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Supro amps?

joeperry

Active member
Joined
Jun 24, 2002
Messages
1,058
Hi guys,
Right now there’s a big fuzz about the supro reissue amps here in Denmark, seems like everyone wants one and I must admit I’d love to try one out myself to see what these amps are like, but the stores that advertise having them are sold out and can’t tell when they’ll have some back in stock.

Does anyone here have experiences with these amps and would be able to give any info?

I’ve been looking at the Coronado and thunderbolt + but just saw there’s a model called black magic as well.
Pros and cons on any of these models?

Best regards
 

Thundermtn

Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2016
Messages
548
From the reissues I've played, they sounded good but not THAT good. They for sure don't sound like the late 50's early 60's Supro's. Not even in the same ballpark. The old ones break up nicer at lower volume and my Tele into a 1624T sounded like JPP on Led Zep 1. The new Magic and Coranado I played (same guitar) weren't even close to that sound.

If you want a clean meany, get a Marshall or a Fender.
 

joeperry

Active member
Joined
Jun 24, 2002
Messages
1,058
thanks for the info... well I must admit after having seen several vids on the net testing the differenbt models, that they IMO seem rather "farty" sounding when cranked and not very articulated. To me they also seem to lack sustain as well, they dont seem to have much headroom, sustain going into sweet feedback, instead they die out rather fast... could be wrong though that I Know that this might be because of the way they were recorded for the videos?

Id love to hear other opinions as well, but Im really in doubt if these are worth a go now...
Best Regards
 

renderit

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 19, 2009
Messages
10,950
I'm not impressed enough to buy one. More controllable amps are easy to find. a Carr Mercury V is awesome and very usable if you can get them there.

I suppose my main problem with them is they just have "A" sound. If that is the sound you want great. If you want flexibility, not so much. I do have a few that are not really flexible, but I like their sound.

But that is my opinion. And it's worth the paper it's printed on.
 

The Shifter

Active member
Joined
Aug 31, 2004
Messages
3,397
thanks for the info... well I must admit after having seen several vids on the net testing the differenbt models, that they IMO seem rather "farty" sounding when cranked and not very articulated. To me they also seem to lack sustain as well, they dont seem to have much headroom, sustain going into sweet feedback, instead they die out rather fast... could be wrong though that I Know that this might be because of the way they were recorded for the videos?

Id love to hear other opinions as well, but Im really in doubt if these are worth a go now...
Best Regards

I've run up on a couple of these in rental backline situations, and I really didn't care for them. You pretty much have to turn it all the way up before anything remotely cool happens, and even then it wasn't all that cool. They have a tubby low end that I wasn't that into. Honestly I was excited to play one the first time, but ultimately disapointed.

I don't know what the goal at Supro was when voicing these amps, but I feel they missed the mark.
 

LeonC

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 30, 2002
Messages
799
I don't know the extent to which Bruce Zinky is involved with Supro anymore, but he designed the initial set of their amps, when Pigtronix bought the label from him. The ironic thing, to me, was that I ran into BZ at the NAMM show the year before and I asked him if he'd ever thought about reissuing some of the original Supro models, the really good ones (some of them would never make it in today's market...but some of them were pretty stellar). His reply was "Why would I want to do something that's already been done." To which I thought to myself, "Well...because you're in business to make money, right?"

So I was really surprised to see the "new" Supro amps at the NAMM show a year later, and what they appeared to be doing was kind of re-creating some of the early models, the popular ones like the Thunderbolt (which I thought sounded awful...I've had several of them--the originals, that is), the Coronado and the Dual Tone version of the legendary 1624T. I don't know why they went with the Dual Tone version...very whimpy compared to the earlier versions. I thought the "reissues" sounded pretty good (though NAMM is not really the best place to evaluate gear), but they sure didn't sound like the originals. A lot of it probably had to do with speaker choices...but the changed other things as well.
 

joeperry

Active member
Joined
Jun 24, 2002
Messages
1,058
Thanks for all your replies and info.
I think more and more the supro isn’t for me.
Over the years I’ve gotten to a point where I’ve gotten spinal back problems so I’m primarily looking for a smaller amp that I can carry around with me without having ton of gear to load:(
But to me it seems like the smaller wattage amps out there lack headroom and sustain a lot and when I tried out a Marshall powerbreaker (can’t remember with what amp though) it really just killed the sound and sustain:(
I’ve tried out a Vox AC30 and a fender vibroking but both amps were way too loud for my needs (only play at home/an In a small rehearsal room) liked the clean articulated sounds but would like to have the possibility to crank it and use the natural overdriven sound. Therefore I thought the supro was the way to go but I’m more and more convinced it’s not for me.
I’ll have to check out that Carr then, but any alternives would be greatly appreciated as well so I can open up the possibilities to find what suits my needs.
By style is blues based rock aka. Black Crowes/okd aerosmith/gnr so its really difficult for me to say if I’d need a more gainy combo amp than the ones already mentioned?
Do master volume amps clean up as well as non-mv amps or....?
Asking because I’m not into loads of pedals/rack units so I’d prefer to be able to control the clean/overdriven sound by the volume knob on my guitar.
Sorry for the looooong post, just trying to learn and hopefully get some hint on in which direction I should go.

Best regard
Torben
 

renderit

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Joined
Jan 19, 2009
Messages
10,950
There are literally TONS of amps that would fit your bill. And yes, the inclusion of a Master Volume FREQUENTLY gives you more latitude on cleans/OD. I think you would also be served well with many head/cabinet amps as many are lighter in 2 pieces than the one piece combo.

List dollar limits, wattage limits and sounds you like (artist and songs maybe, Aerosmith has many sounds) and you will get plenty of suggestions.
 

Supronaut

Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2016
Messages
46
Hi Torben,

I own the new Supro Black Magic Reverb, which has a MV. Without it, this amp isn’t usable at home. I had the previous version without the MV and it was just too loud. Happy that they came out with a new one with a MV.

The sound of the new Supros is vastly different from the vintage Supros; But it’s a sound that I actually really like.

I’m very happy with mine; It’s got plenty of gain, but also can be plenty clean. The Tremolo on these amps is amazing. I don’t care for Reverb but the spring Reverb on the BMR is nice.

I think that a lot of the videos make the new Supros sound really fizzy, flubby, and overall not that great. They sound a lot different in person.

If you have a chance to play one definitely do.
 

Supronaut

Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2016
Messages
46
Also, Rich Fortus of current GN’R and Joe Perry of Aerosmith use Supros in their live rigs today. RF uses a few Black Magick’s and Perry uses Dual-Tones I think.
 

grimlyflick

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Joined
Oct 27, 2005
Messages
1,276
Over the years I’ve gotten to a point where I’ve gotten spinal back problems so I’m primarily looking for a smaller amp that I can carry around with me without having ton of gear to load:(

My style is blues based rock aka. Black Crowes/okd aerosmith/gnr so its really difficult for me to say if I’d need a more gainy combo amp than the ones already mentioned?

Mini Jubilee would fit this bill nicely, either combo or head/cab. I have the head with a Zilla cab loaded with a neo Creamback, I can carry the whole rig with two hands and once you get balance right between the two channels the range of tones from a Les Paul using the volume and tone knobs is huge.

68DD65B2-6CD5-4106-B66B-734E6D793851_zpsyywu4ps1.jpeg


Both Slash and Rich Robinson have dug out their old Jubilees of late.

:salude
 
Last edited:

cincyguitar

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Joined
Jul 30, 2015
Messages
431
Those new Supros sure have a high price....trying to double their money on them..too much for me...
 

Supronaut

Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2016
Messages
46
Yep - Pricey for sure. Honestly, a fair more than they should be. But man do they sound good.
 
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