Sunn (stylized in all lowercase) amplifiers was a brand of musical

instrument amplifier An instrument amplifier is an electronic device that converts the often barely audible or purely electronic signal of a musical instrument into a larger electronic signal to feed to a loudspeaker. An instrument amplifier is used with musical ins ...

s based in

Tualatin, Oregon Tualatin () is a city located primarily in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon. A small portion of the city is also located in neighboring Clackamas County. It is a southwestern suburb in the Portland Metropolitan Area that is locat ...

, United States.

History

In early 1963,

the Kingsmen The Kingsmen are a 1960s rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States. They are best known for their 1963 recording of R&B singer Richard Berry's "Louie Louie", which held the No. 2 spot on the '' Billboard'' charts for six weeks and ...

, a band based in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, became known for their hit version of the song " Louie, Louie". After its hit single, the band soon embarked on a 50-state national tour. Because the band was used to playing small hops and school dances, many of the members found themselves ill-equipped with the amplifiers that they were currently using. Bassist Norm Sundholm discovered that his bass amp was not nearly powerful enough to play larger concert halls. Sundholm enlisted the help of his brother Conrad to help solve his problem. By 1964, the Sundholm brothers had designed a high-powered concert bass amplifier. The early Sunn amplifiers relied heavily on

tube amplifier A valve amplifier or tube amplifier is a type of electronic amplifier that uses vacuum tubes to increase the amplitude or power of a signal. Low to medium power valve amplifiers for frequencies below the microwaves were largely replaced by sol ...

s designed by David Hafler and preamps sold by the Dynaco Hi-fi company, with many of the first units actually containing power amplifier chassis sold by Dynaco (models MKII, MKIII, MKIV) as well as modified Dyna PAS1 preamplifiers. By 1965, the demand for Sundholm's amplifiers had increased to the point where the family garage could no longer be used as the manufacturing facility. At this point the Sunn amplifiers still relied on the Dyna power amp circuitry, reworked to fit Sunn's own chassis but still employing Dyna produced and branded transformers and the same electronic design. Thus, the Sunn Musical Equipment Company was founded. Throughout the original Sunn Amplifier line they employed Dynaco designed and built transformers (up to the 120 watt MK VI transformer set) and Hafler based power amp designs until Sunn stopped producing the original line of tube amplifiers in favor of the solid-state Concert and Coliseum models. Later Sunn produced the electronically unrelated Model T tube amps. Fender acquired Sunn in 1985, relocating operations from Tualatin to

Lake Oswego Lake Oswego () is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon, primarily in Clackamas County, with small portions extending into neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Located about south of Portland and surrounding the Oswego Lake, the town w ...

. The stated intent was to both revitalize the Sunn amplifier lines and to produce some Fender-branded models as well, which included the Standard Series (Princeton Chorus and Ultra/Ultimate Chorus, both solid-state) and M-80 Series, and are identified as USA-made amplifiers with an "LO"-prefix serial number. Fender shut down the sunn operation in 2002. The band Sunn O))) was named after the company (to the point of including a typographic representation of the logo, albeit with one too few parentheses).

External links

Sunn Support
– official website
Conrad Sundholm Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2016)
Norm Sundholm Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2019) Guitar amplifier manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Oregon Companies based in Tualatin, Oregon Defunct companies based in Oregon Manufacturing companies established in 1965 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 2002 1965 establishments in Oregon 2002 disestablishments in Oregon Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States {{Sound-tech-stub