Laney amps?

[Rex Rocker]

I wonder why these amps aren't more commonly mentioned around these forums. I've never tried them myself, at least not the bigger tube amps like the Iommi sig, the GH100L, etc.

What kind of tone do these amp have? Are they more Marshall-y or Soldano/Peavey/Mesa-ish?

Anybody have any clips of one doing something Sneap-ish?

 

[Adari]

Mikael has been using Laney amps for many years, both live and in the studio:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCZAHXh9xUc&hd=1[/ame]

 

[Rex Rocker]

To my understanding, Ghost Reveries was a Rectifier thru a Mode Four cabinet, wasn't it? With some POD blended in there, AFAIK.

 

[Wohma]

Rex Rocker: You're right, but he's been using GH100L live forever. However, the distortion supposedly comes from his Boss GT-8 (or is it GT-10?).

 

[MatrixClaw]

Laneys are great. I used to have a GH50L and it cost me ~$400 and it sounded better than my Marshall 2203. I'd really like to get my hands on a VH100R at some point, great amps.

 

[Empathy]

For high gain tones, they NEED a boost. Otherwise they're pieces of shit. Nice mellow tones though.

 

[drew_drummer]

For high gain tones, they NEED a boost. Otherwise they're pieces of shit. Nice mellow tones though.

Not true in my experience.

I had a VH100R for a couple of years and loved it. Upgraded to a Fryette Sig X, but I still really rate the Laney.

 

[KHE]

since my dual-recto died a couple of weeks ago, i play our other guitarist`s old laney tt100 at the moment, which he doesent use anymore.
first i thought that this would only be a temporary solution, because i hated the sound of this amp when the other guitarist played it 3years ago.
but now i like the tone so much that i didn`t start repairing my recto yet... (but it needs a low-cut in front /ts)

 

[Empathy]

Not true in my experience.

I had a VH100R for a couple of years and loved it. Upgraded to a Fryette Sig X, but I still really rate the Laney.

I've never actually played a VH100R so I can't comment on those, my experience comes from the GH50/100L models and the Iommi variant.

 

[Trevoire520]

GH50/100 is based on the JCM800 and deffo needs a boost and the gain cranked, sounds great though. I've always wanted to try one of the TT/VH heads.

Just generally I've found that Laneys always have an amazing crunchy sound to the distortion.

 

[MatrixClaw]

I've never actually played a VH100R so I can't comment on those, my experience comes from the GH50/100L models and the Iommi variant.

Meh.

I had the GH50L and it was perfectly fine sounding without a boost. No offense to you, but I think people on this forum overuse boosts way too much to get tones and aren't able to dial in amps without them.

Sure, the GH50L sounds better with a boost if you're doing metal, but it doesn't need one to sound good.

 

[Blackie13]

Meh.

I had the GH50L and it was perfectly fine sounding without a boost. No offense to you, but I think people on this forum overuse boosts way too much to get tones and aren't able to dial in amps without them.

Sure, the GH50L sounds better with a boost if you're doing metal, but it doesn't need one to sound good.

+1000 about the boost overuse...
There is no problem when you cranck your mids to 8 if needed...
That's why the nobs go up to 10 right?

to me the combination 5150+V30 is also very overused and overated...

Anyway laney are great amps but I think that they are a bit brigher than marshalls...

 

[if6was9]

I've my brothers laney gh50L with 6l6's here and use it every now and then. Doesn't suit every band but recently beat out my jcm800 and peavey rockmaster in an a/b for a band's album WITHOUT any boost in front. Just sounded better for this band.
I really like it, more modern sounding than the JCM 800 I've got here and less mid heavy. It's got a great cruch to it but sometimes can have a weird fizz if you're not careful with the gain. Plenty of balls though and I've seen several bands use it live and sound great. The 2 gain/od stages sound a little different so it's worth it to spend some time playing around with them.

I think they're great for adding to a studio that already has a few amps and you want something a little different, cheap and well built too.

 

[Sloan]

I owned a GHL100TI, the Tony Iommi sig amp and it ruled ass, maybe not for the common tones around here, but I still remember testing a wireless unit I fixed by cranking the laney up and walking around the house listening to the riffs. All the cats lost their shit. When I first got it, I was living in a small town in Maryland; within 15 minutes of turning it on for the first time the cops came by because of noise complaints. wtf.

I also had a small laney pro tube aor50 combo and it sounded awesome as well. used it for my first and only so far solo show and ended up selling it to one of the dudes in the other bands a few months later!

GO LANEY!

 

[if6was9]

Also gotta say the GH50L is the loudest amp I've ever ownedor used. It's insane. Easily giggable at 1 on the master, louder than my JCM800 50 watter by miles and the 100 watter pre/poweramp combinations that I've strung together.

 

[Empathy]

Meh.

I had the GH50L and it was perfectly fine sounding without a boost. No offense to you, but I think people on this forum overuse boosts way too much to get tones and aren't able to dial in amps without them.

Sure, the GH50L sounds better with a boost if you're doing metal, but it doesn't need one to sound good.

My issue with the amps wasn't so much in the studio as it was on stage. No matter what I did with them, they struggled to gain a presence on stage without some form of boost in front of it. I loved the way they sounded at studio/practice volumes, but when you cranked that master volume they just lost a lot of their charm very quickly. Major failing if you ask me, but hey.

 

[if6was9]

My issue with the amps wasn't so much in the studio as it was on stage. No matter what I did with them, they struggled to gain a presence on stage without some form of boost in front of it. I loved the way they sounded at studio/practice volumes, but when you cranked that master volume they just lost a lot of their charm very quickly. Major failing if you ask me, but hey.

Complete opposite of my experience. Excellent live amps and they cut very well. Not just my experience either, I know a guitarist who I've done sound for loads of times with a few different bands that uses his vh100 live alot over his 6505, orange and jcm900's and thats unboosted too. I haven't liked boosts with them when I tried them, They're tight enough as is IMO

 

[StefTD]

The second guitar player in my old death metal band (tight, technical) used GH100, put a TS in front
of it and it was awesome! Really enjoyed that amp, without a boost I really like it for hardrock and
so on (able to do metal, but not my cup of tea) and with a boost, it's pretty tight.

 

[ApeScaleConflict]

Meh.

I had the GH50L and it was perfectly fine sounding without a boost. No offense to you, but I think people on this forum overuse boosts way too much to get tones and aren't able to dial in amps without them.

Sure, the GH50L sounds better with a boost if you're doing metal, but it doesn't need one to sound good.

By no means i think that using a boost is OVERUSED method. I think everyone has tried their setup with and without the boost. I can't imagine how can it be overused? Boost shouldn't be about TONE but about the low-end tightness that's important on metal. And i don't see people using it bling on everything they play.

 

[Wohma]

VH/VC models are pretty cool, our second guitarist had a VC50 (which is the same guts as VH100R, just a combo version with half the wattage) and I have to say that was hell of a beast. Didn't get lost besides my ENGL Savage 60 (or maybe it was Blackmore at the time), you could easily dial high-gain AND the thing had a clean channel to die for.