the amp could be all in itself. Sorry for the audio quality, the camera isn't really made for recording high volume ancient tube amps.

Before I purchased this amp, I did some extensive research on it. I was well aware that Sunn's are known for Massive & Crushing Tones. I had asked around attempting to find out if Sunn's (model T in particular) could achieve distortion without the use of a pedal. All the responses I got ranged from "..No", "it's an old amp with a lot of head room, just a loud clean amp, no distortion at all" and "if you put it to 10 you might get a slight crunch out of it". As you know now, this did not discourage me from getting one, so I did. After playing it with and without pedals, one day I decided to crank the volume a little (I turned the master volume to about 3, and the normal and brite channels to 10) and wow, this thing gave out monsterous distortion. Just goes to show you, don't always trust what you read.

So anyways, I still continue to find these statements across a wide range of forums and websites. So I decided to make this video for people who might be in the position I was once in (since all the Sunn Model T videos on youtube were usually just fender reissues or owners not quite pushing the amps).

If you want any demos of the amp, let me know (i.e. clean sounds, pedals w/ the amp, etc..)

I used my Ibanez S7320 7-String w/ PAF pickups plugged straight into my 1975 Sunn Model T with 4 svetlana 6550 tubes.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• sunn
• model t
• vintage amp
• stoner metal
• doom metal
• desert rock
• sludge metal
• electric wizard
• begotten
• Doom Metal
• Electric Wizard
• Stoner Rock
• Guitar
• Music
• Rock Music

[MasterJaron]

Alright, how do you have this set up? I have one and I don't get that exact distortion. I am re-tubing my 6550s with JJ 6550s. What kind of tubes do you have? How hot are the tubes biased? Mine isn't exactly giving it as much juice as yours. Any input would be useful. 

[somegrass1987]

@MasterJaron It has Svetlana 6550's, not sure what the Bias is on it. The pickups I was using at the time were Low-Output pickups, but with my P90's it get's even dirtier.

[olimax17]

I have to say, these amps without pedals sound way better than they do with pedals. I've got a boss fz-2 and a big muff, they sound cool when you're playing and listening by ear but once you mic up your cab, it pretty much sucks the life away from the model T's gritty tone. By itself, you can control it's tone by how hard you play.

[somegrass1987]

@olimax17 Indeed. Usually I use a big muff variant that I built myself, it has a tone bypass (enabling the pedal to bypass the tone section in the pedal) so it adds a little grit to the amp tone. Sounds amazing. I usually just use pedals to add a little sustain & volume control on certain parts of my riffs.

[olimax17]

@MasterJaron I think the vintage Sunn 412L plays a role in that tone. I built my own replica of that cab to exact specs and materials, except for the speakers are Eminence Wizards. The tone is great but not all the way there yet. Once I have vintage Sunn Transducer speakers, I'm pretty confident the tone will be unreal. - I also have svetlana 6550's.

[somegrass1987]

@olimax17 Yup. I think the "roominess" of the 412L (the extra room inside of it) helps bring out the bass/midrange A LOT. It's awesome but kinda sucks in a way, because now It's hard for me to find other cabs to play out of that I actually like

[somegrass1987]

@dirtshirt63 wasn't plugged into the rat. Although I think the rat's placement did help the mic from not clipping.

[agerstone]

So Electric Wizard sounds preeeeetty good through this.

[krinkmop]

Nice. This is a badass amp. I play a 1972 Sunn concert lead with a built in distortion. And it sounds pretty close. The model T is definitely where it's at for that muddy tone. Playing with power.

[domrolando]

@damillionmalania You can get them very easily on ebay but they are way overpriced now that the doom hipsters are all over them

[olimax17]

@somegrass1987 I now have a real sunn 412L with original speakers... transducer 128g-sp. Other cabs are wayyyyyyy to bright. This cab brings out how the model T is supposed to sound. pure evil rock and roll.

[pickmetofight]

I want this amp so bad