FAQ
Who is sunn?
Sunn was one of the best known names in musical equipment from the 1960’s to the 1990’s. It was famous for making powerful guitar and bass amplifiers used by Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Queen, Mountain, Buffalo Springfield, Nirvana and many others. After the owner was killed in an airplane accident, the brand was acquired by Fender and shutdown in 2002. You can read the fascinating history of Sunn here.
Who is the New Sunn?
In 2023 a group of experienced music and electronics industry executives licensed the rights to build Sunn branded products and recreated Sunn Musical Equipment Corp. The team includes executives from Mission Engineering, Bose, Fender, Charvel, Yamaha, Intel and HP, as well as an advisory team made up of former Sunn engineers, designers and management. You can read more about the team here.
Is Sunn owned by Fender?
The Intellectual Property (the Sunn name, logo etc) is owned by Fender Musical instruments Corp. The new Sunn team has licensed the rights from FMIC to use the Sunn brand on our products. The design and manufacture of Sunn products is all done by Sunn in our own factories and with our own staff that are not related to Fender.
Why are you announcing now?
We all know that musicians are often gear geeks, passionate both about the music and the equipment used to make it. How awesome would it be, if you could not only own a Sunn amplifier, but also own part of the company that made it? What if you could contribute to the product plans, and share in the business success? We are announcing now, a little ahead of when products start shipping, so that we can provide opportunities to the community of musicians and fans who would like to be part of this exciting project. Learn more about joining Sunn here.
When can I buy Sunn gear?
Sunn products will be available soon from our web store at sunnamps.com.
What Sunn gear are you making?
The first products are the Sunn 100S and 200S guitar and bass tube amplifiers, the solid-state Beta Lead and Beta Bass, the Concert Series full range monitors, and several speaker cabinets. You can find more information on the all the Sunn products here.
Where is Sunn gear made?
Sunn products are designed and manufactured in the USA. Our facilities are in Washington, California, and Missouri.
What speakers are used in Sunn cabinets?
Sunn used speaker drivers from various different manufacturers at different times including JBL, Eminence, Jensen and CTS. At one point there was even a Sunn speaker factory, and they were manufactured in house. The new Sunn speaker cabinets use Sunn speakers designed and built to our specifications by Eminence and Jensen. The specifications for each are listed on the product pages. The Eminence made Sunn speakers are manufactured in the USA. The Jensen made Sunn speakers are manufactured in Italy.
What about the Sunn Tolex and grill cloth?
Sunn used its own pattern vinyl covering for speaker and amp cabinets. We have worked with the manufacturer, and they have recovered the original tooling from the archives. New Sunn products will be covered in Sunn vinyl exactly the same as the originals. Several different cloth coverings were used depending on period and model. We have taken samples from vintage amps and speakers and worked with the manufacturer to reverse engineer the material. We will be offering several different grill cloth choices.
Are these exact copies of originals or new designs?
There are two product lines, Sunn Historic and Sunn Modern. Historic products closely follow original designs. With the help of the advisory team of former Sunn staff, we have recovered a wealth of historical details and some of the original tooling and documentation. For example, the 100S and 200S use the original ultra linear circuit with KT88 tubes and Dynaco transformers. We are remanufacturing the original Sunn Tolex using recovered machinery. In some cases, we have made updates to improve reliability and to be compliant with current safety and regulatory requirements.
What is Sunn Modern?
Sunn has always been innovative company and produced many unique sounding designs. A mantra of the team has been ‘What would Sunn do now’? We are sure that if the story had continued without this brief twenty year hiatus, that modern Sunn would still be pushing the envelope, and so that’s what we will do. Sunn Modern products respect the history and aesthetic but use current technology that was not available to previous generations. Advances in digital audio such as amp modeling, cabinet simulation and software plugins will feature in the Sunn Modern line.
Are you making the Model T?
The Model T is an iconic Sunn amplifier loved by collectors and enthusiasts. However, it’s also very large, very heavy, and very expensive. We have plans to produce limited editions of the Model T and Coliseum amplifiers in the near future, but we wanted the first new Sunn amps to be affordable and usable by working musicians and fans.
What about the Sunn O)) band?
Sunn O)) has a separate agreement to use the name for the band and on band merchandise. Sunn Musical Equipment Corp. is not affiliated with the band, but we hope to collaborate on some future projects.