Question for Supro Owners/Players

Jeff Au Hoy · From: Honolulu, Hawai'i

The man who gave me the itch to play steel (and likely the first steeler I ever listened to) was Benny Rogers, featured on many of Genoa Keawe's records.

For years I assumed he played a Fender Stringmaster, since his tone was bright and very unlike that of a Gibson or Rickenbacher--two brands with which I've had some experience. However having owned and played two Stringmasters and having seen Benny photographed standing with a Supro doubleneck, I'd now like to confirm that what I hear on Aunty Genoa's records is in fact a Supro.

Here are some sound clips (not the best quality but they sort of give the character of tone):

http://www.mele.com/hawaiianMP3s/1273_02.mp3

http://www.mele.com/hawaiianMP3s/1273_12.mp3

Supro owners/players, does this tone sound like something that can be had with a Supro steel?

Thanks in advance.

George Keoki Lake · From: Edmonton, AB., Canada

Jeff asks: "Supro owners/players, does this tone sound like something that can be had with a Supro steel?"

I have played many, many SUPROS over the past 60 years. However I could never obtain a beautiful tone anywhere close to that! The last SUPRO I played was a D-6 which one of my students owned a few years ago and who eventually traded towards a STRINGMASTER D-8. Again, I was never able to produce that beautiful sound from his old SUPRO D-6. It has suddenly dawned upon me that the problem can be traced directly behind the finger picks ! Crying or Very sad

Don Kona Woods · From: Hawaiian Kama'aina

I agree with George. It is the fingers behind the picks.

No matter what guitar Benny would have played, he would have made it sound good. It's the steel player. Cool

I would probably say the same thing concerning Jeff, whether he was playing a Rick or a Supro, or what have you. It is going to sound good. Cool

Now I am not saying that all guitars are the same. Each has their distinctive sound, and each person will have different preferences when it comes to sound which they like.

I have never played a Supro, but I would like to play one.

I do like to have different sounding steel guitars. I have 8 different sounding ones now. I enjoy something about each one.

Aloha, Smile

Don

Ian McLatchie · From: Sechelt, British Columbia

Jeff: No question, a player of Benny's stature has an idiosyncratic sound that comes through whatever instrument he is playing. Nonetheless, I'd say the instrument on those records may very well be a Supro. I get a clue to that just three notes into the first clip. It's very difficult to put into words just how the tone of the Valco pickups differs from other brands, but they definitely have a way of cutting through that's unlike anything else. The mystery to me is how such a big, aggressive sound comes out of those two tiny coils! The innards of a Valco pickup look like a toy compared to the massive workings of a Rickenbacher horseshoe or a Fender trapezoid, but a really good Supro plugged into a tube amp will hold its own with anything. I love my Rickenbachers and Fenders, but it's the Supro Comet or double-six that most often head out the front door at night.

Bob Stone · From: Gainesville, FL, USA

Yup, Ian is right. Got to get me one of those Comets.

Derrick Mau · From: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

The pairing of steel guitar and amp is very important when trying to replicate tone. No two steels will sound the same thru the same amp.

Benny definitely played a double necked 6 string Supro. Ron Kanahele learnt how to play steel guitar from none other than Benny and he personally told me that the steel he had used to record Party Hula's, and the steel he used at his gigs when backing Genoa was a Supro.

Ron showed me a photo of Benny using this Supro. It was light yellow in color.

Jeff, here's a sample of me doing the intro from one of your link sample above. Genoa Keawe's, MOKU O KEAWE.

Can anyone tell what kind of steel and amp I'm using?

http://www.freefilehosting.net/download/MTI5ODA1

Jeff Au Hoy · From: Honolulu, Hawai'i

Dang, Derrick that was right on the money! The brightness, the type of sustain, the tone when you laid into the lowest note in the vamp. Whatever you're playing I hope you'll share what it is... Because now I want that kind of guitar and amp! Heheh Very Happy

Michael Papenburg · From: Oakland, CA

My main lap steel for the past 6 months is a 50s Supro. I would describe the tone as bright and clear with lots of string definition. Mine sounds closer to your clips than Derrick's clip which sounds brighter and thinner than mine. The amp is definitely a part of this equation, though, so I'm sure mine could sound that way if it was eq'd in the same manner.

While my Supro does sound decent with distortion, I much prefer it's clean to semi-clean tone. I've never really understood why people claim that they are mainly good for distorted rock tones. The pickups are very hot, though, and slam the front end of your amp pretty hard.

Bill Creller · From: Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)

I don't know which amp,Bud, but it sounds like either your Magnatone or the Maestro, and a solid state amp. It sure as hell isn't one of your Ricks. Very Happy

,,, too anemic!!

Ian McLatchie · From: Sechelt, British Columbia

"I've never really understood why people claim that they are mainly good for distorted rock tones."

Let me introduce you to my Aiello-enriched Supro Comet and National Tremo-tone amp, Michael. The Supro is a beautiful sounding guitar at any volume, clean or dirty, but when it's cranked through a tube amp, everything else can just pack up and go home.

Michael Papenburg · From: Oakland, CA

Derrick Mau · From: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Hi Jeff,

I'm actually using a double 6 Fender Stringmaster for this recording! (Tone and volume open full)

And for the amp, the Roland Micro Cube!!!

Black Panel Setting
Tone @ 10 o'clock
Reverb on the second notch

Micro Cube miked using a Shure SM-58
Ukulele: 1976 Kamaka 6 string - miked w/ SM-58
Acoustic Guitar: FG-130 Yamaha - miked w/ SM-58

Didn't have time to add in a bass line, but that would have really topped off the overall sound.

Question for Keoki. What kind of amp or amps were you using when you played all those Supro's?
If a Fender, that's why you could never come close to getting Benny's tone in my opinion.

You'd have to use a amp that has a thinner tone, or as Bobby Ingano describes, a mosquito tone.

The Micro Cube comes very close but remember, it depends on what steel you have too. My Fender Stringmaster double 8 sounded different in tone through the same Micro Cube settings. Cool

Ray Montee · From: Portland, Oregon (deceased)

The guitar has a definite Fender "SOUND"..... I call it thin for lack of a better definition but fine.

I felt certain it was the cube sound, the smallness of it, as I heard during my visit to Hawaii.

Great playing!

Mark Eaton · Posted 13 Mar 2007 1:24 pm

I still have the same Supro I started with as a lap steel student at age 10-and it was new when I got it, and this was back in the 60's.

I used to ride the old Valco tube amp pretty hard in our neighborhood garage band back in the day-didn't need no "steenkeen" effects pedals-the thing would break up just fine.

Wink

I never knew that it was supposed to be a lousy guitar for playing "clean" - because it was the only one I had, and I thought it sounded pretty good when clean-still do.
_________________
Mark

Bill Creller · From: Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)

A guy I know bought one of the Supros with the mots finish a few years ago at a flea market for $12.95!!
I put new strings on it and cleaned the pots, and it sounded quite good. Had a hot pickup in it. Very Happy

Kevin Brown · From: England

I own a dynamic, an oahu and comet 8 with legs. I have had pass through, a cream and grey supro and a black and white 6 as in my avatar.
They all sound fat and funky, the comet 8 the loudest, really shreds any amp I put it through.
They have all needed work on pole piece height, tuner button replacement etc. They can be mushy on the bottom so for me sound best in A or G 6th. They all came with plaid 3 piece suits unlike the stetsons with the stringmaster, your either Stetson or Plaid (maybe both would look funky !)
They are all very much 'keepers'

Keith Cordell · From: San Diego

I think the reason you hear about the Supro's as great distorted steels is because the are SOOOOO good at it that we overlook their clean virtues- and most other lap steels just can't get close to a hot Supro driven hard through an amp. It's not about the clean tone being bad, it's the dirty tone being GREAT.

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