Supro 1305 Drive

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118

Guitarist March 2017

ith its amps having a certain cachet, not least

a Jimmy Page connection, it was no surprise

that the Supro name was revived recently by

the people behind Pigtronix pedals. The resulting series

of new amps has quickly gained respect and one of their

designers, Thomas Elliot, has now put his expertise

behind a new range of Supro pedals, the first three fruits

of his labour being these Drive, Fuzz and Boost pedals.

The pedals are workmanlike rather than boutique-

slick with solid, if rather tall, brushed aluminium

casings. All run from a standard nine-volt power supply

but can also take 18 volts for extra headroom. All can

also run from a battery that is housed in an easy-access

slide-out plastic tray on the pedal’s side. Another neat

feature is that all have a socket to take an expression

pedal to control one specific parameter.

Sounds

The Drive pedal is designed to deliver the distinctive

sounds of an overdriven Supro amp, a sound that

Supro says is largely down to the power amp inside,

especially its old-school transformers. In the pursuit

of that goal the company has equipped the pedal with

an actual output transformer, complete with a large

toggle switch to select between the different windings.

Juxtaposition of the Volume and Gain knobs will take

you from a clean-ish boost through loads of breaking

up tones to low-wattage amp-at-full-throttle drive, all

complemented by a Tone control that serves to focus

the raggedy top-end presence. Exactly what you get

is determined by the two switch settings: Bold offers

a less-gainy take on things, while Rich is the higher

gain setting, upping the compression and offering

denser, harmonically richer tones. This is vibrant

overdrive with a raw Supro flavour and we like it a lot,

especially because the option of controlling gain with

an expression pedal puts the dirt under foot-control.

Supro says that its Fuzz pedal design takes inspiration

from three classics of the genre: a Fuzz Face, Tone

Bender MKII and a Big Muff, although the Fuzz Face

SUPRO Drive, Fuzz & Boost

£189, £179 & £179

ABOVE Hot on the heels

of its revived amps,

Supro has entered

the pedal market with

this new collection of

stompboxes

The Supro revival continues apace with pedal action joining the new

amp and guitar releases from the Port Jefferson brand

Words Trevor Curwen Photography Joby Sessions

GIT417.peds_sup.indd 118 26/01/2017 11:02

Summary of content (2 pages)

PAGE 1
Supro Drive, Fuzz & Boost £189, £179 & £179 The Supro revival continues apace with pedal action joining the new amp and guitar releases from the Port Jefferson brand Words Trevor Curwen Photography Joby Sessions W ith its amps having a certain cachet, not least a Jimmy Page connection, it was no surprise that the Supro name was revived recently by the people behind Pigtronix pedals.
PAGE 2
suPro seems to be the dominant DNA. The result is a pedal that uses a NOS germanium transistor in its first stage, followed by a silicon-based gain stage. Now, with some fuzz pedals it’s true that they don’t really come alive until you’ve cranked them a bit – and this pedal leans towards that characteristic. We like it best with both Volume and Gain knobs at the further extremes of their travel, backing things off from all-out fuzz assault with guitar volume.