Lab Series L5

I think this amp was built in 1977. I play mainly rock and it suites me best. 2 channels, no switching. It does have this aboard. No headphone jack. The amp is as good as it is. I use it when practising and on stage. It blows hard enough.

I use a Squire Telecaster Custom (2007) and a Squire Strat (1991) and the amp gives them both the sound they deserve. The amp is very quiet. I mainly use the amp for rock and set almost all knobs at 10 after midnight, except the reverb on a quarter to midnight. Many people come to check the sound after a gig and almost always they can't believe it's a solid state. check you tube for tests. just put in lab series L5.

Throw it of the stairs behind the stage and it still works.

It still works and I had no problems.

I play for over 40 years now. If it was stolen I try to get another one asap. I love the overall tone, don't hate it at all!!

all I need in an amp. I play a great range of styles & even use my bass on it. I never use the compressor since it doesn t seem to do much on either of my 2 l5 s. I almost always use both channels at the same time using a home made channel splitter, before I had the splitter I would connect both channels by goining in the clean channel through the low using the high as a trough going to the second channel s low. I seldon use the overdrive (volume higer than 5) but use a blackstar to give it some tube. Power is great, usable at home aswell as for rehearsel as for live work.

sounds great on all my guitars, mostly used is my taylor t5 but strats, tele s even a semi acoustic....

My first l5 I ve had for more than 20 years and only once it broke down - all of a sudden it was dead - the sound started going up and down and then it was over. I didn t find the problem myself so brought it in to a local gitar shop a they had it repaired in no time but never really gave me a good explanation of what was wrong. Still it works again so .....though when i did get the opportunity to buy a second I didn t hesitate.
Dropping it down stairs didn t seem to do much harm

what s that?

I ve been playing for 30 years & 20 on the lab, I also combine it with my jc-60, had a few other amps but never kept them that long

This is a late 70's Lab Series L5. As used by BB King, Ty Tabor, Ronnie Montrose, etc. Solid-state 2x12, 100 watts.

I play primarily blues and blues influenced rock music, but my influences range across the board. The L5 does not have enough gain on tap for heavy metal chunk really, but you wouldn't buy this amp for that anyway. I use it with a tubescreamer when I want more searing lead tones, but I generally run the amp by itself.

The L5 has two channels, but there is no channel switching. To solve this problem I bought a morley A/B/Y switch, which I use to switch between the clean and drive channels. The amp has reverb for the second channel, an effects loop, and compressor.

It would be nice to have reverb on both channels, but I run a holy grail reverb in the effects loop to solve this problem.

The amp is quite powerful, though not as much as a comparable 100 watt tube amp... I have never found a situation where the full power of a 100 watt tube amp is necessary anyway. The L5 is plenty loud for me, plenty loud for gigs and jams.

I use four guitars primarily: 2 62 Strat Reissues, a Gretsch 5120, and a Dean Z with PAF Pros.

The L5 shines with all of these guitars. The strat tones are stratty, the gretsch tones are gretschy. The amp is very transparent in the sense that it is responsive to the nuances of the guitar and your playing style. You can really hear the differences in the woods and pickups of your guitars very well.

The amp has a unique sound, though it is very Fender-y.

The clean tones are very, very warm, and the drive channel is very similar to the clean channel but with some clipping.

I own a number of tube amps, including a plexi marshall and a vibrolux, both hand wired. The L5 has the warmth that you will find with a tube amp, but with many of the good features solid state amps have (sounds good at low volumes, consistent sounds) and none of the bad ones really.

The amp will sound great for blues, rockabilly, country, funk, and rock (when clean tones are needed and drive tones can be supplemented with a pedal or another amp)

This amp is incredibly reliable.

No tubes to worry about.

This amp was made before I was born.

I've been playing for 12 years, and it is by far one of the coolest amps I have owned.

The clean tones are phenomenal, the bluesy drive tones are phenomenal, and the amp is super reliable and consistent. If you are thinking about buying one of these, go for it! Unless you need tons of distortion on tap, this amp will suit the needs of most guitar players who like warm sounds.

If you are lucky enough to find one in a store to try, do it. But if you are someone who traditionally likes Fender tube amps, you'll probably like this amp.

I am the proud owner of a 1977 Lab Series L-5 2x12 100w solid state
amp. I have owned many different amps over the course of 25 yrs
of being a working musician.And find my Lab Series L-5 to be plenty
loud and versitile for the style and styles i have played. Generally i play progressive hard rock, but deviate to jazz and funky rock.
The L-5 transistions well to the for mentioned styles. The amp has 2 channels but i use only one of them" the boost" channel.The reverb
on my unit does not work, but that is o.k. since i am using the digital reverb from my processing gear.But i have heard the reverb on these amps is very nice. I have used this amp to record a couple songs, but have used this more as a work horse for gigging and rehearsal.

I use a variety of different guitars and pick up combinations. Several hot rodded teles, strats,and Brian Moores.I even have used this
with my Ovation electric/acoustic.I would consider using this again
to record due to how quiet this amp is while it's idoling on stage
or in the studio. Much more quiet than my marshalls,
The distortion is good at less saturated levels, smooth and good for blues. To get a real good metal distortion out of it,it is nesscery
to use out board gear.

The Lab Series L-5 is VERY reliable.I think this is the strong point of these amplifiers. I have beaten,tolchocked,and abused many amps over the years and have done some of my own repairs and maintenance
to other amps I own, but my Lab Series has needed no maintenence
what so ever.From smoky clubs to outdoor shows in the 90's with high humidity this piece of equipment has always performed very well.

I have never had any problems. as far as factory support, ???
There are manuals available on line and i've seen factory manuals
on e-bay for roughly 30.00-40.00$.

I have been playing since my early teens, roughly 25+ years. And own
several marshalls, both tube and solid state. The L-5 sounds
almost as good as my Mesa heartbreaker 2x12 100w combo. I have used
these two in a stereo set up before and can barely tell the difference between the two, I purchased this amp from a co-worker's
wife, who had been given this amp from her uncle's estate after he passed, for $20.00 yes that's right...$20.00. the reverb dose not work but $20.00 who cares????

Plenty of features, especially for a guy like me who grew up playing straight into the amp, and controlling my sound by turning the guitar's volume up and down. The midrange frequency and level controls are really a parametric EQ just for the mids. You can dial it in to match your guitar. The compressor works very well, and it has an effects loop, too.

This amp is studio quiet, even at very loud levels. I have to say that you must get to know the controls first, but you can get a great clean sound and a great overdrive sound, too. The "clean" channel sounds quite different than the "effects" channel. The channel with all the stuff on it sounds fantastic clean, as it has a character to it that doesn't really sound solid-state at all. The reverb gives Fender a run for their money. I had forgotten how good the reverb is on these amps. If you use the master volume and compressor, you can set this channel for a fantastic blues tone with just a little overdrive to it. B.B. King got these for free from Norlin---that's the real reason he used them, but I can see why he liked them. The sound is way better than I remember. If you crank the distortion, you can dial in a pretty good classic rock tone, but as I said, you have to get to know the controls first. A Strat Elite, or maybe an Eric Clapton Strat, both of which have a 20db mid-boost control, overdrive this channel sufficiently in conjuction with the amp's mid EQ for that King's X tone. I know Alan Holdworth used them at one point, but I've seen him live a few times, and he could play a Hondo II guitar through a Peavey practice amp and still sound like himself. I do have to say that once a good distortion sound is dialed-in, the amp's character is so strong that it really only does one type of distortion sound well. One thing to remember: B.B. King used to play relatively clean, but he played very, very loudly. The L-5 sounds really good this way. Dial in a good bluesy sound, turn on the compressor, and turn the volume up really loud. The amp holds up at high volumes, and actually seems to prefer playing loudly. This amp suits my 70's styles of blues-rock playing very well. Indeed, that's what it was designed for. Today's Line 6 players may have to learn to experiment with the controls for awhile before they get what they want from it. I remember when these amps came out, and they were a pretty good alternative to the non-master volume Marshalls that everyone had. You could get a controllable distortion at whatever level you required.

I have a huge background in musical electronics and manufacturing. Until just recently, I had never encountered a Lab Series amp with any sort of problem whatsoever. I recently bought two L-5's and these were the exception. I have never seen any amplifiers that were this messed-up, especially Lab Series amps. But, I got them pretty cheap, and I knew I could fix them up. I sold one and kept one for myself. In the course of straightening these amps out, I kept marvelling at how well they were made, and how much I had forgotten about these amps, because they normally just do not ever break down. I'm seeing a lot of Lab Series amps on eBay now, and for some reason, a lot of them have the speakers changed in them. They originally came with CTS speakers. The Lab Series amps I've owned in the past were absolute workhorses, and never broke down. They need no maintenance whatsoever. This one I have now, I had to do a lot of work on, but I think someone just got in there and tried to work on it without knowing what they were doing. I've been playing through it, and I'm positive that in it's current condition, I could totally trust this amp on a gig. These L-5's were meant to be Fender Twin Reverb killers, and I really believe Norlin accomplished that.

These amps come from another time. In 2007, there is no customer support for these. Also, more than one revision exists for these. The amp I have now has bone-stock circuit boards in it, and they don't totally match the schematics that are floating around on the internet. You would have to find someone like myself to repair these, but, you know, I doubt you would ever need it. Warranty service and stuff like that wouldn't apply to these amps.

I started playing seriously as a teenager in the 1970's. I own myriad amplifiers and other gear, and I build my own amplifiers, too. I have been employed by Soldano, and Ampeg, and am very familiar with guitar amplification of all types. At this stage in the game, if it were lost or stolen, I wouldn't necessarily lose my mind, because I've owned so many of these over the years, and, you know, it's not like I don't have other stuff. I got the one I have now as a reminder/learning experience sort of thing, and I couldn't remember what they sounded like. Plus my ears have gotten a lot of experience over the years, and I didn't know if I'd still like these amps or not. Also, folks---these amps aren't all that heavy. A real Fender Twin Reverb weighs a lot more than a Lab Series L-5. I suggest carrying an Ampeg VT-22 down three flights of stairs---now that's heavy. I once had a 50-watt Hiwatt Bulldog combo amp that was so heavy it must've had bricks inside of it. The Lab Series L-5 sounds good, is very durable, reliable and portable, and won't let you down. It is a true working musician's amp, just like the Fender Twin Reverb. All Lab Series L-5's came with casters, too.

As others have said, this amp was made in the 70's by Norlin (who owned Gibson at the time). I've heard that engineers from Moog had something to do with the design, but I don't know the details.

It's a 2x12 combo, but mine was cut down and made into a head by a previous owner. So, I'm using it with an Ibanez 4x12 cabinet.

It has 2 channels, but no switching (like an old Fender). I won't go into all the features (everything's been covered already). But I really want to stress the value of the EQ controls on the distortion channel. It has Bass and Treble, and a parametric midrange. This allows you to sculpt just about any tone you need. Very nice.

This amp can make a lot of different sounds, from pristine clean to classic 70's crunch. It's very warm and tube-like (for solid state). But it stops short of modern high-gain tones. I've found that using a good overdrive (Marshall Guv'nor) along with the amp's distortion yields some very nice results. If you play death metal, you'll definitely need to add a distortion pedal.

I use a variety of guitars Fender Strat, Epiphone SG, Ibanez RG) and it handles them all well. I usually play heavy rock, but venture into blues, jazz and funk ocassionally. With a few EQ tweaks, it can handle all these styles.

At gig volumes (Master Volume around 7) there is a tiny bit of noise. But it's not more than I've noticed from any other amp. Not bad for something over 30 years old.

I depend on it regularly. It's never broken down. There are no tubes to change. And as long as I treat it right, I'm sure it will hold up. It's survived 30-something years already, and I doubt the previous owner was as careful as I am. When I bought it, it looked like the speaker enclosure had been hacked off and a plywood bottom had been nailed on. The tolex was gone and a black t-shirt had been stretched to cover the wood. Some of the knobs were partially melted. (?) But it worked perfectly. I re-covered it with black vinyl.

I gig without a backup (how many people lug 2 amps to a gig?). I suppose if it ever blows, I have a POD I can plug into the mixer to keep going...

N.A. - Lab Series is long gone. I've seen some schematics posted on the web, though.

I've been play for 20-something years. I love this amp. It's got everything I need. If it were lost or stolen, I'd look for another, but I'm not sure I could find one.

The main reason I bought it was that I once had an L-7 (a 4x10 combo from Lab Series). I sold it to buy a Fender Pro Reverb and always regretted it (The Fender was great, but I missed the L-7). SO when I saw this amp, I grabbed it immediately.

for a solid state amp made in the late 70`s you really can`t ask for too much more.other people have named off all the features so i`ll skip that part and just tell you at the time it had all the bells and whistles that a guitarist would want.

both channels have a incredible clean tone.very warm sounding for being a solid state amp.i have three guitars...a strat,e.s.p. 400ex and a b.c. rich warlock.so yeah i`m a metalhead,with that said the distortion on this amp is "lacking".but with the addition of a stompbox for that metal tone it soars at volumes rival to a tube amp of its size.it does fair the best as far as sound quality goes with the e.s.p because of the emg 81`s.

i`ve had this amp since 1995 (currently 2007).the only thing i`ve had to replace on it was the speakers because i blew them.i can`t say if it was age or the house i was living in at the time being humid.other than that i`ve had no problems whatsoever.

n/a

overall i love my L5 and never plan on getting rid of it.its a perfect small gig amp that puts out big gig power.with the addition of a flange,distortion,and a wah pedal you`ll have all you`ll need to play any bar or club.plus it being a solid state you don`t have to worry about tubes popping on ya when you take it on the road.

Late 70s amp. I bought it from my first guitar teacher. It was a good amp all those years ago. Home, rehearsal, gig. 4 channels s speakers. two high two low. I prefer low plus all the possibilities of mid range, freq, etc. lot of variation to play with here. Power is way way enough. I never had to worry it. Solid state amp I found with a lovely sound. Great amp. Back up, gig or studio.

Lot of variety with sound. Sorry $nordin went out of business as the development on this amp would have been interesting. The compression on this amp provides a very smooth - and nice sound very quiet too - sound. Mine stopped working. Only because I made the mistake of lettting someone have a look at it who didn;t know what he was doing..

The onlyu thing that needed attention on this amp in 30 years is the reverb. I have never had a service and it just keeps going. It spent 7 years in a shed at the bottom of the garden and played fine after the abuse. I dug it out recently and will never banish it agian.

You can get schematics. Look online. Gibson provide very little information. I have been offered good money for this amp from session musicians and gigging alike. No one has one around here.
I happy with this amp. It serves many purposes and I can get just about everything I need from it.

I've been playing 28 years. This amp has been with me since I started. I would try to buy another if it were stolen. I like the wheels too. It's very heavy but hardy. I love the tough nature of this amp. Labseries L5. I hate the fact that some guy messed with it and that I put it away for so long. It's back now. And to stay. I don't think I will sell it - unless I'm offered enough to get another. If you can find one 2nd hand go for it.

You now the features allready...........

Iam using an American texas special stratocaster with this amp ,I play blues and rock mainly,not noisy,very nice clean sound BUT after I replace speakers for a couple fender 12' ,dramatic change.....I change tank reverb as well ,I did't like the original one.
The distortion is crap,I use stompboxes for that.

I have it for 4 years ,just yesterday it stops working I haven't open it yet....

I have been playing since 10 years old I'am 33 now,my other amps are: fender twin reverb,fender super reverb,marshall jcm 800.
I love this amp, sounds diferent and that counts to me a lot,most of my gear is vintage classic staff that is been proven to work well for years,I would say that this is something diferent that finds it's own place in what I do,the compressor it has is awesome,I mean it....
I think,it's a really great amp,of course Iam talking about mine with the speakers and reverb change,I use it a lot and I love it.

This amp is from 1981. I bought it new at my local dealer, when Gibson made a promotion tour in Germany with a real good guitar player. I gave about he price of a new Twin for it. I was fascinated by the variety of different sounds the man played with a Gibson RD Artist and the amp. At that time I played in a cover band (Steely Dan, Foreigner, Kansas, Blind Faith, Santana...) and I felt that?s the one I need. Today I know that the guy could have played any style (Jimi to Johnny Cash that?s what he did)on any cheap chinese amp, but beeing more in the blues business now I really love the amp .

Got everything I need. I play it with a ES 335, a Standard Strat, Tele, Gold Top Heritage and a L5. Unbeaten clean sound. Compressor and reverb perfect. For my blues it?s very good. No noise at all even with the Fenders. I use a Ibanez PUE 5 S for crunchy style. Fits perfect with the tube preamp.

In the early years I had problems with sinusoidal volume jittering. But this was fixed at the local dealer. Since then no problem.

No need for support these days - everyone can fix it. It was a sophisticated piece of equipment when I bought it. Today it is primary school electronics.

I play it since 25 years now. I also have a Fender Blues DeVille 410, a MusicMam RD 112 and a Line 6 Flextone. My Lab has the best clean sound of them all. Ask B.B.King. I?ll be it again any time. I love the the musical clean sound.