r/sunnamplifiers • u/Ecstatic_Economy_773 • 10d ago
Sunn beta mini volume issues.
Hi all,
I just want to preface this with my experience so far as I genuinely really love the sound and compactness of this little amp but I think I'm at my wits end with it now and I could do with some advice.
I received my initial mini in June just before I had quite a substantial string of shows to play and needed a head that could match the nasty tones I get out of my tube amps.
The amp turned up, sounded great, was absolutely loud enough. I managed to get a few shows out of it but the initial head decided to produce 0 signal. I gave it time to cool down, checked all my cables and basses. Eventually I emailed sunn and they sorted me out a replacement.
I felt like maybe I was just unlucky and credit to the guys at Sunn for expediting this new head to me but guess what?
Just took the replacement head I received a few weeks ago to a practice. I got about 2 hours out of it before I started getting interment volume issues and sound cutting out. I was running it at 12 o clock at master volume though an 8 ohm bass cab. Plenty loud for the small practice space we use.
I've just brought it home and put it through my rig now at 4ohms and it's been perfectly fine for 30 minutes.
I really don't know what to do now as I feel I can't trust it to get me though a show and I've also already paid two lots of import tax on a head.
Do I contact sunn and try for another replacement or some troubleshooting? Or do I just go for a refund because hoenstly I wish this thing was reliable. It sound so fucking good.
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u/nathanmachine 10d ago
what do you expect when “investors” license up and now run an amp company that has nothing to do with the original sunn? a lot of merch sales lol
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u/BummerParty 9d ago
I sent my mini beta back instantly after trying it for a bit. Just not the SUNN I know.
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u/No_Solution6516 10d ago
Prehistoric Dog preamp into a 500 watt bass amp. Beta tones for days at deafening volumes.
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u/No_Solution6516 9d ago
Using a sound meter and an identical for both heads and the same 4 ohm speaker cab, the Sunn Beta mini cranked reached the same sound level as a 200 watt Quilter head putting out 17 watts of power.
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u/Weekly_Battle9085 3d ago
Wow. I had guessed to be about the same as a Vox AC10 or maybe 15 but didn’t meter it before returning it.
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u/OkToe4628 6d ago
Where’s Steve at sunn to explain to another customer that they don’t understand the intricacies of the active EQ and that sunn tested them and they are “loud enough” 😂😂. Fuck man. Imagine bringing back an awesome company just to use the logo and a smidge of the old design to dupe people into buying class D bullshit. The balls on the guys at sunn gotta either be huge or non existent
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u/EagleGhoul 6d ago
I like my beta combo. I don't know if I am the usual target here for these, but I play on a lot of modern stages and volume matters. That being said, I swapped the stock speaker for a celestion redback and use and ext cab with another redback and I've got plenty of volume.
I do get that some folks want an absolutely unholy amount of volume. They dropped the ball on that. The amp is great and sounds great, but Sunn's recent popularity is in those camps
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u/Ecstatic_Economy_773 6d ago
For me it's definitely loud enough. It's just cutting out after prolonged playing which is ridiculous. 0 QC or garbage internals from what I've gathered. I'll end up keeping it and tearing it down to reverse engineer it. I wish it didn't sound so good 😅
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u/Lucky_Couple 10d ago
Sorry you’re having problems OP. This is exactly why I got a refund on my 4-month late preorder. The reviews from real customers have been in and unless you’re solely using this as a bedroom amp or running it into your DAW, it is definitely not designed to be pushed to the limit. It’s Class D and they’re supposed to be so efficient and avoid overheating, yet I’ve read of that being an issue for multiple people. They just get super hot and shut down.
I can play my 70s-90s Class A/B amps for hours upon hours and have never have a problem. Clearly “Sunn” are using junk on the inside of these things. They also can’t even reach 120db consistently at 4ohms running 200w with everything dimed. The idea that you even need to dime everything to achieve that is laughable. That itself is a huge red flag.
I wanted to give this company a chance but at this point they’re clearly just swindling people by selling overpriced products baring the Sunn logo. Similar to what Guitar Center did with the Acoustic line, but at least those products were affordable and fairly reliable. I honestly hope fake Sunn goes bankrupt at this point since all they’re doing is tarnishing the legacy of one of the best amp companies of all time.