Supro Super 1606

Made in 1959. Like a Fender Champ, this little amp is an ideal studio /recording amp for Blues, R&B and classic rock. It's 5 watts and has two inputs, one high and one low gain, and one volume on/off switch. One eliptical Rola speaker (8"??).

Whilst it's not totally clear which model, Jimmy Page is known to have used a small Supro on the first Led Zeppelin album.

I can't give it 10 for features as it hasn't any, but that's a good thing.

This amp sounds so good - up to about half way, it's pretty clean, with a little crunch on louder notes & loads of headroom. At about 6 o'clock it starts to break-up in a beautiful & musical way, perfect for Blues or R&B. Above this it gets more saturated, but not really louder, right up to full volume, where you get a great compressed heavy Blues sound with a Les Paul.

With the lower output from a Stratocaster it has less break-up and more of a Chicago Blues sound. With my Fender Champ lap steel it sounds amazing - just enough crunch on chords, but great for clean lead lines.

This one has been around for 50 years and it's still fine - it's had the speaker jack replaced, has been converted to 240v, and has new valves, but otherwise it looks original.

Supro is long gone and, in any case, I think the amps were made by Valco (who are also long gone).

The best small amp I've ever had - perfect for recording and perhaps even a bit loud for home use. It's also small and easy to carry, so great for a small club date, where you could crank it up.

HEY SUPRO FANS,
THIS LIL 1606 SUPRO SUPER MADE BY VALCO IS IN MINT CONDITION, AND DATES TO 1954, WITH A 1953 ROLA 6X9 SPEAKER. THE TUBES ARE 5Y3GT, 6V6GT, AND 6SJ7. THESE LITTLE AMPS ARE NOT LOUD AS THEY ONLY HAVE A 4 OHM SPEAKER. NO TRICKS, ONLY ONE KNOB. GREAT FOR LOW VOLUNE PRACTICE.

THE SOUND PRODUCED BY LITTLE SUPRO SUPER IS ASTOUNDING. THE CLARITY AT LOWER VOLUMES IS PRISTINE AND VERY RESPONSIVE TO THE PLAYER. ONE CAN PLAY ANY VARIETY OF MUSIC (NOT HEAVY METAL) ON THIS AMP, AS IT REPRODUCES EVERY NOTE BEAUTIFULLY. TURN IT UP PAST HALF WAY AND IT BREAKS UP NICELY WITHOUT GETTING MUDDY. WITH THE VOLUME PEAKED, IT SOUNDS MORE LIKE GREAT OVERDRIVEN TUBE SOUND RATHER THAN A CHEAP DISTORTED SOLID STATE AMP . PEDALS ARE USELESS WITH THIS AMP, BESIDES THE FACT THAT YOU DON'T NEED THEM. THEY TAKE AYAY FROM WHAT THIS AMP HAS TO OFFER. I HAVE NOTICED THIS AMP WILL HUM SLIGHTLY WHEN AROUND OTHER ELECTRICAL DEVICES.
I LOVE TO PLAY THROUGH THIS AMP. THE SOUND IS FRESH EVERYTIME.
I PLAY AN AMERICAN DELUXE STRAT WITH NOISLESS P/US AND AN AMERICAN STD. LES PAUL DLX. TOP.

LIKE ANY VINTAGE AMP, IT REQUIRES A GOOD AMP TECH IF IT BREAKS. VALCO WENT OUT OF BUSINESS IN 1968
I DO NOT PUSH THIS OR ANY VINTAGE AMP IN ORIGINAL CONDITION.
I GOT BOUTIQUES FOR THAT.

NONE

I HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR 30 YEARS AND HAVE 2 VINTAGE SUPRO AMPS. WHAT THIS LIL SUPER LACKS IN VOLUME MY 1963 SUPRO SUPREME MORE THAN MAKES UP FOR IT. I HAVE OTHER FENDERS, BOUTIQUES AND 1 MARSHALL.
I WISH FOR ONE MORE SUPRO, A 1624T.

Mine's a 1959 model, I know this from the code on the original oval-shaped Rola speaker 285908 (8th week of 1959). No features other than a combined on/off volume control and two inputs. Doesn't really need any other features, as its a small valve practice amp.

Just fantastic! You want to lose an afternoon? Just plug a Strat or a Tele into one of these amps, you'll be hooked. Starts clipping half way around the volume sweep. Pure class 1 valve tone for blues, country, rock, rockabilly. Sun studios in Memphis use a small Supro amp. Players like Brian Setzer (Stray Cats) and Jimmy page (Led Zeppelin) use Supro amps. Enough said.

Its still going strong 47 years after it was built. That's something you will never be able to say about most of the rubbish that's built today...I would trust this amp, its point to point wired, with no PCBs. Very simple, very reliable.

I don't think the company exists any more. Anyway, I have a local amp tech who services all my valve amps. I think any warranties may have expired 47 years on (!)

I've been playing over 20 years, over ten years professionally. I also use a Mesa Boogie Blue Angel, a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier head, and a 1975 Marshall 4 x 12" cab. I play Strats, Teles, and Les Pauls. I love this amp! If it was stolen, I'd have a real problem replacing it. I would be disraught and I'd certainly try and get another.

Very few features on this amp. Volume and that's pretty much it. It doesn't really matter though, because it's tone is so haunting no matter what you plug into it.

I play a 1959 Danelectro Convertible through it with the old lipstick pickups. It complements the amp perfectly. Very quiet. Clean and distorted tones very punchy. Clean is probably the best that I have ever heard from any amp, and I'm still using the original 1961 tubes!

Very reliable amp. Despite it's small size, I've used it at shows and it really holds it's own without ever having anything go wrong.

I've never had to repair anything on it and the company does not exist anymore, but most of the parts are standard and would be easy to replace should I need to do that.

I found this amp in an antique store over in some dusty corner near some old radios. The guy wanted fifteen dollars for it and I was looking for a nice little recording amp, so I grabbed it. Sounds wonderful on its own but I combine its sound with an electro harmonix holy grail and a tubeworks tube enhancer for equilization. Lovely when played through with an old Danelectro.

I got this amp via a trade-in from the Kingston Guitar Company (Kingston, Ontario, Canada) when I was in for a visit. Its a '61 covered with black/silver vinyl in a lose basket weave with a white vinyl stripe running down the sides. It has a 10" speaker, and 12AX7, 6V6, 5Y3 tube line up. Three inputs (two guitar and one mic), with a fuse holder, jewel light, on/off switch, tone and volume controls. Your basic classic practise amp!

I play rock/blues and was looking for a lower power practise amp to replace my Traynor Guitarmate. The Traynor, at about 18w output, only came into its "sweet" spot when it was too loud for the neighbours. At about 7w out, the Supro suits my apartment neighbours much better and its much easier to carry around (the Traynor was heavy for an 18W amp!).

It still has the original 2 prong power cord, which after getting a little jolt several weeks past when switching between amps reminded me that I really need to replace it with a 3 prong cord.

I've rated it as "4" because it has a more functional tone control than the '71 Fender Silverface Champ that I previosly owned (which I rated a "3"), but it doesn't have reverb/tremelo or much of anything else!

I use a Tokai, Tele copy, with Danelectro reverb and a Marshall Bluesbreaker. It's quiet for a tube amp with the 60 Hz hum almost inaudible, and the controls (which benefited from a recent cleaning) are very quiet.

If you're looking for the classic rock/blues sound (the reason I bought it), without the ear crushing volume, this is it! Without any pedals, it absolutely nails early Rolling Stones (think Exile on Main St.) at medium volume settings. It has much better bottom end than the Silverface Champ, and its probably one of the loudest single ended 6V6 amps that I've heard. I auditioned it beside a Fender Pro Junior (a loud amp for its size but too loud for my apartment) and a Harmony H-194 (which I think had the same 12AX7/6V6/5Y3 tube line up) which had a darker softer tone and not quite as loud as the Supro.

I've given this a "9" because of its ability to crank out a beautiful early rock sounds. But its not the kind of amp that you'd want to use in a cover band due to its limited range of sounds. But miked through a PA, it would make a great amp for a rock/blues band.

Haven't owned this amp long enough to rate but there is very little to go wrong, with the tubes easy to replace.

No longer in business.

I've been playing electric for 5 years (previously played acoustic for 5 years) and this amp is everything that I was looking for in a practise amp. Its 1/4 the size and weight of the Traynor Guitarmate that I traded it in for, it won't annoy the neighbours, and isn't overpriced as comparable Fender Champs now are. I love the simplicity of it and that it absolutely hits early rock/blues sounds; but wish it had reverb/tremelo built into it. If stolen or damaged I'd want to replace it with another.

Date stamp on both transformers say 61 so I say 1961. It has a 5Y3 a 6V6 and a 12AX7. A Champ amp although I hear people like these better. Versatile? It is clean low and blues on high. It has three inputs for guitar or whatever, I imagine you can plug in your harp mic into one your guitar into the other and maybe your cd player into the third. Now how's that for versatility??? Headphone jack?? Splice the wires on the headphones and connect to the speaker!!! So this is a barebones tube amp like a vintage tweed champ. The beauty of this amp is there is only one capacitor in sight except for the can cap, in other words this is as simple as it gets to pure tone. This is a good low watt amp but gets plenty loud for home and could be miked.

This is great clean or at high volumes crunchy for blues!

This amp sounds new and has all the original parts from 1961. It has no hum or nothing. It is so simple that it doesn't have a lot of reliability issues.

I'm sure you know the answer to this!

This is classic tube tone. Awesome amps!

1962 model 1606 that is completely original minus the power cord.hand wired all-tube amp that is 5 watts which powers a six inch jensen speaker.its a 1962 model so what kind of features would one expect,sorry no effects,channel switching,headphone jack,etc. this is just a great little old fashioned amp!!i mainly use it for practice at home,but you could certainly use it for recording,and you could also make a small modification to power speaker cab's.i play blues, rock,etc. this amp is great for anything from hendrix,srv,satriani,vai,whatever!

i play with a warmoth that i built.the body is a maghogany with maple top,neck is maple with ebony fretboard. pick-up are hot rails at the neck,tom anderson sd1-r in middle, and tom anderson h3 in the bridge position.this thing sounds great! i would not change a thing.you really get a great blues tone at low volumes,but if you want that 60's type of natural distortion just crank it. even better if you use a fulltone distortion pro pedal.

i just got the amp. we shall see!!

everyone knows the answer here right?

i have not been playing seriously for long, over one year.my gear is very simple now,which is probably best.just look at jimi hendrix.i have just the basic things like an original ts-9, original mxr 90 phaser,etc.i also own an older tom anderson that i am in the process of building.if this thing was lost or stolen i would be depressed for a long, long time, and do my best to find another one.i bought this because i needed a practice amp in my home,but i got much more!!!

an amp from 1955. The tone is out of this world .for an amp that has one knob this thing kicks ass. i use it for my lap steel, but im going to use my guitar, and harmonica through it, oh ya to corret the guy who also wrote about this amp it has two 12ax7's . the second one is in the back behind input transformer. but don't ask my what it is there for that what im trying to find, also why it has power going through the ground(sleeve) and the tip of the quarter inch plug. the man got it right though it is a somke'in amp and if any one is look'in for great tone get it.

the sound is great for only one knob half way you a good clean sound, but all way you got the birth of distorsion. if you use this amp for live id recomend useing a 421 mic, and for recording use a large diaphram mic,(with'in your buget) used a beta 52 and it sound good.

with little to no parts makes this very reliabi amp

i am looking for info on this amp, send me what ever you got.thanks