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hi all
originally, i wanted to post this already last weekend, but i could'nt stop playin.... [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
so well, here is my review of my baby called laney GH 50L with a matching laney cab
for those who are too lazy to read whole novels, i'm just saying this: KICKASS!!!
for those who want me to get more in detail....alright..
first, the specs:
it's a 50w all tube head, made in england. its basically a 1 1/2 channel amp, which means that you got one channel and a switchable fifth gain stage. yeah, five gain stages. makes it pretty useful for low volume practice late at night....but more later
on the front theres the standard stuff....bass, mid, treble, presence, master volume, gain, drive (the drive boost), 2 inputs, and a handy feature called resonance switch. i basically tightens up your bass and makes the overall sound fuller. i'll tell you later [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
on the back theres a loop thats switchable. you got bypass, series and parallel, and the fx mix control. furthermore, theres a bias switch which changes the bias from 6l6 to el34 in no time. very useful if you are a tweaker and often change tubes. stock its equipped with 6l6 tubes and 12ax7 preamp tubes.
another nice thing are the slave jacks. it basically means that you can either use the preamp of this amp and use it as a master preamp for other (laney) heads, or you can use it as a poweramp for another preamp. ( i dont know if one should use those jacks when using it as a poweramp for a rack setup or if one should use the fx loop for this application. can anyone tell me?)
last but not least there are shitloads of outputs with all kinds of resistance....4,8,16ohm, everything.
the cab is equipped with 4 h+h speakers, 75w each. makes it a 300w cab. its built pretty well, its closed back....and damn, its a cab, it doesnt have much stuff going on technically [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
the most important category.....the SOUND.
in short words: amazing. unbelievable. awesome. godlike. allmighty. whatever [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
alright....the first channel is like a crunch channel. it doesnt get very high gain wise, even when using the hi input. with the gain maxed and using the hi input it has just enough gain to play black sabbath tunes like paranoid. for leads i'd boost it with a stompbox, though. THIS CHANNEL IS VERY DYNAMIC! gain on 10, hi input, and even with hi output dimarzio pickups you're able to clean things up very nice. it won't get fender clean, maybe with a strat, but not with a metal guitar [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] i usually set the gain for this channel at 7. this way you get the perfect balance between crunch and clean. you can set the gain very low and use it as a clean channel only, but its not recommended. i'll explain that later.
i have to admit that i don't know how it can sound clean, because i usually set the eq for my drive channel and work with my fingers and the guitar pots when playing clean. but i was able to get very vintage sounding clean sounds as well as more modern sound. dunno how it cuts when used with lots of fx because i play dry.
a word of warning: if you ever try this mofo out, be sure to bring diapers. you'll shit your pants once you set the drive channel correct. but lets take it step by step
first of all: i said you're better off setting the gain quite high and the drive depending on your taste. thats because if you set the gain at 3 and turn drive up to 10, you get a sounds thats quite distorted, but it sounds like shit. in order to achieve good sounds from the drive channel you have to turn the gain up. it sounds best at gain 10 and drive 5 or 6 (which is enough to play metal, believe me) but this way you'll sacrifice your clean channel. so as i said above, the best thing is to set gain at 7 and drive at 7 or 8. thats fuckin distorted, i tell you! with both gains at 10 its quite noisy, but every tube amp is, especially with this crazy gain level. its not "rectifier with gain at 10" crazy, but its surely enough to play brutal death metal. its a bit more distorted than cannibal corpse on gore obsessed. both gains at 7 and you good bloodthirst. thats enough, believe me [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
the resonance is quite handy, especially if you play alone (or if you hate your bass player). you have to be careful how to set the presence with the resonance on, because presence high and resonance on and the sound goes downhill. so with high presence settings either set bass at ~6 and resonance on, or resonance off and bass at ~9. i prefer bass at 6 because with resonance on its tighter.
the treble control seems to add lots of high midrange which can get quite harsh and piercing, so i prefer the presence high and treble lower. you got to be careful with your presence settings, because once you reached 8-9, it gets VERY fast very shrill. up to 8, you can turn it lets say about one or two notches if you want more presence, but once you reached 8 even small adjustments will cause drastic changes in sound.
i have it equipped with 6l6 tubes, and because of this it sounds quite lame with mids high. i'd say dont turn it past 6 or 7 with 6l6 tubes, it sounds like shit (imo). i have it set at 3, thats perfect for me.
as always, the master volume is the key to the great sounds. because of the five gain stages you can play metal at bedroom volume, but it really wakes up at ~2. by the way: THATS FUCKING LOUD!!! seriously, you can kill yourself with volume with this fucker. i'm quite sure i'm able to play unmiced medium size gigs and dont turn it past 5. under 2, it sounds a bit thicker and muddier, and over 2 it gets just brutal. the higher you set it the better your crunch sounds by the way. with volume at 1,5 your acdc licks will sound like played through a gorilla amp....with volume at 2 or even higher (if you are tough enough to turn it higher [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] ) it sounds like angus is playing through your rig.
so, to sum it up, its killer. i can get sounds ranging from rectifier hardcore madness to zakk wylde on the drive channel, and on the crunch you get everything from old black sabbath over acdc up to a clean sound thats somewhere in the middle between marshall and fender.
actually, with 6l6 tubes it sound a LOT like a rectifier, a jcm800 + sd1 and a mark series mesa thrown in a melting pot and mixed together. just in the middle between marshall and mesa. its not quite marshall, not quite mesa. i guess its laney [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] ive been told that with el34 it sounds - obviously - way more british and emphasizes the marshall character. i'll try it out once i got some money lol.
so basically, if you cant decide between marshall and mesa, i recommend the laney. its a great amp if youre on a budget, because i paid 600 euro for the halfstack @ ebay. thats what you got to pay if you buy the cab alone new.
one note: if you got it new and try to find useable sound, dont set the controls too extreme. i made that mistake and it sounded alright at lower volume, but it turned to shit when played loud. as a rule of thumb, don't set the controls anywhere more than +-2,5 from neutral position.
obviously, there are better amps out there. its not even close to a überschall or a diezel or whatever. but for the money, its hard to beat. you gotta keep in mind that for 600 euro you hardly get a tube amp, you won't even get a marshall dfx solid state halfstack. i paid 360 euro for the head, and thats what cheap randall heads usually go for *g*
my settings: resonance on, presence 6,bass 5,5, mids 3, treble 6, master as high as i can stand it, gain 7, drive 7, high input. zakk wylde *headbang*
greets
fragle
ps: i hope i didnt upset anyone by writing so much stuff....lol
originally, i wanted to post this already last weekend, but i could'nt stop playin.... [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
so well, here is my review of my baby called laney GH 50L with a matching laney cab
for those who are too lazy to read whole novels, i'm just saying this: KICKASS!!!
for those who want me to get more in detail....alright..
first, the specs:
it's a 50w all tube head, made in england. its basically a 1 1/2 channel amp, which means that you got one channel and a switchable fifth gain stage. yeah, five gain stages. makes it pretty useful for low volume practice late at night....but more later
on the front theres the standard stuff....bass, mid, treble, presence, master volume, gain, drive (the drive boost), 2 inputs, and a handy feature called resonance switch. i basically tightens up your bass and makes the overall sound fuller. i'll tell you later [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
on the back theres a loop thats switchable. you got bypass, series and parallel, and the fx mix control. furthermore, theres a bias switch which changes the bias from 6l6 to el34 in no time. very useful if you are a tweaker and often change tubes. stock its equipped with 6l6 tubes and 12ax7 preamp tubes.
another nice thing are the slave jacks. it basically means that you can either use the preamp of this amp and use it as a master preamp for other (laney) heads, or you can use it as a poweramp for another preamp. ( i dont know if one should use those jacks when using it as a poweramp for a rack setup or if one should use the fx loop for this application. can anyone tell me?)
last but not least there are shitloads of outputs with all kinds of resistance....4,8,16ohm, everything.
the cab is equipped with 4 h+h speakers, 75w each. makes it a 300w cab. its built pretty well, its closed back....and damn, its a cab, it doesnt have much stuff going on technically [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
the most important category.....the SOUND.
in short words: amazing. unbelievable. awesome. godlike. allmighty. whatever [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
alright....the first channel is like a crunch channel. it doesnt get very high gain wise, even when using the hi input. with the gain maxed and using the hi input it has just enough gain to play black sabbath tunes like paranoid. for leads i'd boost it with a stompbox, though. THIS CHANNEL IS VERY DYNAMIC! gain on 10, hi input, and even with hi output dimarzio pickups you're able to clean things up very nice. it won't get fender clean, maybe with a strat, but not with a metal guitar [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] i usually set the gain for this channel at 7. this way you get the perfect balance between crunch and clean. you can set the gain very low and use it as a clean channel only, but its not recommended. i'll explain that later.
i have to admit that i don't know how it can sound clean, because i usually set the eq for my drive channel and work with my fingers and the guitar pots when playing clean. but i was able to get very vintage sounding clean sounds as well as more modern sound. dunno how it cuts when used with lots of fx because i play dry.
a word of warning: if you ever try this mofo out, be sure to bring diapers. you'll shit your pants once you set the drive channel correct. but lets take it step by step
first of all: i said you're better off setting the gain quite high and the drive depending on your taste. thats because if you set the gain at 3 and turn drive up to 10, you get a sounds thats quite distorted, but it sounds like shit. in order to achieve good sounds from the drive channel you have to turn the gain up. it sounds best at gain 10 and drive 5 or 6 (which is enough to play metal, believe me) but this way you'll sacrifice your clean channel. so as i said above, the best thing is to set gain at 7 and drive at 7 or 8. thats fuckin distorted, i tell you! with both gains at 10 its quite noisy, but every tube amp is, especially with this crazy gain level. its not "rectifier with gain at 10" crazy, but its surely enough to play brutal death metal. its a bit more distorted than cannibal corpse on gore obsessed. both gains at 7 and you good bloodthirst. thats enough, believe me [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
the resonance is quite handy, especially if you play alone (or if you hate your bass player). you have to be careful how to set the presence with the resonance on, because presence high and resonance on and the sound goes downhill. so with high presence settings either set bass at ~6 and resonance on, or resonance off and bass at ~9. i prefer bass at 6 because with resonance on its tighter.
the treble control seems to add lots of high midrange which can get quite harsh and piercing, so i prefer the presence high and treble lower. you got to be careful with your presence settings, because once you reached 8-9, it gets VERY fast very shrill. up to 8, you can turn it lets say about one or two notches if you want more presence, but once you reached 8 even small adjustments will cause drastic changes in sound.
i have it equipped with 6l6 tubes, and because of this it sounds quite lame with mids high. i'd say dont turn it past 6 or 7 with 6l6 tubes, it sounds like shit (imo). i have it set at 3, thats perfect for me.
as always, the master volume is the key to the great sounds. because of the five gain stages you can play metal at bedroom volume, but it really wakes up at ~2. by the way: THATS FUCKING LOUD!!! seriously, you can kill yourself with volume with this fucker. i'm quite sure i'm able to play unmiced medium size gigs and dont turn it past 5. under 2, it sounds a bit thicker and muddier, and over 2 it gets just brutal. the higher you set it the better your crunch sounds by the way. with volume at 1,5 your acdc licks will sound like played through a gorilla amp....with volume at 2 or even higher (if you are tough enough to turn it higher [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] ) it sounds like angus is playing through your rig.
so, to sum it up, its killer. i can get sounds ranging from rectifier hardcore madness to zakk wylde on the drive channel, and on the crunch you get everything from old black sabbath over acdc up to a clean sound thats somewhere in the middle between marshall and fender.
actually, with 6l6 tubes it sound a LOT like a rectifier, a jcm800 + sd1 and a mark series mesa thrown in a melting pot and mixed together. just in the middle between marshall and mesa. its not quite marshall, not quite mesa. i guess its laney [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] ive been told that with el34 it sounds - obviously - way more british and emphasizes the marshall character. i'll try it out once i got some money lol.
so basically, if you cant decide between marshall and mesa, i recommend the laney. its a great amp if youre on a budget, because i paid 600 euro for the halfstack @ ebay. thats what you got to pay if you buy the cab alone new.
one note: if you got it new and try to find useable sound, dont set the controls too extreme. i made that mistake and it sounded alright at lower volume, but it turned to shit when played loud. as a rule of thumb, don't set the controls anywhere more than +-2,5 from neutral position.
obviously, there are better amps out there. its not even close to a überschall or a diezel or whatever. but for the money, its hard to beat. you gotta keep in mind that for 600 euro you hardly get a tube amp, you won't even get a marshall dfx solid state halfstack. i paid 360 euro for the head, and thats what cheap randall heads usually go for *g*
my settings: resonance on, presence 6,bass 5,5, mids 3, treble 6, master as high as i can stand it, gain 7, drive 7, high input. zakk wylde *headbang*
greets
fragle
ps: i hope i didnt upset anyone by writing so much stuff....lol
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