A few years back, amp builder Mitch Colby and music producer Perry Margouleff teamed with Jimmy Page to introduce the Sundragon amp (VG “Approved Gear,” July ’19), a reproduction of Page’s Supro heard on the first Led Zeppelin album.

For their next act, the trio is offering the Super Dragon, a re-creation of the ’68 Marshall Super Bass used by Page for live and studio work starting with Led Zeppelin II. Page debuted the Super Dragon during his Link Wray tribute performance for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November, and the team offered VG first chance to give it a try.

To build the intended run of 50 Super Dragons to Page’s exact specs, certain parts were custom-designed, including transformers, chassis and speakers. Tubes are NOS including a quartet of GE 6550 power tubes, a pair of Mullard 12AX7s in the preamp, and an RCA phase inverter. Other electronics include Iskra and Allen Bradley resistors, along with Phillips “mustard” caps. The circuit in a planned lower-cost version will be dressed differently.

With a 1960 Les Paul Standard running into Channel One, the Super Dragon produced a smooth, musical distortion with its Volume control around 10:00, but kept notes articulate as it was turned up to dimed. With all controls full up (where the amp is producing about 150 watts), even arpeggiated passages remained clear, each note distinct. Unlike modern Master Volume amps that noticeably compress every note, the Super Dragon accentuates the dynamics according to picking attack, which at first feels a bit unforgiving but ultimately proved highly rewarding. Channel Two introduced more low-end but remained highly responsive, retaining the articulation of the treble channel. While Channel One is brighter, it presents enough low-end so there’s no need to “jump” channels, as is commonly done with vintage Marshalls. If jumping is your thing, the Super Dragon can handle it, no problem.

The Super Dragon was equally at home with a ’63 Strat, accentuating the tonal differences of all pickup combinations, and sounding huge through all of them. Despite the lower output of the Strat’s pickups, the guitar (rather surprisingly) pushed the amp into breakup. It also responded well when an Ibanez TS-5 Tubescreamer was introduced, producing more dirt, tonal variety, and seemingly endless sustain.

Regardless of the guitar being used, the Super Dragon is dynamically responsive to an instrument’s Volume controls, to the point of having its full array of sounds at one’s fingertips; even with all amp settings on 10, overdrive can be regulated from the guitar’s Volume pot – from a heavy distortion when full up to a gorgeous clean tone when backed off a few notches.

Sold as a head and 4×12 cab, the Super Dragon is dressed in a patterned black Tolex, and each will be signed by Jimmy Page.

This article originally appeared in VG’s March 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.