100 Watt Marshall sounds ‘Better’ than 50 Watt Marshall?

[walkman]

Hi all,

Read the following article mentioning Marshall Superbass 100 watt amps.

https://www.musicradar.com/news/tom-bukovac-on-his-favourite-guitar-amp-of-all-time-and-why-the-100-watt-version-is-better-than-a-50-watt

Of course ‘Better’ is subjective, but with overall volume aside is there any significant difference between the 100 Watt and 50watt Superbass amps that really is audible and not listening with your eyes?

As a guess, i wonder that the noticeable volume difference between a 100watt on 4 vs 50watt on 4 is what makes is sound better, punchier ?

Another guess might be the output transformer being different  wattage rating / wire gauge or winds or manufacturer ?
I don’t know

As for headroom, the addition of 2 extra tubes means that on the face of it  you would think that can be a bit louder ( not sure how much exactly) at the same on the volume,  though i am wondering if the phase inverter responds differently or the feedback amount to the preamp is different ?

Lastly the mention of the lay down power transformer, makes me think that it may be that the PT for the 100watt may be better or worse specked for the job it has to do vs the 50 watt.

One thing to note iin the article is they talk about the clean setting, how they compare at fully cranked I don’t know.
I haven’t studied these amps in detail and have a general familiarity about Marshalls.

So asking the question here rather than a Marshall based forum, not to argue about very specific details of a individual amp with serial number xxxxxxxx rather for more general discussion about design and perhaps component choices, not to find out which is the better amp or can i build an exact replica, FOMO, or Marshall are planning a reissue and seeding the music industry press ;-) etc etc.

[HotBluePlates]

... is there any significant difference between the 100 Watt and 50watt Superbass amps that really is audible and not listening with your eyes? ...

Big Amps "sound bigger."  That's it.

The guy who designs & builds Komet amps has told people the best living room amp is a Twin Reverb.  Turn it barely on to a comfortable living room volume, and there's so much headroom that the available dynamic range is very large and the amp puts out whatever you put in.

It's not about the cranked sound (though some would say that is better as well, for similar reasons).  And it's not limited to a particular Marshall head:  my 1960s AC30s through a pairs of 12s sound better than my 1960s AC10 through a pair of 10s.  At the same loudness, the AC30 has much more weight & authority to its sound.



Once upon a time, these were the amps in my apartment living room.  I mostly had the Super Reverb put away, so I would play the Pro Reverb most of the time.  But often I'd pull out the Super Reverb as well.  I played either one of those much more than the other 2 amps.

[shooter]

take HBP's train of thought, add a pedal box Dejour in front and you get pretty close to full cranked sound, VOL on 2, or any other "sound" the pedals add.