1932R Royale 50-watt 1 x 12-inch Tube Combo Amp Review

A Solid, Versatile Amp

I have had the amp since its initial February release. After two months of playing, I'm still enjoying finding new tones to explore. It has that low end presence that, to my ears, distinguishes it as a Supro. The bass is up front and prominent with some great character. It lends itself well as a blues amp. At the same time, the 3 knob EQ controls have a huge dynamic range.… read more I can cut the bass and use it for classic rock too. Clean headroom is a matter of taste. The preamp can be pushed into distortion at full volume with the boost and guitar turned all the way up. Add a pedal and I get nice distortion at low volumes too. I think you could make this amp almost anything you want to with the right pedals, although it naturally leans very clean. The onboard reverb is really nice. The separate dwell control allows you to go from subtle to full space vortex. I can get some giant, clean ambient sounds. As for build quality, it seems sturdy. The stock power tubes are Sovtek 5881/6L6GC. The BD-12 speaker is made by Celestion. When turning it off, go to standby for 3 seconds before cutting power to avoid an audible pop sound. The biggest thing that I've noticed is that the tube driven fx loop, when enabled, amplifies any noise that is already present such as pedal power noise. It's mostly noticeable when standing right in front while in a quiet room. Not a big deal while playing. The reverb and boost don't amplify power noise the same way and are both very quiet. On a lesser note, at least some of the initial Royale's, including mine, had the fx send and return jacks mislabeled. This was fixed by a Supro provided sticker. Overall I'm very happy with the amp, especially with the tones I can get at lower volumes. I encourage others to take the time to play through all of the different EQ settings when finding their tone.

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The best amp I've ever owned.

I came across the Royale watching demo videos before it was available. I was looking for an amp that would give more sparkle in overdrive to my original spec Widerange pickups. The 5881 tubes, being slightly lower wattage than 6L6s, seemed like they might do the trick w/o turning up the amp to earbleed levels. Plus, there was the 35 watt Class A channel for grittier overdrive if… read more I wanted it. When I finally got one in, it didn't disappoint -- it performs exactly as described. It preserves the string-to-string clarity of the Widerange pickups, and its bass response is amazingly rich w/o booming over the mids and treble. People don't mention the sensitivity of the EQ pots; they're fantastic, and moving one a couple of tics clearly changes the character of the sound. Seems like the Royale would support many different types of guitars for that reason. I'm not much of a reverb guy, but I acknowledge the richness of that channel. Haven't tried the pedal loop yet, but at this point, I assume it'll be top notch. It's not a high gain amp, so if you're looking to shred and squeal, move on. If you want to do the Fender Twin one better, check out the Royale.

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Not bad but not great

i found this amp to be very mediocre when i plug into an amp if i cant get a tone i love in a minute or two then generally it's not an amp i want such was the case here it does the loud clean thing, just not in the way i was hoping for

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Clean, well built, attention to detail? I think not. Don't even thing of mic'ing this amp unless you're looking for noise!

I ordered this amp from Sweetwater, and let me be clear... Sweetwater's handling of the issues I'm about to describe has clearly been awesome! Unfortunately.... First amp: This amp had a weird reverb issue that impacted the amps total output volume. Not matter class A or class A/B, with reverb enabled, sound came out super wet, as if the dwell was maxed out and the sound was… read more only being pushed through the reverb. With reverb switched off, no sound at all no matter the level choices, or the class selected. Occasionally the amp worked the way it was supposed to, but I don't "Will it or Will it Not" when it comes to performing. I returned this amp, and Sweetwater graciously sent me a new one. Second amp: After receiving the second amp, it worked, but a strange background noise, erratic, high-pitched sound like you're catching a broadcast of morse code, and it generally only kicked in after the amp was fully warm. You could get rid of the noise if you put the reverb level to 0 or just switched reverb off entirely. Sweetwater didn't have a third in stock, but they were kind enough to take the amp back. Third amp: Since I couldn't get another from Sweetwater right away, I ordered from someone different, which was a mistake on my part. I should've just said... "It's not meant to be". But I didn't. The amp arrived and it showed issues right out of the box. Playing any lower pitched notes, caused distortion on those notes. So, I reached out to Supro directly to get it repaired, and they did. The turn-around was longer than I'd hoped, but I did get it back, and the tech assured me the amp checked out. Now, this may just be me, but the amp is noisy in weird ways that I believe point to bigger quality issues. The reverb level pot - reverb enabled - piles on signal noise, and inordinately in my opinion, though the tech disagreed. Also, if you touch the very top of the pot knobs, with your ear against the speaker, you can actually hear the rubbing or tapping of your finger on the top of the pot - you can get rid of that effect by turning reverb off. Also, the issue with the second amp - the erratic morse code signal noise - is very much so present on the amp as well. Conclusion: This amp is touted as a clean amp... a pedal platform. It is not, and I think there are bigger issues here than Supro is willing to accept as real "issues" - they might just be jaded and accepting of out-of-the-ordinary amp noise... I don't know, but it sure is frustrating when you're talking to them. Ex. When I turn up the reverb level on my Fender GB Twin Reverb, there's no piling-on of signal noise / cycle hum. That just doesn't happen and doesn't happen with any verb amps I've owned in the past, at least so far as I can remember. Also, the reverb adding other weird signal noise such as the morse-code-like noise, and then fact that you can hear your fingers lightly rubbing or tapping any knob projected through the speaker??? That's just weird. My advice: If you're okay with a tube amp that piles-on signal noise when you have reverb switched on, or you plan on using a reverb pedal and leaving reverb off, this amp is capable of producing warm, full tones. However, if you're like me, I paid for a "clean" feature-rich amp, and that is most definitely NOT what I have taking up space that would be better served by another amp that delivers on its promises. I hope someone else finds this amplifier useful, 'cause I sure don't.

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