www.musiciansfr...
Guns N' Roses guitarist Richard Fortus offers a deeper dive of the Supro 1600 Supreme 25W 1x10 Tube Guitar Combo Amplifier.
The Supro 1600 Supreme is a replica of the late-'50s Valco-made 1x10 combo that was sold bearing either the famous Supro lightning bolt or the rare Oahu branding, as seen on the vintage tube amps long favored by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. This 25-watt, no-nonsense rock 'n' roll machine is based around the high-gain preamp and Class-A 6V6 output stage, signature cosmetics and unique stair-step cabinetry style found in the Supro combos from the late '50s.
In the spirit of its sought-after vintage counterpart, the 1600 Supreme reissue is built for raw tone, with no extraneous features or frivolous circuity in the audio path. This ferocious, stripped-down ethos enables this small 1x10" combo to crank out tremendous volume for its diminutive footprint and light weight. With ample headroom for use with pedals and plenty of volume on tap for playing live with an aggressive drummer, the Supreme is the ultimate grab-and-go club date amplifier. From warm jazz and clean country twang to dirty blues and hard rock, the Supreme projects loud, clear, punchy tone, with un-rivaled clarity, touch dynamics and unbelievably low noise floor even when pushed into glorious power-tube overdrive.
The legendary Supro preamp found in the 1600 Supreme features a pair of parallel gain stages fed into a shared tone knob. This versatile, dual-input preamp allows two instruments to share the same combo amplifier, as well as providing the convenient option of plugging a single instrument into IN1+2. This combined input option sends the audio signal through both channels in parallel for a thicker tone, with double the gain. The two inputs can also be used with an A/B or A/B/Y switch to accomplish channel switching for both clean and dirty tones with one guitar.
The Class-A power section found in the 1600 Supreme provides the distinctive attack, touch sensitivity and natural tube compression that has become known as the hallmark of vintage Supro 6V6 tone. This uniquely American, vintage-correct output stage pushes a custom, high-power 10-in. driver that utilizes the same voice coil, enormous magnet and high-end suspension found in the award-winning BD12 speaker found in the Black Magick amplifier. True to the construction of Keef's vintage Oahu, there is no beam blocker in front of the 1600 Supremes’ speaker, facilitating maximum throw and crystal-clear treble response from this VERY LOUD small Class-A amp.