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markb
January 4th, 2008, 12:03 AM
Not wanting to hijack Algonquin's amp shopping thread, here's what I did today.

I did not go amp shopping but while my partner was at the hospital (visiting) I popped into the music shop next door and played a couple of "off the wall" guitars through a Laney VC15. Oh my, what a nice amp. It has good cleans with reasonable headroom and really great voxy/marshally OD with a gain range that didn't go to shred levels (headroom again) AND cleaned up well from the guitar. Add a Jensen speaker and a reasonable sounding reverb, footswitch capability AND and an extension speaker socket and it's a great package. I'll be back there with my tele' for some in depth testing. I feel a drain on my bank balance coming on :thwap:

Spudman
January 4th, 2008, 08:21 AM
Laney makes some really good stuff. I almost got the VC50 several years ago. I should have because it was more affordable then.
I'm glad you feel like you need another amph because that one Fender isn't going to last.;) :D

tot_Ou_tard
January 4th, 2008, 09:35 AM
I haven't heard much about Laney's. I'd like to hear more.

A music store next to a hospital!!!

Looky what I got you for a get well present honey:

a Marshall half stack!

I know, I know it was noth......now, don't upset yourself with all that screaming, you need to heal.

You can play it when you feel up to it. I'll just take it home & give it the once over...just to make sure it works n' everything.


..Honey! The doctors sez to stay in bed & rest!

warren0728
January 4th, 2008, 09:51 AM
A music store next to a hospital!!!!
that's cool....we have a funny "pairing" here and we laugh everytime we see it.

There is a crematorium right beside a popular bbq joint....cracks us up every time we go there (the bbq joint). :rotflmao:

ww

tot_Ou_tard
January 4th, 2008, 09:52 AM
that's cool....we have a funny "pairing" here and we laugh everytime we see it.

There is a crematorium right beside a popular bbq joint....cracks us up every time we go there (the bbq joint). :rotflmao:

ww
Yes, until you see the proprietor coming back with a load of ribs from next door :rotflmao:.

warren0728
January 4th, 2008, 09:53 AM
Yes, until you see the proprietor coming back with a load of ribs from next door :rotflmao:.
yep...my advice to anyone eating there is to never order anything well done!! :eek:

ww

Brian Krashpad
January 4th, 2008, 11:14 AM
I haven't heard much about Laney's. I'd like to hear more.

Laneys are kinda the "poor man's Marshall" in that they're the "other" big UK amp manufacturer. I have an '80's Laney flatfront 4x12 I picked up in a pawn for next to nothing ($75 USD) because it was in rough cosmetic shape, missing casters, and had been mis-wired. With a $20 set of casters and about a half-hour to re-wire it (it had a replacement speaker in it, so that's probably when the mis-wiring occurred) she was good to go.

In addition to the Marshall-type amp heads and cabs (iirc Tony Iommi is the big Laney endorser), Laney also makes some 15 and 30 watt tube combos obviously inspired by the Vox AC15 and AC30. Everything I've seen about Laneys says they're good tone for cheaper than Marshall or Vox.

Fwiw, ymmv.

tot_Ou_tard
January 4th, 2008, 11:39 AM
So they use EL34s?

markb
January 4th, 2008, 01:22 PM
The little Laney I tried yesterday was 15w from two EL84s. I think the bigger heads use EL34s. They also have a handwired range called Lionheart (not imported into NZ). Laney have always been there under the radar for me. Their LC range of cheap valve amps were very popular in the UK but I could never get to like them, this range is quite different. I'm especially impressed with the fact that they haven't tried to get high gain sounds from the OD channel. It's annoying buying an amp to find you can't use half the available volume due to too much gain.

I was testing mostly with humbuckers but a cheap P90 loaded LP copy sounded fantastic.

http://www.laney.co.uk/show_prod.php?prod=VC15-110