Sunn Beta Mini: Palate-cleansing Positive Take
There has been a lot of negativity regarding the Mini, at least what I have seen on this sub. I'm not saying that these takes are not valid, but thought I would offer an alternative take in case others are in similar shoes, and are getting scared off due to the negative reviews.
First, I am purely a bedroom guitarist these days; I am not gigging or playing shows, so I will not be touching on the volume concerns that have been raised by others. Also, while I did play some shows with a proper tube amp some 20 - 25 years ago, for the past 20 years I have been firmly in the solid state camp. I just like the lack of hassle and maintenance of solid state, playing an Orange Crush Pro 60 combo for a number of years and lately playing through a Supercrush 100 and a 2x12 cab.
Secondly, this is the first Sunn I have ever played through, so I cannot comment on how it compares to the Beta Leads of old.
While the Orange solid states have great clean tones in my opinion and are great pedal platforms, if you are looking for huge doomy sludgy tones, they can be a bit difficult, as the normal trick of running dirt pedals through a slightly dirty amp does not really work. For whatever reason, the dirty channels of these Orange amps do not play nicely with pedals, so you are stuck with running through the clean channel. For me, that is where the Sunn shines (pun firmly intended).
The Beta Mini loves filth. I can run it dirty with the drive around 11 o-clock, turn on a Muff style pedal (or two), and get absolutely crushing tones. It would not be my go-to amp for jazz or blues, but for heavy doomer rock like Sleep, Electric Wizard etc it is incredible.
Further, I think its a pretty decent value proposition. I know lots of people talk about the golden days when you could pick up a Beta Lead for the price of a happy meal, but at least where I live in Canada, those days are long gone. Looking at a decent amp-in-a-box pedal for the Beta, like for instance the Omega Lead, will run you a third or more with shipping of the cost of the Mini.
Ultimately, I am loving the Mini, and just wanted to put a different take out there.