Supro Coronado 1690T - Opinions?

Octafish

Hi, has anyone got any opinions on the Supro Coronado 1690T? There's one going that I could get at a good price, I'm going to try it out at the weekend hopefully. It will be potentially replacing my Hot Rod Deville.

The few things I've read suggest they have a big clean sound, nice built in trem and take pedals well. Anyone know what they are like reliability/build/maintenance wise? I assume @ICBM may have have seen one or two?

Thanks

ICBM

Octafish said:

Hi, has anyone got any opinions on the Supro Coronado 1690T? There's one going that I could get at a good price, I'm going to try it out at the weekend hopefully. It will be potentially replacing my Hot Rod Deville.

The few things I've read suggest they have a big clean sound, nice built in trem and take pedals well. Anyone know what they are like reliability/build/maintenance wise? I assume @ICBM may have have seen one or two?

No, never seen one. I doubt they've sold many.

It's not going to be Class A, but I assume you're not really bothered as long as it sounds good , and at least the bigger models don't use an unusual power valve type like some of the smaller ones.

I'm not sure about the build quality - from this pic online, it looks like a right mess...

http://www.theguitarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Screen-shot-2014-08-18-at-12.05.03.png

- not because it's PCB built but because it's covered in glue/goop and there are visible bodges. Hopefully this is not a full production model, but it's poor even if it's a pre-production sample.

lustycourtier

My friend has one and its fantastic. He does about 10 gigs a week and used it without fault for nearly 2 years. I know he still has it and uses it occasionally.

Octafish

ICBM said:

Octafish said:

Hi, has anyone got any opinions on the Supro Coronado 1690T? There's one going that I could get at a good price, I'm going to try it out at the weekend hopefully. It will be potentially replacing my Hot Rod Deville.

The few things I've read suggest they have a big clean sound, nice built in trem and take pedals well. Anyone know what they are like reliability/build/maintenance wise? I assume @ICBM may have have seen one or two?

No, never seen one. I doubt they've sold many.

It's not going to be Class A, but I assume you're not really bothered as long as it sounds good , and at least the bigger models don't use an unusual power valve type like some of the smaller ones.

I'm not sure about the build quality - from this pic online, it looks like a right mess...

http://www.theguitarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Screen-shot-2014-08-18-at-12.05.03.png

- not because it's PCB built but because it's covered in glue/goop and there are visible bodges. Hopefully this is not a full production model, but it's poor even if it's a pre-production sample.

Thanks for you prompt reply ICBM. According to the Supro website it is a Class A, but as you say I don't really care if it sounds good.  I don't know a lot about the insides of amps, but yes that pic looks a bit of disaster area. From memory my Deville loks a lot neater inside.

jpfamps

ICBM said:

Octafish said:

Hi, has anyone got any opinions on the Supro Coronado 1690T? There's one going that I could get at a good price, I'm going to try it out at the weekend hopefully. It will be potentially replacing my Hot Rod Deville.

The few things I've read suggest they have a big clean sound, nice built in trem and take pedals well. Anyone know what they are like reliability/build/maintenance wise? I assume @ICBM may have have seen one or two?

No, never seen one. I doubt they've sold many.

It's not going to be Class A, but I assume you're not really bothered as long as it sounds good , and at least the bigger models don't use an unusual power valve type like some of the smaller ones.

I'm not sure about the build quality - from this pic online, it looks like a right mess...

http://www.theguitarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Screen-shot-2014-08-18-at-12.05.03.png

- not because it's PCB built but because it's covered in glue/goop and there are visible bodges. Hopefully this is not a full production model, but it's poor even if it's a pre-production sample.

The hot melt glue is often used to that gear conforms to the current regs, which essentially states that wires cannot rely solely on a solder joint to be secure, so that any wires from a PCB to so a pot must have additional means of securing them, ie a single fault condition can't cause a hazard.

As an example Fender now use hot melt glue to secure the wires a long the edge of their PCBs in several amp, eg Princeton Reverb.

Alternative strategies are cable ties, looping the wires through a hole in the PCB, or twisting wires together.  For what it's worth, we use all these strategies in our amps.

ICBM

Yes, but there's a difference bewteen using a sensible amount of glue to hold wires in place, and the complete mess all over the lower part of that chassis…

I'd probably bet that your amps don't feature resistors tacked together above the PCB and partly buried in the mess, either.

It may well be reliable like that, but I'd guess it will belong in the "amps that are a pain in the arse to work on" thread.

jpfamps

ICBM said:

Yes, but there's a difference bewteen using a sensible amount of glue to hold wires in place, and the complete mess all over the lower part of that chassis…

I'd probably bet that your amps don't feature resistors tacked together above the PCB and partly buried in the mess, either.

It may well be reliable like that, but I'd guess it will belong in the "amps that are a pain in the arse to work on" thread.

Indeed it does.

We like to call it "anti service glue".

Seems a common feature in Chinese-made goods.

ICBM

jpfamps said:

We like to call it "anti service glue".

kreggs

Apparently  these amp are hand built in the Usa. Would it be a fair point to say that as they are pcb based and not hand wired that the quality may be greater inside the amp if it was manufactured in china. After all the chinese are king in the pcb manufacture world?

jpfamps

kreggs said:

Apparently  these amp are hand built in the Usa. Would it be a fair point to say that as they are pcb based and not hand wired that the quality may be greater inside the amp if it was manufactured in china. After all the chinese are king in the pcb manufacture world?

Can be hand built with a PCB in it.

In fact large axial caps can't be stuffed by machine, so have to put in by hand.

DJH83004

I think cable security for components remote from the PCB e.g. pots (though not in this case as they are PCB mounted) is one thing, but the amount of fixing adhesive applied in the photo is well over the top, and indiscriminately applied. Manufacturers tend to do it with the larger axial caps to survive international transport and reduce warranty claims (see previous thread of the Classic 30). For the user it is not an issue, for the manufacturer gets them through the warranty period, for the repairer an absolute nightmare       

jpfamps

DJH83004 said:

I think cable security for components remote from the PCB e.g. pots (though not in this case as they are PCB mounted) is one thing, but the amount of fixing adhesive applied in the photo is well over the top, and indiscriminately applied. Manufacturers tend to do it with the larger axial caps to survive international transport and reduce warranty claims (see previous thread of the Classic 30). For the user it is not an issue, for the manufacturer gets them through the warranty period, for the repairer an absolute nightmare       

Indeed.

I like to cable tie the caps to the board in our builds, or use a modest amount of silicone in repairs.

Octafish

Thanks for the advice/info guys. Think I'll go try it out and see what i think.

vince_ray

I own a Coronado and gig with it all the time. It has been reliable. The speakers need a bit of breaking in so if it's new, the sound may be a little stiff and have that unforgiving feel. But it does sound great. Folks like to say 'good with pedals'...I like to say 'the amp is shit if it isn't'. What they really mean in those reviews is that the amp doesn't break up until it breaks you up. So you'll need an OD pedal if you want that kinda sound. There's the linked channel option that they like to boast about. They make it sound like you HAVE to use it but you don't of course. I prefer to use one channel and turn it up loud. I find there's more breakup that way compared to the jumped channel sound. Hard to explain but there's lots of sonic options available there

Octafish

Cheers @vince_ray . Yeah, I've always assumed 'good with pedals' means a big clean sound, I've got plenty of overdrives, never been a fan of my current amp's (Deville 2x12) overdrive. How does the Coronado cope with smallish (pub) gigs were it's not miced up? I know my Deville (60w) has plenty of headroom in that situation and is almost too loud for situations where it's miced up, hence I want something a little lower powered.

vince_ray

The Coronado is fine for clubs and bar gigs, if anything, it's still a bit big! However, it sounds good at lower volumes with OD pedals for drive. Plenty of bottom end too and I'm a fan of 2x10 combos. Do try a channel on its own though, you could blow the doors off with the channels combined! 

The smaller Supro models are fine too. I've got the Supreme which is 25w through a 10" speaker and I gigged last Saturday with a loud drummer. Still worked well and I got good amp breakup as I was able to turn it up. No problem filling the room and its actually funny to look at the amp and think such a big sound is coming from it 

Octafish

Cool, thanks for the info!

vince_ray

Did you get the Coronado octafish? I go from ‘i love it’ to ‘yeah, it’s ok’. Just st
arted playing the Supreme without of pedal and it’s been good

Octafish

No I didn't. I tried it it and did like it a lot, but I'd need to get rid of my Hot Rod Deville first and the trade in was dismal and I can't summon up the effort to spend months trying sell it privately, nobody seems to want them much. Thinkning I may look in to a speaker swap on my HRD, something a bit less bassey/weighty soundling.