Which kit (100w, 50w, lead, bass)?

[messenger]

I'd like to pick up a kit, but am unsure which to get. What are the sonic differences between the Lead and Bass and the 100w and 50w? I play hard rock/80s metal. I play lead. I like DeMartinis and Lynchs Plexi tones

[Roe]

I'd get a super lead for lynch & martini. lead is brighter and more distorted than bass. 50 is more compressed, 100w more big and open

[flemingmras]

I'd like to pick up a kit, but am unsure which to get. What are the sonic differences between the Lead and Bass and the 100w and 50w? I play hard rock/80s metal. I play lead. I like DeMartinis and Lynchs Plexi tones

Definitely go 100 watt for the 80s tone and you'll probably want to build the later era circuit (like a '68 or '69) since they sound a bit tighter than the earlier era circuits.

I'm an 80s metalhead myself and through overdriving a 100 watt Super Lead through Celestion G12H-30 Anniversary series speakers I can damn near nail any 80s tone I want.

Here's a soundclip of one of my 100 watters with a Les Paul loaded with EMG 81/85s. Amp completely dimed, cranked through the Bright channel (Volume I) with a Marshall Power Brake.

Sound Clip

Also, a lot of those guys were using heavily modded Marshalls (especially Martini and Lynch...Lynch used Metaltronix a lot of the time, which was just a heavily modded Marshall circuit). The Marshall JMP-1 preamp was another great piece of gear I used in place of the stock preamp in my Metro amps (ran them straight into the phase inverter through a master volume). With a '73 Marshall cab with G12H-30 Greenbacks and the JMP-1 I could nail Judas Priest's 80s guitar tone to a T very easily.