45/100 Dickinson Specs vs Superlead Kit

[Ydna]

The title says it all, I am seriously stuck between the two. I really like the sound of the Dickinson 45/100 at the Monterey Pop, and I really like the screaming sound of a superlead, and I am stuck. I'm leaning towards the 45/100, because I've heard it has more variety in tones, but it's almost 1,700 compared to the 1,100 for a Superlead kit. Listening to the Monterey videos, i'm thinking I can get the 45/100 to scream without any pedals. Anyone want to help my decision?

[VintageCharlie]

This is a topic that i'm interested in too. I've pretty much settled on the 45/100, but am still looking at diffferent Marshall "neighbors" - including the Super lead/bass and the small er brothers - JTM-45 and JTM/JMP-50. From the clips i have heard, the 45/100 sounds "best" to my ear - meaning it has the tone i really would like to have. I don't know if it's more versatile - not sure - if "versatile" means covering lots of rock tones from records and live gigs, i suppose el34 super lead or bass would be the ticket, as it's a very long era in comparison to 45/100. But, if versatile means having great cleans, verge of breakup and crunh all in one amp, i think the 45/100 (from clips i've heard and from what i've read) might be the best choice. I recently ran over a clip that made me shaky about this choice, but i think that the amp was either not pushed enough or the volume on the guitar was turned down too much (it lacked the richness to the crunch that one can hear in JTM-45's) - but all other wel recorded clips sound fantastic to my ear. Dickinson spec would bring it a bit closer to the SL, while it would still have the benefits of a JTM-45'ish amps harmonic and crunch richness (which to my ear is unparalleled). This would make it more of a cross-breed between a JTM-45 and a 100w Super Lead. If it is waht i imagine, i can't think of anything better.

Good luck on the tone pursuit!


VintageCharlie

[Ydna]

Thanks for the post, I'll most likely build the Dickinson 45/100 now. I just got this Fender Dual Showman, but this amp's clean channel stays clean to 10. And the distortion channel has a gain, so it's hard to get Power tube distortion. I must say though, for Preamp distortion, the Fender Dual Showman sounds quite good.

[VintageCharlie]

Btw. i noticed the Sano Supersonic in your sig - what is it and what does it eat during winter? How oes it sound? I read it's an accordion amp - magnatone and PhilX came to my mind instantly - does it have a great drive?

Kind regards,

VintageCharlie

[Ydna]

Yes, it's an old accordion amp. My grandfather is a professional accordion player, and he bought it new in 1963. It's about the size of a 2x12, but it has a 15 inch speaker, and one 8 inch. It's got a great mello tone, I use it to play in my high schools jazzband. There isn't enough treble in the amp for blues, rock, those kind of genres. So I boost the treble with my wah, then crank it. It has a great sounding distortion, with my SG, I can get a really great sounding Cream tone out of it. I have 12ax7s in the preamp (It had 12au7s before). The power tubes are 8417s, which are not made anymore. I have a pair in the amp, then 2 pairs around the house, then after that, I'll have to modify the amp to put different tubes in. Only thing is, the thing hums like no other.