These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the May 2015 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now or at the Guitar World Online Store.
PLATINUM AWARD WINNER
During the Fifties and Sixties, Supro established a niche as a more affordable alternative to the guitars and amps available from music industry leaders like Fender and Gibson.
Supro amps were actually built by Valco, which was based in Chicago and also made amps under various other brand names, including Airline, Gretsch, National and Oahu.
Most Supro amp models weren’t quite powerful enough for use on stage and were rarely used in concert by big name acts, although Jimi Hendrix played guitar through a Supro bass amp in clubs with the Isley Brothers, Ike Turner and Little Richard. Starting in the late Sixties many guitarists put Supro amps to good use in the studio for their distinctive and attractive distortion tones. Jimmy Page famously used a Supro combo with a single 12-inch speaker on the first two Led Zeppelin albums.
In 2013, Absara Audio bought the rights to the Supro name and revived the brand with a new line of reissue amps. Working together with master tube amp designer Bruce Zinky, David Koltai (of Pigtronix fame), developed new Supro amps that revive several of the most desirable models from the mid Sixties. The Supro 1624T Dual-Tone, 1690T Coronado and S6420 Thunderbolt are based on the 1964 versions of these models.
