Lab Series L5

Lab Series L5. 100 Watts, 2 channel, 2 12 inch speakers. Made by Norlin Music Industries, along with Moog, and sold by Gibson. Made in late '70s.

I am a jazz player. I use it as a bass amp with an Epiphone 5 string fretless bass with live electronics. I also have an Epiphone Emperor guitar. The amp works great either way. With the bass I get a sound that is very similar to a full-size acoustic bass.

No problems at all in 8 years. When I bought the amp it was in new condition and it still is, even down to the vinyl amp cover with the Lab Series logo.

Never needed any service or repair. I got the owner's manual with the amp. I just discovered all of this information on the web and the schematic is available for download.

With an easy player like me, this amp should last 4 or 5 lifetimes. It never gets past a slow idle.

Built after Bob Moog invented his amp circuit with multifilter that he patented in 1978, these amps were built by Norlin Music Inc. (which owned Moog at the time) and they were also sold under the Gibson brand. See my first posting on this amp below for further info. Also I'd like to add that the signal continues to the speaker even though you line a signal out straight into a recording equipment or PA, unless you put a tele-plug into the power amp's input jack to cut it. This way, you can line it to the PA and still use the combo itself as a monitor (or opt not to).

See earlier postings.

Had it since 1986 or 1987 and has never had any trouble whatsoever. Know of a few people that's had trouble with the compressor unit failing though. See earlier postings.

Now the schemes and card layouts have been moved again since M$ shut the nbci.com user pages where they were previously stored down without notice last autumn. Now they are found at http://firetones.net/Labscheme.zip.
Many people have asked for these, so I thought I'd better make them accesible again.

See earlier postings.

I used a Lab Series L5 in the late 70's and early 80's. What I liked about it was the compressor. It had an adjustable knee and worked well for softening the clean sound. I never really liked the amp for chunky rock sounds. But I did at one time use it in stereo with a Mesa Boogie and a Roland Stereo Chorus. The Lab set clean with just a little compression and the Boogie set to a chunky yet clear rhythm sound made an unbelieveable combination. I stumbled apon the combination just by coincidence, but started getting comments from band mates as well as other musics. They would come up to me and say.. Hey, you're the guy with the really fat and wide sound. This combination gave me an incrediblbly clear grinding sound. I eventually went to just using the Boogie because I was carrying more gear than I wanted to, but will always remember my days with the L5 Combo and the Boogie. Nice amp.

i just picked this lab L5 up in the used section of my local music store. i've always wanted one of these since they came out in the late 70's.once i cleaned the pot seeds and beer residue out of the speaker enclosure and reactivated the reverb tank, soldered a new speaker connection with a new 90 degree 1/4 inch plug( so icould tranport this thing on its back) and fired it up on the bench.switched the compressor on and found it still work clean and quiet.after fooling with the midrange knobs a bit , i dialed in a surprisingly twin like clean tone. it didn't jangle but still very good.by over driving the master i tried to break it up and it didn't impress me so i switched back to clean.cleaned it up, put some new plug in style caster and took it on a country rock gig and loved it.

i used a roland ready strat with the stock singe coils and a epiphone regency II joe pass arch-top. both guitars sounded surprisingly good.warm tube like sounds. although it does not have the fender jangle maybe thats why the company failed because they were obviously in the twin market territory. compressor made my solos sing with out irritating attact sounds or noise. 100 watts put me easily over the top of drunken bar patrons.ran danelectro p,b and j dely thu effect loop and cut the reverb out. now your talkin!!

i just purchased this baby so can't tell yet,but amp feel well built.

n/a

so far i love the thing. it was written up in guitar player mag last month and they like it. so, when i saw there under a pile of junk and saw the price i had to have it. its my first string amp now.

See my earlier posting

See my earlier posting

See earlier posting

After receiving several questions about the scheme and list of components, I decided to scan them and make them accessible over the internet at the following URL (NB! The URL has changed since last posting.):

http://members.nbci.com/_XMCM/holmo/Labscheme.zip (1.82 Mb)

They are (after unzipping) in 150 dpi JPEG-format and cover not only the L5, but also the L7, L9 and L11 models.

See earlier posting

Late 70's/early 80's 2x12 100 watt solid state combo. Two channels (non switchable, though), master volume, reverb (one channel only, foot switchable), compression. The best thing about this amp is how you can adjust the mids on it: one dial lets you sweep through the frequency range you want to adjust and the other dial lets you take out or add to the mix, depending on where the first dial is. Given that this is a solid state amp, you really have to fiddle with the dials to get a decent sound.

The amp is certainly loud enough. It's quiet enough for practicing in an apartment but loud enough for shows.

I use a '68 epiphone riviera and a cheap japanese epiphone with crappy single coils. If I switch between guitars I have to play with the mid adjustments to get a decent sound.

I never use the distortion on this amp; distorted it sounds like it's coming out of a television speaker or clock radio. Playing it clean, though, is so much better. I've heard this amp is great for a jazz guitarist b/c of the crystal clear clean sound it gets. I play in a 4 piece rock band and for me I'm rarely happy with the sound. The high end is a bit too much, I'm always trying to adjust the mids, and the bass is sort of bulby and farty sounding. After owning this amp for four years and fiddling with the knobs a lot, I can get a sound that is passible, but certainly not perfect. It's probably the best solid state sound you can get for the money, but still, it's not all that great.

The amp itself I've had no problems with. I had all the connections looked over and resodered. It's blown out two sets of speakers though!!! I've heard that this isn't uncommon. I blew out the originals myself b/c I was playing a bass through it too loud. Yes, stupid and not suprising, eh? The second set went out when a friend of mine borrowed it. He was playing guitar at the time and the amp fried the cones, which was suprising since the speakers were rated at 75 watts each. Be warned: the amp requires an 8ohm load, so that means you have to wire two 16ohm speakers in parallel. 12 inch 16 ohm speakers are not that common. I now have two eminence 300 watt speakers in it...don't think I'll be frying those cones.

n/a. Any local shop can help you out and you'll probably have an enjoyable discussion about how rarely the repair person sees these amps.

I've been playing for 9 years now. I just bought a Marshall jmp head that I'll plug into the speakers of the Lab Series. IN otherwords, the amp itself will be my backup. IF it were stolen, I'd report it to my insurance company and buy something more useful.

It's a great, loud, inexpensive amp (though the buzz seems to be growing about it), but it just doesn't have a well rounded sound that's easy to find. I can spend hours playing with the knobs trying to get a good sound whereas with the marshall all i have to do is plug in. You get what you pay for sometimes.

Volume - bass - treble - frequency - midrange - multifilter - reverb - compression - etc -

With a Ibanez roadstar 2, this amp realy gives a nice clear sound. The mute guitar playing is fantastic. Clean rock, r&B and blues is also interesting.

God!!! WHAT CAN I SAY? NEVER BROKE AND SEEM THAT IT NEVER WILL!!! Very well built. I have given many shows for the last 12 years and this thing has never broke down.

I don't know but one thing's for sure - The more we talk about it and the best chances that we can rely on people writing on the internet to help us out!

I have the impression that, one day, I will show this monster to my grand children and I it will blast their mind out!!!

This amp was manufactured in 1977.
It is a very versatileand clean sounding.
I play blues, R & B,Classic rock, and funk.
It has 2 channels, no channel switching.
One clean channel, the other has a nice midrange/frequency shifter.
You can get some interesting sounds.
It has reverb, which I replaced, and a presence control.
You can get great sustain at high volume with the midrange control and the built in compressor. Not a tube sound, but interesting.
This amp is used for gigs and practice. I keep the preamp volume on 10 and the master on 4 or 5. It has more than enough power for
almost any gig. It is a heavy, tough, solid state amp that is extremely reliable. Great clean sound. For distortion, you need a pedal.

The amp as I said above is clean sounding. I play a strat plus with
texas special pickups. (I replaced the lace sensors) I replaced the stock eminence speakers with celestion vintage 30s. It sounds excellent. A tremendous improvement! I play through a boss bd-2.
Sounds very close to a tube sound. Great amp for blues. With the s1peaker upgrade - a definite ten. BB king uses either a Lab series or a Fender twin. This amp, with the speaker upgrade, will stand up to any twin. I been playing guitar for about 35 years. I owned both tube and solid state. My favorite tube amp was a 50 watt ampeg. This is the best amp I ever had. Great sound- warm and smooth-not harsh. Sounds great with single coils.

Extremely reliable. I've used it on gigs without a backup.
It has never broken down.

The company is out of business. When I bought it about five years ago, I got all the original papers- manual, schematics, etc. It was made by norlin.

I have been playing for 35 years. The only effects I use are a boss bd -2 blues driver and an Ibanez super chorus. As I mentioned before, I play a statocaster. I also own a Guild acoustic, a D45. This amp, in my opinion, is as good as any Twin. For the price, this is a steal.I would buy it again. With the celestions, I give it a 9.

first of all, this is the first of two reviews from me. this one is dedicated to my first impression of this monster!
2 12's, something like 100 watts, two channels, one with crazy eq functions, reverb, effects loop, fuse breaker, master volume, compression. enough volume to rip heads off.
versatility? oh yes.

i just crapped my pants tweaking the midrange filter--it's wider than ANY wah pedal i've ever heard on any recording or otherwise. i'm tempted to yank it out and make a wah pedal out of it! 3 band eq, and you can select the midrange frequency at whch you want to create a dip or rise (since the midrange knob goes from NEGATIVE 6 to positive 6). on top of that there's another filter deal that is pretty much a presence knob. adds overall brilliance. my favorite knob, though is the parametric midrange--endless palette of sounds! more later...right now it's knocking me on my arse!

this thing looks OLD! it sounds NEW! no noise--i HAD to have a quiet solidstate amp for sanity reasons (see my review of my beloved fender vibrolux reissue). it is quiet, all the knobs work perfectly, plugins, too, (i haven't tried the power plugin on the back yet--oh yeah, forgot to mention that in the 'features'. this thing is built to eat tanks.

uh, what? good guys in minneapolis better know something about this puppy if something goes wrong. but i'm very confident in my '10' reliablility rating!

i've been playing for 10 years--rock for only like 2 or 3. punk for longer. classical for a while. classical is my emphasis, but rock is definetly a major interest. there's only so much you can do with an acoustic (if you're a dunce of a songwriter like me) w/o being too far out there. electrics have endless opportunities, and the lab series takes advantage of this fact. no one should be disappointed with this amp. you can get SO many tones that who frikin' cares if you can't get an srv tone?! be original, get a lab series! make it your front running amp! i'm not ashamed to!

You've seen the other reviews, you know what it has (100W, 2x12, 2channel, compressor, etc.

Nice to have a compressor in the amp, kinda rare

Used to use an Ibanez AR80 with twin humbuckers (semi hollow body ES335 copy, nice little guitar, btw). Played blues, hard rock, pop. In between was a Morley Power Wah, which had a 15 watt preamp. This combo could give me a real agressive sound with tons of uncontrollable feeback if I wasn't on top of the settings.

If you want a good clean sounding amp, and can't drop 750+ on a twin reverb, this is a *very* nice amp. You can get a clean sound out of this rig at really high volume settings. As others have said, for a solid state amp, it can give you some pretty solid tones that won't break up at volume. I never had it above 4 or 5, and at that level, all the birds in the neighborhood left (it cranks).

Distortion leaves a bit to bit desired, but if you can accept the fact that you have a great "clean" amp and front end it with a couple of choice pedals (Boss 'Blues Driver BD-2' comes to mind), I'm sure you can come up with a nice pallet of sounds, with decent tone for very cheap.

Never had a problem, its made of Kryptonite. Volume knob on channel one was missing when I got it (if it is on yours, its probably my old amp)

N/A there gone, see schematics on back of amp, call your local amp tech

Had to sell it 10 years ago to help buy my house. I'm just starting to get back into playing again and I think I want another one. $ for $ this is a tough amp to beat, and not a bad "compromise" at all if your not completely hung up on tube amps.

I played a Lab L5 when they appeared in the late 70s/early 80s and really liked its distinctive, thick and surprisingly non-brittle tone. I think the amp is best suited for clean tones, especially since even at high volume it does not break up; use a tube amp for overdriven tones.

I bought this amp, not working, for $100 at a guitar show. Having some electronics background (I hold a computer science degree), I knew that it wouldn't take too much to get it working again, especially since the circuit schematics are readily available. After replacing the 3.5 amp circuit breaker/on-off switch I had some noise, unfortunately not the type I wanted. Rather than trace through the circuitry myself, I had the amplifier serviced at a local guitar shop. It turned out one of the speakers was shot so I replaced both of them myself with standard Fender 12" speakers as used in the twin reverb. Anyone contemplating a speaker replacement must be sure to either match the 16 ohm impedance of each of the original speakers and use the original parallel wiring harness, or use two 4 ohm impedance speakers (such as the Fenders) wired in series to avoid electrical unpleasantness.

For the uninitiated, impedance (Z) is resistance to alternating current, and resistance (R) is resistance to direct current.

The equation for impedance (Z) or resistance (R) of a parallel circuit is

Z total (impedance) or R total (resistance) = (product of impedance or resistance) divided by (sum of impedance or resistance), e.g.

R1 = 16 ohms
R2 = 16 ohms

then

Z total (impedance) or R total (resistance) = (16 * 16)/(16 + 16) = 256/32 = 8 ohms.

The impedance (Z) or resistance (R) of a series circuit is

Z (impedance) or R (resistance) = total of all resistance,

e.g.

R1 = 4 ohms
R2 = 4 ohms

Z total (impedance) or R total (resistance) = R1 + R2 = (4 + 4) ohms =
8 ohms.

Hope this higher math does not confuse anybody!

I am now extremely happy with the amplifier which sounds great and works perfectly. Total cost about $400 which is worth it to me since I now know exactly the condition of the amplifier.

I am happy to answer questions not addressed in this or any of the other articles on this subject. Please read this and other related articles first before sending any questions.

This amp has been through the ringer with me, and held up beautifly. It's never let me down. I bought this amp for $138.00 in Minneapolis back in 1992. I knew these amps were good cause my brothers been using one for 20 years. He finally broke down and sold it last year for something lighter. So there is another one of these L5 s floating around Eau Claire, WI. The amp is very powerful and clean. I use up front effects but the workhorse is behind me. Speakers seem very directional, but stick this thing in the corner and you'll stand up to any Marshall or Fender amp.

Super dependable. These were built in the early 80's and were very pricy. Around $800.00 back then. The LAB L5 Switch for on/off is actually doubles as a circuit breaker. I broke off the little black button on the switch and had to find a new one. There is a company still selling this switch, but I can't find my receipt right now.
If someone is deparately looking contact me. Brinic1@mail.direcpc.com
and I'll find the receipt.

channel 1 has volume,bass, treable and a high and low jack input.
channel 2 has a voulme.midrange,treable,bass,frequency and it also has a master volume with a great compresser.

It sounds great with eather my SG or my strat im a blues player
and it is perfect . this is the most versitle amp i have ever seen.
It is never noisy. it never distorts at a high volume.
only if you turn up the channel all the way and turn your master
down.
The distortion is the best for southern rock maybe a little heaver.

the one i own my dad used it almost every night for twenty years.
bought it almost new i have used it for six years .

Hardly no trouble at all.all except the reverb unit.Besides that
no trouble at all

i never delt with the company.but i would like to shake their hand
on the best amp ever made .
my dad owned two of them. He and i both loved their sound.

I have been playing for twenty years .
Ihave owned otheramps .
But nothing compairs to a LAB
It is the same kind BB KING uses .(L5)
Other blues players use them .

This amp has two channels, one is your bog-standard 3 band EQ with volume, and the other three band paremetric EQ and mulitifilter, oh and reverb too. It's also got a weird compressor on it, but I don't really use it much. Basically it's got enough knobs on the front to keep you happy for quite a while!

Froget the distortion, if that's what you call it, sounds more like to just clipping the input signal, badly! But for clean it really comes into its own!!! It sounds so good! Really crisp! And it is verstatile enough to get just about any sound going! The reverb was weird, hardly there at all, so I replace the coil with a spare one I had and it sounded gorgeous!!!!

I got this amp covered in dust, cobwebs and all sorts of muck. I cleaned it put, thinking it probably wouldn't work at all, and low and behold it did! Looks like it's been hammered shitless for the past 20 odd years, but sounds as if you've just got it home from the shops! The only problem is did have was the it would occasionally go quiet, then back loud, sporadically. But this seems to have ceased now.

Never dealt with Norlin, then again, never needed to!

I play a Jackson Fusion Professional through it, and it sounds great clean! Unfortunately I can't afford any dent effects yet, so I've been using a crappy Zomm 505, and with the amazing EQ on the amp, I can get some surprisingly amazing tones out of it! It is shit-hot for metal and can also sound really warm, almost like a valve amp for blues. Plus everything in-between. It's the most verstatile amp I've ver played, and if you see one, get it and but individual effects boxes for it. That way you can sound like anybody you want to, be damn loud and not pay very much.

Good straight ahead clean amp with an interesting compressor built in.
Speakers are generic eminence. I upgraded them to EVs. Quite a bit of EQ possibilities. Reverb sounds alright.

Good clean sounds. I'm not crazy about the distortion. Works well with my ES 175 or strat. Pretty warm for a transister amp. Its a good idea to have some effects up front if you want anything besides clean sounds.

I bought this amp new at least 20 years ago. I have never had a problem with it. It has traveled many, many miles.

no need

I play through a Fender Blues Deluxe these days. I would never sell the Lab because it will always be a depedable backup amp. I practice through it at the house so I don't have to bring home or unpack the Fender. It's a great deal if you can pick one up under $200.

Lots of nice stuff. Bass control, midrange EQ with frequency and boost-cut controls, treble control, and multifilter (1000 to 5000 hz boost) control. Copressor, reverb, channel volume plus master volume controls. Very veratile, and very loud. I play everything through it including Martin D-35, Gibson L6-S, Peavey Predatore, etc.

I play acoustic folk to rock as I do mostly recording these days. The L5 is one of the quietest amps noise-wise I've ever heard. The distortion, which I rarely use is produced by a special circuit. I also have a Korg G3 effects processor and the L5 sounds the same to me.

Virtually indestructible. Physically it has a plywood case, not particle board, with metal corner protectors. Electrically the power amp can handle 200, but is limited to 100 watts by the size of the power supply. Has 4 internal fuses. My amp had one blown fuse caused by one blown diode but yet it worked fine.

I contacted Gibson who promptly sent me a photocopied schematic and parts list for free. Otherwise nothing available.

I'm 50 and have played guitar for 35 years, and I've played through as well as repaired Gibson, Fender, Sears Slivertone, Marshall, even Giulietti amps. The L5 is as good as any of them. I only wish it were lighter, but hoisting a Fender twin is no easier.

See my earlier posting

See my earlier posting

After receiving several questions about the scheme and list of components, I decided to scan them and make them accessible over the internet at the following URL: http://members.xoom.com/holmo/Labscheme.zip (1.82 Mb) They are (after unzipping) in 150 dpi JPEG-format and cover not only the L5, but also the L7, L9 and L11 models.

See my earlier posting

guys ...guys...guys....and ... gals....these are great amps... i have had marshall 75 super lesd, #2100 high gain, fender ,twin, m-80, ultimate chorus, blues deville, hot rod deville, peavey classic 50, 30 , silver tone twin 12, laney..the list goes on ...$ for $ these are the most versitle amps you can get i have 3 L-5S and one L-7, run a rat distortion and a wells eq threw the effects loop and you can get just about anytone you want, now iam not saying it will beat a saldono crunch or twin clean BUT it will come damn close for both... will the marshall have a good clean and good crunch or the twin have a good crunch and good clean i dont think so, the marshall crunch is awesom but the clean on alot of marshalls suck, the twin has great clean but the crunch sucks...trust me if you play country to jazz to heavey meatal this one amp will do them alll..

i use a 57 reissiue strat, 88 tele, lea paul and 62 reiissue strat all sound great...

like i said i have 3 of them and i probably only need one for the rest of my life.....beer, kicked over, these things are durible...

sorry long gone BUT can be fixed by most amp techs...

i will NOT use any other amp period........i would bank my house on my tone....evertime i gig somebody comes up and says what amp are you useing, never herd of that ...great sounding...

this thing was made in the late 70's by norlin industries...for gibson i gather. this shit heap is quite versitile, kinda like a use it as a amp..or a chaeap pa. its got a couple channels and an effects loop no headphone jack and more f'n knobs than really needed. it has everything you really need.....and some other shit thown in for good measure.

i use a 67 es345, a 73 les paul deluxe,and a gretsh sparklejet '59. it is very versitle...leave it a the studio..and rock...very quite...it makes good clean tones but the distortion is kinda goofy...plays nice at low volumes. bb king use these things...i was floored when i saw it on stage.heard kings x used them as well...considered selling it then... i stopped putting out my cigs on it

this is the proverbial brick shithouse. gig with it..it wants to play. use it as a stool...also a great beer holder. broke it once. it transit the circut breaker on/off snapped. had it re-wired...works like a charm.

pay your local amp guy...he needs the $$$. norlin is gone.

if you see one...buy it. put a tv on it....use it as a ottoman. you wiil not regret the tone vs. $$. exellent buy.

Bought new in 1978. Played everything from country to metal and all point in between. 2 channel 2X12 100watts. Effects loop. Reverb. Parametic EQ. No channel switching.

Good smooth distortion with a Les Paul. OK with a Telecaster but a little noisy. Never used the clean channel.Some unique sounds w/ the para EQ but you'll never get a tube sound.

20 years and it's never failed and i've really tortured this amp. I've even dropped it off my front porch in the snow - twice!

never had a problem

My only complaint is the weight. I definitely got my moneys worth. I hear these things go for $50-$100. If you see one, pick it up for a backup amp. You can't go wrong.

A super compressor and reverb unit, with a guitar amp attached! 2X12" generic speakers. With a JBL it sounds a lot better. Actually a pretty cool amp considering it's a transistor amp from the era that gave transistor amps a bad name. Late '70's? Parametric midrange control helps achieve sounds from constipated, to slightly relieved constipation. I've had a couple of these, over the years. I got this one for $150 just to keep around as a spare utility amp. The compressor releases into the reverb in a really cool and unique way.

Sounds best with a Squire strat, clean, with enough compression to get sustain. Will also de-shrill a Telecaster with the same setup. Forget the distortion. Won't sing, won't grind. The low input on these is hotter than the high input. ??

This one looks like it was rescued out of the town dump. Green stuff is growing on it. The speaker cloth is gone. I'm surprised that speakers haven't been knocked in, they're totally unprotected. There was a piece of carpet padding stuffed between the back panel and the amp chassis, I guess to quiet a rattle. Can't have helped the heat disipation! Has band stencils, or maybe gang signs, tagging, whatever, on it. It's been around, that's for sure! I'd say this is one abused amp! Must be reliable, everything still works perfectly, despite the dump odor!

N/A

38+ years experience. I've had 'em all, goes for guitars too. Presently also have a Polytone, Hughs&Kettner Attax 40, Crate gx-40c. This is around 'cause ya gotta have a 2X12, just in case. I'm giving it a 10 overall, because for $150, it couldn't be beat (and somebody has definitely tried to beat THIS amp to death, and failed)!

Too many knobs, and of plastic too. I always was afraid that they'd come off during hauling it during a gig. Same knobs as on my Moog Prodigy, for what it's worth. Enough power though, but too big and certainly too heavy.

I used a really shitty Les Paul imitation at first, with DiMarzio humbuckers though. Later I changed to a real Gibson and fitted it with the same DiMarzio's. If it ever sounded great it was thanks to the guitar, not to this amp. Never could get a decent sound out of it, especially during rehearsel in our 'rehearsel-closet'. It was just too loud.

It let me down only once. It gave out a strange vacuum-cleaner type of sound - the kind you would expect from a tube-amp with faulty tubes. It was repaired by my dealer within two days. Never did get the cause...

Only dealt with my dealer.

In 1978, when I bought it, I had played with a rockband for about a year and desperatly needed a more powerfull amp than my 30watt Ibanez transistor combo. I used this one for four years, then traded it in for a Legend A-30. Never really liked it the Lab.

This amp was made around '77. It has a very classic tone on both channels. It has 2 channels, non-switching, has a preamp out and a power amp in, which I use for an effects loop. It has a bright switch on both channels, has two inputs for each channel, has low mid bass for both channels, has a parametric EQ for the distortion channel, a multifilter and reverb for the distortion channel, but I never had the reverb work. Something really cool is the compressor, really good for the solos. It has two 12 inch speakers, at 100W. It's really loud, I have never needed to put the volume past 4.

I use it with a shitty Jay Turser Strat copy, but it's good for the classic sound that I play (Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, etc.), I personally like the distortion that comes out of it, really unique and hard to describe. The clean channel is always clean no matter how loud you put it up to. Like I said the distorion is killer but indescribable.

This thing is heavy, and very tough. The reverb didn't work when I got it, I don't know if it's broken or taken out.

Norlin went out of business a long time ago, and Gibson has "limited information".

This is a great amp, and for 50 bucks was a steal. The lo and Hi channels provide great versitlity.

the lab has 4 inputs, low and high, i like the low on channel 2, it has reverb,treble, bass, a parametric eq, distortion, compreser, and bright switch, the distortion is fair but i use an older rat and older ts9 tubescreamer and can get just about any tone i want, my compresser has not worked from the time i got it, 100 watts it will push some air. i even ran a 4-12 with it no problem.

i use a 73 strat, a 86 strat and a ibanez as-50 semi hollow body with humbuckers, the 73 has emgs and the 86 is original, i play rock, country, blues and jazz , and the amp does them all quite well, i have a pedal board and it is fairly quite, like i said the distortion fair but the clean is as good as a twin or roland jc120, i dont crank it past 3 to 4 on vol. becauce i like to hear everybody else play as well, but at home i wanted to see what it would do.

i have not had this amp very long, but so far giging it has never failed once, it took me about 2 years just to find it, i do take a back up head when i gig just becauce i play with many different bands, they count on you being there, mind, body and, GEAR..and yea SOUL.. to is a must...but so far the other head just sits and stays warm, but no matter what amp i had i would take a back up..

norlan company who made the lab as well as the legand line of amps went out of biz. around the early 80s but the scematic is on the back of the amp so i would imagine no problem..

i have been playing for 27 years.. i have had hiwatt, marshall, fender, musicman, huges and ketner and sivertone and then some.... and if this amp was stolen i would look another two years to find another, you cant beat the sound but it is an older amp out of production so?? i do wish it had an extra speaker output, you have to unplug the ones that are in it to go to another cabnet but 2-12 is enough for me, as far as tube or solid state.. a good guitarist can make anything sound good, i sound just the same on my copy les paul and no name flat top as i do my 73 strat or 67 martin d-41...

Very nicely featured with most of the things you basically need from a guitar amp. (Except vibrato.) It's NAD-style ability to separate between Pre- and Poweramp sections is very useful in many situations, e.g. for the use of effects or connecting it to the line input of a more powerful poweramp or recording equipment.

LOUD! But also musical. Though a transistorised amp it produces a wide range of sounds depending on how you set the controls, especially the sweeepable midrange and the built-in compressor that really adds that final edge to solos. As I have also used it with my Vox Continental II and Farfisa Compact organs I must say this gizmo is good for more than guitar amplification. In my opinion it could work well also for bass amplification whilst practising at home or in a small rehaearsal studio. You could also use it for basses live if you line it to the PA (which is quite usual) as it is the 2 12" loudspeakers that mainly limits the bassoutput.

Never dealt with the moog company that constructed this piece of art, but they supplied the scheme and list of components so any skilled electronics repairman can check it out and fix it.

Had it for 13 years and it just keeps on running. No problems, not even a fuse blown. If it was stolen it would be like losing an old friend and I would definitley like another one or maybe a Vox AC-50 (if I could find one for a reasonable price).