NAD: The first time I’ve owned a

[MirrorProfiles]

Laney

It’s pretty cool. Quite SLO ish on the gain channel and Vox AC30 on the clean. The built in spring is shite. It’s quite thick/fat on the gain channel, I think for modern tones you’d need to use a pedal to clean the lows a bit. Presence knob could also be a bit more aggro for my taste.

Has a bit of that “budget amp” thing where I like the master fairly low.

It sounds solid though, pretty effortless to get a great sound and I think it would be a solid 8/10 on pretty much anything you throw at it.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Schematic looks VERY derived from a 2203, and AC30 for the clean channel.

 

[2dor]

Neither have I (owned a Laney). Congrats on the score!

How are the FX loops on these things?

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Neither have I (owned a Laney). Congrats on the score!

How are the FX loops on these things?

I never use them, but looks pretty flexible. On that recent Tone Talk, they all said that the old Laney FX loops were actually good so I’d imagine they haven’t suddenly switched to a worse design. I love spring reverbs so was surprised how bad this one is

GH100L is meant to be killer too, kind of a more streamlined version of the gain channel AFAIK

 

[Orvillain]

I love these amps, so congratulations!

The presence is a bit odd. From memory, it more or less does fuck all for the first two thirds of travel, and then it starts to bring it alive. I usually run it around 2-3 o'clock.


Gain channel takes boosts really well.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

I love this era Laneys, I have a pair of GH50Ls here and I use them all the time. The VH is a really underrated amp.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

Neither have I (owned a Laney). Congrats on the score!

How are the FX loops on these things?

The Laney loops are excellent. Very transparent, they can be used in series or paralell or even bypassed altogether. They're one of my favorite loops in the market, along with the Metropolous zero noise design, used by Friedman etc...

But Laney was the very first company that figured out a proper buffered effects loop circuit with their AOR series. Up to that point, the loops were simple insert points. The GH/VH series loops were a direct evolution from that, and they're even better.

 

[Orvillain]

I confess, I rarely ever used my loops on any Laney's I owned!

 

[theimageofall]

Love these amps.

I think the guys from Oceansize used Laney’s for a while and they have a great sound on the early albums in my opinion.

(Great band as well)

 

[JiveTurkey]

Very nice! I think Opeth was the first band I remember using these? I'd love to try a good specimen again. I had one for a small bit but I wasn't boosting and it had some issues needing addressed. Will be cool to hear some clips

 

[RaceU4her]

nice. the "budget amp" thing im not understanding though, if theres any amp that needs volume to shine its my GH100S.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Main differences I’m seeing from the schematics (when comparing to a 2203):

- Laney has no bright cap on the gain pot
- Laney has a 220nF cap on bass pot, Marshall has 22nF
- Laney has a 680k resistor after the MV pot (maybe for the FX loops?)
- Laney has 1.5k Screen Resistors (vs 1k on Marshall). Maybe for 6L6’s?

Resonance switch on the Laney seems to half the NFB (straps a 2nd 100k resistor in parallel with the the existing one).

 

[Deadpan]

The bright cap is big for me. The Laney sounds different but still great.

Almost a little Orange type sound?

 

[MirrorProfiles]

The bright cap is big for me. The Laney sounds different but still great.

Almost a little Orange type sound?

I’d say it’s not far off a Marshall, but a tad smoother and thicker. Flipping between them makes the Marshall sound even more like a Marshall - you can immediately hear the bright kerrang and upper mid bark. Orange is further apart IMO and has a strong distinct character.

With the extra gain stage added in it’s nicely voiced. Tbh it’s just a well designed circuit, it’s hard to describe anything distinctive about it because it’s just all done well and sensibly to my ear - not too much of anything, useful ranges and enough potential to push it in different directions. It feels familiar to me, and in the ballpark of amps I tend to like.

Laney is quite forgiving with cranking the eq, I can’t really turn up Marshall EQ’s as much without it falling apart. I like things quite bright and aggressive so I’m liking the Laney best by pushing it like that.

 

[paisleywookiee]

These are really cool amps. IIRC, the GH were cool as well, a little more aggressive, and closer to a JCM.