KMC Music Appointed the Exclusive United States Distributor of Supro Amps

Adding a powerful new line to its growing portfolio of MI and pro audio products, KMC Music (www.kmcmusic.com) today announced that Absara Audio LLC has appointed the company to serve as the exclusive United States distributor of Supro amplifiers (www.suprousa.com), the iconic line of guitar amps that have inspired guitarists since the dawn of electrified music.  

Out of production since the late 1960s, an entirely new line of vintage inspired Supro amplifiers was introduced to the world in 2014 when Absara Audio LLC acquired the rights to the Supro brand from former Fender amp designer and longtime Pigtronix associate Bruce Zinky.  Zinky and Absara Audio founder and President David Koltai have collaborated to create the modern incarnation of the classic Supro “sound” that KMC Music will now make available to the more than 6500 dealers in its nationwide retail network.  The Supro line-up includes the Coronado, Dual-Tone, Royal Reverb, Saturn Reverb, Thunderbolt, and Thunderbolt Plus models as well as the upcoming Tremo-verb model which will be released in July, through KMC distribution. 

“The appointment of KMC Music to serve as our exclusive United States distributor marks the next giant step forward in the return of this legendary American brand,” Koltai said today. “The explosive success of Supro’s rebirth, combined with our 5-year history of working with KMC Music to build Pigtronix into a powerhouse in the pedal category, has paved the way for Supro to now become a nationally distributed marquee brand for KMC. We are proud to partner with KMC’s visionary new leadership and dedicated sales force to provide dealers with in-the-field brand representation, merchandising support, enhanced logistics and world class customer service.”

According to KMC Music President Mark Terry, “We are proud and excited to be able to offer our retailers the entire Supro product line.  The addition of Supro to our rapidly growing portfolio further strengthens our position as the number one resource for dealers to meet all of their product needs.”

Supro's origins can be traced back to the early '30s when the National Resophonic and Dobro guitar companies merged to form a manufacturing entity called Valco. As electrified music started to emerge, Valco began producing guitars and amplifiers under the Supro name. Supro amps delivered the tone of choice for the early '60s south-side Chicago blues players who in turn influenced the British invasion. By the late '60s, Jimi Hendrix was playing a Supro Thunderbolt amp on tour with Little Richard and the Isley Brothers; meanwhile, in England, Jimmy Page cut seminal Led Zeppelin tracks using a 1x12 Supro combo amp. Now, some 50 years later, sales of Supro reissue tube amps are increasing worldwide with consistently glowing reviews and numerous awards piling up. Guitar icons such as Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Joe Walsh (The Eagles), Brian Setzer (Stray Cats), Robby Krieger (The Doors), Steve Stevens (Billy Idol), David Hidalgo (Los Lobos), Adrian Belew (King Crimson), Eric Krasno (Soulive) and many others are using Supro amps in studios and on stages everywhere.

SpeakerCraft Now Shipping All-New Amplifier Series

SpeakerCraft, from leading home entertainment and control technology solutions provider Core Brands, today announced its newest series of amplifiers is now shipping. The new line is available from 50, 100 and 150 watt stereo amps to 12 and 16 channel amps with 30 and 50 watts per channel respectively. 

“SpeakerCraft’s new amps are designed to make installation easier and more straightforward than ever before,” Core Brands Audio Marketing Manager, Matt Dever said. “This new series gives our dealers the product they require for any size installation, and enables them to place power where it’s needed for any system, large or small.”

The 2-channel digital, high-current, bridgeable stereo amplifiers—the SC2-50, SC2-100 and SC2-150—offer classic SpeakerCraft power and stability, bringing extremely high current power to custom installed A/V systems. With independent level controls, each amplifier channel enables precise volume matching to the rest of the system. These level controls can also limit volume to prevent abuse of the system.   

The 12-channel fully configurable SC12-30 power amplifier delivers a solid 30 watts per channel RMS into 8 ohms and 40 watts per channel RMS into 4 ohms. This provides the energy necessary to efficiently deliver solid, deep, controlled bass response to a house full of speakers. The SC12-30 comes equipped with a unique BusMatrix™ selector, enabling users to assign each channel to a common Left, Right, or Mono signal bus, or to a dedicated signal input. The BusMatrix™ incorporates advanced PCB construction ensuring extremely high channel-to-channel isolation, providing signal to noise ratios and cross-talk equivalent to a professional mixing board found in a recording studio.

The SC16-50 is a 16-channel TCP/IP fully configurable power amplifier with a web-based IP configuration utility that provides independent EQ adjustments and volume level for each amplifier channel, enabling the user to EQ and set volume levels for 16 different speakers individually. Each of the SC16-50’s eight adjacent speaker output pairs are configurable into a single high power output, enabling the user to create up to eight 100-watt channels using a web-based IP configuration utility. This enables greater power allocation to specific locations, such as large rooms or outdoor applications.

“These new amps share the same industrial design with the new MRA-664 multi-room audio controller,” Dever added. “Together they deliver a branded audio distribution solution that is perfect for any size installation.”

All of the new amps feature three turn-on modes: music sense, external voltage trigger, and manual turn-on via the front panel switch. Additionally, each model in the series has a total harmonic distortion of 0.2% THD from 20Hz to 20kHz, and a 12-volt control out. The audio circuitry is constructed with the finest parts available, including 1% metal film resistors, high quality capacitors and oversized hear sinks for clear and uncolored sound.

Every amplifier in the new series comes with rack mount ears, a removable line chord and a two year limited warranty. SpeakerCraft’s new amps have been tested and certified in the US, Canada, EU and Australia safety and EMC standards.