Supro Big Star S6551

My amp is a 1965 version. It easly covers just about every kind of music, with the exception of some heavy metal stuff. I play rock from the 70s through today, plus some blues and just a tad of country. The amp has 2 channels. One is the straight channel and the other has the reverb and tremolo. Each channel has both regular and treble inputs. There are no modern features. I use the amp primarily at home or just to jam at friends homes. It has plenty of power at about 40 watts. It uses a pair of 6L6s for power tubes, a 5U5 as the rectifier, 4 12AX7s for preamp and a 6972 to drive the reverb.

I use Strats and Teles with a viriety of slightly over wound, stock type pickups. This amp seems to make everything sound good and runs very quietly. Its best feature is that it has an absolutely huge, extremely warm sound. I can play at low volumes and enjoy the lush, clean sounds or crank it up to hot blues and classic rock sounds. The distortion is not brutal at all but big and creamy. If I add a good pedal, like a Dirty Boy Cannibal Boy or a SansAmp GT2 it is almost too good to be true. The amp just needs a little coaxing from a pedal to go into ape $%^& mode. That bigness and warmness gets incredibly magnified. I have no problem giving it a 10.

Well, it has lasted the last 40 plus years without even a tube change, as far as I can tell, so take it from there.

You don't need no stinking customer support. If your tech can handle the technology of a flashlight, he/she can handle this. Just don't let them tell you you need new capacitors because its more than 10 years old. It might be true in some cases but I have had about 30 or so guitar amps since 1964 and have only had one with changed capacitors and it didn't sound so good. Maybe there are some good new capacitors but few seem to match up with the old stuff.

I have been playing on and off for over 40 years. I curently have 2 Fender/Rivera amps, a Princeton Reverb II and a Deluxe Reverb II. I also have a a Marshall Mini Stack, Marshall Studio 15 (WOW!) and a Supro Tremo Verb. I would have to be very lucky to find another one. No one seems to know anything about them. If at all possible, I would get another. I have had several pre CBS Fenders, several Boogies and 2 other Marshalls. There are maybe 3 or 4 basic sounds out there but this one is totally unique. Did I mention WARM and BIG? It is huge, expecially with a good pedal. I wish it had a nicer reverb but few amps can compare to the old Fenders in that department and I am satisfied with using a Holy Grail. If you can find one get it. If you can find two, email me.

i'm not sure if this is the exact model, but it looks very close.old, old school amp. distortion was undesirable to most musicians when this was made! if you play rock, turn trem off, reverb to 2-3, volume to 10. tone to 10. now, remove knobs!

les paul jr, hot humbuckers.. blues, country and yes even heavy metal! wide open with hot pick ups you get a great chunky overdrive for rythm. goose it with an overdrive pedal set for moderate pregain/full postgain and and get a lead tone with a ditinct character(i could got cool sustain/feedback!)not marshall, not mesa, but its own voice. channel switching? yeah, rite,ha ha!

it was older than i was and still going strong!

ha ha ha ha aha aha probabably better than some of of the chineeze sneeze junck sold today, even though this company probably folded years ago! your great grandaddy might have built these!

20+ years... marshall, mesa, laney...right size/weight/sound/volume for bars,clubs and jammin with a drummer and not going through a pa. it was loaned to me for about 4 months. havent seen one since! if you find one working good for cheap, tell me, i'll buy it!

Ser# I-83724, Dual Channel - Standard and Reverb/Tremelo, 2x Jensen 12" Speakers, 2x RCA 6l6GC, 4x RCA 12AX7A, 1x RCA 6973. Very warm tone. I'm assuming around 40wts. Reverb is original and a little scratchy but works great. Standard Channel is too Standard. At lower volumes, this amp has a great clean sound. Sounds great with a Keyboard too. Purchased at a garage sale for $50.00 (One of the orginal Jensen speakers is worth more than that they date 1961).
If you find on cheap... Buy It.
Bought this for my father to use his 39 Gibson Super 400 and L-5 with.

Gibson Les Paul Standard - 59 Reissue - Standard PAF's - Cool with Tremelo on Rythym Pickup.
Fender Strat - Standard Single Coils - Too Much Highs - Tone Needed to be lowered to about 2 on the guitar.
Fender Tele - Standard (Sound the best through the Amp)
Yamaha 6 and 12 acoustics with Dean Markley Pro Mag Pickup - 12 String Sounds Killer.
Korg Keyboard - Very Nice
Very Little Distortion, but this may be from the original tubes not outputting like new ones...

Never had a problem yet... Very Dependable. I move it about 1 a month for rehersals.

Unknown.... If You Know Where I Can Get Info on Supro or Valco Chicago, Let Me Know....

I've been playing for 17 years.
If it were stolen - I'd buy another if I could find one
Great amp - Does exactly what I need it to do..
Compared to my Fender Pro Reverb, Not as loud or dirty, but that's not what I want it to do.
Wish it came with the foot switch - I need to find one.