New belated (old) amp day

dudu

I've had this '74 Superlead for a few weeks, but I've been waiting for the honeymoon phase to end before bragging about it. As it is a collector piece I was worried it wouldn't sound great. I'm happy to say it sounds every bit as good as it looks and will be with me for a while.

I've had or played a fair share of Marshall reproductions or derivative amps - Bray, Germino, Metropoulos, Suhr, Friedman. They were all a bit better (or more featureful) in some ways by virtue of being built by modern standards, but none of them balanced punch, bite, overtones and feel quite as well as this one. They would have a few sweet spots that I gravitated between, while this one sounds and feels really good pretty much everywhere on the dials. Between this and my 2555SL I am more than covered for Marshall sounds, which is why my 2203 is now up for sale

McToot

Looks fab. 

p90fool

Nice!

ICBM

That's unbelievably clean! Must have been a bedroom amp .

The usual warnings apply with these - make sure the bias caps are OK (they fail more often than the main filters), make *really* sure the awful pull-out/fall-out impedance and mains voltage selectors are making solid contact, and be careful with that Bulgin cable...

This one is so much a collectors item that I would skip the usual advice to get all those things replaced, which are essential for a gigging amp.

lukedlb

Wow, very clean. Impressive.

clarkefan

Congrats and enjoy, what a lovely thing!  How do you plan on using it?  Bright cap still in place, but will you clip/change it?

dudu

clarkefan said:

Congrats and enjoy, what a lovely thing!  How do you plan on using it?  Bright cap still in place, but will you clip/change it?

Thanks! I don't really want to change anything about it. It is indeed very bright at low volumes but I can crank it through a reactive load and power amp setup and it evens out really well.