Laney amps

[rocklobster]

So i want to get a laney head, but there is literally no way to try one out anywhere in my area. So i'll have to ebay it. I've been looking at reviews and alot of people say it's alot like a marshall on steroids, and with good cleans...And has some kind of unique "british" sound. The bit about the unique "british" sound bothers me - what the hell is that supposed to mean? Is that implying it's going to have a typical "old school" sound or something? Does anyone own a laney(Gh100/50 or VH100) head? How does the distortion sound?

Thing is, i don't really want to have to use a pedal with it...

 

[affinityband]

I got Laney GH100L and Cab and it sounds absoloutley fantastic. Real cheap for the quality also. Although it doesnt come with a foot pedal or reverb. Which is fine because spring reverbs are unreliable anyway.

 

[rocklobster]

How would you describe the distortion when not using a pedal? Have any recordings by any chance?

 

[affinityband]

Unfortunatley no. But Opeth used it on deliverance so i guess it sounds like that. It really does infact. Its so meaty and when put it up to like 3 or 4 and stand a fair way back its stupidly clear and very strong in sound. I needed something alternative to a marshall and this thing beats the crap out of it.

 

[Ten SiSi]

If you're going for a heavy, death metal sound, you need pedals. Usually Turbo Flange and Metal Master will work. If money is not a factor, just get the GTs

 

[NFU]

metal master? i really dont think you need that. nobody should be using "pedal" distortion if theyre in a "metal" band.

 

[Ten SiSi]

you have to keep in mind the amateur status of the OP

 

[affinityband]

Using pedals to attempt a good sound quality in the primary sounds ( distorted and clean ) Is stupid.

 

[rocklobster]

Unfortunatley no. But Opeth used it on deliverance so i guess it sounds like that. It really does infact. Its so meaty and when put it up to like 3 or 4 and stand a fair way back its stupidly clear and very strong in sound. I needed something alternative to a marshall and this thing beats the crap out of it.

Opeth used the distortion from gt6 though(or so i thought). And before they used the boss heavy metal...i guess that was when they still used a marshall. Did Opeth ever actually use amp distortion?

 

[WeepingMoon]

i thought they just used the gt's for distortion when they played live now

 

[westknife]

amp distortion easily destroys pedal destortion any day of the fucking week

 

[Lord Byron]

LANEY > MARSHALL

 

[WeepingMoon]

but does laney have a better distortion than marshalls? all i hear about is laneys cleans, and not very much about the distortion.

and i'm am in the same boat with not being able to try one out. no one for 2 hours drive has any.

 

[Lord Byron]

I've had the TF300 combo for the last 4 years. I can get a great chunky distortion out of it ala Black album era metallica. That nice scooped mids sound. Basically they're a class allrounder. Nuff said.

 

[atropos_project]

There's a reason that pedals are cheap.... (then again, what do I know, I have to use a PodXT Pro to do all my recording )

Laney builds a pretty nice head.

Other nice, mainly distortion amps (assuming money just isn't much of a problem):

Mesa dual
Krankenstein
Rivera
the venerable old Peavey 5150 (best bang for the buck ever)
Soldano
Engl

Opeth uses a lot less distortion than one may think on a lot of thier recordings. A lot of the chords they use just turn to crap-ola once the gain gets too high (in my opinion).

 

[Pethical]

My favourites:

Framus
Engl
Krank

too bad they all cost ~$6000 here.

 

[Lord Byron]

Opeth uses a lot less distortion than one may think on a lot of thier recordings. A lot of the chords they use just turn to crap-ola once the gain gets too high (in my opinion).

True. You'd want to set the gain on your amp to around the seven mark for opeth stuff.

 

[Rocky Raccoon]

There's a reason that pedals are cheap.... (then again, what do I know, I have to use a PodXT Pro to do all my recording )

Laney builds a pretty nice head.

Other nice, mainly distortion amps (assuming money just isn't much of a problem):

Mesa dual
Krankenstein
Rivera
the venerable old Peavey 5150 (best bang for the buck ever)
Soldano
Engl

Opeth uses a lot less distortion than one may think on a lot of thier recordings. A lot of the chords they use just turn to crap-ola once the gain gets too high (in my opinion).

yea thats my beast (5150)

 

[rocklobster]

How's the cleans on the 5150? I've been considering that as well, but i keep hearing how it has shitty cleans.

 

[atropos_project]

How's the cleans on the 5150? I've been considering that as well, but i keep hearing how it has shitty cleans.

You heard right. Well, I wouldn't call it shitty, but its clean channel had edge to it (I owned the 2/12 combo of this years ago, and ended up a/b'ing it wiith a Roland Jazz Chorus for super-clean stuff).

I know they made a 5150 II, and then the 6105 or some such thing.. not sure how much has changed, but the lead channel on it was wonderful.