Supro 1614RT Amulet 1 x 12-inch 15-watt Tube Combo Amp - Black Scandia Reviews

I've only had the amp for a few days but so far I like it a lot. The 12" speaker gives such a nice full sound. I used to have a Supro Comet which was great as well. The current 1w, 5w, 15w attenuator works better than the comets half power switch. The attenuator works really well. The one watt setting gets really quiet so will be nice for the times I don't want to be bothering others in the house. The 5 watt setting is a nice volume level for practicing and is a good option for turning the volume all the way up for overdriven tones and not being overwhelmed with volume. That said, I really like the 15 watt setting which gives me the perfect amount of volume without blowing my ears up for those times I want to rock out full tilt. I really like the clean tones. There is some good volume and headroom for nice clean tones on the 15 watt setting. I personally like the clean sound on this amp better than Fender cleans. The overdriven sound is amazing. The amp gets a nice Supro overdrive tone even though they use a 6L6 tube instead of the usual supro tubes. The amp seems to be high quality construction with nice rubber feet for isolation. It seems like they really tried to think of everything with this line, even coming stock with a high quality Celestion speaker.

I originally ordered a Demo model that was vastly reduced in price. Once I found out that these Amplifiers are being manufactured in China, I knew what that really means on the positive side and the not so positive side. I am not being paid by anyone to write reviews and or to create "Gear Review Videos" I do it because I want people to know more about some of the gear that they might be considering buying. So the 4 amps... The 1st one was so noisy with intermittent microphonic squeals that I literally couldn't use it in any real world application whatsoever. My sales engineer (Jason Duncan) is a stellar human being who understands these issues and he is on top of things and is quite compassionate, especially when one of his customers is spending well over 1k on a Chinese built amplifier. Being made in China means that in all likelihood, the components inside the amplifier are also Chinese built. What this really means is that labor is really cheap in China and so a person being paid a starvation wage to put tubes together or use high quality filter caps etc, is not going to be able to take the time required to ensure that every component is working as Supro intends. Supro #2 arrived and it made sounds like a "sequencer" when the amp was turned up and the instrument volume was turned down, making it also completely unusable. I then called Sweetwater and spoke to very nice person in the returns department and described everything that I experienced so far. Both Supro #1 and #2 were shipped in just the Supro box and Sweetwater usually ships things that cost as much as this Amplifier in double boxes.I suggested to him that Supro Amulet 1 x12 #3 be shipped in double boxing but it was too late. He had already overnighted me Supro #3 and it arrived 36 hours later. To my delight, Supro #3n was dead quiet and stayed that way and I thought that I had gotten a really good one. I really put it through the paces and thought that I was good to go. Two days later I heard a knock at my door, it was FedEx with a much larger package than the other three and it was from Sweetwater. It was another Supro Amulet 1 x 12 Amplifier. I plugged it in right next to Supro #3 and set them up exactly the same. The test instrument was a 1950s style Classic Vibe Stratocaster and it is stock. Supro #4 was significantly louder and more articulate than Supro #3. As a matter of fact, I got this Indonesian Guitar to get feedback at all settings with the built in attenuation knob. (1 watt, 5 watt, and 15 watt settings) I could not achieve this with Supro #3 in any setting. Also, Supro #3 was not articulate like Supro #4 is. I also noticed that Supro #3 never really got "pristine cleans" like Supro #4 can get at all attenuation settings. I was planning on keeping number 3 when Supro #4 arrived. Then Supro #4 almost "died" all of a sudden, right in the middle of my extensive "A to B testing"... I then called Sweetwater and told them how frustrated I was at the prospect of keeping a 1k plus amplifier for the sole reason of attrition, IE: it was the only one left standing. Supro #3 was the only one that was actually reliable. My sales rep, Jason, couldn't believe what I was telling him, but it is the unvarnished truth. He said to keep playing these Supros while Sweetwater opens a 5th Supro Amulet 1 x 12 Amplifier and tests it thoroughly for an entire week before sending it to me. I then got an idea to wiggle the speaker cable in Supro #4 and to my great surprise it came roaring back to life. I then called my tech here in town and told him what was going on with this Amplifier. I knew that it wasn't blown in any way. My tech took the back off of Supro #4 and removed all of the solder on the speaker and at the end of the jack itself. He applied new solder and Supro #4 has operated exactly like Supro says it is supposed to operate at their website. I was able to get real feedback in all the attenuation settings with Supro #4 and I could not achieve this at any setting with Supro #3. If Supro #4 had not unexpectedly arrived, I never would have known that Supro #3 did not operate the way it is supposed to operate. I called Sweetwater and told them not to open a 5th Supro Amulet 1 x 12 Amplifier becuase my tech had gotten #4 to work perfectly. In conclusion, I finally did get an iteration of this Amplifier that behaves exactly as Supro describes at their website. No other company would go to the lengths that Sweetwater did to ensure that I got a great amplifier like Sweetwater has done for me. I can recommend this model of Supro even though it is built in China and even though it took 4 of these Amps to get a really good one. The quest was well worth it and although Sweetwater asked me if I wanted to get a different Amplifier or simply get a refund, I said no way! I got an insanely great amplifier for a smokingly reduced price and because the 1st one was a demo, I got a brand new one for a demo price. If you get one of these, go to Supro's website and make sure that your amplifier does what Supro says it will do, and if it doesn't, do not just accept it. Call Sweetwater and if need be, tell them about this review. One last thing is this... These amplifiers run hot because the output transformer is right underneath the power/standby/attentuation knob. I am planning on purchasing a 4 inch industrial strength fan to diffuse some of the heat generated by this transformer and the tubes as well. They are right next to the output transformer. I suggest to anyone buying either the 1 x 10 or the 1 x 12 version of this amplifier. Protect your investment by doing this simple modification. You can keep your warranty as long as you do not alter the amp in any way and this means that you will need to power externally the fan. I called Sweetwater to make sure that I would not void the warranty and they said that I was good to go. Lastly, I would look for "long black plate 6L6 NOS power tube as well as finding some NOS Telefunken, RCA, G&E or Sylvania 12AX7 and 12AT7 preamp tubes.