Members curseoftruth Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Picked up this 1979 Sunn Beta Lead 2x12 with original footswitch (hard to find) the other day for a little cash and a trade at a local used instrument mom and pop. It brings the doom like no other amp I've played. Heavy, heavy, heavy tone -- lots of natural fuzz. In other words, amazing and sounds exactly like I want! The reverb is amazing and this is one VERY loud amp. Will easily keep up with my Orange 100 watt head and Orange 4x12 cab. Bad pix from my iPhone: and a random pic of my freshly restored Moderne (has Duncan 59s, bone nut, all new electronics and sounds amazing!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tp4mybunghol Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Cool! I've always wanted to check out one of those sunn amps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sxyryan Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Cool! I've always wanted to check out one of those sunn amps +1... I also want your guitar. Really bad. :thu: HNAD!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sunntone Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 welcome to the little sunn club they are great huh. real loud and powerful feeling. I love them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dcindc Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 That's a cool amp. Hang onto it! HNAD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Funderbunk Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Dang, I've had my eye out for Beta Lead for a while... but nothing local, and they don't show up on the Bay very often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members curseoftruth Posted March 10, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Dang, I've had my eye out for Beta Lead for a while... but nothing local, and they don't show up on the Bay very often. I was at the local mom and pop which is only used gear and they have cool stuff -- I've had my eyes open for a Sunn Concert Lead for a long time and actually stopped in to see what was in inventory as it turns petty quick. Didn't see anything (they have more old Gibson amps than you will ever see in one place) and I was walking out and looked down and saw it on the floor under another amp and had to play it, had not really considered a Beta Lead before and never had played one. Anyway, I was instantly blown away by the tone and the volume. I put $100 down and put it on layaway. I went back last Sat. and traded in a Squier mini strat in really bad shape and a cheapo Crate combo I got in the 90s that was worth about nothing. Total was $300, not a great deal but not bad either, about the going rate for the combos these days. And most don't have the footswitch which was a major bonus. A friend of mine used to have a Concert Lead and it was amazing, but he sold it for cheap when I happened to be between jobs about 5 years ago (he did offer to me first for $200 but I was beyond broke at the time). I kind of like having a solid state as a back up -- my Orange will get some rest and I can wait another month to re-tube my Marshall DSL now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ugameus Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 BASTARD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Funderbunk Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 If I understand correctly, those Beta Leads use some unique circuitry - not that yours needs it, but there's a guy on eBay selling some repair information. There's some interesting usage notes on the Beta Lead here: [deleted, possible malware site] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members curseoftruth Posted March 10, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Thanks, I'll look into the circuitry thing. It sounds truly killer. I got it up to 3 last night and it was just earth shattering it was so loud! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JoJo68 Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Very cool. Can't wait to hear it at rehearsal tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members niche773 Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 I know this is of topic. Ive never checked your myspace before but i must say that song you guys have on there $%#@* ROCKS HARD!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A_Gitarman Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 nice score This is my brothers rig, which has been living at my place for about 2 years (after sitting unused in his garage for a LOOOOONG time)... I cleaned up YEARS of gunk off of both the guitar and amp, then replaced all of the electronics on the guitar & gave it back to him. The amp however, has stayed at my house. One thing for sure, even with a blown speaker, that mother is LOUD. P.S. thanks for reminding me that I still need to replace one of the blown speakers in this amp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members curseoftruth Posted March 10, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 I know this is of topic. Ive never checked your myspace before but i must say that song you guys have on there $%#@* ROCKS HARD!!!! Thanks man! and those are just terrible recordings. We have some newer material that is just super heavy and the Sunn will work nicely with that. We have tons of amps, so lots to choose from for live situations. Between me and the other guitar player (JoJo68 who posted above) we have 2 Orange RV100s, a Matamp GTO 120, a Marshall DSL100 and a now the Sunn Beta Lead (which will be run through a 4x12). We'll run most of those amps at one show, the Dallas Doom Daze Festival in May. People will need to stand back and bow to the wall of thunder LOL I need to pull the grill off of it and clean the speaker area out, there are spiders webs and years of dust in there. Needs some electrical contact cleaner also, pots are real scratchy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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