Smart_Patrol
Joined: Feb 14, 2016
Posts: 103
Brighton
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Posted on May 19 2018 02:26 PM
A couple of weeks ago I went to a rehearsal studio with my band, and in the room there was a Supro amp. So I plugged in and was immediately blown away with the sound, and spent the next week or so looking for one, only to find it'd been discontinued and replaced with a new version.
Luckily enough I managed to find one for sale on this side of the Atlantic and it arrived today.
It sounds amazing. It's a very simple amp, Hi and Lo input, master volume and master tone control. It's also switchable from 35 to 45 to 60 watts, which is nice. I've been playing it mostly on the 45 watt mode, and it sound immense. 1x15, so it projects really nicely.
Very pleased with it, looking forward to breaking it out live! I'll try and record some audio for tomorrow, but 'til then just take my word that it sounds great haha!
— Earth. Atomizer. Let's go.
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Vince_Ray
Joined: Aug 26, 2015
Posts: 252
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Posted on May 19 2018 04:11 PM
I play a coronado and a supro supreme. And have a bit of a little be/hate experience. Good to know someone finds a use for them beyond 'rock'. Do hope you post some samples, would love to hear them.
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Vince_Ray
Joined: Aug 26, 2015
Posts: 252
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Posted on May 19 2018 04:12 PM
Vince_Ray wrote:
I play a coronado and a supro supreme. And have a bit of a love /hate experience. Good to know someone finds a use for them beyond 'rock'. Do hope you post some samples, would love to hear them.
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Vince_Ray
Joined: Aug 26, 2015
Posts: 252
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Posted on May 19 2018 04:17 PM
I wonder why they updated the Thunderbolt? The power rating seems to be the only difference as 35 or 60w
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Smart_Patrol
Joined: Feb 14, 2016
Posts: 103
Brighton
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Posted on May 19 2018 04:28 PM
Vince_Ray wrote:
I wonder why they updated the Thunderbolt? The power rating seems to be the only difference as 35 or 60w
I'm not sure why they made the change. They did the Thunderbolt, which was 35 watts, and the Thunderbolt+ which is switchable 35/45/60 watts. Now they only make the Thunderbolt II which is switchable 35/60 watts. I'm sure it's just as good to be fair, but I already knew I liked the sound of this model in particular and didn't want to take a chance haha!
Vince_Ray wrote:
I play a coronado and a supro supreme. And have a bit of a little be/hate experience. Good to know someone finds a use for them beyond 'rock'. Do hope you post some samples, would love to hear them.
I'll be trying to record some samples after work tomorrow, so watch this space!
— Earth. Atomizer. Let's go.
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Surfysonic
Joined: Oct 17, 2009
Posts: 530
Walkersville, MD
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Posted on May 19 2018 11:16 PM
Very cool and congrats! I’d like to get a Supro Rhythm Master some day, although finding a Thunderbolt Plus is probably the way for me to go since I've got an outboard reverb unit as well. Gotta love the 1x15 speaker! Congrats again and I bet it sounds killer with your Jag. 
— The doofus formerly known as Snorre
Surfysonic on YouTube
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Last edited: May 20, 2018 09:54:18
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Smart_Patrol
Joined: Feb 14, 2016
Posts: 103
Brighton
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Posted on May 20 2018 02:42 AM
Snorre wrote:
Very cool and congrats! I like to get a Supro Rhythm Master some day, although finding a Thunderbolt Plus is probably the way for me to go since I've got an outboard reverb unit as well. Gotta love the 1x15 speaker! Congrats again and I bet it sounds killer with your Jag.
Cheers! Yeah, it's a fantastic sound as long as you don't need any onboard effects, haha! The Jag sounds very beefy through it, still with a nice clear high end though, nice and balanced.
— Earth. Atomizer. Let's go.
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Vince_Ray
Joined: Aug 26, 2015
Posts: 252
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Posted on May 20 2018 03:23 PM
These supros do make for a fat sound, maybe beneficial to single coils. My gretsch guitars with T Armonds get a bit woody with so much mid range... currently getting a 1 meg volume pot installed to brighten things up. My Jag and Tele are nice n raunchy sounding but the tone control needs to be quite high around 10 o'clock. Dunno, can't make my mind up. I keep thinking...Deluxe...Reverb...maybe it's true that we 'all go back to Fender's
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Smart_Patrol
Joined: Feb 14, 2016
Posts: 103
Brighton
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Posted on May 20 2018 05:06 PM
Just a quick sound demo recorded on my phone. Nothing fancy but gets the point across!
— Earth. Atomizer. Let's go.
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Smart_Patrol
Joined: Feb 14, 2016
Posts: 103
Brighton
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Posted on May 20 2018 05:07 PM
Vince_Ray wrote:
These supros do make for a fat sound, maybe beneficial to single coils. My gretsch guitars with T Armonds get a bit woody with so much mid range... currently getting a 1 meg volume pot installed to brighten things up. My Jag and Tele are nice n raunchy sounding but the tone control needs to be quite high around 10 o'clock. Dunno, can't make my mind up. I keep thinking...Deluxe...Reverb...maybe it's true that we 'all go back to Fender's
That's what I noticed immediately when I used one at rehearsal, that I could use the bridge pickup and it was no where near as ice-pick shrill as I was used to. It's a bit tamer in the very high trebles.
— Earth. Atomizer. Let's go.
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Vince_Ray
Joined: Aug 26, 2015
Posts: 252
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Posted on May 21 2018 03:59 AM
Smart_Patrol wrote:
Just a quick sound demo recorded on my phone. Nothing fancy but gets the point across!
Sounds MIGHTY fine sir! But I think some f that is down to your playing which is really good. How do you find the tone control works for you, is it set around the middle? I find I have it quite high to get some bite. Great sound there though, glad you like it
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Smart_Patrol
Joined: Feb 14, 2016
Posts: 103
Brighton
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Posted on May 21 2018 03:31 PM
Vince_Ray wrote:
Smart_Patrol wrote:
Just a quick sound demo recorded on my phone. Nothing fancy but gets the point across!
Sounds MIGHTY fine sir! But I think some f that is down to your playing which is really good. How do you find the tone control works for you, is it set around the middle? I find I have it quite high to get some bite. Great sound there though, glad you like it
Cheers! Tone control is good, I find it works well for me at around halfway, though I always have the tone on my guitar on full and tend to have the tone on the reverb unit fairly high too.
— Earth. Atomizer. Let's go.
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MantaMike
Joined: Jan 08, 2017
Posts: 36
Bristol
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Posted on Feb 03 2023 03:13 PM
It's dead thread revival time! That's a tidy rendition of Taco Wagon there, Smart_Patrol! We used to play that in Mantawrays. I used to love playing it.
That Thunderbolt sounds great. Do you still have it?
I just scored a Supro 1675RT Rhythm Master amp but it hasn't arrived yet. I'm eagerly waiting to try it out. I bought the revised 35w/60w version which apparently has a much cleaner tone compared to the original design. Hopefully it will work well for surf guitar and take pedals well.
I'll do a review on a fresh thread once I've had a bit of time with the amp.
In the meantime, keep twangin', folks!
Last edited: Feb 03, 2023 15:22:39
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chiba
Joined: Sep 02, 2022
Posts: 534
Central VA
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Posted on Feb 05 2023 11:00 AM
Cool!!
I had NAD last week, a Thunderbolt MkII I bought off a dude right here on SG101. It sounds positively AMAZING with my Fender Reverb unit in front of it and I'm in the process of rebuilding my pedalboard, so I'll see soon what it sounds like with some distortion pedals and what-not.
I wanted something with a 15" speaker and even got an empty 2x12 cab to convert to a 1x15, but I couldn't pass up this amp. It even sounds great with the archtop Harmony conversion I use for "acoustic" gigs, was a really great purchase on my part!
I reached out to Supro through their website and got a copy of the owner's manual, it was nice of them to send it. IIRC the differences between the generations are related to power (switching) and the rectifier, though I could be mistaken about these things.
Thunderbolt S6420: 5U4 tube rectifier, 35W
Thunderbolt+ S6420+: 5U4 tube (35-45W) and solid state (silicon) (60W) rectifiers, power chosen by knob
Thunderbolt MkII S6422: solid state rectifier, 35-60W chosen by switch
Knowing what I know about amps - though this is my first Supro - I'd bet the + version was simply too complex for them to continue making it at their price point, plus having both tube and solid state rectifiers side-by-side in the circuit is really unnecessarily complex, even if it's cool. Eliminating the 5U4 from the circuit for the MkII version likely simplified the circuit and reduced manufacturing costs, while maintaining the original 35W feel (or close to it, anyway) and providing the beefier 60W pedal platform characteristics.
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