Thoughts about Laney tube heads?

[atilla]

I'm seeing a ton of Laney amps for pretty cheap. Does anybody have any opinions or experience with them?

[lerxstcat]

Re: Thoughts about Laney tube heads?

Paul Gilbert and Vinnie Moore both used them at one time, and they're referred to as the "poor man's Marshall" by many. The advantage of them going cheap is, if you like it you scored for cheap, and if you don't you can probably still get your cheap-price money back on the flip. It's all about what you like at day's end, despite what others think.

[guitar geek]

Re: Thoughts about Laney tube heads?

I thought they are not bad. my roommate has a laney combo, 4 channels. sounds decent, not my taste, but definatly gilbert alike.

Harrald

[Ace]

Re: Thoughts about Laney tube heads?

I've played through quite a bit of Laney tube stuff. While it has never been my favorite, I've always thought that they were at least decent. If you find one at a price that you think is good, then I say go for it. Maybe you can tweak it and find some really cool tones in there.

[taxistationary]

Re: Thoughts about Laney tube heads?

Paul Gilbert plays them and always seems to get a real flexible tone out of it. I saw a clinc video of his, and he was doing his newer bluesy stuff to his older RacerX shred stuff thru a Laney. I also read that Andy Timmons uses the same model as Gilbert. If thats the case, then I'm impressed, as I've always thought Timmons tone was superb.

[Fragle]

Re: Thoughts about Laney tube heads?

guys, you forgot to mention the most famous laney user ever: toni iommi [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

anyways, i own a gh 50l head. it is definitely a british sounding head (after all thats why i recently replaced it with a mesa [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] ), very similar to marshall, but more gain and a slightly darker sound, not as bright as a marshall. it's also possible to get some usable tight bass out of it, even at low volumes (which is impossible with marshalls....well....with old marshalls). be aware that in reality, those gh series heads are single channel heads, as the volume jump between a clean and distorted sound is way too big for live use (because of the cascading gain stages). replacing the crap 6l6 stock tubes with some quality el34's really improves the sound, btw.
furthermore, the EQ isnt very responsive and interactive. it does more than marshall's equalizers, but if you are used to mesa or digital or amps with active eq's, forget it, no comparison.

if you decide to buy one, i suggest you to keep the midrange really high, and lower the treble to about 9 o'clock or something. and for gods sake, turn the presence to zero. you should also experiment with overdrive stompboxes, as the gh series sound much better when set to medium gain with an overdrive on top...imo.

to sum it up, those amps WILL to the raw black sabbath sound, as well as several other marshall-rock-sounds, and it has quite a nice lead sound (very timmons and gilbert like....open and bright). just forget about heavy rhythm sounds like metallica, or american sounds in general.

greets
fragle

[atilla]

Re: Thoughts about Laney tube heads?

Hey there, Fragle. Thanks for the info. My main concern with a lot of master volume heads is switching from clean to dirty; my band is playing live, and several of our songs involve a clean to dirty and back switch. It sounds like you wouldn't recommend the single-channel master volume Laney heads for this, correct?

Thanks again.

[Fragle]

Re: Thoughts about Laney tube heads?

well, those gh heads are essentially single channel heads with a footswichable gainboost. keep that in mind.
as i said above, i recommend setting the gain not too high and boosting the front end with a overdrive box like the tubescreamer. depending on your pickups, you would set your rhythm channel gain at around 4-6, and the drive boost at around 4-6, too. if you want to switch from lead/heavy rhythm to super clean, you'll have to switch off the pedal and then the drive boost. the other solution is to switch the pedal off, and then back off the volume on your guitar.

so, well....i'd say it is possible to switch between lead and clean (at least when using an overdrive box; without one you'll either have to sacrifice your clean channel and set both gains at around 7, or set the gain at 5 and the drive at 10....but then there will be a volume jump, trust me), especially if you are used to for example marshall amps which require a lot of volume/pick attack work for "channel" switching, too. on the other hand, if you are a rack/mesa/digital etc guy who only wants to press a button and thats it, stay away from the laney.

[The Chase]

Re: Thoughts about Laney tube heads?

Hey, do the Laney amps have diode distortion circuits, like the JCM 900 do? Because the TI100 has like 4-6 gain stages. I'm just wondering

[Fragle]

Re: Thoughts about Laney tube heads?

as far as i know, no. i always thought the gh series were all-tube

[guitar geek]

Re: Thoughts about Laney tube heads?

[ QUOTE ]
if you are a rack/mesa/digital etc guy who only wants to press a button and thats it, stay away from the laney.

[/ QUOTE ]

explains why I don't like the laney (being a mesa guy)

[mogar]

Re: Thoughts about Laney tube heads?

Opeth use them pretty exclusively live and in the studio. They use the VC series combos for their newer stuff (like the damnation CD), and they use the VH series heads for their older, heavier stuff.