Has anyone played or had a Supro Amulet ?

[Caillou]

Hey there,
I'm quite intrigued by the Supro Amulet. A little tube amp, lightweight, with a 2 band EQ, reverb, tremolo, attenuator. Available with a 10" or 12" Celestion Creamback speaker. On the paper he shares a lot of common points with the Princeton Reverb, but what about the sound, especially clean sound ?
Has anybody tried, had one or compared with a Princeton or Deluxe ?

[Jx30510]

Hi
It sounds quite good, but nothing like a Princeton. Much more tweed like, and raunchy if you push it.
In my opinion you can do jazz with it, but more in the edge of break up style, like Grant Green.
The real problem was the two I had, I sent them back because of major flaws right out the box. The two had the same (and it wasn't the same one they sent me back after some kind of fix)

The sound would change from one day to the other. One day it would get overly lound and very agressive, the next mid scooped with a major volume loss.
There was some kind of static on the input jack.. and pops, crackles, and wierd noises.
I found some solder drops on the speaker magnet and inside the cab.
These problems where on the TWO amps.
So I just sent the second one back and lost total confidence in Supro reliability.
Two things I should also mention.
Supros are no longer made in the US. They moved production to China un July 2020.
I say this because they keep that information kind of "secret", and a lot of retailers still say they're built in the US.
And when I tried to investagate a bit on the problems I had with this amp, I found out I wasn't the only one.
So beware of this. I was very upset because I really liked it's features.. Trem, Verb, power scaling, very characterful sound..
If I could have tested other tubes, maybe the problem was there, and solved the problems, I would have hapilly kept it.
Problem is, you have to pull off the whole amp circuit block to reach the tubes, since they're horizontal and all behind.
If I had to dismantle the whole amp, I was scared to void the warranty.
So bye bye the Amulet

[RJVB]

If the name is any indication, you have to believe really hard that it actually works

[AllanAllen]

I tried some new supros side by side with a blues Jr. The Supros weren't what I was looking for, they sounded small and boxy. The Blues Jr. just sounded perfect, like all the guitar amps I knew from all the recordings I liked. If I had to do it over again, I'd get a Quilter.

[Jx30510]

Do you think the Quilter Aviator is better sounding than the Blues Jr IV?
I'm having really a hard time finding a tube amp that works (!) and sounds good.
The Fenders from the Custom 68 series all had problems, and I don't really like the Princeton 65 (the cab or something rattles in there also..)
I also tried a Tone King Falcon Grande, I found it way overpriced for what it is.
The Supros, like said above, I don't even want to try one anymore..
I don't want an amp for jazz only. I also like edge of breakup sounds, typical Stratocaster bluesy stuff. And a nice warm jazz sound.
Wonder if shouln't just forget about tube amps these days. They're just too expensive if built correctly.
And vintage amp are just ridiculously overpriced for a bunch of old dying components.
A proper tube amp in the old simple style way is just not that expensive to build.
The price Fender charges for their 64 line up is complete craze to me. And from what I've heard they don't even pick premium or selected components.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Do you think the Quilter Aviator is better sounding than the Blues Jr IV?

With careful use of the controls, I think the Cub sounds as good or better for jazz, pop, commercial, country and fusion. In its sweet spot, the BJ has the edge for blues. The Cub also does it all over a wider range of loudness.

I assume you refer to the Cub because the Aviator Mach 3 is a lot more amplifier and in a different league from the Cub. Comparison with the BJ would be unfair.

A proper tube amp in the old simple style way is just not that expensive to build.

That’s very true. Kits like the Boot Hill 5e3 are cheap ($219 + tubes and transformers to build a complete chassis) and easy. I’m thinking about building one just to see how good it sounds.

[AllanAllen]

The Blues Jr. sounds better than a quilter to me, but at a bar with people talking and drums playing, you can't tell. At the end of the night, the Jr. is just heavier and more fragile. The cable for the Blues Jr also gets shoved in the back and I've pulled the tabs off the speaker packing it up. Just kind of a dumb design point. Just a little thing that bothers me after packing in and out 100 times.

[Jx30510]

The last amp I really liked was the Fender 68 Custom Vibro Champ Reverb. I had to change all the tubes right away since 2 out of 3 where faulty. I heard a lot of owners report the same issue. After that it was really nice. But I'm looking for 15w.
I see the Amulet is now available with a 12 inch speaker.. I just can't convince myself to try one once again.
I've also seen that Supro have just released a high end US built amp, but it's more than 2500$ or so..
It's not that different from the Amulet in a sort of way. But "normal" quality equates a huge amount of cash these days..

[Jimmy Mack]

Supro amps have their problems.

I read this thread appreciating my Princeton Reverbs - thought about releasing one, but maybe it's better to hang on to it.

Hearing all these great recommendations for Quilter. Makes me wonder.

[Caillou]

Thank you for your feedback on the Supro Amulet
I hear a lot of good reviews about Quilter amps. They have piqued my interest for several years
The Mach 3 is almost €500 more expensive than the Cub. Does it sound 500€ better, or is it just because it offers 3 extra amp emulations, a tremolo and two input?... Because the 3 Fender amps of the Cub would be enough for me, I already have a good tremolo pedal and don't need two input

[AllanAllen]

Thank you for your feedback on the Supro Amulet
I hear a lot of good reviews about Quilter amps. They have piqued my interest for several years
The Mach 3 is almost €500 more expensive than the Cub. Does it sound 500€ better, or is it just because it offers 3 extra amp emulations, a tremolo and two input?... Because the 3 Fender amps of the Cub would be enough for me, I already have a good tremolo pedal and don't need two input

Then go with the Cub. It’s just more features as far as I can tell.

[ccroft]

I've been a Quilter guy for several years. I think the main attraction in the Mach3 isn't the added voicings, as much as the fact that it's 2 amps in one. They call them channels, but you have 2 full sets of all controls that are fully independent and go between them with a footswitch.

Or you can have 2 guitars, each into their own amp with the wanted sound tweaks and switch between those. Most amps I know of don't let you do this one. Just flip a switch and it's 1 into 2 different amps (like Mesa), or 2 into 2 different amps. Pat Quilter's smart like that.

Fact is though, I don't have much use for that functionality these days. I think this is more of a live performance thing. My last gig was in in 1993. I can get all I want from a TB202. It just takes a while to dial in the different gain set-ups (for eg).

So if you're like me you'd get the Cub like Allen says. Or a ToneBlock.