ampage Tube Amps / Music Electronics	For current discussions, please visit Music Electronics Forum.	New: view Recent Searches. New: visit Schematic Hell! The sunn still shines online!

Listen to great tunes streaming live right now!

ampage archive

Vintage threads from the first ten years

Sundown amp? What is it?

1/2/2000 3:55 AM
Oeland Camp	Sundown amp? What is it? I have a Sundown "Artist" amp that has 6L6 tubes, two channels, gain boost, low boost, and runs 100w. Is this a good amp? Also, it has a RMS knob that doesn't seem to do anything. What is this for? Any help would be great. Thanks!

1/2/2000 4:50 AM
Sideways Jaye	Oeland- I'm sure you will receive more authoratative replies, but I believe Sundown rose from the ashes of the old Ampeg company, and Dennis Kager, Jess Oliver's protege and right hand man, was part of this company and most likely designed and oversaw production of these amps, and they are good. Dennis still has Central Jersey music services, and he is now also affiliated with Pignose, designing amps for them. I believe their website is simply www.Pignose.com so go there and track down Dennis for further info.

1/2/2000 4:50 AM

Sideways Jaye
email

Oeland-
I'm sure you will receive more authoratative replies, but I believe Sundown rose from the ashes of the old Ampeg company, and Dennis Kager, Jess Oliver's protege and right hand man, was part of this company and most likely designed and oversaw production of these amps, and they are good. Dennis still has Central Jersey music services, and he is now also affiliated with Pignose, designing amps for them. I believe their website is simply www.Pignose.com so go there and track down Dennis for further info.

Friday

Book Of The Day

The Ultimate Tone, Volume III by Kevin O'Connor

Have you ever wondered if there is a better way to build a Bassman, Champ, Plexi, an 800, AC-30, Bulldog or Portaflex? Or you wanted to build an SVT with off-the-shelf parts? How about a master-volume amp that doesn’t change tone with the master setting? Everything you need to know is right here, including: proper grounding techniques, wiring methods, and mechanical considerations. Eighteen chapters cover the “iconic” amps everyone knows and loves, with schematics and layouts for each, along with the technical history of the product. Eyelet-board and chassis-mounted tube socket construction is used throughout, for easy servicing and modding. TUT3 is very accessible even if you cannot fully read a schematic and is a "must have" if you are going to build an amp for your self.

Note: The Ampage Archive is an Amazon Associate site. A small commission is paid to the site owner on any qualified purchase made after clicking an associate link such as the one above.

1/3/2000 2:31 AM
Winnie	I remember Dennis elactronics. I was playing full time in New Jersey during the 70's. Dennis started out making preamps for dynaco power amps. I had one that drove a MacIntosh 75 (wish I had it today) I played Bass through it. The famous (Notorious) Dennis cabinets were huge. They wer 2'deep, 2" wide, and 4' tall. They were twin 15" Altecs, I think , hell of a sound but required two men and a boy to move them. Winnie

1/3/2000 2:31 AM

Winnie

I remember Dennis elactronics. I was playing full time in New Jersey during the 70's. Dennis started out making preamps for dynaco power amps. I had one that drove a MacIntosh 75 (wish I had it today) I played Bass through it. The famous (Notorious) Dennis cabinets were huge. They wer 2'deep, 2" wide, and 4' tall. They were twin 15" Altecs, I think , hell of a sound but required two men and a boy to move them.

Winnie

1/2/2000 7:31 AM
Steve A.	Oeland: I have some Sundown schematics on my site that you might want to look at. I believe that the RMS control is wired up to a push-pull pot, so you might want to try pulling the knob out. The RMS control adds in resistance between the output tube cathodes and ground to lower the power output of those amps, I believe... Steve Ahola http://www.techaccessinc.com/blueguitar/

1/2/2000 10:05 PM
steve m.	Oeland, Steve A. is right about the resistance to ground to lower the output of the amp. However, it is not a push/pull pot, that is the Govenor which is a post phases splitter master volume IIRC. Are you sure those are 6L6 tubes in there? If it is a 100w Artist, they are most likely 6550 tubes. If they are in fact 6L6s, your amp is only a 50 watt model. I have an Artist 50 which has the 6L6s. If the control does nothing, it may be burned out, Dennis used a 5 watt pot for that control, when a 10 watt would have been better. I've owned a few of the different models of Sundown amps, so let me know if you have any questions. Steve

1/2/2000 10:05 PM

steve m.

Oeland,

Steve A. is right about the resistance to ground to lower the output of the amp. However, it is not a push/pull pot, that is the Govenor which is a post phases splitter master volume IIRC.

Are you sure those are 6L6 tubes in there? If it is a 100w Artist, they are most likely 6550 tubes. If they are in fact 6L6s, your amp is only a 50 watt model. I have an Artist 50 which has the 6L6s.

If the control does nothing, it may be burned out, Dennis used a 5 watt pot for that control, when a 10 watt would have been better.

I've owned a few of the different models of Sundown amps, so let me know if you have any questions.

Steve

1/3/2000 1:58 AM

bill

quote:
"Are you sure those are 6L6 tubes in there? If it is a 100w Artist, they are most likely 6550 tubes. If they are in fact 6L6s, your amp is only a 50 watt model. I have an Artist 50 which has the 6L6s."

dennis kager ran into a bunch of unreliable 6550s,
so he went to 6L6s--which dennis said he preferred in the end. there were 50 and 100 watt models in both 6550 and 6L6 formats, i recall dennis told us when we interviewed him for our book AMPEG: THE STORY BEHIND THE SOUND. (see http://members.aol.com/risehigh/book.htm if interested)
bill

1/3/2000 4:55 AM
SpeedRacer	Just gotta add that it's a great book for any fan of Ampeg gear and/or lore.. Great tech stuff from Uncle Ned, pics, etc. We love our copy here at OEI.. It's a keeper!

Page 1 of 2

Next>

Last Page>>