1948 McKinney / Valco Supreme ( Supro ) guitar tube amp demo

** Please note that this amp has a reconed speaker and may not sound like one you have, or one you are selling ;-) **

1948 McKinney tube amp - demo

Here's a 1948 McKinney amp made by Valco in Chicago. This is the same as a Supro Supreme of the same era with the single volume control and 6J7 input tube. Other tubes are 6SC7, (2) 6V6GT, and 5Y3.

Speaker is the 10" field-coil Rola (pro-reconed by Nick at the Speaker Shop).

Demo is done with a parts Stratocaster with Don Mare pickups, then a Les Paul with P90 pickups.

Amp was set to about 80% volume.

The rear of the amp is shown at the end of the video.

(Note: I added the audio to the video for better sound quality as the camera mic is not very good.)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• valco
• supro
• supreme
• stratocaster
• les
• paul
• blues
• harp
• demo
• tube
• amplifier
• junior
• watson
• rick
• holmstrom
• stratotone

[kevykev38]

FINALLY! Someone playing something other than straight out blues. I'm getting sick and tired of people thinking they have to play BLUES through something old because its old. Nice playing man. And FINALLY someone actually playing the thing rather than talking about it through their whole video treating it like an old Coffee Table. lol Meant to played ! And you did it son!

[skilback]

@kevykev38 Thanks, I appreciate that.

[dustin11]

This the amp for sale in Sarasota?

[skilback]

No idea... I sold this amp myself almost 2 years ago... maybe it's up for sale again?

[Japocaster1]

Completely understood. And the quest for tone continues. Thanks.

You know, I (and I'm sure many others) , as many times as I've viewed & read this video, used to think you were being snobby (like, "my amp sounds better than yours") by saying Dont use this as a demo, your amp may not sound like this one. When in fact, its just the opposite. You are very kind, and informative. And a pretty decent player too(chuckle).

[skilback]

Point taken, and thanks - I updated the description to say what I really intended.

[ravenslaves]

If you keep making these videos, then people might catch on to the beauty of these old "No Name" amps...please stop it. The secret must remain.

[joencindy2004]

That lil bugger sounds great!

[DoctorRazzArea4]

How many watts?

[spentonmediocrity]

You can just hear the smoothness and complexity...that's one BADASS amp.

[cfwilkins2003]

This amp has such a unique tone. Very cool. I want one!

[countrybill65]

How loud will thins amp get? I recently demoed a chicago 51 and I believe it is the same as this amp. Is this pushing 15 to 20 watts. I feel it may be to quiet for gigging with out being miked. I am looking to play in a medium room with a 4 piece blues combo, would it be loud enough as a stand alone unmiked harp rig?

Great playing/

[cpkelley]

Sounds like Hound Dog Taylor's tone.....really great. Nice amp!

[TommyNegeal]

Incredible tone. I think a lot of it has to do with your personal playing style though

[southerner66]

I've got a 1953 version of this amp in my shop right now for a basic checkup. Other than the expected leaky paper capacitors, it's held up extremely well. Original build and parts quality was very good. This one has a 6SQ7 triode as the first gain stage vs. the 6J7 pentode in yours. Supposedly, this change was made due to problems with pentodes being microphonic. Has this ever been a problem in yours?

[MauroPavanelli]

great little amp!