the deluxe reverb is going to be the best clean tone for sure and have the ebst feel when pushed because of the tube rectifier.... also, channel switchers are inherently less reliable ebcause even high end gold plated relays are sensitive to changes in temp and humidity and have a much shorter lifespan than all the other parts in the amp.... and the supersonic also has a lot more features even not controlled by relays! all those mini-pushbottom PCB switches are also prone to failure and if they fell in a 'full off' position they will disable the channel. Will this happen to YOUR supersonic? Got me. But its more to worry about if you're gigging/touring without a backup. For all the reissues faults I would feel safer with the clssic, bulletproof design of the DR even though its built on a budget friendly PCB (I am not entirely antiPCB, but fender doesn't use military grade ones that I feel great about and even the toughest PCBs are more delicate to work on in a dressing room right before a show whereas traditional fender eyelet construction used up until 1980 is easy to do simple repairs to in a hurry without fear of making a new problem while fixing the old one).
in favor of the supersonic? its clean channel gets in the ballpark of the 2 blackface preamp voicings (bassman and everything else -- yes, every BF fender but the bassman shares the same preamp)... its 2 channel and the gain channel soudsn pretty good as these type of designs go (some people really like this whole style of amp, me? not so much, but this one's well done, especially at this price point) and is capable of a lot of shades of dirt. The whole amp is pretty versatile and comes in 2 wattages that both sound pretty good and you can get the one that's right for you. Oddly, for this amp I prefer the extra headroom of the 6L6 version. Downside apart from fear of the complicated circuitry failing at a show? Lots of knobs to set. If you use channel oneof a DRRI its a volume bass and tone. You can get a sound up in seconds, especially if you're a pedal guy and you just need the ebst baseline tone. Just dial up bass 2, treble 5 or 6 volume between 3 and 6 and lean on your effects which regardless of your effects setup will work with like every pedal ever designed at any settigns thata ren't completely stupid in basically any room on the planet. Try it and see..... on the other side of it even the clean channel of the supersonic has a lot more to set and worry about before you can start playing. Its the sort of amp that will need some recall marks drawn on gaff tape over every knob so you can get your baseline tone at a gig in a hurry. Unlike voxes fenders do not sound good at EVERY setting.... a vox never does fender well but it always soudns awesome even at seemingly random and stupid settings because there are very few controls and their range is limited and itneractive ina musical way whereas the fender is a whole different thing where the the controls have more range than they need because the preamp was designed to make lots of different size amps work with any electric isntument, not just guitar. So the simpelr the fender you can get the faster you can set up and the less need you'll have for recall sheets or stickers. And that reminds me of the last point inf avor of the supersonic, in abssman mode channel oen can be used for bass and if you get the 40 watt 6L6 version ina head you could wire it up to a big cab and use it for bass live in a pretty big venue and get a good aproximation of the 60s bassman sound. The deluxe reverb will never do that.
last point? the supersonic looks cool but its not as iconic as a vintage cosmetic blackface. I like what they did modernizing the brownface and blackface design for the sonics, I do, but there's soemthing great about the old fender models just like the look of a towering marshall stack, an ac30, a pair of Levi's, converse chuck taylors or a Harley Davidson. Some thigns can't be improved on, not because theya re perfect, but ebcause they have represented a whole style and aesthetic for so long. I like to have some classic look on me and behind me ons tage, wearing levis or a beatles suit while standing inf ront of an old amp gives me confidence that I'm part of a line of good guitar playing and sounds going back to the birth of amplified sound. Consider that the look oficonic amps is so iconic because the designs and sounds are iconic. Maybe they can be improved on but they are part of the world's music vocabulary like the violin, snare drum, accordion, whatever.... I find that ts great to have access to some soudns that everyone knows as 'electric guitar' in the way a stradivarius is what classical people imagine when you say 'violin tone'. Its great to innovate too, but man, its good to have the legit, real deal classic and the DRRI is clsoer than the supersonic.
If you can afford it get an original silverface deluxe reverb. Its about 99% of the best blackface examples, almost the same amp in every way that contributes to tone.
also, the reissue silverface is actually nothing like a realy silverface, tis designed with elss headroom than a blackface or DRRI, whereas a real sivlerface has a little MORE headroom, although both the real silverface and reissue silverface are a little less sparkly than an original blackface all things like tubes and speakers being equal. If you don't mind the tendency to beak up early the silverface reissue actually soudns ebtter than the blackface resissue to me, it just isn't as good an effects paltform at gigs. Used on its own its a better amp for the buck though. Bets value for dollar to me though is still the original silverfces. They are pricey but bulletproof and great sounding with the kinda transformers that only come in boutique amps nowadays.
You may also wanna check into Allen amps that makes a pile of boutique variations on the brownface and blackface princeton, deluxe and princeton/deluxe reverb amps (whicha re all super similar designs apart from power tube bias, rectifier tube, phase inverter design and channel count. VERY similar. I actually like the princeont better than the deluxe for tone in blackface though I really like the brownface deluxe without reverb, its a beast, halfway ebtween a tremolux and a deluxe reverb, a real rock machine with a touch of clean.
I'm not quite sure what MY preference is FOR YOU, but for me I would go DR based on proven reliability, quick dialing in of tones and just being so sued to that amp because its been amplifying guitars longer than I've been playing them! Its a sound we all know and a control set we can all handle without thinking, but it does the 60s fender thing and NOTHING else and it won't bark unless its at 9 or 10.
