Zinky & Zinky Supro Amp Owners' Club

[Mfatstrat]

Blue Velvet Combo

Just purchased a BV Combo and what a surprise. I was already familiar with Bruce Zinky after owning a Fender Prosonic that I purchased new in the early 90s. The amp for 25W is loud. The emminence speaker sounds great. Imo the clean channel sounds great with any guitar. I have played a PRS CE22, Les Paul Standard, Tele Deluxe and they just sing. Perfect size for gigging. At 40 lbs easy to carry around. Next time you get a chance you need to check one of these baby's out. With all of the boutique amps in the 3,000 to 4,000 range these days. This amp is a steal at 1000 to 1200 street price. The amp doesn't have separate eq controls, but you can dial in any tone with the singe tone knob. Just an awesome amp. Been playing tube amps for over 40 years.

 

[MojoSolo]

Zinky tech needed in DFW

Finally, a Zinky forum where people have not only heard of my amp, they have them too!
I run a BV 25 watt combo day to day, and have the BV 50 watt half stack for gigging. The only drawback is that these are early runs and the effects loops significantly repress the volume and tone, even with a jumper from send to return. Zinky offered the fix last time I checked, but I would have to ship to Flagstaff, AZ. Does anyone know a tech in the Dallas/Fort Worth area that is familiar with our amps?
My reverb is out in the head as well. Bruce told me to reverse the jacks and it worked for a little while then went out for good.
Thanks,
Mojo

 

[soul-o]

A black velvet Zinky is my main gigging amp. I really wanted the blue velvet one, but I got this used at a good price. To my ears, it's the closest sounding thing to a Vibro King in a 1x12 combo.

 

[ezcaster]

Velveteen

I swear on Zinky's magic very often.
In fact, his lil' amp saved my life! I had serious back problems many years ago and finally quit carrying heavy amps (used to own many great Fenders, few Marshalls and other) hoping some day I could find me a small, lightweight but loud amp with addictive tone cos I play for 30+ years and spend good time on the road. Now, the Velveteen is a true monster! I never quite understand how in the world a small box with 2 tubes (6L6/12ax7 - 13W) and a 10" speaker (Jensen Neo) inside can produce such a huge tone, amazing headroom (consider its size and power) and tough attitude...to this day, after many years of playing live to big and small clubs (even at some open air events few times) still continuously surprises me.
I have the (prob rare now) version with just the lightnin' and no Supro word, all stock except some tube replacing over the years. Built like a tank.
Sonically, it ain't Fender, it ain't Marshall, Vox or anything else.
If you're looking to duplicate a tone you love from these brands, well, you might find a hard time trying...but if you want to create a more distinctive sound personalizing your playing, this amp is a great place to start.
I play mostly blues and some RnR and since I found the Velveteen really my life in music changed. Last, though tiny in power and size, loves pedals and handles them with no problems at all.
Below are a couple of clips to get an idea.

 

[Rialas]

Another new Zinky owner here. Scrolling through ebay yesterday, ended up buying a cute amp, and it's a beast for its small size

 

[soul-o]

Ha! I'm looking at this old thread and seeing that I have posted almost the exact same post there times over the years. At least I am consistent.

Here's some footage of my Zinky in action (sorry I left the tele at home this day, lads)-

 

[Rialas]

Seems I had a lucky find.
I've been practicing with my 70's fender reverb and wanted something low powered to try a bit of valve overdriving.
I searched for fender champ on eBay and this zinky came up. Could'nt find much info on them, but looked interesting. Hasn't disappointed.

 

[Rialas]

Reading through some posts here, I'm having the same problem with hum.
Can anyone recommend a good place to get the mods done in London to quieten it down a little.
I can live with it, but would prefer it sorted.

Also, any external cab recommendations (16 ohm) to give it a little more depth.
Cheers.

 

[Rialas]

Another Zinky owner

I stumbled across this club while trawling the fender amps page, have had several varieties of those and still got a couple left. Anyway managed to acquire a rare green velvet 18 watt 1x12 Zinky combo last year, one owner lightly used, I instantly liked the tone and ease of use of this little amp, but found that the UK mains hum generated by this amp was too much for recording, but OK for gigging.
So... during the winter, corresponded with Bruce by email, he was very prompt in his replies and helpful but stated that this was the loudest single ended amp he had designed and a bit of hum was acceptable and suggested I looked at the power caps, which I'd already changed and upped their ratings....hmmmmm!
Eventually had to take it to an amp tech, we devised a circuit diagram from what we could see, and came to the conclusion that an old school power choke had to be included in the power circuit, Danbury Transformers UK came up with a suitable one,and am pleased to say it did the trick, hum significantly reduced, and with the new power caps, more headroom..so it's louder and punchy now, and no loss of original tone.It's now near the top of my favorites and is good for small/medium sized gigs

Hi there,
Sorry, I know it's an old post (hope you're still around), who did the work to your amp?
My tech didn't want to attempt modifying my velveteen.

Bruce has promptly and kindly replied with suggestions to reduce the hum, but need and experienced tech to do the work.
Cheers.

 

[Adamhood1000]

I have a Supro Tremolectric. The Drive channel is much quieter than the clean channel at the same master volume setting. It makes the drive channel pretty useless except in studio situations. Does anyone else have the same problem?

 

[Rialas]

Hi everyone,
I've just put my Zinky Velveteen on eBay.
Rare amp, immaculate.
Pickup up, North London.

Shall I post a link?

 

[Rialas]

Got the tagging wrong,

Here it is. Cheers.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112210436924

 

[Rialas]

Also selling my Supro 1650rt Royal Reverb.

Absolute beauty but alas too loud for my requirements now.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112211920018

 

[Misty Mountain]

My tremolectric.

 

[DoC Brown]

My Supro Mofo 25

 

[Venusisle1976]

My Supro Tremolectric 50 with 1X15 Eminence Legend ..its in like new condition, removable casters for easier mobility.. such great amps.. When Bruce said these were the next step in evolution of the Vibro King, he was right on.. what an amp

 

[Venusisle1976]

I also have an earlier Supro Tremolectric thats seen alot of stage and studio usage, its not the minty example of my other one but it sounds heavenly as well and has the original Supro 3X10 speaker configuration

 

[newstrings]

Greetings!
I just received a Zinky Sahara that I bought used. Tubes were out, and I'm wondering if anyone knows the config on this, as the EL84s and 12AX7s will fit in any of the sockets.

I'm assuming the power tubes are the two closest to the rear of the chassis, in the larger circular cutouts, and the pre-amp tubes are the other two, one near the front, and the other on the right at the rear (as you look at the back of the chassis).

I did email Bruce but haven't heard back yet.

Thanks!

 

[Ascension]

My 25 watt Blue velvet unmiced .

From another conference running the 25 watt Velvet.

 

[Deepspacepilots]

Hello everyone. So I need some help. Today I purchased a Supro Taurus from an estate sale. The man running the sale also gave me some parts for other Supro amps. Amongst the parts was an entirely functional Supro Sahara by Bruce Zinky serial #055. It’s all there and sounds fantastic. However, there is no housing for all the electronics. I had to sit it in a milk crate. I am wondering if anyone knows where I could get a proper housing for the amp? I would like to be a good steward to this amp and put it in its proper housing. Thank you.