The Page Stairway Supro amp Mystery.

[slashsound]

I am on another one of my ''missions''. This time its to make an exact replica of the Supro that Jimmy Page used to record Stairway to heaven. Its ONLY this Supro sound I care about and not the other ones for the other recordings. I was hoping some of you had some information that is not already posted on this forum. First of all I would like to know if anybody knows almost 100 percent for sure which amp it really was, what kind of speaker was in it, what kind of tubes, and what was the component list...not the actual values, any fool can find that schematic, what I mean is the list of what brand each and every one of the components was. Also if anybody has detailed pictures of an amp like this I would much much appreciate it and love you forever. Cabinet dimensions would be awesome too. Also do you all think he was using the MKII pedal on it, cause he had some gain on that thing and it really didnt have that little amp vintage tone to it all, it sounded HUGE and didnt have that ugly midrange honk of the amps of the late 50s?

[paulster]

Good luck!

Here's 11 pages of reading to get you going:
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showth ... p?t=296118" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[MikeO]

That thread listed above should give you a bunch of info. All I know is that it was modified to use one 12" speaker, so the baffle was replaced. It was often referred to as the skunk. This is because of the white stripe of tolex that goes across the top and sides.
Some people believe it was a 1690T Coronado 2x10" originally. Some people think it was the model with the odd 6"x9" speaker in it. I don't know what that model is called... 1624TN maybe? It was from 1959 or so.


Also, he didn't use a standard tone bender. He used the Page-1 fuzz, made by Roger Mayer. It was based on the Maestro fuzz FZ-1 (not the FZ-1a) but built with British components like Wima caps & OC81 trannies.

I just had one built by a friend. It's not completely accurate (used Vitamin Q caps & OC76s) but the closest I've ever heard. The hardest part is 'tuning' it. The ckt. is designed to be used with 2 AA batteries (3 volts). He had a hard keeping the bias steady and batteries seem to get eaten faster than your average fuzz. He put in a voltage regulator and a trimmer so we could use a 9 volt battery and an adapter. I can get different sounds using the trimmer.

It's not super high gain but pushes an amp really good! It's weird, it seems to take on the character of the amp is plugged into and it's most touch responsive fuzz I've ever played through. It's like a tube amp itself! I'm still giving it a test run. Currently, IMO, it's still a little too unstable. Hopefully we can tweak it some more.

[demonufo]

what I mean is the list of what brand each and every one of the components was.

Good luck (stifling sniggers with hand across mouth)

[Structo]

Late to the party but I'm not sure even Jimmy Page remembers which amp he used.

[hired hand]

There is a lot more to consider than just the amp. For example, what pickups and strings are on your Telecaster?
Good Luck

[schmoog]

Gonna go out on a limb here since one of the biggest gear mistakes of my life was made regarding this particular amp....

The amp jimmy page used was a supro thunderbolt combo, possibly (but not unequivocally) that had had it's baffle replaced to be a 1x12 instead of the stock 1x15.

Several years ago I came across one of these amps (and purchased) for 450 dollars... then sold it for 500.

Regardless of whether it's the one he used or not, the sound is there, I can promise you that.

[908ssp]

Gonna go out on a limb here since one of the biggest gear mistakes of my life was made regarding this particular amp....

The amp jimmy page used was a supro thunderbolt combo, possibly (but not unequivocally) that had had it's baffle replaced to be a 1x12 instead of the stock 1x15.

Several years ago I came across one of these amps (and purchased) for 450 dollars... then sold it for 500.

Regardless of whether it's the one he used or not, the sound is there, I can promise you that.

Kind of a contradiction in your own post. It either was or it wasn't and most evidence says it wasn't a Thunderbolt. Lots of people find lots of thing that sound right, too bad you let one slip away.

[schmoog]

I haven't seen any evidence suggesting it wasn't a thunderbolt. It is known however that page did own, and did use on zeppelin albums, a supro thunderbolt. That being said, page claimed to own over 50 small valco amps, so it's equally likely it wasn't the thunderbolt, and it could have not even been a supro. But valco only had a handful of different circuits they used in all their amps.

If the point is tone chasing, the thunderbolt will get you as close as anything else out there. Without the right tubes, right speaker, right guitar, and proper recording setup you'll never get 100% anyway...

[pckpat]

you also have to place said supro perpendicular to the proper ley lines beside loch ness,during a spring equinox.oh,yes and wear a wizard's robe.(just kidding)-i was also under the impression he used the thunderbolt quite a bit,but as hinted above,page reputedly has a warehouse full of amps.

[Structo]

These guys do a great job with Supro type clones.

I don't know how much studio magic was used on these clips but it sure sounds like early Zep.

Listen to this clip:
http://magicamplification.com/clips/ZepMed.mp3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But they come at a price:

http://magicamplification.com/ZCombos.cfm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[F#m7]

These guys do a great job with Supro type clones.

I don't know how much studio magic was used on these clips but it sure sounds like early Zep.

Listen to this clip:
http://magicamplification.com/clips/ZepMed.mp3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But they come at a price:

http://magicamplification.com/ZCombos.cfm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wow! Great sounding amps!

[Gr8Scott]

Believe it or not, my dad bought a Supro Thunderbolt for me to learn Bass on. I don't have any idea where it went, but it was a supro thunderbolt for sure. Funny thing was, I HATED that amp. I thought it sounded horrible. It had massive 6L6 rattle with a bass plugged in and it didn't have much distortion running a cheap hondo guitar through it. I wanted to learn guitar and would have played guitar through it if my dad would have only bought one, but he wanted me to play bass and my desire to play guitar didn't factor into the equation at all apparently. That bass I played was worthless, but the old Supro Thunderbolt I hated turns out to be one of many gems my dad owned in his lifetime that we wish he could get back.

[cagenut]

Always remember that when referencing a recording, the sound of the recording chain has to be taken into account.

And so, when referencing "Stairway", the microphone, the placement of that mic, the mic pre, the console, the mastering, and more have sculpted what we hear.

As an example...if we were sitting in the front row, right in front of D. Allman's amp the nites that the "live At The Fillmore" record was recorded....his guitar would have sounded NOTABLY DIFFERENT than what we have gotten used to hearing via the record.

Very few folks talk about that. Why not?

[novosibir]

I am on another one of my ''missions''. This time its to make an exact replica of the Supro that Jimmy Page used to record Stairway to heaven. Its ONLY this Supro sound I care about and not the other ones for the other recordings. I was hoping some of you had some information that is not already posted on this forum. First of all I would like to know if anybody knows almost 100 percent for sure which amp it really was, what kind of speaker was in it, what kind of tubes, and what was the component list...not the actual values, any fool can find that schematic, what I mean is the list of what brand each and every one of the components was. Also if anybody has detailed pictures of an amp like this I would much much appreciate it and love you forever. Cabinet dimensions would be awesome too. Also do you all think he was using the MKII pedal on it, cause he had some gain on that thing and it really didnt have that little amp vintage tone to it all, it sounded HUGE and didnt have that ugly midrange honk of the amps of the late 50s?

First of all - I don't know shit about this amp.
But I could have my ex-KGB buddy from Moscow, to figure out all these details including photos, aso.
Although this easily can become a 20-30k$ project, depending on the difficultry.
Let me know, if I should proceed and forward me your credit card details in this case

Larry