Members gardo Posted January 2, 2018 Members Share Posted January 2, 2018 Thanks Phil.. You had to go and review this amp and make me want one http://www.harmonycentral.com/expert-reviews/supro-1610rt-comet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 'Tis a totally bad-azz little fire breather... your amp lust is well justified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted January 2, 2018 Author Members Share Posted January 2, 2018 'Tis a totally bad-azz little fire breather... your amp lust is well justified. How does it compare to the current Fender Princeton Re-issues ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 How does it compare to the current Fender Princeton Re-issues ? You'll have a hard time finding a bigger Fender Princeton lover than me... I consider them to truly be one of the all-time great amp lines, with the blackface Princeton Reverbs being among the best of the Princetons. Currently there are two Princeton Reverbs being made - a '68 reissue (which isn't really true to the first silverface models, but kind of a hybrid with a Bassman front end) and the '65 reissue, which is very similar to the original blackface (and early silverface) era Princetons, but that uses PCB construction (as does the Comet) instead of the original P2P / fiberboard construction. To make this a bit simpler, I'll stick with the '65 for my comparisons. The Supro Comet is a similar amp in some respects - when running at 14W, it has similar clean headroom and volume. Both are all-tube 1x10" open-back combo amps. Both have reverb and tremolo on-board, and both can use a footswitch (optional purchase for the Comet) to switch those effects on/off. Differences? There are more than a few... first of all, the Comet is Class A, and uses a single 6L6, while the Princeton Reverb is Class AB (push/pull) running a pair of 6V6's. The Comet has a 14/6W switch, which lowers the plate voltage to the power tube and gives you less output and lower-volume breakup, which can be very useful when recording or practicing at home. The Princeton Reverb comes equipped with a tube rectifier - you can run a solid state rectifier in them if you want to via a plug in tube replacement module. The Comet uses a solid state rectifier internally. The difference here is more a matter of feel - how quickly the amp responds to hard pick attack transients, with a tube rectifier providing a bit more "sag", and a solid state rectifier feeling a bit more immediate. The Princeton Reverb has two EQ controls (bass / treble) where to Comet has only one. The Comet has a longer dwell time on the reverb decay than what you'll hear from most Princeton Reverbs... although you can replace the tank easily enough on both amps and change the reverb decay time if that's important to you. The tremolo on the Comet is in the preamp section, while the Princeton uses a bias tremolo that works in the power amp section. Both have great sounding tube tremolos in them, but there is a difference to how they work and the sound of their throbbing. As far as overall sound? The Comet is slightly darker overall, although you can brighten it up easily with the tone control. It has a surprisingly big and full sounding low end - part of that could be due to the speaker, but TBH I have to admit that it never occurred to me (until right now) to try the RI Jensen 10" in my Princeton with the Comet, and the Comet's speaker with the Princeton. I'll give that a try and will get back to you on that... The Princeton has one of the best clean tones you'll ever find on any low-wattage amp, and while the Comet's is also superb, the edge may go ever so slightly to the Princeton. Where they really differ is the dirt. Cranked up, the Comet is a fire-breather in a way that the Princeton really can't match. It sounds more like a vintage Supro when you dime it, and definitely has more (and IMHO better sounding) gain available when you do than the Princeton Reverb does. Where I prefer running a Princeton clean and using pedals to get any desired dirt, the Comet is more suited to winding it up all the way and then using your guitar's volume knob to adjust the level of dirt on the fly. That's not to say you can't use it in the same way I often use my Princetons - the Comet, like the Princeton, is a very pedal-friendly amp, and it works great with boost and dirt pedals; both when set "clean" and when using the pedals to augment its own overdrive. FWIW, the sound of the two running together in stereo is freakin' awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted January 2, 2018 Author Members Share Posted January 2, 2018 Thanks Phil As a teen one of my influences was this guy who played an old Silvertone solid body through an Oahu (Valco ) amp. I loved that soundHe sold me on tube amps. Something like that would be killer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted January 2, 2018 Members Share Posted January 2, 2018 Now you're GASsing for both! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Now you're GASsing for both! Both are highly GAS-worthy amps IMO. If you have the means (and the price difference is not insignificant), the other knockout amp that I tested this year that everyone might want to look into / consider is the Magnatone Panoramic Stereo... imagine a pair of EL84 powered(!) Princetons running in stereo, except with the classic Magnatone pitch-shifting stereo vibrato... :love: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 As far as overall sound? The Comet is slightly darker overall, although you can brighten it up easily with the tone control. It has a surprisingly big and full sounding low end - part of that could be due to the speaker, but TBH I have to admit that it never occurred to me (until right now) to try the RI Jensen 10" in my Princeton with the Comet, and the Comet's speaker with the Princeton. I'll give that a try and will get back to you on that... Okay, here's what I did - I played using my Princeton for a while (which has a RI Jensen C10R in it), then used a speaker cable jumper to connect the Princeton's speaker output to the speaker inside the Comet's cabinet... then I played that for a while. Then I reversed it - playing the Supro with its internal speaker, then using the jumper to connect the Supro's electronics to the speaker inside the Fender's cabinet. My take-away from this is that the Supro's speaker / cabinet combination is somewhat warmer and darker sounding than the Princeton, while the Princeton cabinet / Jensen combo is brighter, and that holds true regardless of which amp's electronics is driving the speaker / cab combo. The Supro speaker and cab seemed to be bigger and fuller sounding in the lows, with a bit more midrange emphasis. Neither really sounded better or worse - just different. If you like a brighter sound than the stock Comet, a speaker swap will definitely get you there, and if you like a warmer sound than a stock Princeton, with the mids pushed forward a bit more, the Supro CR10 speaker might be a good alternative to consider. Efficiency is roughly equal between the two. The Jensen is rated at 96.5 dB SPL @ 1w / 1m if I recall correctly, and I'd estimate the stock Supro CR10 has similar efficiency since it seemed to hit similar SPL levels compared to the Princeton - again, this wasn't tested on the bench with an oscillator and an oscilloscope and a SPL meter, just play tested with a SPL meter while using the same amp brain / electronics and settings to drive both. The C10R is rated at 25W RMS, while the CR10 is rated at 75W. The CR10 has subjectively better sounding breakup to it, but speaker breakup is really a matter of taste... I'd LOVE to hear both of these amps driving a 10" EVM, but I don't have one around - I bet they'd both sound awesome (and loud as all get-out) with the EVM. I DO have a 12" EVM in my Princeton Reverb II, and I may try both through that amp's speaker / cab later this week if I have time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted January 2, 2018 Author Members Share Posted January 2, 2018 That Magnatone is a thing of beauty,it looks like a museum piece. But a bit more than I would want to spend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mikeo Posted January 2, 2018 Members Share Posted January 2, 2018 Yeah the Magnatone is amazing. $2700 USD amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thatsbunk Posted January 3, 2018 Members Share Posted January 3, 2018 Hey Phil just curious, did the Princeton lose some of the lower end "fartyness" with the Comet speaker? I'm toying with the idea of replacing the Jensen in my 65RI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mikeo Posted January 4, 2018 Members Share Posted January 4, 2018 I have heard that the speaker in the 65 PRRI are fine, but the out put transformer is weak. Billm had a nice upgrade TO20, and I think you can get them from Allen Amps now. I have thought about the Transformer upgrade countless times, but I tend to play mine at a rather low volume. I'll push it with a Fulltone II OD. If you ask me, you should be able to plug directly into a PRRI and turn it up into distortion territory without any speaker flabbiness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 thatsbunk, to my ears the Princeton sounded fatter and beefier with the Supro speaker, but with less low-end flabbiness and fartiness. If you want a brighter speaker, it's not going to be a good choice, but if you like low end but just want a speaker that has more of it (and subjectively better sounding lows), then the Supro speaker might be worth considering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted January 5, 2018 Moderators Share Posted January 5, 2018 What Magnatone? The amp under discussion is a 'new' Supro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 I mentioned the Maggie simply because it's another amp that made a huge impression on me, and since we're talking about GAS-worthy amps... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jtr654 Posted January 8, 2018 Members Share Posted January 8, 2018 The PR holds it value better. Remember that you can pickup a used Twins, Pros. and Vibrolux Reverbs for the same or less $$ than used PR or DR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 I don't think the Supro Comet has really been out long enough to make that call, although I'd certainly agree that the PR and Deluxe Reverb are two of Fender's most desirable amps and two amps that hold their resale value very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve_man Posted January 17, 2018 Members Share Posted January 17, 2018 I'm probably in the minority here, but I tried one of the Supro amps and wasn't blown away... not bad at all, but didn't think they were better than Fender amps that cost less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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